When I first started looking for information on Prodicus, most of the places that I started out looking had him slipped under and only talked about him in the context of the category of Sophists. So it seemed like a reasonable place to start was finding out more about the Sophists and who they were. The term came from the Greek word sophistēs, formed from the noun sophia, meaning ‘wisdom’ or ‘learning’. What did they do to warrant this title? In the fifth century BCE, they were educators who toured the Greek world offering instruction in a wide range of subjects, with emphasis on skill in public speaking and the successful conduct of life. Alright, now that we have a general idea of what Prodicus was up to, we can start looking at his life and how he fits under this category.
Prodicus was born in city of Iulis, in the island of Ceos, an Athenian colony off the coast of Attica east of Cape Sunium, and he lived approximately from 465 BC – c. 395 BC. He came to Athens quite a bit as an ambassador, and while he was in Athens he often taught rhetoric. He became wealthy from this occupation because he would have students pay him for the lessons. Prodicus' topics of instruction were rhetoric, the origins of religion, and ethics and virtue.
Several of Plato's dialogues focus upon Prodicus' linguistic theory, and his insistence upon the correct use of names. He specialized in the precise definition of words and subtle distinction between near synonyms, he paid special attention to the correct use of words and the distinction of expressions related in sense.
Concerning the origins of religion, he denied the reality of the gods and was called an atheist. Prodicus said the names of gods were originally applied either to things which are particularly important in human life, such as the sun, rivers, kinds of crops etc., or else to the people who had originally discovered things of that kind. He was understood as meaning that in fact Demeter is nothing but corn, Dionysus nothing but wine, and so on. He interpreted religion through the framework of naturalism and recognized a close connection between religion and agriculture.
In contrast to his radical views on religion, the moral stance expressed here is thoroughly conventional. All that has survived of his writings is a paraphrase by Xenophon (Memorabilia II.1.21–34) of his moral fable of the choice of Heracles between Virtue and Vice. A young Heracles about to enter adult life is met by two women at a cross-road. One calls herself Happiness (Eudaimonia), though she must admit her critics call her Vice (Kakia), who describes an effortless road of endless pleasure in this life. The other is called Virtue (Arètè), who describes a long road of hard labor in which man must earn what he wants through his efforts in order to truly enjoy it and thus deserve rewards from the gods in the afterlife.
good overview
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