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Plato: The Life of Plato

Plato was born around 427 BC, in Athens Greece to rich and politically involved family. Plato's parents spared no expense in educating him; he was taught at the finest schools. He was taught by Socrates and defended Socrates when he was on trial. Plato traveled to Italy and may have even visited Egypt before founding The Academy. Plato also visited Sicily and instructed a young king there before returning to The Academy to teach for twenty years before his death in 347 BC at the age of eighty.

Growing up Plato would have gone to best schools the area had to offer; his parents were rich there were no limitations to what they could afford. Plato was taught by the best teachers available and was a very skillful student. Like the majority of boys in ancient Greece Plato was taught to wrestle and fight and in both activities Plato excelled. Poems were also an activity Plato enjoyed; he wrote them quite often, unfortunately none of them survived because when Plato began studying under Socrates he burned all of the poems he had written to devote himself to philosophy. The first time we know of Plato meeting Socrates is when Plato is twenty; however because of Plato's parents' involvement with government, their family friends, and Plato's schooling Plato mostly likely met Socrates at a young age.

There are several rumors that during the Peloponnesian war Plato not only fought but gained a few medals. While Plato was certainly capable of accomplishing these acts of bravery, yet it can not be known for sure as there is no proof. After the Peloponnesian War Sparta set up a government called the Thirty Tyrants, when the Thirty Tyrants were over-thrown Socrates was accused of several acts of treason. During Socrat...

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... surprised that Plato didn't love democracy and pushed for Utopia, but Plato had seen democracy at work in Athens and thought it a wretched idea.

Bibliography

Baggani, Julian and Jeremy Stangroom, eds. Great Thinkers A-Z. London: Continuum, 2004.

Guthrie, W.K.C. A History of Greek Philosophy, Vol. IV; Plato: The Man and His Dialogues, Earlier Period. London: Cambridge University Press, 1989.

Proffitt, Brian. Plato Within Your Grasp. Hoboken: Wiley Publishing, 2004.

Exploring Ancient World Cultures; Essays on Ancient Greece. Ed. Bernard F. Suzanne. 1996. 2 Feb. 2007. http://eawc.evansville.edu/eassays/suzanne.htm

Plato and His Dialogues, A Short Biography of Plato. Ed. Bernard F. Suzanne. 2001. 2 Feb. 2007. http://plato-dialogues.org/life.htm

Plato. Ed. J.J. O'Connor. 2005. 2 Feb. 2007. http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/biographies/plato.html
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