Plato. Academy, philosophical school
Plato was born in 428/427 BC in Athens. He belonged to an ancient aristocratic family, dating back to the first Athenian king Codrus and the great reformer of the 6th century BC Solon. In his youth, Plato devoted himself to poetry and wrote tragedies. His literary talent is evident on many pages of his works that have come down to us. However, Plato, with his aristocratic background, felt himself primarily destined for political activity. Like many young Athenians of that time, he sought a solution to the question of a just and correct structure of the state and the arrangement of the lives of citizens. In search of an answer, he came across the strange figure of Socrates, who became his mentor in life and teacher in philosophy. The unjust sentence, conviction and execution of the Athenian sage finally turned Plato away from a political career. Plato ceased to believe in the possibility of achieving justice in the Greek states of that time. After Socrates’ death, he had to leave Athens for a while; ancient tradition tells of his numerous travels, but these reports are not always reliable. In the mid-90s of the 4th century, Plato, returning to Athens, organized his own philosophical school, which was called the Academy, since it was located in the place where the hero Academ was worshiped.