Publisher's Synopsis
What do we know about the 7th century BC philosopher Socrato? He lived in Macedonia in the 7th century BC. That's it. In fact, we're not even sure of that.We don't have any complete works, we don't know where he studied or taught, or whether he did study or teach. The date and place of his life and works were only assigned to him in the 4th century BC by another philosopher whose name is lost in the mists of time. It's just as likely that Socrato was a rival of that unknown philosopher and he was insulting him by labelling Socrato a barbarian (as the Greeks then thought of the Macedonians). Not to mention the unknown philosopher was quoting Socrato as a bad example of philosophy.In short, we know only the scattered phrases that appear in other, later texts, many of which are themselves obscure. The earliest text comes from the 3rd Century BC, written in Persia by a teacher for his students. The name of the teacher is, again, unknown and his tract contained phrases and paragraphs from other philosophers of Greek and Persian origin. From this and other surviving texts used in these schools we know Socrato was widely known and read for several hundred years. His sayings are quoted in Arabic texts in both the pre- and post-muslim period.This may be due to the simplicity of his surviving phrases, and that is all that remains, or that they can be interpreted in several ways. No doubt they have been used and misused in equal measure.The last text in which any of his writings appear is from 12th century Scandinavia. Here, amongst the Viking language, we see a line of Greek text ascribed to Socrato. It's the last anyone hears of him.Who he was, where and how Socrato lived is unknown. He's an interesting footnote in Western philosophy, but no more than that.
