Sophron
Sophron of Syracuse (Greek: Σώφρων ὁ Συρακούσιος, fl. 430 BC), Magna Graecia, was a writer of mimes (μῖμος, a kind of prose drama).[1]
Sophron was the author of prose dialogues in the 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.[2]
Influence
Plato is said to have introduced Sophron's works into Athens and to have made use of them in his dialogues; according to Diogenes Laërtius, they were Plato's constant companions, and he even slept with them under his pillow;[3] the Suda says of the mimes of Sophron, "Plato the philosopher always read them, so as to be sent into an occasional doze."[1] Some idea of their general character may be gathered from the 2nd and 15th idylls of Theocritus, 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.[2]
Are we then to deny that the so-called mimes of Sophron, which are not even in metre, are stories and imitations, or the dialogues of Alexamenos of Teos, which were written before the Socratic dialogues? Plato is said to have been an admirer and imitator of Sophron, whose works were found under his pillow.[4]
— Humphry House
Editions
The fragments of Sophron are collected in:
- Ahrens, H. L., De graecae linguae dialectis (1843), ii. (app.), and C. J. Botzon (1867); see also his De Sophrone et Xenarcho mimographis (1856).[2]
The most recent edition is:
- Hordern, J. H., Sophron's Mimes: Text, Translation, and Commentary, Oxford, 2004. ISBN 9780199266135.
References
- ^ a b "Sophron (σ 893)". Suda.
- ^ a b c public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Sophron". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 25 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 429. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
- ^ Diogenes Laërtius. Lives of the Eminent Philosophers. 3.18.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location (link) - ^ Humphry House (1956). Aristotles Poetics. Rupert Hart-Davis. pp. 31–32.
- Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica with Wikisource reference
- Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica
- CS1 maint: location
- Articles with short description
- Short description is different from Wikidata
- Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text
- Articles with ISNI identifiers
- Articles with VIAF identifiers
- Articles with BIBSYS identifiers
- Articles with BNF identifiers
- Articles with BNFdata identifiers
- Articles with GND identifiers
- Articles with ICCU identifiers
- Articles with J9U identifiers
- Articles with LCCN identifiers
- Articles with Libris identifiers
- Articles with NLG identifiers
- Articles with NTA identifiers
- Articles with PLWABN identifiers
- Articles with VcBA identifiers
- Articles with CINII identifiers
- Articles with DTBIO identifiers
- Articles with SUDOC identifiers
- Ancient Syracusans
- Ancient Greek writers
- 5th-century BC Greek people
- Old Comic poets
- Doric Greek poets
- Year of birth unknown
- Year of death unknown
- All stub articles
- Ancient Greek writer stubs