A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

SOSTRATUS. SOSUS. 887
therefore the sixth in that series of seven artists, Orelli, ad Philon. Byz. de Sept. Mirea. 1, p. 73;
of whom Aristocles of Sicyon was the first, and Hirt, Gesch. d. Baukunst, vol. ii. p. 160; R. RoPantias the last. (Paus. vi. 9. ~ 1; comnp. ARis- chette, Lettre a AL. Schorn, p. 406, 2d ed.)
TOCLES). There is some difficulty in fixing the 5. An engraver of precious stones, whose name
times of these artists; but, on the whole, the most appears on several very beautiful cameos and inprobable date for Sostratus is that assigned to him taglios, which are enumerated by Raoul-Rochette
by Miiller, namely, about 01. 95, B. C. 400. Pau- (Lettre a M. Schorn, pp. 155, 156, 2d ed.). The
sanias (1. c.) only mentions his name, saying no- form CnTPATOC, which occurs on some of these
thing of any of his works; but Polybius (iv. 78) stones, is evidently the same name; but we are
informs us that Sostratus, in conjunction with He- not quite prepared to assert, with Raoul-Rochette,
catodorus, made a bronze statue of Athena, which that " the reading, which is not Greek, could only
was dedicated at Aliphera in Arcadia. The name proceed from the inadvertence of the artist." It
of IIecatodorus does not occur elsewhere; but may be so, but it may also be that:0'rparoT was
Pausanias (viii. 26. ~ 4. s. 7) mentions this same a softened pronunciation of the name.
statue as the work of Hypatodorus, an artist who The explanation suggested by Winckelmann, in
flourished between 01. 90 and O1. 102, and whose his account of the gems of Baron Stosch, —that
name might easily be corrupted into Hecatodorus. the form.crTpa'os occurs only on gems of later
Pausanias does not mention Sostratus in connec- workmanship, the engraver of which, it is pretion with Hypatodorus; and Polybius does not sumed, wished to pass them off as works of Sostraidentify him with the teacher of Pantias; but, tus, but was careless in the execution of his forfiom a comparison of the two passages with the gery —appears, according to the testimony of R.
one first quoted from Pausanias, the inference is at Rochette, to be negatived by the existence of
least probable that they refer to the same artist. works which are evidently of genuine antiquity,
3. A statuary in bronze, whom Pliny mentions and which bear the name in that form.
as a contemporary of Lysippus, at O1. 114, B. C. 6. To the above artists, whom various writers
323, the date of Alexander's death. (H. N. xxxiv. notice, must still be added one more, a medallist,
8. s. 19). Even if we make all allowance for whose name appears in full on some coins of TaPliny's practice of grouping together, at some rentum, and to whom, therefore, Raoul-Rochette
marked historical epoch, artists who were only appears very likely to be correct in ascribing other
partially contemporary, we can hardly suppose medals of Tarentum, and of Thurium, which are
this Sostratus to have been the same person as the inscribed with the abbreviations:n12 and 12n:, alpreceding. But, on the other hand, considering though from the frequency of names beginnillrng
how frequently different branches of art were cul- with this syllable, especially among the Greeks of
tivated by the same person, there is much proba- Southern Italy, it is impossible to be quite sture
bility in Thiersch's conjecture, that he was iden- that lie is right. (R. Rochette, Lettre a il. Sch/ouin,
tical with the following. p. 97.) [P. S.]
4. The son of Dexiphanes, of Cnidus, was one SOSUS (&cjaos), artists. 1. Of Pergamus, a
of the great architects who flourished during and worker in mosaic, and, according to Pliny, the
after the life of Alexander the Great. He built most celebrated of all who practised that art. He
for Ptolemy I., the son of Lagus, at the expense made the pavement of a room at Pergamus, on
of 800 talents, the celebrated Pharos of Alexan- which he imitated, by means of little coloured
dria, in connection with which we have one of the pebbles, the floor of an unswept room after a bannumerous examples recorded of the contrivances to quet, whence it was called a&dpwTos olicoS. The
which artists have resorted to obtain their share of fragments of the meal, which had fallen to the
the posthumous fame which their patrons desired floor, were exactly represented, and in the centre
to monopolize. It is related that Sostratus, not was a cantharus, with a dove drinking out of it,
being allowed by Ptolemy to inscribe his own name the shadow of whose head was seen on the water
upon his work, resorted to the artifice of secretly in the vessel, and other doves were sunning themcairving his name in deep letters in a stone of the selves on the edge of the cantharus. (Plin. Ii. N.
building, which he then covered with a softer xxxvi. 25. s. 60). An imperfect copy of the central
material, on which he inscribed the name of the part of this mosaic (at first mistaken for the oriking. In this case, however, the story appears to ginal), was found in Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli, in
be an invention; for Pliny expressly mentions it as 1737 (Mus. Capitol. iv. 69), and a more perfect copy
an instance of the magnanimity of Ptolemy, that was found at Naples in 1833. (Miiller, Archiiol.
he permitted the name of the architect to be in- d. Kunst, ~ 163, n. 6. ~ 322, n. 4, ed. Welclker.)
scribed upon the building. (Plin. II. N. xxxvi. 12. One or two other mosaics have been supposed by
s. 18; Strab. xvii. p. 791; Suid. and Steph. Byz. some antiquaries to be copies from works by Sosus,
s. v. 4,pos; Lucian. de Conscrib. 1Hisl. 62, vol. ii. but on grounds entirely conjectural. (See Nagler,
p. 69). The architect also embellished his native Kiinstler Lexicon, s. v.)
city, Cnidus, with a work which was one of the We have no information respecting the artist's
wonders of ancient architecture, namely, a portico, age or country, but it is clear that he must have
or colonnade, supporting a terrace, which served as lived during or after the decline of painting, which
a promenade, and which Pliny (1. c.) calls pensilis followed the Alexandrian period, when-the art had
armbulcatio. This phrase, taken in connection with degenerated to an ornament of luxury, when
Lucian's mention of the work in the plural number homely and even grotesque subjects were greatly
(o-Toad), suggests the idea that the edifice of Sos- admired (comp. PYREIClS), and when the elaborate
tratus was a continuous series of porticoes sur- imitation of minute details was prized above every
rounding an enclosed space, perhaps the Agora of other quality.
the city. Pliny further informs us that Sostratns 2. A medallist, whose name appears in very fine
was the first who erected a building of this kind. characters on the prow of the vessel carrying the
(Plin. 1. c.; Lucian. Amsor. 11, vol. ii. p. 408; horoine Histiaea, which is the ordinary type of the
3 L 4