Biography of Plato

Plato was born in Athens in 427 B.C. He was a Greek philosopher who believed in war service and political ambitions. Plato was never really sympathetic to the Athenian democracy and he never fully agreed with the government either. Plato original name was Aristocles, but in his school days he received a nickname. His nickname was Platon which means broad, he got it because he had broad shoulders. Plato left Athens for a long while to explore the world. He returned to Athens in his later years.

Plato is considered one of the greatest influences on modern Western thought and one of the greatest minds in world history. Not much is known about Plato in his younger years. He was from the higher class and he was from a noble family which meant that he could have access to the best libraries and teachers in his day. Though he perfred to stay in Athens he knew a lot about the outside world from his studies. Even when he was a young boy, he wrote poetry and plays.

Plato was a student and follower of Socrates. He founded the Academy school in Athens. His works consisted mainly of dialogues. Plato was very interested in moral philosophy. Plato firmly believed that knowledge was "forgotten" at birth but later on in life it could be remembered and he saw the search for understanding as an attempt to gain knowledge. Plato believed that all substances are composed of air, earth, fire, and water. He invented a theory of vision involving three streams of light. he wanted to find or discover the truth behind things, but he believed that absolute truth could not be derived.

Plato was in his thirties when Socrates was executed. Socrates thoughts were written down by Plato since he himself wrote nothing. He was deeply troubled by the threat offered by the Sophists' thinking to the concept of authority. The Academy he had started, never became an institution that simply worked and reworked his own views. Instead independence of thoughts was encouraged. A large part of Plato's writing have survived all these years, and there not only impressive in range and scope but also for the lucidity of his writing. Plato believed that virtue was not simply a concept in which something was tangled together from characteristics of many instances of virtue in everyday life, but that it existed as a higher level than the actual material world. Plato who was one of Socrates students was there when he died. Plato wrote down the last thoughts of Socrates. He is known for displaying Socrates life since Socrates never wrote anything down. ( Freeman 268 and 269 ) ( Bauer 574 )

As Plato grew up he wanted to be politician. But after seeing the death of his dear friend Socrates, he changed his mind about what he wanted to do. He set up an Academy, which many scholars consider to be the first University of his time. The subjects taught in the University were astronomy, biological sciences, mathematics, and political science. This is where we began to use the term academy when referring to schools today. He stayed there and headed the school for the remainder of his life. Plato was a person of the relativism and scepticism of the Sophists but he focused on values rather than on physical science.Then later on in his life about when he was eighty years old he died in 347 B.C.

Freeman, Charles. The Greek Achievement. New York: Penguin Putnam, Inc, 1999
Bauer, Wise, Susan. The History of the Ancient World. New York: Norton & Company, Inc, 2007

Biography of Socrates

Socrates was a Greek philosopher and moralist who was born in Athens in 469 B.C. His father, Sophroniskus, was a sculptor and later on Socrates followed the same profession. Socrates had the usual education of a Athenian citizen, which included arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy. Little is known about circumstances in his life, but we do know he served as a hoplite at the siege of Potidaea, at the battle of Deliurn. Though he was a philosopher, he never secluded himself for study, nor did he open a school for the regular instruction of pupils.

Socrates shifted the concerns of Greek philosophy to a search for understanding of the natural world toward what it meant to live a good life. This was a new beginning in philosophy and earlier philosophy which is grouped under the term of "pre-Socratic. His method was to go out and question people about the everyday opinions of people. Also to question people of their everyday values they held. His purpose was to get people to become thinkers in a lazy society. ( Freeman 256 )

Socrates came to feel that he had a divine mission to improve the moral education of the Athenians and to do this he had to send time in educational discussions with the Athenians youths. Socrates is known for opening up moral, ethical, and political questions of virtue and justice. Socrates left no writing behind of his own so we rely on on the writings of Plato and Xenophon, who knew him and his philosophy . Both of them were younger then him so they only really knew him as a philosopher during the last 10 years of his life. Plato had left extensive and vivid records of Socrate's life and teachings shown in his writings. Socrates was very influential to Plato, Euclid, Alcibiades, and many others. He spent much of his adult life in the agora or the marketplace talking about ethical issues. He had a characteristic of exposing ignorance, hypocrisy, and conceit among many of the Athenians. From this many did not like him.

When Socrates was in his thirties, the good times of Athens changed. Athen's rivals the Spartans broke their long- standing truce and invaded Athens. From this the people had to blame this terrible crisis on. Socrates was blamed for this. He was charged for corrupting the minds of the youth and worshipping gods other than those of the city.

The most accurate of Plato's writing on Socrates is the " Apology." It is the account of Socrates's defense at his trial in 399 B.C. The word apology comes from the Greek word " defense- speech" and it does not mean what it means today. In the writing it is clear that Socrates's speech turned into a justification for Socrates's life and his death. Some of the famous philosophical ideas are that "the necessity of doing what one thinks is right even in the face of universal opposition, and the need to pursue knowledge even when being opposed." The Athenians thought of Socrates as a Sophist, which means that he had bitter resentment. After the successful return of the Ten Thousand, the Athenians convicted Socrates for wrongdoings. In the end Socrates was sentenced to death. He died by drinking hemlock which was a deadly poison which killed a person very slow and painfully. ( Bauer 546 & 574)

Bauer, Wise, Susan. The History of the Ancient World. New York: Norton & Company, Inc, 2007
Freeman, Charles. The Greek Achievement. New York: Penguin Putnam, Inc, 1999

The Greeks

Greek architecture, paintings, sculptures, buildings and decorative arts started about 1050 B.C. and ended about 31 B.C. The best known monuments are stone temples, statues of human figures, and painted vases. The importance of Greek architecture for the history of Western civilization, was that the Greeks established many of the most enduring themes, attitudes, and forms of Western culture. The architecture of the Greeks told stories of gods and heroes that have given the Western world a common ground for art and literature. Architecture is one of the Greek legacies that the West has inherited, as the Greeks established many of the structural elements, decorative motifs, and building types still used today.

Greece architecture has influenced all architecture throughout the world. The Romans especially got their ideas from the Greeks. The greatest monument that was ever built was the Parthenon of the Acropolis, in Athens. It is the most brilliant example of the Doric architecture. It is also said that it has the reputation of the most perfect angle calculated temple. There were three types of architecture that the Greeks used, Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian style. The Doric and Ionic were commonly used and the Corinthian style was later on developed.

There were two main styles of the Greek architecture, the Doric and Ionic. These names were used by the Greeks and they are said to have reflected the Dorian and Ionian Greeks of the Dark Ages. The Doric was used in the mainland and from there it spread to the Greek colonies in Italy. The Doric style was formal and austere. The Ionic style was more relaxed and decorative. The Corinthian was a later style of the Ionic. Marble was another element used for expensive building in Greece.

Later on after the Romans took over Greece, they took over the architecture of the Greeks. They used the architecture and changed it into their style of life. During this time Corinthian architecture became more popular. By the middle of the first century B.C., the Romans were able to reflect on the Greek architecture to enhance their cultural life. The Greeks were a model to the Romans architecture. Though the Greeks architectural influenced the Western world more.( Freeman 401- 402)

Architecture means the art or science of planning and designing buildings, temples, and paintings. The Greeks focused some of their architecture on the gods and goddess. The temple of Parthenon was one of the temples that was dedicated to a goddess. The goddess was Athena. This temple the Acropolis was decorated with sculpted stone which had legendary stories written on it. This was the most brilliant and magnificent temple built during this time. ( Bauer 546 )

The Hellenistic period was the time when Greek architecture began to change into different styles. It was the time when the Greeks were buildings theaters. They spent less time on temples and kept their focus on building the theaters. By 200 to 100 B. C. the Romans had conquered Greece. After this the architecture begin to take on the Roman style. This was the time when the Greek architecture started to decline.

Bauer, Wise, Susan. The History of the Ancient World. New York: Norton & Company, Inc, 2007
Freeman, Charles. The Greek Achievement. New York: Penguin Putnam, Inc, 1999