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Plato (, ''Plátōn'', "wide, broad-shouldered"; c. 428/427 – c. 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher, the second of the great trio of ancient Greeks—Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle—who between them are said to have laid the philosophical foundations of Western culture. Little can be known about Plato's early life and education due to the very limited accounts. The philosopher came from one of the wealthiest and most politically active families in Athens. Ancient sources describe him as a bright though modest boy who excelled in his studies. His father contributed all which was necessary to give to his son a good education, and, therefore, Plato must have been instructed in grammar, music, gymnastics and philosophy by some of the most distinguished teachers of his era. ==Birthdate and birthplace== The specific birthdate of Plato is not known. Based on ancient sources, most modern scholars estimate that Plato was born between 428 and 427 BC. The grammarian Apollodorus of Athens argues in his ''Chronicles'' that Plato was born in the first year of the eighty-eighth Olympiad (427 BC), on the seventh day of the month Thargelion; according to this tradition the god Apollo was born this day.〔Diogenes Laërtius, iii. 2〕 According to another biographer of him, Neanthes, Plato was eighty-four years of age at his death.〔Diogenes Laërtius, iii. 3〕 If we accept Neanthes's version, Plato was younger than Isocrates by six years, and therefore he was born in the second year of the 87th Olympiad, the year Pericles died (429 BC).〔F.W. Nietzsche, ''Werke'', 32〕 The ''Chronicle'' of Eusebius names the fourth year of the 88th Olympiad as Plato's, when Stratocles was archon, while the ''Alexandrian Chronicle'' mentions the eighty-ninth Olympiad, in the archonship of Isarchus.〔W. G. Tennemann, ''Life of Plato'', 315〕 According to Suda, Plato was born in Aegina in the 88th Olympiad amid the preliminaries of the Peloponnesian war, and he lived 82 years. Sir Thomas Browne also believes that Plato was born in the 88th Olympiad.〔T. Browne, ''Pseudodoxia Epidemica'', XII〕 Renaissance Platonists celebrated Plato's birth on November 7.〔D. Nails, ''The Life of Plato of Athens'', 1〕 Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff estimates that Plato was born when Diotimos was archon eponymous, namely between July 29 428 BC and July 24 427 BC.〔U. von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, ''Plato'', 46〕 Greek philologist Ioannis Kalitsounakis believes that the philosopher was born on May 26 or 27, 427 BC, while Jonathan Barnes regards 428 BC as year of Plato's birth.〔 * 〕 For her part, Debra Nails asserts that the philosopher was born in 424/423 BC.〔 Plato's birthplace is also disputed. Diogenes Laërtius states that Plato "was born, according to some writers, in Aegina in the house of Phidiades the son of Thales". Diogenes mentions as one of his sources the ''Universal History'' of Favorinus. According to Favorinus, Ariston and his family were sent by Athens to settle as cleruchs (colonists retaining their Athenian citizenship), on the island of Aegina, from which they were expelled by the Spartans after Plato's birth there.〔 Nails points out, however, that there is no record of any Spartan expulsion of Athenians from Aegina between 431 and 411 BC.〔D. Nails, "Ariston", 54〕 On the other hand, at the Peace of Nicias, Aegina was silently left under Athens control, and it was not until the summer of 411 that the Spartans overran the island.〔Thucydides, 5.18 * Thucydides, 8.92〕 Therefore, Nails concludes that "perhaps Ariston was a cleruch, perhaps he went to Aegina in 431, and perhaps Plato was born on Aegina, but none of this enables a precise dating of Ariston's death (or Plato's birth)".〔 Aegina is regarded as Plato's place of birth by Suda as well.〔 ==Family== Plato's father was Ariston, of the deme of Colytus. According to a tradition, reported by Diogenes Laërtius but disputed by Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, Ariston traced his descent from the king of Athens, Codrus, and the king of Messenia, Melanthus.〔Diogenes Laërtius, iii. 1 * U. von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, ''Plato'', 46〕 That claim is not however exploited in the philosopher's dialogues.〔D. Nails, "Ariston", 53〕 Plato's mother was Perictione, whose family boasted of a relationship with the famous Athenian lawmaker and lyric poet Solon.〔 Perictione was sister of Charmides and cousin of Critias, both prominent figures of the Thirty Tyrants, the brief oligarchic regime, which followed on the collapse of Athens at the end of the Peloponnesian war (404–403 BC).〔W. K. C. Guthrie, ''A History of Greek Philosophy, IV, 10 * A.E. Taylor, ''Plato'', xiv * U. von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, ''Plato'', 47〕 Besides Plato himself, Ariston and Perictione had three other children; these were two sons, Adeimantus and Glaucon, and a daughter, Potone, the mother of Speusippus (the nephew and successor of Plato as head of his philosophical Academy).〔 According to the ''Republic'', Adeimantus and Glaucon were older than Plato; the two brothers distinguished themselves in the Battle of Megara, when Plato could not have been more than 5 years old.〔Plato, ''Republic'', (2.368a ) * U. von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, ''Plato'', 47〕 Nevertheless, in his ''Memorabilia'', Xenophon presents Glaucon as younger than Plato.〔Xenophon, ''Memorabilia'', (3.6.1 )〕 Ariston appears to have died in Plato's childhood, although the precise dating of his death is difficult.〔D. Nails, "Ariston", 53 * A.E. Taylor, ''Plato'', xiv〕 When Ariston died, Athenian law forbade the legal independence of women, and, therefore Perictione was given to marriage to Pyrilampes, her mother's brother (Plato himself calls him the uncle of Charmides),〔Plato, ''Charmides'', (158a ) * D. Nails, "Perictione", 53〕 who had served many times as an ambassador to the Persian court and was a friend of Pericles, the leader of the democratic faction in Athens.〔Plato, ''Charmides'', (158a ) * Plutarch, ''Pericles'', IV〕 Pyrilampes had a son from a previous marriage, Demos, who was famous for his beauty.〔Plato, ''Gorgias'', (481d ) and (513b ) * Aristophanes, ''Wasps'', (97 )〕 Perictione gave birth to Pyrilampes's second son, Antiphon, the half-brother of Plato, who appears in ''Parmenides'', where he is said to have given up philosophy, in order to devote most of his time to horses.〔Plato, ''Parmenides'', (126c )〕 Thus Plato was reared in a household of at least six children, where he was number five: a stepbrother, a sister, two brothers and a half-brother.〔D. Nails, ''The Life of Plato of Athens'', 4〕 In contrast to his reticence about himself, Plato used to introduce his distinguished relatives into his dialogues, or to mention them with some precision: Charmides has one named after him; Critias speaks in both ''Charmides'' and ''Protagoras''; Adeimantus and Glaucon take prominent parts in the ''Republic''.〔W. K. C. Guthrie, ''A History of Greek Philosophy'', IV, 11〕 From these and other references one can reconstruct his family tree, and this suggests a considerable amount of family pride. According to John Burnet, "the opening scene of the ''Charmides'' is a glorification of the whole () connection ... Plato's dialogues are not only a memorial to Socrates, but also the happier days of his own family".〔C.H. Kahn, ''Plato and the Socratic Dialogue'', 186〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Early life of Plato」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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