Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Myths and Legends: Diogenes and Alexander

Diogenes and Alexander. To find out more about the Cynic philosopher Diogenes, see this Wikipedia article: link; for information about the image: image source.

In a famous encounter between the Cynic philosopher Diogenes and Alexander the Great, Diogenes impressed Alexander with his defiant attitude. When it was announced to Diogenes that he was in the presence of Alexander and that he might make a request, all Diogenes had to say to Alexander was, "Move; you are blocking the light." Alexander was supposedly so impressed that he said that if he had not been born Alexander, he would have wanted to be born Diogenes. You can read about the many variations on this famous anecdote in this Wikipedia article.

You can also find more myths and legends for the week of November 18-24 here. For more information and links to the actual javascript code, see the Myths & Legends Widget Reference Page.