1. The Cyrenaic succession

In accordance with standard practice, the Cyrenaic philosophers are classified by the ancient doxographers in a so-called succession ( diadochê ), namely a sequence of teacher-pupil relations which begins with the founder and ends with the last known members of the school. Typically, such schemes are artificial constructions linking together a well-known philosophical figure with thinkers belonging to a later period thus transferring to these latter a respectable philosophical pedigree. The Cyrenaic succession is distinct, however, since the first three leaders of the school belong to the same family and hence it seems natural to assume that there is an unmediated connection between the ideas and values of the school’s founder and the philosophical views of two scholarchs that followed him in turn.…