PLATO

Plato was born in 427 B.C., the son of noble parents. He first studied music, poetry, painting, and philosophy with other masters and became a pupil of Socrates in 407 B.C., remaining with him until the latter's death (399 B.C.) when he accompanied Socrates to Megara. He founded a school in the groves of Academus, the Academy, where he taught mathematics and the different branches of philosophy, by means of connected lectures and the dialogue. His death occurred in 347 B.C.
The life of Plato can be divided into three ages. In the first age he received the education from his great master Socrates besides some other minor teachers. He lived with Socrates for eight years and received instruction and ideas in different fields of human thought. After the death of Socrates, perturbed as he was Plato went on his journey through Egypt, Cyrene, Italy and Cicley etc. For ten years he was roaming in different countries, observing their ways of life, social and political structures and institutions and discussing with scholars of different countries. It was in this age that he planned his important dialogues. During this period Plato's thinking was generally centred around ideas, the universals. The dialogues written during this period do not exhibit much literary excellence. The important dialogues written during this period were Gorgias, Theatetus, Sophistes, Statesman and Parmenides.
After ten years of journey in different countries Plato's mind was almost settled. He now returned to Athens and started third and the most important age of his life. He established an institution known as Academy of Gymnasium. Here he started to live as a teacher, a mathematician and a philosopher. For 40 years he educated hundreds of illustrious disciples and created dozens of dialogues up to his death at the age of 82 (Hummel, 1993).