Plato was born in 427 B.C.E. to an influential, politically active aristocratic family and received the fine education typical for a boy of his background in fifth-century Athens. His various interests included wrestling (he was a champion), politics (his aspirations included running for office), and writing. According to ancient tradition, Plato began his career as a writer anxious to become the next Sophocles, and started composing dramas that supposedly showed some promise. These he promptly sent home and burned upon hearing a lecture by a man destined to become not only Plato’s, but the world’s teacher: Socrates. Plato studied with Socrates for just under a decade, until the teacher was tried and condemned to death (399 B.C.E.). A young man of 28 at the time, Plato was so disillusioned by the death of Socrates that he left Athens and began to travel. He visited parts of Egypt, Sicily, and present-day Italy before returning to Athens at the age of 40 to found the philosophical school known as the Academy. Plato spent the majority of his time happily absorbed by his writing and teaching of students (among whom would be Aristotle). At the age of 60, Plato received an invitation to act as advisor to the government in Sicily.
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