Plato was born (423 BC – 348 BC) . The early life of Plato is only partially recorded, but he was born in 428/427 BCE to an aristocratic family in Athens. His father’s side claimed descent from the god Poseidon and the last kings of Athens. Some sources suggest that his real name was Aristocles, and that ‘Plato’ was a nickname given to him later in life. Plato roughly translates as the ‘broad’ It may have been a reflection of the breadth of interests that Plato considered. Plato was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens – the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the foundations of Western philosophy and science. Plato influenced a whole range of subjects from philosophy to maths, logic and ethics.
