PRODIGAL OF CEOS: BIOGRAPHY, PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT - BIOGRAPHIES - 2025

Prodicus of Ceos (460-395 BC) was a Greek philosopher who professed the ideas of Humanism. He was part of the first stage of the Sophist movement in which he stood out alongside Protagoras de Abdera and Gorgias de Leontinos. His teachings focused almost exclusively on ethics.

He was very famous during his time and was so respected that he was able to play roles in different political positions. His name is even due to the fact that he was appointed as the ambassador of Ceos, an island of Greece, in Athens.

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His ability as a speaker and his ability to teach allowed him to be widely recognized. Plato mentioned it on innumerable occasions, although he and Socrates were among the main detractors of Prodicus in his day.

Biography

Prodicus' year of birth and year of death have not been precisely defined. It was agreed that he was born sometime around 460 BC and that he died after Socrates.

These agreements of the biography of Pródico were established by the study of all his works and by the comparison of the ideas that he raised with those of other philosophers of the sophist movement.

The presence of Proodicus in Athens was very common, hence his name. His travels were a response to two different reasons: either he was sent on diplomatic missions, as ambassador to Ceos, or he moved to the Greek capital to do some kind of personal business.

His continuous visits to Athens allowed Prodicus to enjoy a good economic level, since his teachings were well valued by the wealthiest families of the time.

Philosophical thought

As with the biographical data of Prodico, knowledge about his thoughts and principles is quite scarce. Although there is no discussion about the importance it had, especially in Athens.

His work is known thanks to what others wrote about him. He came to be named and ridiculed in some old comedies, which were very popular after the 5th century BC. The same thing happened with other philosophers like Socrates or Euripides.

Sophist

Prodicus is recognized as part of the sophist movement because he shared some characteristics of other sophist thinkers. To begin with, Prodicus charged for presenting his ideas. He was also widely recognized for his oratory, giving great importance to the reasoning of things.

Some authors have wanted to define Prodic's thought as relativistic, but no conclusive evidence has been found on this. It is all due to a comparison with Protagoras.

Language

Although Plato and Aristotle are best remembered as detractors and critics of Prodic's ideas, the truth is that both were loyal followers of the philosopher at first. One of the characteristics that most attracted both of them was Prodigal's passion for language.

He put a lot of effort into establishing the most appropriate definition for each of the words. Some historians claim that this emphasis on language was the first attempt to develop a dictionary.

Religion

Prodigal also made clear his position in relation to the mythological beliefs of the time. The Greek philosopher spoke of the deities as useful entities for each culture, since each community gave characteristics of divine to those things from which it could take some advantage.

Some considered him an atheist, others believed he was a polytheist. Its Greek origin supported this second hypothesis, since natural phenomena were associated with deities in ancient Greece.

The principles he raised about the gods and religion were called naturopathic theory.

Fable of Hercules

The most relevant thought of Pródico has to do with his vision of ethics. His point of view is known from the fable of Hercules, in which the main character must choose between leading a simple life with work or a life full of fun and without frights. This contradiction in lifestyles was called virtue and vice.

Hercules chose virtue, which is why it is said that Prodicus was in communion with this lifestyle. Choice that reinforced the humanistic character of the Greek philosopher.

Publications

Like everything in the life of the philosopher, there is no consensus on the works that bear his authorship. Different works are named, but it has not yet been possible to determine whether all the referenced titles are different texts or parts of one or simply different titles for the same work.

It is obvious then that there is no original physical record of any of his works.

The choice of Hercules was the most important work attributed to him. Of his writings on religion, only two titles survive: On Nature and On the Nature of Man.

Thanks to Socrates and Plato, some of Prodic's speeches are known as they made reference to his words on multiple occasions.

Pupils and contemporaries

The importance of Prodicus is evident when you name the personalities that he managed to influence with his thoughts. Theramens and Isocrates, important Greek politicians, and Euripides, a renowned poet of antiquity, were students of Prodicus at some point in his life. Aristophanes, Plato, and Xenophon named them in their writings.

Xenophon was one of the most important authors in preserving the work of Prodicus. He was an important historian during the 5th and 4th centuries BC. In one of his works, entitled Las horas, he presented the fable about Hercules that is attributed to Prodico.

Aristophanes, although he dedicated himself to comedy, had an important role because he knows about Prodicus' religious thoughts. He defined the philosopher as a great connoisseur of any mythological and astrological matter. This thanks to the mentions he made in two of his comedies: The Clouds (made in 423 BC) and The Birds (from 414 BC).

The physician and philosopher Sextus Empiricus also made reference to the religious thoughts of Proodicus in some of his writings.

Meanwhile, Plato helped define Prodicus as a sophist, since he openly criticized the charges he made for his teachings and public readings. Plato came to refer to the Greek philosopher as a person infatuated with the meaning of words and using them appropriately.

References

1. Ballif, M. and Moran, M. (2005). Classical rhetorics and rhetoricians. Westport, Conn.: Praeger.
2. Diels, H. and Sprague, R. (2001). The older Sophists. Indianapolis: Hackett Pub.
3. Dillon, J. and Gergel, T. (2003). The greek sophists. London: Penguin Books.
4. Graham, D. (2011). The texts of early Greek philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.
5. Guthrie, W. (1962). A history of Greek philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.