Kleitomachos (philosopher)
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- For Kleitomachos the athlete, see here
Kleitomachos (Greek: Κλειτόμαχος, variously also transliterated Cleitomachus or Clitomachus), originally named Hasdrubal (187-109 BCE) was a Carthaginian who came to Athens around 146 BCE and studied philosophy under Carneades, whom he succeeded as head of the New Academy in 126 BCE.
According to Diogenes Laertius, Kleitomachos wrote some 400 books, none of which are extant today, although a few titles are known. Most of these works were intended to record and disseminate the ideas of his master, who never committed any of his ideas to writing.
Apart from strictly philosophical texts, his known works included two introductions to Athenian philosophy, and a letter written to his compatriots on the fall of Carthage at the end of the Third Punic War, in which he describes the consolation that philosophy offers in times of calamity. His work was highly regarded by Cicero, who based parts of his De Natura, De Divinatione and De Fato on a work of Kleitomachos he names as De Sustinendis Offensionibus ("On the Withholding of Assent"), and also credited him with his understanding of the Academics through his work περί αι̉ρέσεων ("On the Schools of Thought").
Two of Kleitomachos' works are known to have been dedicated to prominent Romans, the poet Gaius Lucilius and the one-time consul Lucius Marcius Censorinus , suggesting that his work was known and appreciated in Rome.
