Plato and the tyrant The fall of greece?s greatest dynasty and the making of a... philosophic masterpiece

James S. Romm

Book - 2025

Plato and the Tyrant by James Romm reexamines Plato not as a detached philosopher, but as an active political figure who sought to implement his ideas in the real world. Drawing on Plato’s personal letters, Romm details his involvement with the tyrants of Syracuse and how this experience shaped his political philosophy, especially in The Republic. The book reveals how Plato’s attempt to guide rulers with philosophy ended in personal and political disaster, offering a dramatic and insightful new perspective on the origins of Western political thought.

Saved in:
1 person waiting
1 being processed
Coming Soon
Subjects
Genres
Biographies
Published
New York, N.Y. : W.W. Norton & Company 2025.
Language
English
Main Author
James S. Romm (author)
Physical Description
334 pages : illustrations; 24 cm
ISBN
9781324093183
Contents unavailable.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

There's no talking sense into tyrants. "Back from Syracuse?" quipped a colleague when Martin Heidegger resigned his rectorship at Freiburg in 1934. Plato's legendary attempt to influence the political affairs of the most powerful state in the Hellenic world failed spectacularly and became shorthand for why a philosopher might attempt to shape a regime and how the regime shapes the philosopher. That Plato made three trips to Sicily to meet Syracusan tyrants was accepted fact in antiquity. Yet the best source for biographical detail is the Platonic letters whose authenticity is disputed. Romm, a professor of classics at Bard College, finds key letters authentic and deploys them to mark out a pathway into theRepublic "by way of its political themes and its connections to Plato's life." On his first visit, Plato befriended Dion, brother-in-law of the tyrant Dionysius, in whom he saw philosophical potential. Yet he was disgusted by the sexual excess and daily gorging at the "Syracusan tables." Back in Athens, having barely escaped with his freedom, Plato continued to develop his political philosophy when, 20 years later, the exiled Dion urged him to return to advise the young Dionysius II. Hoping to change the world, Plato twice more went to Syracuse to educate the tyrant in just rule. But the tyrant proved himself a poseur, and court intrigue again put Plato's life in peril. Upon completing his education in the Form of the Good, theRepublic's philosopher-king reluctantly returned to the cave to engage in the affairs of men. Romm speculates that Plato's impotence in the face of decades of political violence in Syracuse and the abject failure of Dion's reign soured his views and led to increased political realism in his later works. Those who, like Platonist Harold Cherniss, believe "a work of art exists independently of its author" will be skeptical, but Romm delivers on his promise of "intriguing possibilities." A gripping, provocative, and deeply researched account of Plato's failed experiment in enlightened autocracy. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.