Sokrates w piekle sofistów: motywy katabastyczne w platońskim Protagorasie

The essay investigates the interpretative possibilities inherent in the Homeric undertone of the descriptive introduction to the great debate in the Protagoras, its exploitation of the katabastic motives known from the earlier literary tradition and possible allusions to the contemporary dramatic art. Should we take those allusions as indication of the authorial intent, it seems arguable that the references to the underworld voyages of Odysseus (explicit) and Dionysus (possible) may reveal Plato's highly negative opinion concerning the sophistic training and prepare the ground for the imminent clash between the Socratic elenchus and Protagorean sophistry, thus being of particular value in any attempt to reconstruct Platonic psychagogic techniques.