The Trial and Death of Socrates

During the Classical era of ancient Greece, the philosopher Plato was born in Athens. He established the Academy, the first university on the European continent, as well as the Platonist school of philosophy. Plato is a key character in the history of Ancient Greek philosophy and the Western and Middle Eastern philosophies that are descended from it, along with his teacher Socrates and his pupil Aristotle. He has also influenced spirituality and religion. Through Church Fathers like Augustine, his interpretation of Plotinus' so-called Neoplatonism had a significant impact on both Christian and Islamic philosophy (through e.g. Al-Farabi). Friedrich Nietzsche famously described Christianity as "Platonism for the masses" and observed that Western culture was flourishing in the shadow of Plato in modern times. Alfred North Whitehead is credited with saying that the "safest general description of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato." In philosophy, Plato invented written dialogue and dialectic forms. He posed questions for all of the later major subfields of theoretical and applied philosophy.