Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

6 results found

Protagoras

(Encyclopedia)Protagoras prōtăgˈərəs [key], c.490–c.421 b.c., Greek philosopher of Abdera, one of the more distinguished Sophists. He taught for a time in Athens, where he was a friend of Pericles and knew S...

Sophists

(Encyclopedia)Sophists sŏfˈĭsts [key], originally, itinerant teachers in Greece (5th cent. b.c.) who provided education through lectures and in return received fees from their audiences. The term was given as a ...

Callias, d. c.370 b.c., Athenian leader

(Encyclopedia)Callias, d. c.370 b.c., Athenian leader, one of the generals of the Peloponnesian War. In his old age Callias was one of the ambassadors sent to Sparta with Callistratus to negotiate a peace treaty in...

Critias

(Encyclopedia)Critias krĭshˈēəs, krĭtēəs [key], c.460–403 b.c., Athenian political leader and writer. A relative of Plato, he was an aristocrat and had early training in philosophy with Socrates and wrote ...

Abdera

(Encyclopedia)Abdera ävdēˈrä [key], town, NE Greece, in Thrace, near the mouth of the Mesta River. It is a small agricultural settlement. Founded (c.650 b.c.) by colonists from Clazomenae, it was destroyed by t...

skepticism

(Encyclopedia)skepticism skĕpˈtĭsĭzəm [key] [Gr.,=to reflect], philosophic position holding that the possibility of knowledge is limited either because of the limitations of the mind or because of the inaccess...