One of the best known and most influential philosophers of all time, Plato has been admired for thousands of years as a teacher, writer, and student. His interests and knowledge were wide and varied, including science, mathematics, and poetry.

Plato was born in Athens around 428 B.C. His family, both on his father's and mother's sides, was aristocratic and politically influential. It's thought that, in addition to his parents, his immediate family included two older brothers and a younger sister. Plato's original name was Aristocles, but he became known during his school days as Platon, which means broad, because of his broad forehead (and, presumably, his broad range of knowledge).

It should be noted that nearly everything believed to be true about Plato's life is based on hypotheses by generations of scholars. These scholars have pieced together historical information to form what we accept as a reasonably accurate...