Stoicism is an ancient Greek philosophy started long ago with Zeno of Citium, who having suffered a shipwreck near Athens, turned that misfortune into a an opportunity by taking advantage of all the philosophical resources available in the city.
The story goes like this – after suffering the shipwreck Zeno went into a book store and started reading books. One of the books he studied was ‘Xenophon Memorabilia;’ which is a book about Socrates. Zeno liked the book so much that he asked the store owner ‘where can I find myself a philosopher?’ The owner of the book shop turned around and pointing to one passerby said ‘well there is one over there.’ The passerby was Crates of Thebes, and Zeno became his student.
Eventually, Zeno learned from all the leading philosophers of the city and in time began teaching his own theory on the Stoa Poikile, and it is from this Greek word for porch ‘stoikos’....
