Diogenes (404 - 325 BC ).

Diogenes and his followers were not cynics in todays sense of the world. They had a positive belief in virtue. But their basic creed was that the difference between true values and false values was the only distinction that mattered , all other distinctions were rubbish  - all social conventions , for instance, such distinctions as those between yours mine, public and private, naked and clothed, raw and cooked -all that was nonsense.Diogenes had the same contempt for the distinction between Greek and foreigners,  - when asked what is his country he replied ; " I am a citizen of the World"and in doing so coined the single Greek word in which he expressed that thought , " Cosmopolitan", a concept for which many have been grateful to him.
Diogenes of Sinope  was a Greek philosopher and one of the founders of Cynic philosophy. Also known as Diogenes the Cynic , he was born in Sinope (modern-day Sinop, Turkey), an Ionian colony on the Black Sea, in 412 or 404 BC and died at Corinth in 323 BC.Nothing is known about Diogenes' early life except that his father Hicesias was a banker.It seems likely that Diogenes was also enrolled into the banking business aiding his father. At some point (the exact date is unknown), Hicesias and Diogenes became embroiled in a scandal involving the adulteration or debasement of the currency, and Diogenes was exiled from the city, lost his citizenship, and all his material possessions. Diogenes arrived in Athens with a slave named Manes who abandoned him shortly thereafter. With characteristic humor, Diogenes dismissed his ill fortune by saying, "If Manes can live without Diogenes, why not Diogenes without Manes?"^[12] Diogenes would mock such a relation of extreme dependency. He found the figure of a master who could do nothing for himself contemptibly helpless. He was attracted by the ascetic teaching of Antisthenes, a student of Socrates. When Diogenes asked Antisthenes to mentor him, Antisthenes ignored him and reportedly "eventually beat him off with his staff". Diogenes responds, "Strike, for you will find no wood hard enough to keep me away from you, so long as I think you've something to say." Diogenes became Antisthenes' pupil, despite the brutality with which he was initially received. Whether the two ever really met is still uncertain, but he surpassed his master in both reputation and the austerity of his life. The stories told of Diogenes illustrate the logical consistency of his character. He inured himself to the weather by living in a clay wine jar belonging to the temple of Cybele. He destroyed the single wooden bowl he possessed on seeing a peasant boy drink from the hollow of his hands. He then exclaimed "Fool that I am, to have been carrying superfluous baggage all this time!" It was contrary to Athenian customs to eat within the marketplace, and still he would eat there, for, as he explained when rebuked, it was during the time he was in the marketplace that he felt hungry. He used to stroll about in full daylight with a lamp; when asked what he was doing, he would answer, "I am just looking for an honest man." Diogenes looked for a human being but reputedly found nothing but rascals and scoundrels.
It was in Corinth that a meeting between Alexander the Great and Diogenes is supposed to have taken place. The accounts of Plutarch and Diogenes Laërtius recount that they exchanged only a few words: while Diogenes was relaxing in the sunlight in the morning, Alexander, thrilled to meet the famous philosopher, asked if there was any favour he might do for him. Diogenes replied, "Yes, stand out of my sunlight". Alexander then declared, "If I were not Alexander, then I should wish to be Diogenes." In another account of the conversation, Alexander found the philosopher looking attentively at a pile of human bones. Diogenes explained, "I am searching for the bones of your father but cannot distinguish them from those of a slave.

Death

There are conflicting accounts of Diogenes's death. He is alleged variously to have held his breath; to have become ill from eating raw octopus; or to have suffered an infected dog bite. When asked how he wished to be buried, he left instructions to be thrown outside the city wall so wild animals could feast on his body. When asked if he minded this, he said, "Not at all, as long as you provide me with a stick to chase the creatures away!" When asked how he could use the stick since he would lack awareness, he replied "If I lack awareness, then why should I care what happens to me when I am dead?" At the end, Diogenes made fun of people's excessive concern with the "proper" treatment of the dead. The Corinthians erected to his memory a pillar on which rested a dog of Parian marble.
The first Cosmopolitan
Diogenes and his followers were not Cynics in todays sense of the world. The social conventions , such as, distinction between yours and mine, public and private, naked and clothed, raw and cookedall that was nonsense.Similarly, distinction between Greek and foreigners was rubbish.