ABSTRACT
In 1953, just outside the southwest corner of the Athenian Agora, a small building was identified with the house and workshop of Simon the shoemaker. Our sources report that, despite his humble profession, this man was blessed with a smart mind and diverse customers, amongst them some prestigious citizens of Athens from the fifth and the fourth centuries bc. It therefore comes as no surprise that Simon is said to have refused Pericles’ kind offer to support him, arguing that he did not want to lose his freedom of speech for money, or that when Socrates called at his workshop, the two would have lively conversations which Simon wrote down. Starting from the remains of some of his belongings (a few footwear components and a drinking-cup with his name inscribed), how the position of his shop helped attract such customers, and how his profession contributed to shaping his intellectual profile, getting him a good as well as a bad reputation, will be assessed. Cynics regarded him as the truest interpreter of Socrates’ way of life, but he also drew harsh criticism from the Cyrenaic Aristippus, who mocked the toil of his job and the frugality of his existence, observing how his philosophy was just that of shoes. Simon knew perfectly how to address these spiteful words, as will be shown in the last part of the chapter, devoted to the writings that ancient and modern scholars attributed to him. Among those, the 33 lost dialogues which Diogenes Laertius allegedly based on the discussions Simon had with Socrates, and commonly labelled as ‘of the shoemaker’ (σκυτικός); a plain adjective for works which were also considered the first example of Socratic dialogues (λόγοι Σωκρατικοί).
