Simmias of Thebes ( el, Σιμμίας Θηβαῖος; fl. 5th–4th century BC) was an ancient

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

philosopher, disciple of

Socrates Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no t ...

, and a friend of

Cebes Cebes of Thebes ( el, Κέβης Θηβαῖος, ''gen''.: Κέβητος; ''c''. 430 – 350 BCEDebra Nails, (2002), ''The people of Plato: a prosopography of Plato and other Socratics'', page 82.) was an Ancient Greek philosopher from Thebes re ...

. In his ''

Memorabilia A souvenir (), memento, keepsake, or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. A souvenir can be any object that can be collected or purchased and transported home by the traveler as a ...

'',

Xenophon Xenophon of Athens (; grc, Ξενοφῶν ; – probably 355 or 354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian, born in Athens. At the age of 30, Xenophon was elected commander of one of the biggest Greek mercenary armies o ...

includes him in the inner circle of Socrates' followers. He appears in

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 ...

's ''

Phaedo ''Phædo'' or ''Phaedo'' (; el, Φαίδων, ''Phaidōn'' ), also known to ancient readers as ''On The Soul'', is one of the best-known dialogues of Plato's middle period, along with the '' Republic'' and the ''Symposium.'' The philosophica ...

'' as a main discussion partner of Socrates alongside Cebes, as well as ''

Crito ''Crito'' ( or ; grc, Κρίτων ) is a dialogue that was written by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. It depicts a conversation between Socrates and his wealthy friend Crito of Alopece regarding justice (''δικαιοσύνη''), ...

'', '' Phaedrus'', and ''

Epistle An epistle (; el, ἐπιστολή, ''epistolē,'' "letter") is a writing directed or sent to a person or group of people, usually an elegant and formal didactic letter. The epistle genre of letter-writing was common in ancient Egypt as par ...

'' '' XIII''.

Character in Plato's ''Phaedo''

Simmias is one of Socrates' interlocutors in Plato's ''Phaedo''. This is a philosophical

dialogue Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American and British English spelling differences, American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literature, literary and theatrical form that depicts suc ...

by Plato, so the analogy presented in it by the character Simmias, although summarized here, need not reflect the views of the historical Simmias. Simmias' attunement analogy # Body is visible, composite and mortal. # A harp is visible, composite and mortal. # When the harp is destroyed the tune which is ethereal, invisible and divine is also destroyed. # The

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest att ...

is like a tune (''harmonia'') of the parts of the body. If the body is destroyed, the tune cannot survive. Socrates attacks Simmias's Analogy with four different arguments: # Harmonia-argument would be a contradiction to the anamnesis-argument that Simmias had already agreed on before. # If the soul would be a tune, and bodies can be tuned differently, there would be more or lesser souls - which is not possible. # Virtue is the proper attunement of the soul, and vice the lack of such an attunement. But if the soul itself is an attunement, then virtue and vice would be attunements of an attunement. But an attunement can't participate in non-attunement. So if a soul is a perfect attunement, it could not have virtue or vice. # The soul is the ruling principle of the body. But attunement is governed by the material of the musical instrument. By analogy, that would make the body the ruler of the soul. Thus, Simmias' argument cannot be upheld.

Later tradition

In addition to the references in Plato and Xenophon,

Diogenes Laërtius Diogenes Laërtius ( ; grc-gre, Διογένης Λαέρτιος, ; ) was a biographer of the Greek philosophers. Nothing is definitively known about his life, but his surviving ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' is a principal sour ...

mentions Simmias as the author of 23 brief dialogues, now lost, including ''On Philosophy'' and ''On Music''. Simmias appears as a character in

Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...

's ''De Genio Socratis'' section of the ''

Moralia The ''Moralia'' ( grc, Ἠθικά ''Ethika''; loosely translated as "Morals" or "Matters relating to customs and mores") is a group of manuscripts dating from the 10th–13th centuries, traditionally ascribed to the 1st-century Greek scholar Pl ...

''.Plutarch, ''Moralia'' 7.46, 575-598

Notes

References

* {{Authority control 4th-century BC Greek people 5th-century BC births 4th-century BC deaths 5th-century BC philosophers Classical Greek philosophers Ancient Thebans Pupils of Socrates Pythagoreans

Character in Plato's ''Phaedo''

Later tradition

See also

Notes

References