Ariston (Ancient Greek: Ἀρίστων) was a son of the renowned playwright of ancient Greece, Sophocles, by Theoris, and brother to Iophon, who was also a playwright. He lived some time in the mid 5th century BCE.
Ariston had a son whom he also named Sophocles, who is said to have produced a production of his grandfather's play Oedipus at Colonus in 401 BCE.
Some scholars think he may also have been a writer, though there is not clear consensus on this. Whether he is the same as the Ariston who is called by Diogenes Laërtius a "writer of tragedies", one of whose tragedies was directed against Mnestheus, cannot be said with any certainty, though German scholar Johann Albert Fabricius took this for granted.
References
- Suda, s.v. Ἰοφῶν
- Argum. ad Soph. Oed. Col. p. 12, ed. Wonder
- Diogenes Laërtius, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers 7.164
- Johann Albert Fabricius, Bibliotheca Graeca ii. p. 287
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Schmitz, Leonhard (1870). "Ariston, literary (1)". In Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 1. p. 310.