CriticaLink | Plato: Phaedrus | Terms

Thamus

In Egyptian mythology, Thamus or Ammon is the king of the gods. In Socrates's parable of the invention of writing in the Phaedrus, Thamus criticizes the god Theuth's enthusiasm for the supposed benefits of writing as an elixir (pharmakon in Greek) of memory, claiming instead that the practice of writing will ultimately weaken memory.

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• Socrates
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• Thamus
• Theuth

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