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Biography
Greek

Plato

-428 — -348

Athenian philosopher and founder of the Academy, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Plato's dialogues — in which his teacher Socrates converses with Athenians on justice, beauty, equality, politics, knowledge, and the nature of reality — are the foundational texts of Western philosophy. The Republic, the Symposium, the Phaedrus, the Apology, and the Phaedo are among the most influential works of literature and thought ever written.

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PeriodClassical
NationalityGreek
1. Biography

A short life of the author

Plato (c. 428–348 BCE) was an Athenian philosopher, student of Socrates, and teacher of Aristotle. He founded the Academy in Athens around 387 BCE — a philosophical school that endured for nearly nine centuries. His surviving works, all written as dialogues, constitute the single most influential body of philosophical writing in the Western tradition.

The Five Great Dialogues

Collections of Plato’s “Five Great Dialogues” typically include:

  • The Apology — Socrates’ defence speech at his trial on charges of impiety and corrupting the youth.
  • The Crito — Socrates’ discussion with a friend about whether he should escape from prison before his execution.
  • The Phaedo — Socrates’ final hours, discussing the immortality of the soul.
  • The Symposium — speeches on the nature of love, delivered at a drinking party.
  • The Republic — Plato’s masterwork on justice, the ideal state, education, and the theory of Forms.

Collecting Plato

The Loeb Classical Library (Harvard University Press) and the Complete Works edited by John M. Cooper (Hackett, 1997) are the standard modern editions. Early printed editions — the 1513 Aldine editio princeps of the Greek text — are among the most valuable books in Western civilisation. The Benjamin Jowett translations (1871, Oxford) are the classic English versions and are collected in fine Victorian bindings.