What is "charmides"

The Charmides (; ) is a dialogue of Plato, in which Socrates engages a handsome and popular boy in a conversation about the meaning of sophrosyne, a Greek word usually translated into English as "temperance", "self-control", or "restraint". As is typical with Platonic early dialogues, the two never arrive at a completely satisfactory definition, but the discussion nevertheless raises many important points.

Charmides (; ), son of Glaucon, was an Athenian statesman who flourished during the 5th century BC. Uncle of Plato, Charmides appears in the Platonic dialogue bearing his name ( Charmides), the Protagoras, and the Symposium, as well as in Xenophon's Symposium, Memorabilia, and Hellenica. A wealthy orphan raised by his first cousin, Critias, his property was confiscated for his role in profaning the Eleusinian Mysteries in 415 BC. He is commonly listed as one of the Thirty Tyrants who ruled Athens following its defeat in the Peloponnesian War, but evidence points only to his having been one of the ten men appointed by the Thirty to govern the Piraeus. He was killed in the Battle of Munichia in 403 BC when the democrats returned to Athens.

This Charmides was probably not the same man as the father of the great Athenian sculptor Phidias, also named Charmides.