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At a Glance:
Full Title Gorgias
Author Plato
Philosophical Movement Socratic
Language Ancient (Classical) Greek
Time/Place Written Circa 385 BCE/Greece (this date is unknown and disputed, and most attempts at its determination are made relative to the speculated dates of other writings)
Date of First Publication The date of primary publication remains unclear, given both the work's age and its existence for decades as the subject of lectures within Plato's Academy prior to its formal publication. The earliest known version (a papyrus manuscript) dates from the third century of the Common Era.
Publisher The Fayum (see above)
Speaker Socrates (Plato tends in his dialogues to express his own views through the mouthpiece of his teacher)
Form Dialogue
Other Participants Callicles (the host), Chaerephon (Socrates's friend), Gorgias (a famous Sophist), Polus (Gorgias's student)
Setting (time) Contemporary with Plato's life (early to middle 4th century BCE)
Setting (place) Athens; the home of Callicles
Tone Amicable, except for certain words of Callicles addressed to Socrates late in the work
Point of view Third-person witness to the conversation
Tense Present (dialogue)
Major Topics Rhetoric, politics, justice, virtue, temperance
Major Conflict Socrates disputes the nature of rhetoric, power, politics, justice, and the good with Gorgias, Polus, and Callicles
Foreshadowing Socrates refers to a hypothetical situation of being put on trial, the treatment of which prophesies the circumstances of his imminent death
