Historian

Historian:
=Greece, 4th century B.C.E. : Plato's __Republic__=

Plato’s Republic was written sometime around 387 B.C., after Athens had been defeated by Sparta and as Athens came to the end of its Golden Age. Plato wrote Republic to preserve Athens despite its defeat by Sparta and despite the end of its Golden Age.

In 408 B.C., Athens was defeated by Sparta. Athens lost to Sparta during the war known as Peloponnesian War, which started in 431 B.C. when Athens supported Corinth who was having conflict with Corcyra. When this happened, Sparta launched an attack on Athens. Before the Peloponnesian War, Athens, the strongest city-state in Greece, tried to dominate members of Delian League to build the Athenian Empire. Sparta, another strong city-state and Athens’s rival, was in fear of Athens’ growing power. When Athens launched an attack on Corinth, Sparta decided to enter the war because Sparta was supported by other city-states who were not in the Delian League. But there was no direct combat between Sparta and Athens because Athens was a naval power and Sparta was known for its land power. Although Athens had a strong naval power, it was defeated by Sparta in 404 B.C.. Because Athens was defeated, it faced difficult times. Thus, Plato wrote Republic to bring order to Athens and to make Athens once again the strongest city-state in Greece.

But there is other reason why Plato wrote Republic. He also wrote Republic to preserve the Golden Age of Athens. Before the Peloponnesian War, Athens experienced its Golden Age. During that time, Athens was the political and cultural center of Greece and the aristocrat Pericles was in charge of Athens. During his time there was no inequality among rich and poor. All Athenian male citizens were invited and expected to participate in the government. And Athens was the city-state that had the greatest power over all the city-states in the Delian League. Athens even moved the treasury for Delian League in Delos to Athens. (Later this fund was almost used like Athens property and the fund for the league was transformed into the tribute money to Athens). Artistic and architectural achievement was significant in the Golden Age. Sculpture, such as Myron‘s Discus Thrower, became more realistic. Also, during the Golden Age, Athens built a huge temple call the Parthenon which was larger than the temple of Zeus in Olympia. Interestingly Parthenon was built in Doric style on the outside and Ionic style inside. This was unique because usually when Greeks built a temple, they used only either the Doric or the Ionic style, not both. Furthermore the Parthenon was specially built and designed to prevent sense of heaviness and give rich air to the building. It is clear that Plato wrote Republic to preserve the Golden Age of Athens.

Since Athens was defeated by Sparta in Peloponnesian War and it was at its end of its Golden Age, iPlato wrote Republic to bring order to Athens, to reestablish its power, and to bring the Golden Age back to Athens.

Posted by Bensalem (Jun Mo)