Born in Athens
Born into one of Athens’ most distinguished families. His real name may have been Aristocles; ‘Plato’ was possibly a nickname meaning ‘broad,’ perhaps for his wrestler’s build or the breadth of his style.
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Plato was Socrates’ most devoted student, and after his teacher’s death, he spent years traveling before returning to Athens to found the Academy, the Western world’s first institution of higher learning. His dialogues are philosophy as literature: Socrates arguing about justice, beauty, the good, and the nature of reality itself. His theory of Forms, that the visible world is a reflection of eternal, perfect originals, shaped metaphysics for two millennia.
