Plato and the Tyrant: The Fall of Greece's Greatest Dynasty and the Making of a Philosophic Masterpiece

by James Romm Narrated by Paul Woodson

Overview

Plato is one of history's most influential thinkers, yet the image we have of him-an ethereal figure far removed from society and politics, who conjured abstract ideas in peaceful groves-is a fiction, created by Plato's admirers and built up over centuries.



In Plato and the Tyrant, acclaimed historian and classicist James Romm draws on personal letters of Plato to show how a philosopher helped topple the leading Greek power of the era: the opulent city of Syracuse. There, Plato encountered two authoritarian rulers, a father and son both named Dionysius, and tried to steer them toward philosophy. At the same time, he worked on his masterpiece, Republic, in which he conceived a ruler who unites perfect wisdom with absolute power. That dream has echoed down through the ages and given rise to a famous term, one that Plato himself didn't actually use: philosopher-king. As Romm reveals, Plato's time in Syracuse helped shape Republic-and also had disastrous results for Plato himself and for all of Greek Sicily. The younger Dionysius welcomed Plato with open arms, but soon the relationship soured. Plato's close friendship with Dionysius's uncle, Dion-possibly a bond of romantic love-created a rift in the ruling family that led to a chaotic civil war. Plato and the Tyrant demonstrates how Plato's experiment with enlightened autocracy spiraled into catastrophe.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"[A] finely sifted story…includes abundant historical and social context…Mr. Romm’s portrait of Plato as a scheming, often bumbling political player will be intriguingly new to most readers."— Timothy Farrington Wall Street Journal

"[E]xcellent…a deft and engaging work of history, philosophy and biography, as well as a meta-commentary on the perils of regarding canonical thinkers as disembodied minds… Plato and the Tyrant is full of something that I do not readily associate with the distinguished poster child of Western philosophy: gossip and intrigue. The story of Plato’s stint in Syracuse is as rife with human interest as any melodrama… a kind of intellectual thriller: Romm’s interpretive pyrotechnics demonstrate the extent to which the work of the scholar can resemble that of the detective"— Becca Rothfeld Washington Post

"[A]s compelling as any novel… brilliant… Romm does a superb job of imaginatively reconstructing the backstory to a philosophical masterpiece."— Tim Whitmarsh Literary Review (UK)

"James Romm has taken a little-known episode from ancient Greek history—the somewhat shady-sounding relationship between Plato and the tyrants of Syracuse—and developed it into a fascinating, richly detailed narrative. I may yet have to read the Republic."— Mary Norris, New York Times best-selling author of Between You and Me and Greek to Me

"Written with sparkling wit and intelligence, this book will change the way you think about the ancient world’s greatest philosopher."— Robert Kagan, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and author of Rebellion

"Plato’s vision of a just society has inspired the world for centuries, yet his own attempt to put his ideas into practice ended in failure and disgrace. With this learned yet accessible account of the philosopher’s misadventures in politics, James Romm asks a question that remains all too relevant today: Is it possible for thought to prevail over tyranny?"— Adam Kirsch, author of The Revolt Against Humanity

"With incisive historical expertise and a bold new perspective on long-disputed Platonic correspondence, James Romm elucidates Plato’s notorious leap of faith from the realm of theory into the real world of politics."— Adrienne Mayor, author of The Amazons

Kirkus Reviews

2025-02-01
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.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940194716609
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	05/13/2025
Edition description:	Unabridged

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