doing honour to the astronomer for his candour and caution, seems to follow Pliny. (Fabric. Bibl. GroPAi. vol. iv. p. 34 ; Weidler, Histor. Astron. p. 151.) [A. De AI.]
SOSI'NUS ((Greek characters)), of Gortyna, in Crete, an
artist or artificer, whose name is known by his
sepulchral monument, on which he is designated
(
Greek characters), a term which has been explained in
different ways. By comparing what little can be
gathered respecting the word itself with the bas-
relief on the monument, Bockh and Raoul-Rochette
have come to the conclusion, that the word signifies
a maker of bronze shields. The monument, which
is in the Museum of the Louvre, has been engraved
by Bouillon (Afus. des Antiq. vol. iii. Cippes, i. 3),
and the inscription is published by Bbckh {Corp.
Inser. No. 837). (R. Rochette, Lettre a Sc/iorn,
pp. 405, 406, 2d ed. ; comp. Welcker, Sylloge., No.
3, np. 5—7.) [P. S.]
SOSI'PATER ((Greek characters)). 1. An Athenian
comic poet, of the New, and perhaps also of the
Middle Comedy. He is only mentioned by Athe-
naeus (ix. p. 378, f.), who quotes a very long pas-
sage from his Karail'euSo/ieVos, in which mention
is made of the cook Chariades, to whom the comic
poet Eiiphron refers as being dead. (Ath. ix. p.
379, c.) Hence it is inferred that Sosipater flou-
rished shortly before Euphron. (Meineke, Fragm.
Com. Graec. vol. i. p. 477, vol. iv. pp. 482 — 485 ;
Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. ii. p. 495.)
2. Three epigrams are found in the Greek An- thology under the name of Sosipater ; but this is merely through an error of Salmasius. The epi- grams ought properly to be assigned to Dioscorides. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. iv. p. 495 ; Brunck, Anal. vol. i. p. 504 ; Jacobs, Anth. Graec. vol. i. p. 255, vol. vii. pp.371 406, vol. xii. p. 451, vol. xiii. p. 955.) [P. S.]
SOSPPATER and ZENON, of Soli, statuaries, known by an inscription found at Lindos as having made one of the bronze statues of the Uparevcrav- res of Athena Lindia and Zeus Polieus. There is some doubt as to the meaning of the term tepo- reiKTauTss. Ross translates it priests, R. Rochette understands it as equivalent to the sacrificantes of Pliny {H.N. xxxiv. 8. s. 19. § 34), and Welcker translates it ex-priests. (Ross, Rliein. Mus. 1846 — 1847, vol. iv. p. 168 ; Welcker, Rhein.Mus. 1848 —1849, vol. vi. pp. 382, 385.) [P. S.]
SOSI'PHANES ((Greek characters)), one of the am-
bassadors whom Antiochus Epiphanes sent to Rome
when he engaged in his war against Egypt for
Coele-Syria. (Polyb. xxviii. 1, 18.) [P. S.]
SOSI'PHANES ((Greek characters)), the son of Sosi-
cles, of Syracuse, a tragic poet, who, according to
Suidas, exhibited seventy-three dramas, and ob-
tained seven victories ; was one of the seven trage-
dians who were called the Tragic Pleiad ; was
born at the end of the reign of Philip, or, as others
said, in that of Alexander ; and died in the 121 st
or 124th Olympiad (adopting Clinton's correction
pKo. and p«S, for piL and ptS,) ; while others stated
that he flourished at one or the other of those dates.
(Suid. s. V.) Clinton proposes to reduce these
statements into a consistent form in the following
manner : Sosiphanes was born in the reign of
] Philip, or in that of Alexander, between b. c. 340
t and B. c. 330, and exhibited tragedy in the times
j of the Pleiad, 01. 121 (b. c. 296 ) or 01. 124 (b. c.
284). He is placed among the poets of the Pleiad
[ by a scholiast on Hephaestion (p. 185), as well as
by Suidas ; but, in the other three lists, the name
of Aeantides appears instead of Sosiphanes. If the
latter really belonged to the Tragic Pleiad, he must
have been the oldest of the seven poets in it.
Of the seventy-three plays of Sosiphanes, the
only remains are one title, McXeaypos, and a very
few lines from it and other plays. (Fabric. Bibl.
Grace, vol. ii. pp. 318, 322 ; Clinton, F. H. vol.
iii. s. aa. 278, 259, pp. 502, 504; Welcker, GriecJi.
Trag'od. p. 1266 ; Wagner, Frag. Trag. Graec. in
Didot's Bibliotlieca., p. 157.) [P. S.]
SOSl'POLIS (Scoo-iTToAts), i. e. the saviour of
the state, was the nameof a hero among the Eleans,
who was represented as a boy wearing a military
cloak, and carrying the horn of Amalthea in his
hand. He had a sanctuary in common with Eilei-
thyia at the foot of the hill of Cronos at Olympia,
and no one was allowed to approach his altar ex-
cept the priestess, and even she only with her
head covered. Oaths in which he was called upon
were considered to be particularly solemn and
binding. The origin of his worship is thus re-
lated : — Once when the Arcadians had invaded
Elis and the Eleans had marched out to meet
them, there appeared among the Eleans a woman
with a boy at her breast and declaring that
after she had given birth to the child she had
been called upon by a vision in a dream, to offer
the child as a champion to the Eleans. The com-
manders of the Eleans believing the assertion,
placed the child naked before tlieir ranks, and
when the Arcadians began the attack, the child
was metamorphosed into a serpent. Hereupon the
Arcadians fled in dismay, and the Eleans pursuing
them gained the victory. The Eleans hence
called their saviour Sosipolis, and on the spot
where he had disappeared in the form of a snake
they built a sanctuary to him and his supposed
mother Eileithyia. (Pans. vi. 20. § 2, iii. 25.
§ 4.) [L. S.]
SOSIPPUS (ScifTiTrTTos), a supposed -comic poet
of the New Comedy, the only mention of whom is
in the following passage of Athenaeus (iv. p. 133,
f.), Ai(f>ios Se ^ '2,(1)0' itriros iu 'AiroXnrovcrr}, where,
since the name of Sosippus does not occur else-
where, Meineke proposes to read IloadSnnros,
adding, however, "quamquam ejusmodi conjecturis nihil incertius." Sosippus is the title of a comedy
of Anaxandrides, which may perhaps account for
the mention of the name as that of a comic poet ;
such mistakes are frequent. (Meineke, f/isL Crit.
Com. Graec. pp. 373, 453.) [P. S.]
SOSIS ((Greek characters)). 1. A Syracusan, who joined
the expedition of the younger Cyrus with 300
mercenaries. (Xen. Anab. i. 2. § 9).
2. A Syracusan, who endeavoured to excite a
popular sedition against Dion during the period
when the latter having made himself master of
Syracuse was besieging Dionysius in the island
citadel. Sosis had purposely wounded himself,
and pretended to have received these injuries from
emissaries of Dion, but the fraud was discovered,
and Sosis, in consequence, was put to death by
the indignant populace. (Plut. Dion. 34, 35).
3. A Syracusan, originally a man of ignoble
birth, and a brazier by trade (Li v. xxvi. 30), was
one of the conspirators who assassinated Hierony-
mus at Leontini, B. c. 215. [Hikronymus]. Af-
ter that event, Sosis and Theodotus (another of
the conspirators) hastened immediately to Syracuse,
where they roused the people to arms, and made
3l 2