# Hippias — Dialogues character guide

> Hippias in Dialogues by Plato.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Hippias the Elean, sweet Hippias, Hippias True, Lesser Hippias

**First appearance:** 0116-lesser-hippias

## Snapshot

A dazzling polymath from Elis who arrives at Athens boasting he can answer any question put to him, and finds Socrates waiting with one he cannot.

## Who they are

Hippias is the touring celebrity of the sophistic circuit, a man whose memory, craftsmanship, and self-assurance have made him famous across Greece. His confidence is genuine but brittle: he needs an audience, and Socrates' habit of asking small, stubborn questions turns admiration into a public test. Their encounters matter because Hippias embodies everything the dialogues are weighing — expertise as performance versus inquiry as a way of life.

## In the story

### [Lesser Hippias](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/lesser-hippias)

A vain and boastful sophist who initially resists Socrates' line of questioning but eventually engages, though he cannot agree with the final conclusion.

### [Lesser Hippias](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/lesser-hippias)

The sophist from Elis, initially confident in his wisdom, but gradually led into perplexity by Socrates' arguments.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/characters/hippias
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- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/characters