Sophron of
Syracuse ( grc-gre, Σώφρων ὁ Συρακούσιος, ''
fl.'' 430 BC) was a writer of mimes.
Sophron was the author of prose dialogues in the
Doric Doric may refer to:
* Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece
** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians
* Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture
* Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode
* Doric dialect (Scotland)
* Doric ...
dialect, containing both male and female characters, some serious, others humorous in style, and depicting scenes from the daily life of the Sicilian Greeks. Although in prose, they were regarded as poems; in any case they were not intended for stage representation. They were written in pithy and popular language, full of proverbs and colloquialisms.
Influence
Plato
Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
is said to have introduced Sophron's works into
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
and to have made use of them in his dialogues; according to
Diogenes Laërtius
Diogenes Laërtius ( ; grc-gre, Διογένης Λαέρτιος, ; ) was a biographer of the Ancient Greece, Greek philosophers. Nothing is definitively known about his life, but his surviving ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' is a ...
, they were Plato's constant companions, and he even slept with them under his pillow;
the ''
Suda
The ''Suda'' or ''Souda'' (; grc-x-medieval, Σοῦδα, Soûda; la, Suidae Lexicon) is a large 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas (Σούδας) or Souidas ...
'' says of the mimes of Sophron, "Plato the philosopher always read them, so as to be sent into an occasional doze."
Some idea of their general character may be gathered from the 2nd and 15th idylls of
Theocritus
Theocritus (; grc-gre, Θεόκριτος, ''Theokritos''; born c. 300 BC, died after 260 BC) was a Greek poet from Sicily and the creator of Ancient Greek pastoral poetry.
Life
Little is known of Theocritus beyond what can be inferred from hi ...
, which are said to have been imitated from the ''Akestriai'' and ''Isthmiazousai'' of his Syracusan predecessor. Their influence is also to be traced in the satires of
Persius
Aulus Persius Flaccus (; 4 December 3424 November 62 AD) was a Ancient Rome, Roman poet and satirist of Etruscan civilization, Etruscan origin. In his works, poems and satires, he shows a Stoicism, Stoic wisdom and a strong criticism for what he ...
.
[
]
Editions
The fragments of Sophron are collected by H. L. Ahrens, ''De graecae linguae dialectis'' (1843), ii. (app.), and C. J. Botzon (1867); see also his ''De Sophrone et Xenarcho mimographis'' (1856).[ J. H. Hordern's ''Sophron's Mimes: Text, Translation, and Commentary'', Oxford, 2004, is the most recent edition.
]
References
Ancient Syracusans
Ancient Greek writers
5th-century BC Greek people
Old Comic poets
Doric Greek poets
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown
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