What happened when Alexander met Diogenes?

[maximus]

When Alexander was returning from Athens, after a diplomatic mission was sent by his father, Alexander wanted to see the famous philosopher Diogenes. Diogenes believed that only after depriving himself of everything could he be truely happy. When meeting him and talking to him he asked his friends, Ptolemy and Haephastion etc., to leave him alone. They talked for hours just the two of them. After this encounter his friends asked him what had happened? Alexander's reply was; "I have talked with poor but happy man. If i was not Alexander i would like to be Diogenes." This encounter certainly changed Alexander. However can anybody tell me what they think Diogenes said to this young Alexander?

[diogenes1]

Well,dear friend,i think the most important thing Diogenes told him It is what Robin Lane Fox tell us in his excellent "Alexander The Great",ATg saw Diogenes and asked him if there was anything he could do for him,an abject figure,then Diogenes Answered ATG," Yes,stand aside a litlle,for you are blocking the sun",I think such an answer has impressed ATG!

[ruthaki]

Whether it was true or not, I think it was a wonderful retort!

[yiannis]

Another version of the same story is that Alexander approached Diogenes the Cynic, who was laying dressed in rugs, in front of a huge jar that he was using as home. AtG asked what he can do for him and Diogenes replied "do not deprive me of what you cannot give me" meaning of course the sunshine.Perhaps Alexander met Diogenes at Korinth, where he lived in his old age but the story that Diogenes was in frond his jar/home when Alexander met him lacks credibility because at that time Diogenes was living in Xeniades house (read below). Diogenes was very well known at the time in Korinth and Alexander probably met him only to receive a very rude answer."In his old age, sailing to Aegina, he was taken by pirates and carried to Crete, where he was exposed to sale in the public market. When the auctioneer asked him what he could do, he said, "I can govern men; therefore sell me to one who wants a master." Xeniades, a wealthy Corinthian, happening at that instant to pass by, was struck with the singularity of his reply and purchased him. On their arrival at Corinth, Xeniades gave him his freedom and committed to him the education of his children and the direction of his domestic concerns. Diogenes executed this trust with so much judgment and fidelity that Xeniades used to say that the gods had sent a good genius to his house."Other Diogenes quotes:
- "I seek humans (but can't find any)" when asked why is me wondering around in the marketplace with his oil lamp lit in midday.- Diogenes was asking charity from statues. When asked why, he replied: "to get used to denial"and many more...

[ruthaki]

One of the funniest (fictional) accounts I have read about Diogenes is in Tom Holt's amusing satire
"Alexander at the Worlds End". The protagonist is a student of Diogenese who teaches him how to scam people and eventually he scams Olympias and Philip.

[maximus]

Dear friends Alexander's companions where with him when these things happened, for example when he asks him to move becaus he is blocking the sun, i however am interested to know, seeing as you are all more qualified than me, a thirteen year old, what he said after that. A T G and Dio are meant to have talked for hours what could Dio have said that made such a deep impression on ATG

[Harry]

Hello,
I do believe that Diogenes told Alexander to step aside as he (Alexander) was the Sun from Diogenes.

[Harry]

Hello,
I do believe that Diogenes told Alexander to step aside as he (Alexander) was BLOCKING the Sun from Diogenes.

[jona]

There may be a hitherto unnoticed pun in Diogenes's word.Plutarch records that Alexander likened himself to the sun (Moralia 180b); Diodorus says that Alexander sacrificed to the sun after his easternmost victory; Philostratus mentions a dedication to the Indian sun god (VA 2.43); Arrian and Appian say that Alexander was frightened when he heard of an omen involving the sun (Arr. Anab. 7.16.6; App. BC 2.153); Herodotus tells that the sun once protected the Macedonian royal house (8.137); and finally, the closest iconological parallel to the sixteen-pointed disk found in Vergina (http://www.livius.org/aj-al/alexander/sun.jpg ) is a coin from Cassander's brother, who called himself "Sun".This is, at the moment, my list of parallels between the Macedonian kings and the sun. It is not enough to prove that the sun was the symbol of the Macedonian dynasty, but perhaps, maybe, possibly it was, and maybe Diogenes made a pun on the dynasty's claim.Jona