A short biography of Socrates Socrates was the first of the three great Athenian philosophers (the other two are Plato and Aristotle). He was born in Athens in 469 BC, so he [...]
Nomos and physis: Laocoon: being strangled by snakes People in ancient Greece often thought of the world as being a fight, or an agon, between the two forces of rationalism [...]
Marriage bed (Louvre, Hellenistic period) Plato also suggested a theory about why people fall in love. He has his character Aristophanes tell a story about love. Once upon a [...]
Plato's forms: Two men sacrifice a pig on an altar, preparing to eat the pork. Athens, 400s BC Plato's forms We've already seen that Plato said that chairs have forms. [...]
Who is Plato? Socrates probably taught Plato in this part of Athens, near the Athenian Agora (but the temple wasn't there yet) Plato's rich family The Greek philosopher Plato was [...]
Greek philosophy at a symposium: men talking at a party - Loan Ant.103.18.The Fitzwilliam Museum The beginnings of philosophy In the 500s BC, people all over Europe and Asia became [...]
A young teacher and a student talking about the lesson (Athens, 400s BC) Here are some of the conversations, or dialogues, that Plato wrote down. They are summaries of what [...]
Who was Aristotle? An ancient Egyptian papyrus with a scrap of Aristotle's "Politics" Aristotle's family Aristotle's father was Nicomachus, a doctor who lived near Macedon, in the north of Greece. [...]
Arete in action: Penelope and her slave watch Odysseus kill the suitors Definition of arete: In ancient Greece, arete meant "goodness" or "excellence". It's related to araomai, to pray, and [...]
An example of an agon: Black-figure amphora by Exekias showing Achilles and Ajax playing checkers What is an agon? The word agon in Greek is the root of our word [...]
