He moved to Athens where tradition says he became a pupil of Diogenes of Sinope; the precise relationship between Crates and Diogenes is uncertain, but there is one apparent reference to Crates referring to himself as "a fellow-citizen of Diogenes, who defied all the plots of envy".
Crates was, apparently, in Thebes in 307 BC, when Demetrius Phalereus was exiled there [REF].