Birth of Plato: c. 428 B.C. Athens
Death: 348 or 347 B.C. Athens
Early Influences:
- Both parents from important Athenian families
- Stepfather active in the political and cultural life of Periclean Athens
- Execution of Socrates in 399 B.C. greatly affected his life
Education:
- Student of Socrates
Major Accomplishments:
- Founder of the Academy in Athens c. 387 B.C.
- Wrote 26 dialogues
- Wrote The Republic, his most important dialogue
Significance:
- Recorded Socrates ideas for posterity
- Foundation of most of western thought in the areas of logic, philosophy, psychology, and politics
- Came up with the idea of 'forms' which was arguably one of the most influential ideas in western philosophy
- Taught Aristotle
Contemporaries:
- Socrates - Greek Philosopher
- Hippocrates - Greek Physician
- Aristophanes - Greek Dramatist
