When Dionysius the Elder’s son, Dionysius the Younger, took power in 367 B.C., Dion summoned Plato to Syracuse to instruct the new ruler (then in his late 20s) in philosophy.

In Plato’s Republic, there is a debate over which government regime is the most ideal, both for the state and its citizens. At the bottom of the list is tyranny, a regime based on one person’s ...

Without doubt, parent-less Plato met Socrates at an impressionable age. The execution of the man who taught Plato philosophy also served as a life-long example of the need to be circumspect, to avoid ...

There he taught until his death in 348–7. Read: Live like the ancient cynics What you think you know about Plato’s philosophy is probably right.