ethics seems to have been his ultimate priority. Ze ̄no ̄n’s physics emphasized a unified
kosmos whose substance is itself divine. Strict laws of causation meant that the kosmos
was predestined but this did not absolve humans of moral responsibility, as highlighted by a
story told in Diogene ̄s Laërtios (7.23): Ze ̄no ̄n was beating a slave for stealing a loaf of bread.
When the slave protested (sarcastically) that he was not guilty, for he had been fated to steal
the bread, Ze ̄no ̄n countered that this was true, as was the fact that the slave was fated also to
be beaten.
The kosmos is unified and finite, surrounded by void. From the fundamental intercon-
nectedness of the kosmos, Ze ̄no ̄n argued for the efficacy of divination. He is responsible
for the original Stoic division into active and passive principles as the basis for physical
explanation, as well as the doctrines of the interrelation of the four Aristotelian elements
with pneuma, and of the periodic conflagration of the kosmos.
Ed.: SVF 1.1–72.
A. Graeser, Zenon von Kition (1975).
Daryn LehouxZe ̄no ̄n of Laodikeia (250 BCE? – 80 CE)
Greek physician, considered He ̄rophilean (Kudlien), but without evidence (Kollesch; von
Staden 1989: 504–505, n.19). A, in G Antid. 2.9 (14.163 K.), quotes his
multi-ingredient theriac compounded from cardamom, herpullos, parsley, bryony root,
clover seed, anise, fennel root and seeds, birthwort, bitter vetch, opopanax, in equal meas-
ures, beaten individually, mixed and administered with sour wine, then made into 3–obol
pills, dried in the shade, one pill given every night in conjunction with a regimen of induced
vomiting. A P., in Gale ̄n Antid. 2.11 (14.171 K.), preserves his treatment
for hudrophobia, useful against any kind of venomous bite and compounded from much
the same ingredients. P 10 (CMG 10.1.1, pp.14.25–15.6]) eschews Ze ̄no ̄n’s
lengthy antidote, but records his plaster for healing venomous bites. P (22.90) reports
that a Ze ̄no ̄n, possibly identifiable with our pharmacologist, recommended soncus root
against strangury. The Ze ̄no ̄n who prepared liquid colon remedies (C A
Chron. 4.99 = CML 6.1.2, p. 830.13–14) may, likewise, be our man.
RE 10A (1972) 146 (#13), Fr. Kudlien; KP 5.1506 (#2), J. Kollesch; NP 12/2.754 (#13), V. Nutton.
Alain Touwaide
Ze ̄no ̄n of Sido ̄n (130 – 70 BCE)
Epicurean philosopher and scholarch at Athens. He lectured, and authored works on
many different topics. He criticized the foundations of Euclidean geometry, and argued
with the Stoics about whether inferences from individual cases can lead to knowledge.
None of his writings has survived, but some of the works of his student, P
G, show his influence, including On Signs and On Plain Speaking.
DSB 14.612–613, K. von Fritz; A. Angeli and M. Colaizzo, “I frammenti di Zenone Sidonio,” CrErc 9
(1979) 47–133; OCD3 1635, D. Obbink; ECP 584, D. Clay; NP 12/2.752–753 (#10), M. Erler.
Walter G. Englert
ZE ̄NO ̄N OF SIDO ̄N