Sotion facts for kids

Sotion of Alexandria was an important Greek writer who lived around 200 to 170 BC. He was known as a doxographer and a biographer. A doxographer collects and writes down the ideas and opinions of famous thinkers, especially philosophers. A biographer writes about the lives of people. Even though none of Sotion's own books still exist today, we know about him because other ancient writers, like Diogenes Laërtius, often mentioned and quoted his work.

Sotion's Main Work: Successions of Philosophers

Sotion's most important book was called Successions of Philosophers. This book was one of the first history books to group philosophers into different "schools" or traditions. It showed how ideas were passed down from one philosopher to the next. For example, he wrote about the Ionian School, which included famous thinkers like Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes.

What Was in the Successions?

The Successions of Philosophers probably had 23 different parts or "books." Sotion gathered information for his work from earlier writers, including a philosopher named Theophrastus. Many later writers, especially Diogenes Laërtius and Athenaeus, quoted Sotion's Successions very often. This shows how important and well-known his book was in ancient times.

How Sotion's Book Influenced Others

Sotion's Successions was so important that other writers used it as a model. For example, a writer named Heraclides Lembus made a shorter version of Sotion's book around the middle of the 2nd century BC. After Sotion, other writers like Sosicrates of Rhodes and Antisthenes of Rhodes also wrote books with the same title, Successions. This shows how Sotion's way of organizing the history of philosophy became very popular.

Other Writings by Sotion

Besides his famous Successions, Sotion also wrote other books. One was called On Timon's Silloi. Another book he wrote was titled Refutations of Diocles. These works also do not exist today, but their titles tell us a little more about Sotion's interests as a writer.