Scholars studying Hellenistic ethics focus on four major chairs of philosophy in Athens that were endowed in 176 AD by the Roman Empire Marcus Aurelius: Plantonism, Aristotelianism, Epicureanism, and Stoicism. The expansion, admiration, and assimilation of Greek culture and language, known as Hellenism, also contributed to the philosophy that continued into ancient Rome. One school in particular, Stoicism, flourished in the Roman world (Sellars, 2). Understanding the foundations of Stoicism is an important topic in philosophy due to many misconceptions about what it means to embrace a Stoic lifestyle. These misconceptions stem from the lack of understanding scholars have of early Stoic writings. Almost none of the works of the early Stoics remain. Scholars mainly analyze quotes and summaries from the original founder's successors. Zeno of Citium founded the philosophy of Stoicism around 300 BC. His school met informally at the Painted Stoa, a covered colonnade on the northern edge of the Athenian Agora (Sellars, 1). Zeno was the son of a merchant from Citium in Cyprus, but his environment was strongly influenced by the Greeks. While there is no way to know exactly what sparked his interest in philosophy, it is believed that his father brought home many Socratic books from his travels to Athens (Sandbach, 20). Zeno finally traveled to Athens, most likely inspired by his readings, when he was 22 years old. While in Athens, Zeno was exposed to many different ways of thinking, but was most influenced by the cynical perspective (Sandbach, 20). Second-hand accounts and late Stoic writings tell the story of how Zeno came across the Cynics. It was said that he was reading a Socratic book at a stall which prompted him to ask the librise...... middle of paper ......n, even the unfavorable ones and Roman societies appreciated dealing with these types of situations with virtue . Virtus is a specific virtue that combines the ideas of valor, courage, strength and tenacity ("Philosophers"). Stoicism was a philosophy that gave the Romans the ability to incorporate these values. Emperor Justinian I eventually banned Stoicism when he closed all schools of pagan philosophy in 529 AD. This was due to his belief that their pagan character conflicted with Christian beliefs (Sedley). Although it disappeared from the public eye for thousands of years, Stoicism is slowly becoming more relevant in the modern day. The Stoicism Today project, run by a team of cognitive behavioral therapists, launched International Stoic Week in 2012 (Robertson). These scholars hope to revive ancient Stoic principles, but also modernize philosophy to ensure its revival.