The teachers
Five centuries of people who refused to drift.
A merchant, a slave, a senator, a statesman and an emperor. Each of them guides part of your 84 days.
c. 334–262 BC
Zeno of Citium
The founder
He was shipwrecked and lost his fortune. He found philosophy in an Athenian bookshop, and he taught it in the Stoa Poikilē, the Painted Porch.
c. 330–230 BC
Cleanthes
The labourer
He carried water at night to pay for lessons by day, and wrote the Hymn to Zeus, on a reason running through all things.
c. 279–206 BC
Chrysippus
The logician
He built Stoicism into a rigorous system. Events push us, he taught, but our character decides how we roll.
95–46 BC
Cato the Younger
The example
He refused bribes and flattery at every cost. Later Stoics held him up as integrity in human form.
c. 4 BC–AD 65
Seneca
The counsellor
He was a statesman, playwright and writer of letters. He wrote on time, anger, grief and how to live while you still can.
c. AD 30–100
Musonius Rufus
The trainer
He taught that philosophy is practice, like medicine or music, and that women should study it as fully as men.
c. AD 50–135
Epictetus
The free man
He was born enslaved and became a great teacher of freedom. His student's notes became the Discourses and the Enchiridion.
AD 121–180
Marcus Aurelius
The emperor
He ruled Rome through plague and war, and wrote private notes to himself on staying just, humble and calm.