1. Kalos, so the ostensible subject of the dialogue is present from the start. Hippias’ fineness is re-emphasized at 291a – but he fails to know what fineness is, just as Channides in Charmides, for all his Sophrvsuni, fails to know what that is.

2. On the dramatic date of the dialogue (c. 420), see p. 213. His previous visit may have been that of c. 433, mentioned in Protagoras.

3. Hippias is sometimes portrayed as vain (e.g. 286a, 286e), but in this case his claim may not be unjustified, and we know of other sophists who acted as ambassadors for their cities.

4. Elis was situated in the north-west of the Peloponnese, much of which was dominated by Sparta in the later fifth century B.C.

5. This sort of pompous phrase is typical of Hippias; see further p. 232 n. 6.