The Great Sophists in Periclean AthensThe arrival of the Sophists in Athens in the middle of the fifth century B. C. was a major intellectual event, for they brought with them a new method of teaching founded on rhetoric and bold doctrines which broke away from tradition. In this book de Romilly investigates the reasons for the initial success of the Sophists and the reaction against them, in the context of the culture and civilization of classical Athens. Author: Jacqueline de Romilly