The Great Sophists in Periclean Athens [Paperback]

Jacqueline de Romilly (Author), Janet Lloyd (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 10, 1998 | ISBN-10: 019823807X | ISBN-13: 978-0198238072

The arrival of the Sophists in Athens in the middle of the fifth century B.C. was a major intellectual event, for they brought with them a new method of teaching founded on rhetoric and bold doctrines which broke away from tradition. In this book de Romilly investigates the reasons for the initial success of the Sophists and the reaction against them, in the context of the culture and civilization of classical Athens.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A lively and engaging introduction to the Sophistic movement....De Romilly deserves much credit for bringing a remarkable immediacy to the subject of the Sophists and their legacy. Classicists and the general public should appreciate this new and controversial assessment of the Sophistic movement."--Bryn Mawr Classical Review

"Offers a brilliant introduction to the Sophists of fifth-century Athens and a major reinterpretation of the goals and effects of their thought....Engagingly written, this eminently accessible account deserves lasting popularity."--Choice

"Exquisite nuance informs both writing and translation in this work, which should complement libraries in classical, philosophy, political science, and religion."--Religious Studies Review

"Uniting the skills of the philologist with those of the philosopher, de Romilly makes an important contribution to the creation of thinking about the thinking of goodness, justice, truth, etc., in the history of ideas."--Rhetoric Review

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (September 10, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 019823807X
• ISBN-13: 978-0198238072
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,768,475 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There's More to the Great Sophists Than Plato Would Allow, June 7, 2000

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Michael S. Burch (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Great Sophists in Periclean Athens (Paperback)

"The Great Sophists" by Jacqueline de Romilly is a thorough and first class book on an important but rarely studied aspect of ancient Greek thought: the Sophists.

Ms. de Romilly is a great French classicist with numerous thoughtful publications to her credit of which "The Great Sophists" is the most recent.

The Sophists have historically had an evil reputation as the first cultural and moral relativists; as corruptors of virtue; and for degrading philosophy.

Ms. de Romilly attempts to demonstrate that this view is due to a variety of factors (primarily Plato's laregly negative characterization of them and the dearth of Sophistic texts)which can and should be re-examined.

She attempts to lay out, to the best of the knowledge available to us, exactly what the Sophists teachings actually were; their similarities with many of Socrates views; and why Plato viewed them with hostile but at times ambivalent feelings.

In all of this Ms. de Romilly does a superb job of rooting out every reference to the Sophists in ancient literature as well as their own statements (often from hostile witnesses like Plato). With this awkward mass of material Ms. de Romilly has fashioned a very interesting and useful work that diserves a prominent place in the history of Greek thought. With the notable exception of Kerford's "The Sophistic Movement" it is difficult to recall any modern work other than Ms. de Romilly's that attempts to so thoroughly arrive at what the Sophists actually believed and what their effect was on Greek thought and civilization.

The most important question though is does she finally redeem the Sophists from the charges of amorality and corruption that were assigned to them? Ultimately I do not think believe she can regardless of how neutral a face she puts on her analysis and how much she endeavors to redeem their thought. As with so much ancient literature it is deeply sad that we do not pocess more texts by the sophists themselves. Given that we do not and given what remains, it seems that Plato was entirely in the right to cast them in the evil light that he did. But that is certainly no reason not to buy and learn from this terrific work of scholarship.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Revolution in Thought in Classical Greece, June 2, 2004

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Frank T. Klus (Phoenix, Arizona United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Great Sophists in Periclean Athens (Paperback)

In the "Golden Age of Pericles" Athens was a Mecca for the world's great thinkers and artists. Democracy was flourishing and demand rose for the kind of education to take advantage of it. Enter the Sophists! Sophist means master of intelligence. The Sophists, such as Protagoras, Gorgias, Prodicus, Hippias, and Thrasymachus introduced intellectual education for a fee. They taught the would-be Athenian aristocrat how to speak well and out-think their opponents. Rhetoric and politics were closely connected since rhetoric prepared the Athenian with a way to enter public office. In an emerging democracy the Sophists offered a means to power.

Jacqueline de Romilly, a former Professor of Greek Language and Literature at the College de France, has written a compelling book on these interesting yet controversial thinkers in Fifth Century Greece. It is a difficult subject to write on since most of the writings of the Sophists has been lost. We largely rely on Plato and others who wrote of the Sophists to get an idea of their methods and ideology. We know that they were rationalists as opposed to metaphysical thinkers. Philosophy shifted from the cosmos to man. Protagoras wrote "Man is the measure of all things." It was a revolutionary departure from anything up to that time. To the Sophists, there was no objective truth, justice or virtue. It was whatever man determined they were. Truth could change depending on time and circumstances. Every argument had two sides and a Sophist could take either side and be effective.

To the students of the Sophists this new thinking offered an education that was superior to what others had and it was fast and paid immediate dividends. It became a powerful movement that effected Pericles, the historian and general, Thucydides, and Xenophon. Playwrights such as Euripides was also greatly influenced by the Sophists, but they had their critics as well. Aristophanes lampooned them and Socrates criticized them for taking virtues that bind a society together and reducing it to a utilitarian means of seeking power.

Probably no single idea had a greater impact on the classical period of ancient Greece than did the Sophists. De Romilly has done an excellent job in presenting their views. The casual reader may have difficulty with concepts presented here and may require a couple of readings but for those who want to truly understand one of the most focused periods in ancient studies this book should be a requirement.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Comprehensive and Well Written, October 20, 2005

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M. Snook - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Great Sophists in Periclean Athens (Paperback)

It seems this book has left nothing out when dealing with the Sophists; her thesis is well thought out, defended, and explained with meticulous detail. I give it five stars because it serves its purpose, but if you open this book with little background on the subject (like me) then it can become a bit grueling.