1. Hellenistic Philosophy: Cynicism
True freedom arises from realizing that if one wants nothing, then one will never lack anything.
Isolation from the society
Denial of physical comfort
Autarky, or self-sufficiency, as the goal of life
Diogenes, the most prominent Cynic
Alexander: if I were not Alexander, I would prefer to be Diogenes.

2. Diogenes of Sinope

3. Diogenes and Alexander

4. Diogenes of Sinope

5. Diogenes of Sinope
Banished from his country, Diogenes spent most of his life in Athens, though he died in Corinth. He called himself the “Dog,” and held up the life of animals as a model for mankind. His task was the “recoining of values,” and to the civilization of Hellenic and Hellenistic world he opposed the life of animals and of the barbaric people.

6. Hellenistic Philosophy: Skepticism
Nothing could be known for certain
All ideas and values must be questioned.
Truth is unknowable
Autarky as the goal of life.
Pyrrho of Elis was the founder of Skepticism.

7. Hellenistic Philosophy: Epicureanism
How to achieve happiness:
The best way to keep one’s wants simple, and thus to achieve happiness, was to abstain from sex and focus instead on friendship.
Also not to indulge in excessive desires
Resist fame, power and wealth
Freedom from fear: fear of the gods, of death, and of the hereafter.
Pleasure is the absence of pain
Ataraxia, the desireless state, the goal of life
Epicurus was the founder of Epicureanism

8. Epicurus

9. Hellenistic Philosophy: Stoicism
The world is governed by the divine logos, or reason, or nature.
Freedom and happiness consist of living in harmony with logos
A resigned and deterministic outlook, but never apathetic.
Emphasis on dedication to work and duty
Worldwide brotherhood
Autarky (self-sufficiency) as the goal of life

10. Hellenistic Religion: Mystery Cults
The mystery cult of Orpheus
The mystery cult of Dionysus
The mystery cult of Isis (and her brother/husband Osiris). Isis was the most honored goddess of the ancient world.
The mystery cult of Mithraism

11. Mithra Touroctonous

12. Mithra