Diogenes, Turkey's top problem?

When asked about Diogenes, Plato described the philosopher as "a Socrates gone mad."

Diogenes was considered mad because he threw people's contradictions, hypocrisy and double standards in their faces…

Or because he strolled around the city squares in daylight with a lamp, saying, "I am just looking for an honest man"…

Maybe they considered Diogenes mad because he lived in a barrel, did not care about possessions, was out at the elbows…

It was only natural for them to label the man who, as one would say in modern slang, "dissed" Alexander the Great, asking the ruler to "stand out of [his] sunlight."

Our guy is from Sinop

As you know, our guy, Diogenes, is from Sinop, the Black Sea town of Turkey. 

There are various stories, but it is thought he had to leave his hometown after his father became embroiled in a currency debasement scandal. Basically, he was banished…

He went to Athens, was taught by Antisthenes (a former pupil of Socrates), espoused his teacher's cynic philosophy, and advocated and implemented the teachings of cynicism.

Believing that virtue glorifies humans, the cynics reject property, possession and institutions such as family.

Diogenes questioned moral and material rules, presupposition and imposition; lived by pushing people's patience to the limits through his intelligent, humorous and controversial nature…

He was captured by pirates and sold as a slave to a Corinthian, yet his master was a clever man and hired his "slave" to tutor his children; and thus, the philosopher passed away in peace and prosperity.

The kiss of Diogenes

Before dying, Diogenes asked to be thrown outside the city wall...