Page 70 - STOLEN LEGACY By George G. M. James

2. Plato: (i) Early Life (ii) Travels (iii) Disputed Writings (iv) His Doctrines (v) Summary of
Conclusions.

(i) His Early Life:

Plato is said to have been born at Athens in 427 B.C., and that his father's name was Aristo, and
his mother's name was Perictione, who was a relative of Solon.

Little information is known about his early life and training: but there is a supposition that
because his parents were wealthy, he must have had such educational opportunities as were
available to a wealthy youth. He is said to have studied the doctrines of Heraclitus under
Cratylus, and to have been a pupil of Socrates for eight years. It is also said that he was a soldier.
(Roger's Student Hist. of Philosophy p. 76) (Wm. Turner's Hist. of Philosophy p. 93) (Will.
Durant's Story of Phil.)

(ii) (a) His Travels:

He was 28 years old, when Socrates died (i.e., 399 B.C.), and together with the other pupils of
Socrates, he fled from Athens to Euclid at Megara for Safety. He kept away from Athens for 12
years, during which time, it is also said that apart from visiting Euclid, he travelled (a) to
Southern Italy where he met the remnant of Pythagoreans, (b) to Syracuse in Sicily, where,
through Dion, he met Dionysius to whom he became a Tutor: who subsequently caused him to
be sold as a slave, and (c) to Egypt. (Fuller's Hist. of Philosophy) (Roger's Student's Hist. of
Philosophy) (Wm. Turner's Hist. of Phil. p. 94) (Diogenes Laertius Bk. III, p. 277).

(ii) (b) His Academy

Plato is said to have returned to Athens in 387 B.C. when a middle aged man of 40 years and to
have opened an Academy in a gymnasium on the western suburbs of Athens over which he
presided for 20 years. He is said to have taught the following subjects (a) Political Science (b)
Statesmanship (c) Mathematics (d) Dialectics, and it is said that the curriculum was based upon
the educational principles advocated in the Republic. (Fuller's Hist. of Philosophy: Plato's Life)
(B. D. Alexander's Hist. of Philosophy p. 68) (Roger's Students Hist. of Philosophy p. 72) (Wm.
Turner's Hist. of Philosophy p. 122123).

(iii) His Writings are disputed and doubted by modern scholarship.

There are 36 dialogues and a number of letters, which Plato is supposed to have written: but
which are disputed and doubted by modern scholarship.

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Stolen Legacy: Greek Philosophy is Stolen Egyptian Philosophy by George G. M. James
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