Gorgias
Sign in to saveGorgias ( ; ; – ) was an ancient Greek sophist, pre-Socratic philosopher, and rhetorician who was a native of Leontinoi in Sicily. Several doxographers report that he was a pupil of Empedocles, although he would only have been a few years younger. W. K. C. Guthrie writes that "Like other Sophists, he was an itinerant that practiced in various cities and giving public exhibitions of his skill at the great pan-Hellenic centers of Olympia and Delphi, and charged fees for his instruction and performances. A special feature of his displays was to ask miscellaneous questions from the audience and gi
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Gorgias was an ancient Greek sophist and rhetorician from Sicily who traveled between cities giving paid public demonstrations of his speaking and reasoning skills, particularly at major Greek religious centers. His work represents an important early development in rhetoric and philosophy, influencing how the ancient Greeks thought about language, persuasion, and public discourse.
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Person · Open Library
- Born
- 5th cent. BC
- Died
- 4th cent. BC
- Works
- 12
Top works
- Encomio di Elena
- Gorgiae Helena
- (Gorgiae) Helena
- Encomium of Helen
- Encomio di Elena ;
via Open Library + Wikidata
Listeners · Last.fm
- Listeners
- 6
- Total plays
- 7
<a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Gorgias">Read more on Last.fm</a>
Recent publications · Crossref
5 total works indexed
Article
17 sectionsContents
- Life
- Philosophy
- Rhetorical innovation
- ''On Non-Existence''
- Rhetorical works
- ''Encomium of Helen''
- ''Defense of Palamedes''
- ''Epitaphios'' (or the Athenian funeral oration)
- Reception and legacy
- In antiquity
- Modern reception
- See also
- References
- Bibliography
- Primary sources
- Secondary sources
- External links
Gorgias ( ; ; – ) was an ancient Greek sophist, pre-Socratic philosopher, and rhetorician who was a native of Leontinoi in Sicily. Several doxographers report that he was a pupil of Empedocles, although he would only have been a few years younger. W. K. C. Guthrie writes that "Like other Sophists, he was an itinerant that practiced in various cities and giving public exhibitions of his skill at the great pan-Hellenic centers of Olympia and Delphi, and charged fees for his instruction and performances. A special feature of his displays was to ask miscellaneous questions from the audience and give impromptu replies." He has been called "Gorgias the Nihilist", although the degree to which this epithet adequately describes his philosophy is controversial.
Prominent among his claims to recognition is that he transplanted rhetoric from his native Sicily to Attica, and contributed to the diffusion of the Attic dialect as the language of literary prose.