The Greek Sophists

By mid-5th century BC, Athens was governed by democratic rule and power turned upon the ability of the citizen to command the attention of the people, and to sway the crowds of the assembly. It was the Sophists who understood the art of rhetoric and the importance of transforming effective reasoning into persuasive public speaking. Their enquiries - into the status of women, slavery, the distinction between Greeks and barbarians, the existence of the gods, the origins of religion, and whether virtue can be taught - laid the groundwork for the insights of the next generation of thinkers such as Plato and Aristotle.

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Introduction
Further Reading
A Note on the Text

1. Protagoras of Abdera
2. Gorgias of Leontini
3. Prodicus of Ceos
4. Hippias of Elis
5. Antiphon
6. Thrasymachus of Chalcedon
7. Critias of Athens
8. Euthydemus and Dionysodorus of Chios
9. Alcidamas of Elaea
10. The Anonymus Iamblichi and the Double Arguments

Appendix: A Conspectus of Sources
Notes
Index of Rhetorical Terms
Index

JOHN DILLON is now Regius Professor of Greek at Trinity College, Dublin.

TANIA GERGEL is a lecturer in Ancient Greek Philosophy in the Department of Classics at King's College, London.