Plato

Plato’s actual given name was apparently Aristocles, after his grandfather. “Plato” seems to have started as a nickname (for platos, or “broad”), perhaps first given to him by his wrestling teacher for his physique, or for the breadth of his style, or even the breadth of his forehead (all given in D.L. 3.4). Although the name Aristocles was still given as Plato’s name on one of the two epitaphs on his tomb (see D.L. 3.43), history knows him as Plato.—Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP).

Plato (Greek: Πλάτων, Plátōn, "broad"; 428/427 BC – 348/347 BC) 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.

See also

• Platonic solids
• Platonic numbers

External links

• O’Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., “Plato”, MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews, http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Plato.html .
• European Graduate School EGS, Plato - Biography, Copyright © 1997–2012.
• http://www.behindthename.com/name/aristocles