Protagoras and the Rise of the Sophists

In fifth-century BCE Athens, democracy rewarded citizens who could speak persuasively in the Assembly and the courts. This demand created the Sophists, traveling teachers who charged fees to teach rhetoric, politics and 'excellence' (arete). The most famous, Protagoras of Abdera (c. 490–c. 420 BCE), declared that 'man is the measure of all things', meaning that truth and value depend on the perceiver or the community.

He was also agnostic, saying he could not know whether the gods exist because the question is obscure and life is short. Protagoras was respected: Pericles reportedly asked him to draft laws for the new colony of Thurii. Plato's dialogues portray the Sophists as clever but shallow, selling the ability to win arguments regardless of truth, and that negative image shapes our word 'sophistry'. Many modern historians argue this is unfair, since Sophists pioneered the study of language, education and political life.