Sophia, or Sofia (Koine Greek: σοφία, sophía—"wisdom") is a central idea in Hellenistic philosophy and religion, Platonism, and Gnosticism. Originally carrying a meaning of "cleverness, skill", the later meaning of the term, "sound judgement, intelligence, practical wisdom," is close to the meaning of phronesis ("practical wisdom, intelligence"), and was significantly shaped by the term philosophía ("love of wisdom") as used by Plato.

In the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church, the feminine personification of divine wisdom as Holy Wisdom (Ἁγία Σοφία; Hagía Sophía) can refer either to Jesus Christ the Word of God (as in the dedication of the church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople) or to the Holy Spirit.

References to sophía in Koine Greek translations of the Hebrew Bible are translated from the Hebrew term Chokmah.

The Ancient Greek word sophía (σοφία) is an abstract noun formed from σοφός (sophós), which can mean "clever, skillful, intelligent, wise". The noun σοφία as "skill in handicraft and art" is Homeric and in Pindar is used to describe both Hephaestos and Athena.

In Plato's myth in Protagoras, Prometheus steals "wisdom in the arts" (ἔντεχνος σοφία) associated with Hephaestus and Athena. In Plato's Republic, the ideal city is said to require that philosophers rule (the "philosopher-king" idea). In Plato's Apology, Socrates reports that the Delphic oracle said no one was wiser than he (often paraphrased as "the wisest man in Greece").

The term sophía could also denote "sound judgement, intelligence, practical wisdom" and is associated by LSJ with the kind of wisdom attributed to the Seven Sages of Greece, comparable to phrónēsis. The term philosophía (φιλοσοφία, "love of wisdom") is used in classical Greek for the pursuit of knowledge/wisdom.

A later tradition credits Pythagoras as the first to call himself a "philosopher".

Philo, a Hellenized Jew writing in Alexandria, attempted to harmonize Platonic philosophy and Jewish scripture. Also influenced by Stoic philosophical concepts, he used the Koine term lógos (λόγος) for the role and function of Wisdom, a concept later adapted by the author of the Gospel of John in its opening verses and applied to Jesus as the Word (Logos) of God the Father.