Gorgias's Helen revisited

Gorgias's Helen has earned a central place in the revival of interest in sophistic and neo‐sophistic rhetorical studies in the late twentieth century. This essay offers a “predisciplinary” historical analysis of the text and makes five arguments: 1) Identifying Gorgias’ Helen as an “epideictic” speech is a somewhat misleading characterization; 2) The speech is not a veiled defense of the Art of Rhetoric; 3) Gorgias may have inaugurated the prose genre of encomia; 4) Gorgias advanced fifth‐century BCE “rationalism” by enacting certain innovations in prose composition; 5) The Helen's most significant “theoretical” contribution is to offer a secular account of the workings of logos— an account that functions as an exemplar for later theorists.