Sophrosyne 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 the queen, Briseis, away from Achilles, it is seen as Agamemnon behaving with hubris and lacking sophrosyne. In
Ancient Greek nouns Ancient Greek nouns In Ancient Greek, all nouns are classified according to grammatical gender (masculine, feminine, or neuter) and are used in a number (singular, dual, or plural). According to their function in a sentence, their form changes to one of the five cases (nominative, vocative, accusative, genitive, or dative). The set of forms that a noun will take for each case and number is determined by the declension that it follows. The five cases of Ancient Greek each have different functions. The Ancient Greek nominative, like the Proto-Indo-European nominative, is used for the subject and for things describing the