Quick Facts
Born:
325? bc
Died:
255? bc
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Bion of Borysthenes (born 325? bc—died 255? bc) was a Greek philosophical writer and preacher. He was a freed slave and the son of a courtesan and has been credited with originating the Cynic “diatribe,” or popular discourse on morality, whose style may have influenced that of the Christian sermon. Few of his writings survive.

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