We are pleased to welcome Professor James Romm, The James Ottaway Jr. Professor of Classics, Bard College, to join members of the Kosmos Society for an Open House discussion on Plato and the Tyrant: The Tale of the Platonic Letters.
Plato made three trips outside Athens during his life, all of them to the Greek city of Syracuse (in Sicily). His relations with two powerful tyrants there, a father and son both named Dionysius, suggest he was seeking to put into practice some of the theories of his masterwork, The Republic, but he saw the effort turned into a grave debacle. Five of the Platonic letters — documents sometimes regarded as fakes, but more likely genuine pieces of Plato’s correspondence — reveal the twists and turns of a dark political intrigue and Plato’s efforts to distance himself from the disastrous outcome.
James Romm is Professor of Classics at Bard College and author of numerous books on ancient Greek history and culture. He writes regularly for the New York Review of Books, the Times Literary Supplement and the Wall Street Journal.
To prepare for the event, you might like to read: The sage and his foibles.
The Open House will be held on May 23rd at 11:00 am Eastern Daylight Time.
The event will be recorded. You can watch it on the Kosmos Society YouTube channel.
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