Cleanthes
Greek Stoic philosopher and boxer (3rd-century BC) · Turkey · Academics · Lived 331 BC to 232 BC · aged 99
Cleanthes is read about 98 times a day, in 42 languages.
Counted to 17 September 2026, not since.
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 60 days, one point a day.
Something wrong?A boxer who hauled water by night to pay for philosophy lectures by day, then spent three decades leading the Stoic school that shaped how the ancient world thought about fate, virtue, and the divine order of things.
Also in Deutsch
Photos 7
Cleanthes from L. Annaei Senecae philosophi Opera, 1605, title page detail
Bust of the Stoic Philosopher Cleanthes
Cleanthes Assius - Illustrium philosophorum et sapientum effigies ab eorum numistatibus extractae
Cleanthes from Epicteto, y Phocilides en español con consonantes, 1635, frontispiece detail
Cleanthes from L. Annaei Senecae philosophi Opera, 1605, title page detail long
Cleanthes Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek IN 1795
Hermitage hall 121 - 010About this person
Cleanthes left Assos for Athens around 330 BC with no money and a fighter's build. He listened to Zeno of Citium's lectures and supported himself by carrying water after dark. When Zeno died around 262 BC, Cleanthes became the second head of the Stoic school and held the post for 32 years. He preserved Zeno's doctrines while pushing Stoic physics toward materialism and pantheism, arguing that the divine and the physical were one substance. The largest surviving fragment of his work is a Hymn to Zeus. He taught Chrysippus, who would become one of the most influential Stoic philosophers in history.
Fame.am measures public visibility signals. It does not measure human value, talent, morality, or credibility.