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Alcidamas
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Alcidamas

Greek writer
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Article History
Quick Facts
Born:
4th century bc
Flourished:
c.399 BCE - c.300 BCE
Aeolis

Alcidamas (born 4th century bc) was a prominent Sophist and rhetorician who taught in Athens. He was a pupil of Gorgias and a rival of Isocrates. His only extant work, Peri sōphiston (“Concerning Sophists”), stresses the superiority of extempore (though prepared) speeches over written ones. The oration attributed to him entitled Odysseus is spurious. Only fragments of his other works survive. Aristotle criticized Alcidamas for his improper and too-frequent use of adjectives and deplored his frigidity of style.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.