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 left-to-right became standard during the classic period. Modern editions of Ancient Greek texts are usually written with accents and breathing marks, interword spacing, modern punctuation, and sometimes mixed case, but these were all introduced later. The beginning of Homer's Iliad exemplifies the Archaic period of Ancient Greek (see Homeric Greek for more details): <poem style="margin-left: 2em"></poem> The beginning of Apology by Plato exemplifies Attic Greek from the Classical period of Ancient Greek: Using the IPA: Transliterated into the Latin alphabet using a modern version of the Erasmian scheme: Translated into English: The study of Ancient Greek in European countries in