Gorgias (; , ; c. 485 – c. 380 BC) 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." He is sometimes called "Gorgias the
Nihilist" although the degree to which this epithet adequately describes his philosophy is controversial.