In this dialogue, Socrates refers to Epicharmus of Kos as "the prince of Comedy" and Homer as "the prince of Tragedy", and both as "great masters of either kind of poetry".[note 1] This is significant because it is one of the very few extant references in greater antiquity (Fourth century BCE) to Epicharmus and his work. Another reference is in Plato's Gorgias dialogue.
The dialogue references the Trial of Socrates, which takes place in 399 BCE and is set right. At the end of the dialogue, as Socrates is leaving to face a hearing at the Porch of the King Archon, he agrees to meet Theaetetus and Theodorus in the same place the following day, a conversation that is recounted in the Sophist and Statesman dialogues. The dialogue Euthyphro also is set on the same day, and would have occurred immediately after the Theaetetus, as it occurs outside the Porch of the King Archon as Socrates awaits his hearing.
The dialogue includes the earliest reference to The Astrologer who Fell into a Well, one of Aesop's fables, in which the pre-Socratic philosopher Thales, who is known for his work in astronomy and his successful prediction of a solar eclipse. In the fable, Thales is so distracted by the stars that he forgets the ground below him, and proceeds to trip over a well.
