The Practice of Sophism in Athenian Politics, Religion, and Decision Making
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educational studies
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published 03/01/2008
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Summary
In this paper I will discuss the study of sophism as a system of education in ancient Greece and the ways in which it impacted the inhabitants and the conflicts of the ancient Greek society. In the first part I will discuss the subject matters that sophists taught, the reasons why young aristocrats needed to study sophism to gain political success, and the ways in which sophists made those who they opposed politically vulnerable. In the second part, I will describe the ways in which the Athenian religion was altered by sophists. I will also go into depth on whether or not Socrates was a sophist and what his conception of oracles was. In the third part of the paper I will explain the alternative way of thinking that sophists offered in place of the traditional belief in omens and oracles. I will then discuss the differences between the decisions that Athens made about what to do with Mytilene and Melos. To answer these questions I will use the primary sources entitled History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides, The Last Days of Socrates by Plato, particularly the chapters in the Apology and on Crito, and The Rise and Fall of Athens: Nine Greek Lives by Plutarch, mainly the chapters on Pericles and Alcibiades.
Table of Contents
- The study of sophism as a system of education in ancient Greece.
- The practice of sophism.
- How Sophists changed Athenian religion.
- Why Socrates was accused of being a sophist.
- Sophists and omens and oracles.
- Dealing with Mytilene and Melos.
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