Plato also known as Platon (428/427 BC – 348/347 BC), whose original name was Aristocles, was an Ancient Greek philosopher, the second of the great trio of ancient Greeks –succeeding Socrates and preceding Aristotle– who between them laid the philosophical foundations of Western culture. Plato was also a mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the western world. Plato is widely believed to have been a student of Socrates, and to have been as much influenced by his thinking as by what he saw as his teacher's unjust death.
In one of his dialogues, the Timaios, Plato describes an idealized society on the hypothetical continent of Atlantis to illustrate some of the philosophical points raised.
Young Aristokles (428/427 BC - 415 BC) and his uncle Kritias were among the followers of Sokrates. When Sokrates returned from the Athenian expedition to Sicily, Aristokles distinguished himself as an astute thinker, despite his youth.[1] After Alkibiades seized power in Athens, Kritias denounced him as a tyrant, and was murdered in the public square.[2] Aristokles pledged to avenge Kritias,[3] and was also murdered.[4] These two deaths spurred Sokrates into denouncing Alkibiades, an act which cost him his own life.[5]
