Sphaerus of Borysthenes

Borysthenes

Borysthenes is a geographical name from classical Antiquity. It usually refers to the Dnipro River, but occasionally to the Pontic Olbia, a town situated at the mouth of that river. The Borysthenes is mentioned numerous times in 'The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' by Edward...

 or the Bosphorus, was a Stoic

Stoicism

Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded in Athens by Zeno of Citium in the early . The Stoics taught that destructive emotions resulted from errors in judgment, and that a sage, or person of "moral and intellectual perfection," would not suffer such emotions.Stoics were concerned...

 philosopher.

He studied first under Zeno of Citium

Zeno of Citium

Zeno of Citium was a Greek philosopher from Citium . Zeno was the founder of the Stoic school of philosophy, which he taught in Athens from about 300 BC. Based on the moral ideas of the Cynics, Stoicism laid great emphasis on goodness and peace of mind gained from living a life of virtue in...

, and afterwards under Cleanthes

Cleanthes

Cleanthes , of Assos, was a Greek Stoic philosopher and the successor to Zeno as the second head of the Stoic school in Athens. Originally a boxer, he came to Athens where he took up philosophy, listening to Zeno's lectures. He supported himself by working as water-carrier at night. After the...

. He taught in Sparta

Sparta

Sparta or Lacedaemon, was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the banks of the River Eurotas in Laconia, in south-eastern Peloponnese. It emerged as a political entity around the 10th century BC, when the invading Dorians subjugated the local, non-Dorian population. From c...

, where he acted as advisor to Cleomenes III

Cleomenes III

Cleomenes III was the King of Sparta from 235-222 BC. He succeeded to the Agiad throne of Sparta after his father, Leonidas II in 235 BC.From 229 BC to 222 BC, Cleomenes waged war against the Achaean League under Aratus of Sicyon. Domestically, he is known for his attempt to reform the Spartan state...

. He moved to 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...

 at some point, (possibly when Cleomenes himself was exiled there in 222 BC) where he lived in the court of Ptolemy IV Philopator

Ptolemy IV Philopator

Ptolemy IV Philopator , son of Ptolemy III and Berenice II of Egypt was the fourth Pharaoh of Ptolemaic Egypt...

. Sphaerus had a considerable reputation among the Stoics for the accuracy of his definitions.

Diogenes Laërtius

Diogenes Laertius

Diogenes Laertius was a biographer of the Greek philosophers. Nothing is known about his life, but his surviving Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers is one of the principal surviving sources for the history of Greek philosophy.-Life:Nothing is definitively known about his life...

 and Athenaeus

Athenaeus

Athenaeus , of Naucratis in Egypt, Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourished about the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd century AD...

  tell a story of how he once saved himself from admitting that he had been deceived by a trick played upon him by King Ptolemy:

And once, when there was a discussion concerning the question whether a wise man would allow himself to be guided by opinion, and when Sphaerus affirmed that he would not, the king, wishing to refute him, ordered some pomegranate

Pomegranate

The pomegranate , Punica granatum, is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub or small tree growing between five and eight meters tall.Native to the area of modern day Iran, the pomegranate has been cultivated in the Caucasus since ancient times. From there it spread to Asian areas such as the Caucasus as...

s of wax to be set before him; and when Sphaerus was deceived by them, the king shouted that he had given his assent to a false perception. But Sphaerus answered very neatly, that he had not given his assent to the fact that they were pomegranates, but to the fact that it was probable that they might be pomegranates. And that a perception which could be comprehended differed from one that was only probable.

According to Diogenes Laërtius, Sphaerus wrote the following works:

• Περὶ κόσμου δύο - On the Universe (two books)
• Περὶ στοιχείων - On the Elements
• [Περὶ] σπέρματος - [On] Seed
• Περὶ τύχης - On Fortune
• Περὶ ἐλαχίστων - On the Smallest Things
• Πρὸς τὰς ἀτόμους καὶ τὰ εἴδωλα - Against Atoms and Images
• Περὶ αἰσθητηρίων - On the Senses
• Περὶ Ἡρακλείτου πέντε διατριβῶν - On Heraclitus
  Heraclitus
  Heraclitus of Ephesus was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, a native of the Greek city Ephesus, Ionia, on the coast of Asia Minor. He was of distinguished parentage. Little is known about his early life and education, but he regarded himself as self-taught and a pioneer of wisdom...
  
   (five lectures)
• Περὶ τῆς ἠθικῆς διατάξεως - On the Arrangement of Ethics
• Περὶ καθήκοντος - On Duty
• Περὶ ὁρμῆς - On Impulse
• Περὶ παθῶν δύο - On Passions (two books)
• Περὶ βασιλείας - On Kingship
• Περὶ Λακωνικῆς πολιτείας - On the Lacedaemonian Constitution
• Περὶ Λυκούργου καὶ Σωκράτους τρία - On Lycurgus
  Lycurgus
  Lycurgus or Lykurgus may refer to:People:* Historical:** Lycurgus of Sparta, creator of constitution of Sparta** Lycurgus of Athens, one of the ten notable orators at Athens,...
  
   and Socrates
  Socrates
  Socrates was a classical Greek Athenian philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon, and the plays of his contemporary ...
  
   (three books)
• Περὶ νόμου - On Law
• Περὶ μαντικῆς - On Divination
• Διαλόγους ἐρωτικούς - Dialogues on Love
• Περὶ τῶν Ἐρετριακῶν φιλοσόφων - On the Eretrian Philosophers
• Περὶ ὁμοίων - On Things Similar
• Περὶ ὅρων - On Terms
• Περὶ ἕξεως - On Habits
• Περὶ τῶν ἀντιλεγομένων τρία - On Contradictions (three books)
• Περὶ λόγου - On Discourse
• Περὶ πλούτου - On Wealth
• Περὶ δόξης - On Glory
• Περὶ θανάτου - On Death
• Τέχνης διαλεκτικῆς δύο - Art of Dialectic
  Dialectic
  Dialectic is a method of argument for resolving disagreement that has been central to Indic and European philosophy since antiquity. The word dialectic originated in Ancient Greece, and was made popular by Plato in the Socratic dialogues...
  
  s (two books)
• Περὶ κατηγορημάτων - On Predicates
• Περὶ ἀμφιβολιῶν - On Ambiguity
• Ἐπιστολάς - Letters