Inger Kuin joins me in the Lesche to discuss her new book Diogenes: The Rebellious Life and Revolutionary Philosophy of the Original Cynic (Basic Books 2025).

Ancient sources

Aristotle, Politics 1.3-7 (on 'natural' slavery)
Diogenes Laertius, 2.6, Life of Diogenes
Plutarch, Life of Alexander 14 (on the 'get out of my sun' episode)
Xenophon, Anabasis 5-6 (on Sinope, Diogenes' birthplace)
Other Diogenes testimonia from a variety of sources

For an accessible English-language collection of testimonia for Diogenes, see Robert Dobbin's The Cynic Philosophers, from Diogenes to Julian (Penguin Classics, 2012).

About our guest

Inger Kuin is a researcher, writer, and teacher focused on the intellectual history of ancient Greece and Rome. She is Associate Professor of Classics General Faculty at the University of Virginia. Originally from The Netherlands, she splits her time between Charlottesville (VA) and Rotterdam, and publishes both in English and in Dutch.

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Thanks for joining us in the Lesche!

Podcast art: Daniel Blanco
Theme music: "The Song of Seikilos," recomposed by Eftychia Christodoulou using Sibelius

This podcast is made possible with the generous support of Brown University’s Department of Classical Studies and the John Nicholas Brown Center for Advanced Study.

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The Life (and Times) of Diogenes 'the Cynic'