What is Cynic?
[[File:Cinico Capitolini.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Statue of an unknown Cynic philosopher from the [[Capitoline Museum]] in [[Rome]]. This statue is a Roman-era copy of an earlier Greek statue from the 3rd century BCE.<ref>Christopher H. Hallett, (2005), ''The Roman Nude: Heroic Portrait Statuary 200 BC-AD 300'', page 294. Oxford University Press</ref> The scroll in his right hand is an 18th century restoration.]] The '''Cynics''' ({{lang-el|Κυνικοί}}, {{lang-la|Cynici}}) were an important group of [[philosopher]]s from the ancient [[School (discipline)|school]] of [[Cynicism]]. Their philosophy taught that the purpose of [[life]] was to live a life of [[Virtue]] in agreement with [[Nature]]. This meant rejecting all the usual desires for [[wealth]], [[Power (sociology)|power]], [[health]], and [[Celebrity|fame]], and by living a life free from all possessions. People are reasoning creatures. They could therefore gain happiness by rigorous training and by living in a way which was natural for [[human]]s. They believed that the [[world]] belonged equally to everyone, and that [[suffering]] was caused by false judgments of what was valuable and by the worthless [[Tradition|customs]] and [[Convention (norm)|conventions]] which surrounded [[society]]. Many of these thoughts were later absorbed into [[Stoicism]]. The first philosopher to outline these themes was [[Antisthenes]], who had been a pupil of [[Socrates]] in the late [[5th century BC|5th century BCE]]. He was followed by [[Diogenes of Sinope]], who lived in a tub on the streets of [[Athens]], took Cynicism to its logical extremes, and came to be seen as the archetypal Cynic philosopher. He was followed by [[Crates of Thebes]] who gave away a large fortune so he could live a life of Cynic poverty in Athens. Cynicism spread with the rise of [[Roman Empire|Imperial Rome]] in the [[1st century]], and Cynics could be found begging and preaching throughout the cities of the [[Roman Empire|Empire]]. It finally disappeared in the late [[5th century]], although many o