Chapter 8, Athens, Chapter 9, Plato Summary

Sophie gets a videotape in her package from the philosopher. She plays the videotape, which opens with a tourist shot of Athens. Someone is holding a large board with the word "Hilde" on it. The narrator of the film is the philosopher, Alberto Knox. The film zeros in on the Acropolis and the Parthenon, Greek for the "Virgin's Palace" and dedicated to the goddess Athena. The site is shown, where hundreds of years after Socrates, St. Paul preaches the Christian gospel.

Next there is a shot of ancient Athens, with the marketplace teeming with goods. The marble buildings of the Acropolis are new and painted in bright colors. A man is told about Sophie, and he introduces himself as Plato. He asks Sophie questions relating to the forms that are the model for real objects and then...