What did sophists do?

Who were the Sophists? A 'school' - that is, a group with similar beliefs and methods - of philosophers in classical Greece. We derive the term "sophistry" from their name, which is in turn based in the Greek Word for "wisdom".

They were prominent in the fourth century BCE (300's) and their methods included teaching the skills of oratory and encyclopaedic knowledge. One of their maxims has come down to us as "Man is the measure of all things".

Socrates and Plato more or less overturned their methods with his question-oriented Socratic method.

For more information: there is a nice article at http://www.radicalacademy.com/philsophists.htm