person
Simonides of Ceos
Simonides
Greek lyric poet (c. 556-468 BC), credited as the inventor of the art of memory. The Scopas anecdote (Cic. De Or. 2.351-353) is the founding story of the loci-and-images mnemonic system.
Reading notes
- On the Orator §2.351 Simonides
The Greek lyric poet (c. 556-468 BC) credited as the inventor of the art of memory by means of loci and images. The story Antonius tells (the collapse of Scopas's hall, Simonides recalling guests by their seats) is the founding myth of the mnemonic system that runs through medieval rhetoric and Renaissance memory-arts.
- Tusculan Disputations §1.59 how great a memory Simonides is said to have had
Simonides of Ceos, the lyric poet credited with inventing the art of memory (the method of loci). He heads a list of men famed for prodigious memory (Theodectes, Cineas, Charmadas, Metrodorus, Hortensius) adduced to show the marvel of human recollection.