In Late Fifth-century Athens, The Sophist Kriti... Guide

While some scholars question his "professional" status as a sophist, he is typically grouped with them due to his rationalism and radical challenges to traditional values.

Critias was a complex figure in the "Sophistic Enlightenment" of late 5th-century Athens. Unlike itinerant sophists like Protagoras or Gorgias, he was a native Athenian and a relative of Plato. In late fifth-century Athens, the sophist Kriti...

He was the most violent leader of the Thirty Tyrants , the pro-Spartan oligarchy that ruled Athens after its defeat in the Peloponnesian War. While some scholars question his "professional" status as

His most famous intellectual contribution is an argument found in the play Sisyphus , which suggests that the gods are a clever human invention designed by early lawmakers to keep people in check through fear. In late fifth-century Athens, the sophist Kriti...