One of the greatest difficulties in reconstructing his thought lies in its transmission: almost 80% of the testimonies about him, collected by von Arnim (SVF III, pp. 210 43 = frs. 1 126), are preserved in the papyri, especially the Herculaneum papyri, sometimes in rolls that have awaited a new critical edition for over a century. About 120 years after the publication of the Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta, this volume, after critically collecting the scanty evidence for Zeno of Tarsus, presents a new systematic and comprehensive edition of the fragments of Diogenes of Babylon, with an introduction, a translation, and a running commentary. The collection increases by more than a half the number of known testimonies considered by von Arnim.

This enterprise will significantly enhance our knowledge of the final stage of the early Stoa and its relation to the rival schools of Hellenistic philosophy. Most importantly, the volume brings to the fore one of the greatest and most revolutionary figures in the history of ancient philosophy, so far undeservedly neglected, whose doctrines contributed substantially to the development of logic, linguistics, ontology, and ethics in the Western thought.