Plato country of citizenship Classical Athens
Biography
Little is known about Plato's early life and education. He belonged to an aristocratic and influential family. The exact time and place of Plato's birth are unknown. Based on ancient sources, most modern scholars believe that he was born in Athens or Aegina, between 428 and 423 BC. Plato gives little biographical information about himself in his works, but often referred some of his relatives with a great degree of precision, including his brothers Adeimantus and Glaucon, who debate with Socrates in the Republic. These and other references enable us to reconstruct Plato's family tree. Plato may have travelled in Italy, Sicily, Egypt, and Cyrene, but at the age of forty, Plato founded a school of philosophy in Athens, the Academy, on a plot of land in the Grove of Hecademus or Academus, named after Academus, an Attic hero in Greek mythology. The Academy operated until it was destroyed by Lucius Cornelius Sulla in 84 BC. Many philosophers studied at the Academy, the most prominent one being Aristotle. According to Diogenes Laërtius, throughout his later life, Plato became entangled with the politics of the city of Syracuse, where he attempted to replace the tyrant Dionysius, with Dionysius's brother-in-law, Dion of Syracuse, whom Plato had recruited as one of his followers, but the tyrant himself turned against Plato. Plato almost faced death, but he was sold into slavery. Anniceris, a Cyrenaic philosopher, subsequently bought Plato's freedom for twenty minas, and sent him home. After Dionysius's death, according to Plato's Seventh Letter, Dion requested Plato return to Syracuse to tutor Dionysius II, who seemed to accept Plato's teachings, but eventually became suspicious of their motives, expelling Dion and holding Plato against his will. Eventually Plato left Syracuse. and Dion would return to overthrow Dionysius and rule Syracuse, before being usurped by Calippus, a fellow disciple of Plato. A variety of sources have given accounts of Plato's death. One story, based on a mutilated manuscript, suggests Plato died in his bed, whilst a young Thracian girl played the flute to him. Another tradition suggests Plato died at a wedding feast. The account is based on Diogenes Laërtius's reference to an account by Hermippus, a third-century Alexandrian. According to Tertullian, Plato simply died in his sleep.
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