Zeno of Citium (; , ; c. 334 – c. 262 BC) was a Hellenistic philosopher from Citium (, ), Cyprus. 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 accordance with nature. It proved very popular, and flourished as one of the major schools of philosophy from the Hellenistic period through to the Roman era, and enjoyed revivals in the Renaissance as Neostoicism and in the current era as Modern Stoicism. Life Zeno was born c. 334 BC, in the Phoenician colony Citium in Cyprus. His ancestry is disputed between Phoenician and Greek, because Citium contained both Phoenician and Greek inhabitants. While most contemporary and modern historians regard Zeno as a Phoenician, some modern scholars have contested this arguing for a Greek or Greco-Phoenician background. The only things that historians know with certainty, are that Zeno had a Greek name, a Greek higher education and that there is no evidence he knew a language other than Greek. His father, Mnaseas, had a name ambiguously meaningful both in Phoenician ("one causing to forget") and in Greek ("mindful"). His mother and her name are not recorded. Most of the details known about his life come from the biography and anecdotes preserved by Diogenes Laërtius in his Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, a few of which are confirmed by the Suda (a 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia). Diogenes reports that Zeno's interest in philosophy began when "he consulted the oracle to know what he should do to attain the best life, and that the god's response was that he should take on the complexion of the dead. Whereupon, perceiving what this meant, he studied ancient authors." Zeno became a wealthy merchant. On a voyage from Phoenicia to Peiraeus he survived a shipwreck, after which he went to Athens and visited a bookseller. There he encountered Xenophon's Memorabilia. He was so pleased with the book's portrayal of Socrates that he asked the bookseller where men like Socrates were to be found. Just then, Crates of Thebesthe most famous Cynic living at that time in Greecehappened to be walking by, and the bookseller pointed to him. Zeno is described as a haggard, dark-skinned person, living a spare, ascetic life