Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- Principal dates
- Bibliographical note
- Glossary
- Table of equivalents
- Part I Early poetry
- Part II Tragedy
- Part III History and folklore
- Part IV Philosophy and science
- Part V Sophists
- Protagoras
- Gorgias
- Prodicus
- Hippias
- Antiphon
- Thrasymachus
- Evenus
- Critias
- Lycophron
- Alcidamas
- Anonymus Iamblichi
- Dissoi Logoi
- From unknown authors
- Index
- Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought
Protagoras
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- Principal dates
- Bibliographical note
- Glossary
- Table of equivalents
- Part I Early poetry
- Part II Tragedy
- Part III History and folklore
- Part IV Philosophy and science
- Part V Sophists
- Protagoras
- Gorgias
- Prodicus
- Hippias
- Antiphon
- Thrasymachus
- Evenus
- Critias
- Lycophron
- Alcidamas
- Anonymus Iamblichi
- Dissoi Logoi
- From unknown authors
- Index
- Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought
Summary
Protagoras was born in Abdera around 485 and enjoyed a career of forty years as a professional teacher. He traveled widely and was richly paid for his efforts. The tradition that he was a student of Democritus is probably false, although he too came from Abdera. Most scholars also doubt the story that Protagoras was tried in Athens and condemned for atheism.
We translate here all of the generally accepted fragments, as well as texts in which Protagoras is paraphrased or closely imitated. We have shown only as much of the context as is needed for comprehension. Irrelevant intrusions of context have been omitted without comment. Some passages contain only a word or phrase that is a quotation from Protagoras; in such cases we have underlined the quotation and supplied the necessary context in normal print. We have included titles of works by Protagoras that are well attested and are interesting in their own right. We have also included passages that probably represent teachings of Protagoras that have been filtered through the teachings of other thinkers; these passages are labeled “reconstruction.”
In a few cases we print passages that have long been associated with Protagoras, even though we are not convinced that their content is due to Protagoras. In such cases we preface our designation with the comment “doubtful.”
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- Early Greek Political Thought from Homer to the Sophists , pp. 173 - 189Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1995