Prodicus of Ceos (Πρόδικος Pródikos, born c. 465 or 450 BC) was a Greek humanist of the first period of the Sophistic movement, known as the "precursor of Socrates." He was still living in 399 BC. Centuries: 6th century BC - 5th century BC - 4th century BC Decades: 510s BC 500s BC 490s BC 480s BC 470s BC - 460s BC - 450s BC 440s BC 430s BC 420s BC 410s BC Years: 470 BC 469 BC 468 BC 467 BC 466 BC - 465 BC - 464 BC 463 BC... Centuries: 6th century BC - 5th century BC - 4th century BC Decades: 500s BC 490s BC 480s BC 470s BC 460s BC - 450s BC - 440s BC 430s BC 420s BC 410s BC 400s BC Years: 455 BC 454 BC 453 BC 452 BC 451 BC - 450 BC - 449 BC 448 BC... Humanism is a system of thought that defines a socio-political doctrine (-ism) whose bounds exceed those of locally developed cultures, to include all of humanity and all issues common to human beings. ... Sophism was originally a term for the techniques taught by a highly respected group of philosophy and rhetoric teachers in ancient Greece. ... This article is about the ancient Greek philosopher, for all other uses see: Socrates (disambiguation) Socrates (June 4, ca. ... Centuries: 5th century BC - 4th century BC - 3rd century BC Decades: 440s BC 430s BC 420s BC 410s BC 400s BC - 390s BC - 380s BC 370s BC 360s BC 350s BC 340s BC Years: 404 BC 403 BC 402 BC 401 BC 400 BC - 399 BC - 398 BC 397 BC...

He came to Athens as ambassador from Ceos, and became known as a speaker and a teacher. Like Protagoras, he professed to train his pupils for domestic and civic affairs; but it would appear that, while Protagoras's chief instruments of education were rhetoric and style, Prodicus made ethics prominent in his curriculum. In ethics he was a pessimist. Though he discharged his civic duties in spite of a frail physique, he emphasized the sorrows of life; and yet he advocated no hopeless resignation, but rather the remedy of work, and took as his model Heracles, the embodiment of virile activity. The influence of his views may be recognized as late as The Shepherd of Hermas. The Acropolis in central Athens, one of the most important landmarks in world history. ... Khios, or Chios as most Greek English speakers know the island, is a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. ... Protagoras (in Greek Πρωταγόρας) was born around 481 BC in Abdera in Ancient Greece. ... Rhetoric (from Greek ρήτωρ, rhêtôr, orator) is one of the three original liberal arts or trivium (the other members are dialectic and grammar) in Western culture. ... Ethics (from Greek ethikos) is the branch of axiology – one of the four major branches of philosophy, alongside metaphysics, epistemology, and logic – which attempts to understand the nature of morality; to define that which is right from that which is wrong. ... Statue of Heracles In Greek mythology, Heracles, or Heraklês (glory of Hera, Ηρακλης) was a divine hero, the demigod son of Zeus and Alcmene, and stepson of Alcmenes rightful husband and great-grandson of Perseus. ... The Shepherd of Hermas is a Christian work of the first or second century which had great authority in ancient times and was considered by some as one of the books of the Bible. ...

His views on the origin of the belief in the gods is strikingly modern. He held that man first worshipped those great powers which benefit mankind (comparing the worship of the Nile), and after these men who have rendered services to humanity were deified. Yet Prodicus was no atheist, for the pantheist Zeno spoke highly of him. The Nile (Arabic: النيل an-nīl), in Africa, is one of the two longest rivers on Earth. ... It has been suggested that Nontheism be merged into this article or section. ... Pantheism (Greek: pan = all and Theos = God) literally means God is All and All is God. It is the view that everything is of an all-encompassing immanent God; or that the universe, or nature, and God are equivalent. ... Zeno of Elea should not be confused with Zeno of Citium. ...

Of his natural philosophy we know only the titles of his treatises On Nature and On the Nature of Man. His chief interest is that he sought to give precision to the use of words. Two of his discourses were specially famous; one, "On Propriety of Language," is repeatedly alluded to by Plato; the other contained the celebrated apologue On the Choice of Heracles, of which the Xenophontean Socrates (Mem. ij. I, 21 seq.) gives a summary. Theramenes, Euripides and Isocrates are said to have been pupils or hearers of Prodicus. By his immediate successors he was variously estimated: Plato satirizes him in the early dialogues; Aristophanes calls him "a babbling brook"; Aeschines the Socratic condemns him as a sophist. Natural philosophy is a term applied to the objective study of nature and the physical universe before the development of modern science. ... Plato (Greek: Πλάτων Plátōn) (ca. ... Xenophon (In Greek , c. ... Theramenes (d. ... A Statue of Euripides Euripides (c. ... Isocrates (436–338 BC), Greek rhetorician. ... Bust of Aristophanes Aristophanes (c. ... Aeschines (389 - 314 BC), Greek statesman and one of the ten Attic orators, was born at Athens. ...

References

• This article incorporates text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, a publication in the public domain.

Supporters contend that the Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1910-1911) represents the sum of human knowledge at the beginning of the 20th century; indeed, it was advertised as such. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...