Sositheus ( Ancient Greek: Σωσίθεος, c. 280 BC), a Greek tragic poet from

Alexandria Troas Alexandria Troas ("Alexandria of the Troad"; el, Αλεξάνδρεια Τρωάς; tr, Eski Stambul) is the site of an ancient Greek city situated on the Aegean Sea near the northern tip of Turkey's western coast, the area known historically a ...

, was a member of the Alexandrian "pleiad". He must have resided at some time in Athens, since

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

tells us that he attacked the Stoic Cleanthes on the stage, and was hissed off by the audience. As the ''

Suda The ''Suda'' or ''Souda'' (; grc-x-medieval, Σοῦδα, Soûda; la, Suidae Lexicon) is a large 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas (Σούδας) or Souidas ...

'' also calls him a

Syracusan Syracuse ( ; it, Siracusa ; scn, Sarausa ), ; grc-att, Συράκουσαι, Syrákousai, ; grc-dor, Συράκοσαι, Syrā́kosai, ; grc-x-medieval, Συρακοῦσαι, Syrakoûsai, ; el, label=Modern Greek, Συρακούσε� ...

, Suda σ 860 it is conjectured that he belonged to the literary circle at the court of

Hiero II Hiero II ( el, Ἱέρων Β΄; c. 308 BC – 215 BC) was the Greek tyrant of Syracuse from 275 to 215 BC, and the illegitimate son of a Syracusan noble, Hierocles, who claimed descent from Gelon. He was a former general of Pyrrhus of Epirus a ...

. According to an

epigram An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for over two mille ...

of Dioscorides in the ''

Greek Anthology The ''Greek Anthology'' ( la, Anthologia Graeca) is a collection of poems, mostly epigrams, that span the Classical and Byzantine periods of Greek literature. Most of the material of the ''Greek Anthology'' comes from two manuscripts, the ''Pa ...

'' (''Anth. Pal.'' vii.707) he restored the

satyric drama The satyr play is a form of Attic theatre performance related to both comedy and tragedy. It preserves theatrical elements of dialogue, actors speaking verse, a chorus that dances and sings, masks and costumes. Its relationship to tragedy is stron ...

in its original form. A considerable fragment is extant of his pastoral play ''Daphnis'' or ''Lityerses'', in which the Sicilian shepherd, in search of his love Pimplea, is brought into connexion with the

Phrygia In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; grc, Φρυγία, ''Phrygía'' ) was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. After its conquest, it became a region of the great empires ...

n reaper, son of Midas, who slew all who unsuccessfully competed with him in reaping his

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legum ...

. Heracles came to the aid of Daphnis and slew Lityerses. See Otto Crusius s.v. Lityerses in Röscher's ''Lexikon der griechischen and römischen Mythologie''. The fragment of twenty-one lines in Nauck's ''Tragicorum graecorum fragmenta'' apparently contains the beginning of the drama. Two lines from another play titled ''Aethlius'' (probably the traditional first king of Elis, father of

Endymion Endymion primarily refers to: * Endymion (mythology), an Ancient Greek shepherd * ''Endymion'' (poem), by John Keats Endymion may also refer to: Fictional characters * Prince Endymion, a character in the ''Sailor Moon'' anime franchise * Raul ...

) are quoted by Stobaeus (''Flor.'' li. 23).

References

* Ancient Greek dramatists and playwrights Ancient Greek poets 3rd-century BC Greek people Tragic poets Hellenistic Athens Ancient Syracuse Ancient Anatolian Greeks {{AncientGreece-poet-stub