Xeniades (Greek:Ξενιάδης) was a skeptical philosopher fromCorinth, probably a follower of the pre-SocraticXenophanes. There may have been two such persons, as he is referenced byDemocritus c. 400 BC, though was also supposedly the purchaser ofDiogenes the Cynic c. 350 BC, when he was captured bypirates and sold as aslave. Xeniades was supposed to have been the man who persuadedMonimus to become a follower of Diogenes, and was the source of his skeptical doctrines.^[1]

The little that is known of him is derived fromSextus Empiricus, who represents him as holding the mostultrasceptical opinions, and maintaining that all notions are false, and that there is absolutely nothing true in theuniverse.^[2] He more than once couples him withXenophanes.^[3]

Two separate fictionalised accounts are used byDiogenes Laërtius in his account of Diogenes being sold into slavery,^[4] one byMenippus, and one by an otherwise unknown Eubulus, both of whom wrote in the 3rd century BCE. It is told that Diogenes said to Xeniades, "You must obey me, although I am a slave, for a physician or a steersman would find men to obey them even though they might be slaves."^[5] Eubulus recounts that Diogenes educated Xeniades's sons, eventually growing old in Xeniades' house.^[6] Xeniades is supposed to have remarked "A good spirit has entered my house."^[7] It is impossible to say whether any of this is accurate or even whether Xeniades actually existed, but another Cynic,Cleomenes, also made use of the theme of Diogenes being sold into slavery,^[8] and Xeniades was supposed to have been the man who persuadedMonimus to become a follower of Diogenes.^[9]

• 5th-century BC Greek philosophers
• 4th-century BC Greek philosophers
• Ancient Skeptic philosophers
• Ancient Corinthians
• Ancient Greek merchants

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