© 1998 Bernard SUZANNE   Last updated January 7, 1999 
Plato and his dialogues : Home - Biography - Works and links to them - History of interpretation - New hypotheses - Map of dialogues : table version or non tabular version. Tools : Index of persons and locations - Detailed and synoptic chronologies - Maps of Ancient Greek World. Site information : About the author.

Comparative chronology
of Greek and Contemporay
Thinkers and Writers


This synopsis is a modified version of the synoptic chronology of Greek thinkers and writers presented on another page of this site, which compares it to modern chronology in order to give the reader a concrete feel for temporal distances in Plato's world. In order to do this, two temporal scales have been put in parallel : the Greek chronology down to Plato's old days and modern chronology down to "today" (1999), taking the year of the assassination of Dion (354), which is also the probable year of writing of the VIIth Letter if it is from Plato (which I believe), as "today", that is, 1999. In 354, Plato was about 74 and 7 years away from his death (which, in the parallel modern scale, would be in 2006). In my hypotheses about the dialogues, in which it is very possible that most of them were written late in Plato's life, this might be the time he was writing them (it was, even in the usually accepted chronology, the time he was probably writing what is called the "late" dialogues, such as the Timæus, Philebus or Laws).

Anyway, one way to look at it is as follows : assuming 354 is 1999, for a student entering the Academy this year, Plato would be the age of Paul Newman (pictured above in the 1998 movie "twighlight" :, but this is not a casting offer, as I have no plans to make a movie on Plato's life!...:>) ; Socrates (born in 470 B. C.=1883) would be a contemporary of Franklin D. Roosevelt (born in 1882) and his trial (399=1954) would have taken place at the height of McCarthyism ; the Peloponnesian war (431=1922-404=1949) would have started soon after the end of World War I and ended a few years after the end of World War II ; the first Persian War and the victory of Marathon (490=1863) would have coincided with the Civil War and the battle of Gettysburg. In terms of people, Solon would be a contemporary of George Washington, Thales of Kant, Pythagoras of Schopenhauer, Heraclitus of Karl Marx, Parmenides of Nietzsche, Anaxagoras of Freud, Protagoras and Zeno of Elea of Alfred N. Whitehead, Prodicus of Heidegger, Pericles of Theodore Roosevelt, Alcibiades would have been about ten years older than John F. Kennedy, etc.

An remember that in this time there was no papers, no TV, very few books compared to what we have now, and that most of the "historical" knowledge was transmitted, for better and for worse, orally, at least for most people. So, for instance, when considering the knowledge students at the Academy might have had of the trial of Socrates, consider how, even today, with all the sources available to us, it is hard to get a fair picture of what was going on in the time of McCarthyism and whether this or that person was guilty as charged !... Socrates had associated with Critias who had associated with... is it Russia or Sparta ?... and with Alcibiades who had associated with everybody : was he a double, or even a triple, agent ?...

Following is a list, in alphabetical order, of the persons that are shown on the synopsis. By clicking on a name, you can move to the part of the picture where he can be found (the year of birth of the person searched should move to the top of the window). The Greek writers and thinkers shown (on rose background) are : Æschylus, Anaxagoras, Anaximenes, Anaximander, Antisthenes the Cynic, Archytas of Tarentum, Aristippus of Cyrene, Aristophanes, Democritus, Empedocles, Euclid of Megara, Euripides, Gorgias, Heraclitus, Herodotus, Hippias of Elis, Hippocrates of Cos, Isocrates, Leucippus, Lysias, Parmenides, Pindar, Plato, Prodicus of Ceos, Protagoras, Pythagoras, Simonides, Socrates, Sophocles, Thales, Thucydides, Xenophanes, Zeno of Elea.

The modern thinkers shown (on blue background) are : Sigmund Freud, Georg W. F. Hegel, Martin Heidegger, Immanuel Kant, Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, Arthur Schopenhauer, Alfred N. Whitehead.

The Greek political leaders listed (on yellow background) are : Alcibiades, Darius the Great (the dates are those of his reign on Persia), Dionysius I, the Elder, Tyrant of Syracuse, Pericles, Solon, Themistocles.

The modern political leaders (on green background) are : Ulysses Grant, John F. Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Anwar al-Sadat, Georges Washington.

1781-84 572-69   S
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570? 570?                                                                                                 572-69 1781-84
1785-88 568-5 P
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1788 568-5 1785-88
1789-92 564-1 S
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564-1 1789-92
1793-96 560-57 558? 560-57 1793-96
1797-1800 556-3   1799 556? 556-3 1797-1800
1801-04 552-49   550? 1804 S
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550? 552-49 1801-04
1805-08 548-5     546? A
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548-5 1805-08
1809-12 544-1   1809 544-1 1809-12
1813-16 540-37 540? L
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540-37 1813-16
1817-20 536-3 H
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1818 536-3 1817-20
1821-24 532-29 K
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1822 532-29 1821-24
1825-28 528-5 525 U
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528-5 1825-28
1829-32 524-1 1831 A
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524? 522 524-1 1829-32
1833-36 520-17   T
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518? 520-17 1833-36
1837-40 516-3 P
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515? 516-3 1837-40
1841-44 512-09 P
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1844 512-09 1841-44
1845-48 508-5 N
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508-5 1845-48
1849-52 504-1 504-1 1849-52
1853-56 500-497 500? 497 1856 500-497 1853-56
1857-60 496-3 1860 A
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495? 1858 496-3 1857-60
1861-64 492-89 Civil War
Marathon
490?   P
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490? 490? 489? 1861 492-89 1861-64
1865-68 488-5           486 1865 P
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485? 488-5 1865-68
1869-72 484-1     H
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484 483? 484-1 1869-72
1873-76 480-77 480? 480? E
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  ?   480-77 1873-76
1877-80 476-3 475?       476-3 1877-80
1881-84 472-69   1883   470 1882 472-69 1881-84
1885-88 468-5 468   1885   S
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468-5 1885-88
1889-92 464-1     L
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1889 464-1 1889-92
1893-96 460-57 459? H
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460 460? 460? 460?   ?   460-57 1893-96
1897-1900 456-3 456   1900 H
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  456-3 1897-1900
1901-04 452-49   450?     450 452-49 1901-04
1905-08 448-5     A
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445? 448-5 1905-08
1909-12 444-1 H
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444-1 1909-12
1913-16 440-37 World War I 438? 440? 440? 440?   ?   440-37 1913-16
1917-20 436-3   1919   1917 L
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  435? 436 1918 436-3 1917-20
1921-24 432-29 Start Peloponnesian
War
429   430?   J
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431 A
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432-29 1921-24
1925-28 428-5 428?       425?   D
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1925 427 428-5 1925-28
1929-32 424-1           ?   E
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424-1 1929-32
1933-36 420-17 420?     420-17 1933-36
1937-40 416-3 1939     416-3 1937-40
1941-44 412-09 World War II     412-09 1941-44
1945-48 408-5 End Peloponnesian
War
405 1947 406   ?   1945 408-5 1945-48
1949-52 404-1           404 404-1 1949-52
1953-56 400-397         399 400?   400-397 1953-56
1957-60 396-3         396-3 1957-60
1961-64 392-89     1963 392-89 1961-64
1965-68 388-5       388 388-5 1965-68
1969-72 384-1 ? ?   384-1 1969-72
1973-76 380-77 1976 377     380? 380-77 1973-76
1977-80 376-3 374?       376-3 1977-80
1981-84 372-69   369? 370? 1981 372-69 1981-84
1985-88 368-5     367   368-5 1985-88
1989-92 364-1   364-1 1989-92
1993-96 360-57 359? 360? 360-57 1993-96
1997-2000 356-53     356-53 1997-2000


Plato and his dialogues : Home - Biography - Works and links to them - History of interpretation - New hypotheses - Map of dialogues : table version or non tabular version. Tools : Index of persons and locations - Detailed and synoptic chronologies - Maps of Ancient Greek World. Site information : About the author.

First published January 3, 1999 - Last updated January 7, 1999
© 1998 Bernard SUZANNE (click on name to send your comments via e-mail)
Quotations from theses pages are authorized provided they mention the author's name and source of quotation (including date of last update). Copies of these pages must not alter the text and must leave this copyright mention visible in full.