Salustios z Emezy i ostatnie wzmianki o fi lozofach cynickich w V-VI wieku
Saloustios of Emesa and the last remarks on cynic philosophers in the 5th and 6th centuries

Summary/Abstract: Salustios of Emesa was a mysterious philosopher active in the late 5th and early 6th century AD. His life and philosophy can be reconstructed on the basis of short passages from two sources: The Philosophical History of Damascius and On Epictetus’ Handbook of Simplicius of Cilicia. Damascius mentioned the bizarre practices of Salustios (like wandering barefoot, eating uncooked food, frankness of speech) and therefore connected his philosophy with Cynicism. As a result, modern historiography regards Salustios as the last Cynic philosopher of antiquity, the last heir of the philosophy and spiritual movement founded by the famous Diogenes of Sinope. The aim of this article is to verify this view. The references to Salustios in the works of Damascius and Simplicius are analyzed in relation to various texts concerning Cynicism and their hero’s historical background (in particular the probable infl uence of the Christian ascetic practices from Egypt on Salustios’ behavior). These references are also compared with some other fi fth-century sources that mention Cynics and serve modern scholars as the basis for the view that Cynicism was not a completely obsolete philosophy in that period.

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