Cleanthes: “Hymn to Zeus” ca. 280–276 BCE
Table of Contents
Cleanthes: “Hymn to Zeus”
Overview
Context
About the Author
Explanation and Analysis of the Document
Audience
Impact
Further Reading
Document Text
https://doi.org/10.3735/9781935306191.book-part-019

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Abstract

Cleanthes’ “Hymn to Zeus” is both a religious and a philosophical record of the attitudes of ancient Greek thinkers of the early Stoic school. As the only nearly complete piece of early Stoic writing that has survived intact, it offers a unique insight into the Stoic theological and cosmological worldview of the early third century bce. It is remarkable for its ability to straddle multiple purposes. It is at the same time a lyric “hymn,” in the style of the popular prayers of the period, and a philosophical treatise. It also contains divergent and seemingly incongruous ideas: Within its lines, Zeus, ruling god of the Greek pantheon, is depicted as both a conscious, “knowable” god and an impersonal, pantheistic force of nature. This is a theological standpoint particular to Stoicism.

Contents