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
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.
