In his discourse On Exile he refers to events in the Chremonidean War in the 260s BC, and he makes a specific reference to Hippomedon's governorship in Thrace under Ptolemy III Euergetes in the years following 241 BC, thus this discourse was written shortly after this date.
[1] His native city is uncertain: he makes various indirect references to Megara which show that he was living and teaching there, but it is possible that he originally came from Athens.
[2] In Megara, Teles operated a school where he taught Cynicism, selecting teachings from earlier philosophers and dispensing them to his pupils.
[5] The seven extracts are: As a writer Teles has been regarded as being deficient in both literary and logical virtues,[6] but this may reflect the way in which his works have been edited and compressed by Theodorus, Stobaeus, and others.
[4] The value of his writings lies in the fact that they are the earliest Cynic discourses (diatribes) to survive, and they provide an insight into the Hellenistic world in which Teles lived.