A new book from Professor James Romm at Bard College: Plato and the Tyrant: the Fall of Greece's Greatest Dynasty and the Making of a Philosophic Masterpiece.
I read the Republic as a student and assumed that it came out of the imagination of one man named Plato. Turns out there is reason to believe it was based upon visits to Sicily — Syracuse, Sicily.
The last time I was in Syracuse, I was with the British Army, clawing its way up the coastline under the guidance and leadership of the British Army, while Patton made an end run north of the island and then came in from the west. That was the last time I was in Sicily, and it was desperate. The Germans had chopped up the whole island and it was dry and abandoned, and the people were very poor and were starving.
However, now we return to a Sicily in the 4th century BCE that is filled with philosophy and tyranny. In reading the story of Sicily in the 4th century BCE, I couldn't help but think about the armies in the 20th century A.D., and I wondered if those armies — they were all very educated men, especially the British — I wonder if they reflected upon the matters addressed by James Romm.
We begin with Syracuse itself. It is a city founded by Corinth and at war with Carthage, if I remember correctly. Why did it become so prominent and so powerful in the 4th century BCE?
Watch the full conversation above, or listen to an audio version below:
LINKS:
Plato and the Tyrant: the Fall of Greece's Greatest Dynasty and the Making of a Philosophic Masterpiece by James Romm on Amazon
The John Batchelor Show on Apple Podcasts:
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