Gorgias facts for kids

Gorgias (/ˈɡɔːrdʒiəs/; Greek: Γοργίας; 483–375 BC) was an ancient Greek Sophist, pre-Socratic philosopher, and rhetorician. He was born in Leontinoi in Sicily.

Gorgias was one of the first Sophists, along with Protagoras. Sophists were traveling teachers in ancient Greece. They taught young men how to speak well and argue effectively. Gorgias was known for his amazing speaking skills. He would travel to different cities and give public shows of his talent. He also charged fees for his lessons and performances. He was famous for asking the audience for random questions and giving answers right away.

Gorgias is important because he brought the art of rhetoric from Sicily to Attica (the region around Athens). He also helped make the Attic dialect a popular language for writing.

Life of Gorgias

Gorgias was born around 483 BC in Leontinoi, a Greek city in eastern Sicily. His father's name was Charmantides. He had a brother named Herodicus who was a doctor. His brother sometimes traveled with him.

Gorgias is thought to have studied with the philosopher Empedocles of Acragas. He might have also studied with other teachers of rhetoric. However, not much is known about these studies.

In 427 BC, when Gorgias was about 60 years old, he led a group of people from Leontinoi to Athens. They asked Athens for help against the city of Syracuse. After this, Gorgias stayed in mainland Greece. He lived in different cities, including Athens and Larisa.

He was famous for giving speeches at big Greek festivals, like the Panhellenic Festivals in Olympia.

Gorgias as a Teacher

Gorgias mainly worked as a teacher of rhetoric. Rhetoric is the art of speaking or writing effectively and persuasively. Many important people were his students, including Isocrates. Other famous people like Pericles, Thucydides, and Alcibiades were also influenced by his style.

Gorgias lived a very long life, supposedly to be 108 years old. He was admired for being able to speak on any topic. He earned a lot of money from his teaching and performances. He even had a gold statue of himself placed in the temple of Apollo at Delphi. He died in Larissa in Thessaly.

Gorgias's Big Ideas

The ideas of the early Greek Sophists are sometimes hard for scholars to understand. This is because their writings can be tricky, and we mostly know about them from other writers like Plato. Gorgias's ideas are especially hard to figure out. Many of his original writings are lost, and the ones that survived have been changed over time.

Gorgias often used metaphors, similes, and puns in his speeches. This made his points interesting but also sometimes confusing. He also liked to mix serious philosophical talk with jokes or satire. It's often hard to tell when he was being serious and when he was just having fun. He sometimes even seemed to contradict himself.

On Non-Existence

One of Gorgias's most famous works is called On Non-Existence. In this work, he explored some very bold ideas. The original text is lost, but we know about it from other ancient writers.

Gorgias made three main arguments in On Non-Existence:

• Nothing truly exists: He argued that if something did exist, it would have to be either eternal or created, and he showed problems with both ideas.
• Even if something exists, we can't know it: He said that our minds can't truly grasp reality. What we think or sense might not be the same as what is actually real.
• Even if we could know it, we can't communicate it: He believed that words can't perfectly share our thoughts or experiences. For example, how can you describe the color red to someone who has never seen it?

Some people have called Gorgias a "Nihilist" because of these arguments. Nihilism is the idea that nothing really exists or that nothing can be known. However, many modern scholars believe Gorgias wasn't truly a nihilist. They think he was actually showing how powerful and tricky language can be. He was perhaps trying to prove that it's possible to argue for almost anything, even something seemingly absurd.

How Gorgias Changed Rhetoric

Gorgias brought new ways of structuring speeches and making them sound beautiful. He also introduced paradoxologia, which means using ideas or expressions that seem to go against common sense. Because of these new ideas, some people call him the "father of sophistry."

He was also the first speaker known to create and teach a special way of speaking. His style helped make the Attic Greek dialect popular for writing.

Gorgias's Writings

Gorgias's main works that we know about are:

• Encomium of Helen
• Defense of Palamedes
• On Non-Existence (which we discussed earlier)
• Epitaphios (a funeral speech)

These works were probably part of a guide on how to give speeches. They showed different ways to use rhetoric. Only the Encomium of Helen and the Defense of Palamedes are thought to be complete today.

Gorgias's writings were meant to be both persuasive and entertaining. He loved to show how he could make even a strange argument sound strong. He used playful styles like parody and theatricality. He believed that powerful words could have an effect like magic. He said that speech could stop fear, ease pain, create joy, and make people feel pity. He compared the effect of words on the mind to how drugs affect the body.

Gorgias also paid close attention to how words sounded. He used rhythm and rhymes to captivate his audiences, almost like poetry.

Unlike some other Sophists, Gorgias didn't claim to teach arete (excellence or virtue). He thought that virtue wasn't the same for everyone. For example, what was considered good for a slave was different from what was good for a leader. He believed that rhetoric, the art of persuasion, was the most important skill. With rhetoric, you could convince people to do anything.

Plato, another famous philosopher, disagreed with Gorgias about rhetoric. In his dialogue called Gorgias, Plato argued that rhetoric wasn't a true skill. He thought it was more like a trick that could make someone who didn't know much seem smarter than an expert.

Famous Rhetorical Works

Encomium of Helen

Helen of Troy by Evelyn De Morgan (1898, London)

The Encomium of Helen is a great example of a speech meant to praise someone. It was probably Gorgias's "show piece" to attract students. In this speech, Gorgias praises Helen of Troy and tries to remove the blame she received for leaving Sparta with Paris.

Helen was known for her incredible beauty. She was the daughter of Zeus and Leda, and the Queen of Sparta. Her beauty was seen as the cause of the ten-year Trojan War. The war started after the goddesses Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite asked Paris (a Trojan prince) to choose the most beautiful among them. Aphrodite promised Paris the most beautiful woman, Helen, if he chose her. Paris then went to Greece, and Helen, influenced by Aphrodite, ran away with him to Troy. This led to the war and the common belief that Helen was to blame. Gorgias challenged this idea in his speech.

Gorgias starts by saying that good people or actions should be praised, and bad ones should be blamed. He then looks at the possible reasons why Helen went to Troy. He says she could have been persuaded in four ways:

• By the gods: If the gods planned it, then Helen shouldn't be blamed, because humans can't stop what the gods want.
• By force: If she was taken by force, then the person who forced her should be blamed, not Helen.
• By love: If she was persuaded by love, then she shouldn't be blamed either. Gorgias says if love is a god, she couldn't refuse. If it's a human weakness, it's a misfortune, not a mistake.
• By speech (logos): If words persuaded Helen, Gorgias says he can easily clear her name. He explains that "Speech is a powerful master" that can stop fear, relieve pain, create joy, and increase pity.

Gorgias used many figures of speech in this work. These included balanced sentences, contrasting ideas, and repeating word endings. The Encomium shows how much Gorgias was interested in the power of argument.

Defense of Palamedes

In the Defense of Palamedes, Gorgias shows how language can be used to create fair arguments. This speech deals with ideas of right and wrong and loyalty. It defends Palamedes, a hero in Greek mythology. Palamedes is famous for inventing things like the alphabet and written laws.

In the story, Palamedes is accused of betraying the Greeks to the Trojans. Odysseus made this accusation because Palamedes had tricked him into revealing he wasn't crazy to avoid going to war. Palamedes was later found guilty and killed.

In this speech, Gorgias experiments with how believable arguments can make people doubt what they thought was true. Gorgias shows how to build arguments based on what is possible, using logic, ethics, and emotion. He argues that to prove treason, certain things must have happened. For example, Palamedes would have needed to communicate with the enemy, exchange money or hostages, and not be caught by guards.

Palamedes argues that a small amount of money wouldn't be worth such a big risk. A large amount would need many helpers to move it. He also says that such an exchange couldn't happen at night (guards would see) or during the day (everyone would see). He also explains that if there were helpers, they could have told on him. Palamedes then lists many possible reasons for treason and proves that none of them apply to him.

Through the Defense, Gorgias shows that a person needs a reason, like power, money, or honor, to commit treason. He insists that Palamedes had no such reason.

Epitaphios (The Athenian Funeral Oration)

This text is an important example of a funeral speech. In ancient Athens, famous speakers would give these speeches at public burials to honor soldiers who died in wars. Gorgias's text cleverly criticizes the political speeches of Athens in the 5th century BC.

See also

• Hellenistic philosophy
• On Melissus, Xenophanes, and Gorgias