Commentaries on Plato refers to the great mass of literature produced, especially in the ancient and medieval world, to explain and clarify the works of

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

. Many

Platonist Platonism is the philosophy of Plato and philosophical systems closely derived from it, though contemporary Platonists do not necessarily accept all doctrines of Plato. Platonism has had a profound effect on Western thought. At the most fundam ...

philosophers in the centuries following Plato sought to clarify and summarise his thoughts, but it was during the

Roman era In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

, that the

Neoplatonists Neoplatonism is a version of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a series of thinkers. Among the common i ...

, in particular, wrote many commentaries on individual dialogues of Plato, many of which survive to the present day.

Greek commentators

Many of the scholars in the

Platonic Academy The Academy (), variously known as Plato's Academy, or the Platonic Academy, was founded in Classical Athens, Athens by Plato ''wikt:circa, circa'' 387 BC. The academy is regarded as the first institution of higher education in the west, where ...

sought to clarify and explain Plato's ideas. Already in the 3rd century BC, we hear of a commentary to Plato's '' Timaeus'' being written by Crantor of Soli; and in the 1st century AD a commentary on Plato's ''

Republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...

'' was written by

Onasander Onasander or Onosander ( ''Onesandros'' or Ὀνόσανδρος ''Onosandros''; fl. 1st century AD) was a Greek philosopher. He was the author of a commentary on the ''Republic'' of Plato, which is lost; as well as of the ''Strategikos'' () - a ...

. The earliest surviving commentary is an anonymous work on the Theaetetus that was written between the 1st century BC and the 2nd century AD. By the 2nd century the

Middle Platonists Middle Platonism is the modern name given to a stage in the development of Platonic philosophy, lasting from about 90 BC – when Antiochus of Ascalon rejected the scepticism of the new Academy – until the development of neoplatonism u ...

were producing paraphrases and summaries of Plato's thought. Thus we have Albinus, who wrote an introduction to Plato's works, and

Alcinous In Greek mythology, Alcinous (also Alcinoüs; ; ''Alkínoos'' ) was a son of Nausithous and brother of Rhexenor. After the latter's death, he married his brother's daughter Arete who bore him Nausicaa, Halius, Clytoneus and Laodamas. In ...

and

Apuleius Apuleius ( ), also called Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis (c. 124 – after 170), was a Numidians, Numidian Latin-language prose writer, Platonist philosopher and rhetorician. He was born in the Roman Empire, Roman Numidia (Roman province), province ...

who both wrote manuals of Platonism.Zeller (1895), page 309 From the physician

Galen Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus (; September 129 – AD), often Anglicization, anglicized as Galen () or Galen of Pergamon, was a Ancient Rome, Roman and Greeks, Greek physician, surgeon, and Philosophy, philosopher. Considered to be one o ...

we have fragments of a commentary on the ''Timaeus''. Already though the influence of

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

was being felt on the popular Platonism of the day, and we have the figure of Atticus (c. 175) who opposed the eclecticism which had invaded the school and contested the theories of Aristotle as an aberration from Plato. The

though sought to exhibit the philosophical ideas of Plato and Aristotle as a unity. Porphyry (3rd century) attempted in a special work to show the agreement of Aristotelian and

philosophy and wrote a number of commentaries on Plato, Aristotle, and

Theophrastus Theophrastus (; ; c. 371 – c. 287 BC) was an ancient Greek Philosophy, philosopher and Natural history, naturalist. A native of Eresos in Lesbos, he was Aristotle's close colleague and successor as head of the Lyceum (classical), Lyceum, the ...

. Porphyry's student

Iamblichus Iamblichus ( ; ; ; ) was a Neoplatonist philosopher who determined a direction later taken by Neoplatonism. Iamblichus was also the biographer of the Greek mystic, philosopher, and mathematician Pythagoras. In addition to his philosophical co ...

, who established a new curriculum of study of the Platonic dialogues that would go on to influence Platonism for the rest of

Late antiquity Late antiquity marks the period that comes after the end of classical antiquity and stretches into the onset of the Early Middle Ages. Late antiquity as a period was popularized by Peter Brown (historian), Peter Brown in 1971, and this periodiza ...

wrote commentaries on the ''

First Alcibiades The ''First Alcibiades'', also referred to as ''Alcibiades Major'' and abbreviated as ''Alcibiades I'' (), is a dialogue ascribed to Plato, depicting Socrates in conversation with Alcibiades. Content In the preface Alcibiades is described as ...

'', ''

Phaedo ''Phaedo'' (; , ''Phaidōn'') is a dialogue written by Plato, in which Socrates discusses the immortality of the soul and the nature of the afterlife with his friends in the hours leading up to his death. Socrates explores various arguments fo ...

'', ''

Sophist A sophist () was a teacher in ancient Greece in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE. Sophists specialized in one or more subject areas, such as philosophy, rhetoric, music, athletics and mathematics. They taught ''arete'', "virtue" or "excellen ...

'', '' Phaedrus'', ''

Philebus The ''Philebus'' (Φίληβος, ''Phílēbos'') is a work by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato, written in dialogue form. It presents a fictional conversation between Plato's teacher Socrates and two young Athenians, Philebus and Protarchu ...

'', '' Timaeus'', and ''

Parmenides Parmenides of Elea (; ; fl. late sixth or early fifth century BC) was a Pre-Socratic philosophy, pre-Socratic ancient Greece, Greek philosopher from Velia, Elea in Magna Graecia (Southern Italy). Parmenides was born in the Greek colony of Veli ...

'', of which fragments survive in later commentaries. Additional commentaries on Plato were written by

Plutarch of Athens Plutarch of Athens (; c. 350 – 430 AD) was a Greek philosopher and Neoplatonist who taught in Athens at the beginning of the 5th century. He reestablished the Platonic Academy there and became its leader. He wrote commentaries on Aristotle and ...

, and

Syrianus Syrianus (, ''Syrianos''; died c. 437 A.D.) was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, and head of Plato's Academy in Athens, succeeding his teacher Plutarch of Athens in 431/432 A.D. He is important as the teacher of Proclus, and, like Plutarch an ...

, and Hermias. The best commentaries date from this era; most of the works of

Proclus Proclus Lycius (; 8 February 412 – 17 April 485), called Proclus the Successor (, ''Próklos ho Diádokhos''), was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major classical philosophers of late antiquity. He set forth one of th ...

are commentaries on single dialogues of Plato and similar subjects. The commentaries on Plato were either given in lectures or written; and many have come down to us. Later Neoplatonist commentators on Plato whose works partially survive include

Damascius Damascius (; ; 462 – after 538), known as "the last of the Athenian Neoplatonists", was the last scholarch of the neoplatonic Athenian school. He was one of the neoplatonic philosophers who left Athens after laws confirmed by emperor Jus ...

and Olympiodorus. In the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

era, Aristotle was read more often than Plato, because of the importance placed on Aristotle's logical treatises. A key figure was Arethas, the 10th century Archbishop of Caesarea, who concerned himself with the preservation of the manuscripts of Plato and other ancient writers, and wrote

scholia Scholia (: scholium or scholion, from , "comment", "interpretation") are grammatical, critical, or explanatory comments – original or copied from prior commentaries – which are inserted in the margin of the manuscript of ancient a ...

to the texts of Plato in his own hand. By the 11th century enthusiastic admirers of Platonism could be found in figures such as

Michael Psellos Michael Psellos or Psellus (, ) was a Byzantine Greeks, Byzantine Greek monk, savant, writer, philosopher, imperial courtier, historian and music theorist. He was born in 1017 or 1018, and is believed to have died in 1078, although it has also b ...

and John Italus.Angelov (2007), pages 344-5 The only surviving commentary from the late empire is a commentary on the ''

'' by

George Pachymeres George Pachymeres (; 1242 – 1310) was a Byzantine Greek historian, philosopher, music theorist and miscellaneous writer. Biography Pachymeres was born at Nicaea, in Bithynia, where his father had taken refuge after the capture of Constantinop ...

Islamic commentaries

Compared to Aristotle, Plato figured far less prominently in

Islamic philosophy Islamic philosophy is philosophy that emerges from the Islamic tradition. Two terms traditionally used in the Islamic world are sometimes translated as philosophy—''falsafa'' (), which refers to philosophy as well as logic, mathematics, and p ...

. He was seen more as a symbol and as an inspiration rather than a source of practical philosophy.''Platonism in Islamic Philosophy'' (Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 1998) Islamic Platonism, when it came, was a development within Aristotelian philosophy. Far fewer of his works were known to the Islamic world than those of Aristotle. It seems that only the ''

Laws Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a Socia ...

'', the ''

'', the '' Timaeus'', and the ''

'', were available in Arabic translation.

Averroes Ibn Rushd (14 April 112611 December 1198), archaically Latinization of names, Latinized as Averroes, was an Arab Muslim polymath and Faqīh, jurist from Al-Andalus who wrote about many subjects, including philosophy, theology, medicine, astron ...

, who wrote many commentaries on Aristotle, was probably motivated to write his one Platonic commentary, on the ''Republic'', only because he could not find a copy of Aristotle's ''

Politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

''.

Latin commentaries

A partial translation and commentary in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

of Plato's ''Timaeus'' by Calcidius was the only substantial work of Plato known to scholars in the Latin west until the translation of the ''

Meno ''Meno'' (; , ''Ménōn'') is a Socratic dialogue written by Plato around 385 BC., but set at an earlier date around 402 BC. Meno begins the dialogue by asking Socrates whether virtue (in , '' aretē'') can be taught, acquired by practice, o ...

'' and ''

'' by Henricus Aristippus in 1156.

References

Sources

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a 19th-century German idealist. His influence extends across a wide range of topics from metaphysical issues in epistemology and ontology, to political philosophy and t ...

(1896), ''Lectures on the History of Philosophy, Part One. Greek Philosophy''. *

Eduard Zeller Eduard Gottlob Zeller (; ; 22 January 181419 March 1908) was a German philosopher and Protestant theologian of the Tübingen School of theology. He was well known for his writings on Ancient Greek philosophy, especially Pre-Socratic Philosophy, ...

(1895), ''Outlines of the History of Greek Philosophy''. *Dimiter Angelov (2007), ''Imperial Ideology and Political Thought in Byzantium, 1204-1330''. Cambridge University Press *Hugh H. Benson (2006), ''A Companion to Plato''. Blackwell *Antony Black (2001), ''The History of Islamic Political Thought''. Routledge * Eleanor Dickey (2007), ''Ancient Greek Scholarship''. Oxford University Press *Albrecht Dihle (1994), ''Greek and Latin Literature of the Roman Empire: From Augustus to Justinian''. Routledge *Edward Grant (2004), ''Science and Religion, 400 B.C. to A.D. 1550'', pages 93–4. Greenwood Publishing Group *George Alexander Kennedy (1999), ''Classical Rhetoric & Its Christian & Secular Tradition from Ancient to Modern Times''. UNC Press

Greek commentators

Islamic commentaries

Latin commentaries

See also

References

Sources

Further reading