Cosmopolitanism

Sean Mathews, a Greece based journalist covering the broader region, and George Manginis, the academic director at the Benaki Museum, join Thanos Davelis to break down how the search for an antique can give us insight into Thessaloniki's rich history, and look at how current efforts to shine a light on the city's past cosmopolitanism are increasingly important in a changing region.

There is just one problem with this narrative: it is deeply misleading. And, for political reasons, that confusion matters.

As the philosopher Martha Nussbaum reminds us in her fascinating new book The Cosmopolitan Tradition, asked where he came from, Diogenes the Cynic answered with a single word: kosmopolités, meaning "a citizen of the world."

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"…

A local religious conservative foundation staged a protest in the Black Sea province of Sinop on Aug. 22, demanding the removal of a statue of Ancient Greek philosopher Diogenes.

The Erbakan Foundation said it was protesting the fact that the Greek ideology being attached to the province rather than arts.

* Someone told Aristippos that Laida was faking her affection for him. Aristippos said: “Wine nor fish love me, but I still enjoy them.”

* Someone told Diogenes, “Your fellow countrymen have condemned you to exile.” The great philosopher responded: “And I have condemned them to stay in their land.”