Gorgias – Gorgias (/ˈɡɔːrdʒiəs/;[1] Greek: Γοργίας Ancient Greek: [ɡorɡíaːs]; c. 485 – c. 380 BC[2]) was a Greek sophist, Italiote, pre-Socratic philosopher and rhetorician who was a native of Leontini in Sicily. Along with Protagoras, he forms the first generation of Sophists. Several doxographers report that he was a pupil of Empedocles, although he would only have been a few years younger. “Like other Sophists he was an itinerant, practicing in various cities and giving public exhibitions of his skill at the great pan-Hellenic centers of Olympia and Delphi, and charged fees for his instruction and performances. A special feature of his displays was to invite miscellaneous questions from the audience and give impromptu replies.”[3] He has been called “Gorgias the Nihilist” although the degree to which this epithet adequately describes his philosophy is controversial.[4][5][6][7]