Editing Sophron

{{Short description|Ancient Greek writer (fl. 430 BCE)}}
'''Sophron''' of [[Syracuse, Italy|Syracuse]] ({{langx|grc|Σώφρων ὁ Συρακούσιος}}, ''[[floruit|fl.]]'' 430 BC), [[Magna Graecia]], was a writer of mimes (μῖμος, a kind of prose drama).<ref name=suda>{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Suda| url=https://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/sol/sol-cgi-bin/search.cgi?login=guest&searchstr=sigma,893&field=adlerhw_gr|title=Sophron (σ 893)}}</ref>

Sophron was the author of prose dialogues in the [[Doric Greek|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.<ref name=EB1911>{{EB1911 |wstitle=Sophron |volume=25 |page=429 |inline=1}}</ref>

==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;<ref>{{cite book|url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Lives_of_the_Eminent_Philosophers/Book_III|title=Lives of the Eminent Philosophers|author=Diogenes Laërtius|location=3.18}}</ref> the ''[[Suda]]'' says of the mimes of Sophron, "Plato the philosopher always read them, so as to be sent into an occasional doze."<ref name=suda /> 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]].<ref name=EB1911/>

{{quote|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 [[Alexamenus of Teos|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.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/aristotlespoetic032945mbp|pages=[https://archive.org/details/aristotlespoetic032945mbp/page/n36 31]–32|title=Aristotles Poetics|year=1956|author=Humphry House|publisher=Rupert Hart-Davis }}</ref>|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).<ref name=EB1911/>
The most recent edition is:
* Hordern, J. H., ''Sophron's Mimes: Text, Translation, and Commentary'', Oxford, 2004. {{ISBN|9780199266135}}.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Ancient Syracusans]]
[[Category:5th-century BC Greek poets]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek comic poets]]
[[Category:Doric Greek poets]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Year of death unknown]]


{{AncientGreece-writer-stub}}