Publication | Closed Access
The people of Plato: a prosopography of Plato and other Socratics
396
Citations
0
References
2003
Year
Literary HistoryHumanitiesAncient Greek PhilosophyHistorical MethodologyComplete Platonic CorpusDebra NailsPhilosophy Of HistoryPhilosophical InquiryNeo-platonismLanguage StudiesHistorical ScholarshipClassicsIntellectual HistoryOther Socratics
The People of Plato is the first comprehensive prosopography of the Platonic corpus since 1823, making a broad spectrum of scholarship accessible to non‑specialists. It aims to detail the lives of the individuals in Plato’s works and other Socratic texts, situating them within political, social, and familial networks. The author compiles epigraphic and papyrological evidence, distinguishes confirmed facts from controversies, and presents the data through maps, stemmata, diagrams, a glossary, chronology, and indices to illuminate Athenian affiliations and historical linkages. The resulting resource offers fresh insights into long‑standing questions, serving as a valuable tool for scholars of ancient Greek philosophy, literature, politics, and history.
The People of Plato is the first study since 1823 devoted exclusively to the identification of, and relationships among, the individuals represented in the complete Platonic corpus. It provides details of their lives, and it enables one to consider the persons of Plato's works, and those of other Socratics, within a nexus of important political, social, and familial relationships. Debra Nails makes a broad spectrum of scholarship accessible to the non-specialist. She distinguishes what can be stated confidently from what remains controversial and--with full references to ancient and contemporary sources--advances our knowledge of the men and women of the Socratic milieu. Bringing the results of modern epigraphical and papyrological research to bear on long-standing questions, The People of Plato is a fascinating resource and valuable research tool for the field of ancient Greek philosophy and for literary, political, and historical studies more generally. In discrete sections, Nails discusses systems of Athenian affiliation, significant historical episodes that link lives and careers of the late fifth century, and their implications for the dramatic dates of the dialogues. The volume includes a rich array of maps, stemmata, and diagrams, plus a glossary, chronology, plan of the agora in 399 B.C.E., bibliography, and indices.