Agathobulus of Alexandria

Alexandria

Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...

, who lived c. 125 AD, was a Cynic philosopher and teacher of Demonax

Demonax

Demonax was a Cynic philosopher. Born in Cyprus, he moved to Athens, where his wisdom, and his skill in solving disputes, earned him the admiration of the citizens. He taught Lucian, who wrote a Life of Demonax in praise of his teacher...

 and Peregrinus Proteus

Peregrinus Proteus

Peregrinus Proteus was a Cynic philosopher, from Parium in Mysia. Leaving home at a young age, he first lived with the Christians in Palestine, before eventually being expelled from that community and adopting the life of a Cynic philosopher and eventually settling in Greece...

.

Little is known about his life. In the Chronicle

Chronicon (Jerome)

The Chronicle was a universal chronicle, one of Jerome's earliest attempts in the department of history...

of Jerome

Jerome

Saint Jerome was a Roman Christian priest, confessor, theologian and historian, and who became a Doctor of the Church. He was the son of Eusebius, of the city of Stridon, which was on the border of Dalmatia and Pannonia...

, Agathobulus is ranked alongside Plutarch

Plutarch

Plutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...

, Sextus

Sextus of Chaeronea

Sextus of Chaeronea was a Stoic philosopher, a nephew or grandson of Plutarch, and one of the teachers of the emperor Marcus Aurelius....

 and Oenomaus

Oenomaus of Gadara

Oenomaus of Gadara, was a Pagan Cynic philosopher. He is known principally for the long extracts of a work attacking oracles, which have been preserved among the writings of Eusebius of Caesarea.-Life:...

, as one of the principal philosophers flourishing in the 3rd year of Hadrian

Hadrian

Hadrian , was Roman Emperor from 117 to 138. He is best known for building Hadrian's Wall, which marked the northern limit of Roman Britain. In Rome, he re-built the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus and Roma. In addition to being emperor, Hadrian was a humanist and was philhellene in...

's reign (119 AD). According to Lucian

Lucian

Lucian of Samosata was a rhetorician and satirist who wrote in the Greek language. He is noted for his witty and scoffing nature.His ethnicity is disputed and is attributed as Assyrian according to Frye and Parpola, and Syrian according to Joseph....

, he was the teacher of Demonax

Demonax

Demonax was a Cynic philosopher. Born in Cyprus, he moved to Athens, where his wisdom, and his skill in solving disputes, earned him the admiration of the citizens. He taught Lucian, who wrote a Life of Demonax in praise of his teacher...

; and Peregrinus Proteus

Peregrinus Proteus

Peregrinus Proteus was a Cynic philosopher, from Parium in Mysia. Leaving home at a young age, he first lived with the Christians in Palestine, before eventually being expelled from that community and adopting the life of a Cynic philosopher and eventually settling in Greece...

 studied the Cynic way of life in Alexandria under his tutelage:

Thereafter Peregrinus went away a third time, to Egypt, to visit Agathobulus, where he took that wonderful course of training in asceticism

Asceticism

Asceticism describes a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from various sorts of worldly pleasures often with the aim of pursuing religious and spiritual goals...

, shaving one half of his head, daubing his face with mud, and demonstrating what they call 'indifference' by erecting his shameful thing (aidoion) amid a thronging mob of bystanders, besides giving and taking blows on the rump

Buttocks

The buttocks are two rounded portions of the anatomy, located on the posterior of the pelvic region of apes and humans, and many other bipeds or quadrupeds, and comprise a layer of fat superimposed on the gluteus maximus and gluteus medius muscles. Physiologically, the buttocks enable weight to...

with a rod, and playing the charlatan even more audaciously in many other ways.

This account should not be taken too seriously. Lucian disliked Cynics, and especially disliked Peregrinus.