Sophrosyne view in subsequent Western European thought. Sophrosyne is one of the cardinal virtues. An adjectival form is "sophron". Sophrosyne Sophrosyne () is an ancient Greek concept of an ideal of excellence of character and soundness of mind, which when combined in one well-balanced individual leads to other qualities, such as temperance, moderation, prudence, purity, decorum and self-control. In other languages there is no equivalent word. In Greek literature sophrosyne is considered an important quality, and is sometimes expressed in opposition to the concept of hubris. A noted example of this occurs in Homer's "The Iliad". When Agamemnon decides to take
Ancient Greek phonology and therefore can be seen in certain Homeric forms. These dialects are called "psilotic". Even later, during the Koine Greek period, disappeared totally from Greek and never reappeared, resulting in Modern Greek not possessing this phoneme at all. The Classical Greek aspirated and voiced stops changed to voiceless and voiced fricatives during the period of Koine Greek (spirantization, a form of lenition). Spirantization of occurred earlier in Laconian Greek. Some examples are transcribed by Aristophanes and Thucydides, such as for ('Yes, by the two gods!') and for ("virgin goddess!') ("Lysistrata" 142 and 1263), for ('sacrificial victim') ("Histories" book 5, chapter