The Stoics lived a long time ago, but they had some startling insights into the human condition-insights which endure to this day. The philosophical tradition, founded in Athens by Zeno of Citium in 301 BC, endured as an active movement for almost 500 years, and contributions from dazzling minds such as Cicero, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius helped create a body of thought with an extraordinary goal-to provide a rational, healthy way of living in harmony with the nature of the universe and in respect of our relationships with each other.