Antigonus of Socho אנטיגנוס איש סוכו
disciple of Shimon HaTzadik, a link in the chain of transmission
Antigonus of Socho is the first sage with a Greek name in the chain of Avot — a sign that Greek had entered daily life in the Land of Israel. He received the tradition from Shimon HaTzadik and stands between the Great Assembly and the first «pair».
One saying of his survives, and it is famous: «Do not be like servants who serve their master in order to receive a reward; be rather like servants who serve their master with no thought of reward — and let the fear of Heaven be upon you.»
A later tradition relates that two of his students, Tzadok and Baytos, took the words their own way: if there is no reward, there is no world to come. From this, the story goes, grew the Sadducees and Boethusians, who rejected the Oral Torah and the resurrection. Historians treat the account as late, yet it captures the era: this is when the Jewish world began to split into parties.
His successors are Yose ben Yoezer and Yose ben Yochanan, the first of the five pairs.