His exact burial spot Plato it was possible to locate, according to research by the Italian Research Foundation, which was based on papyri from the site Herculaneum (Heraklion), near Naples.
According to the research, led by the Italian Graziano Ranocchia, an expert in the study of papyri, the Plato was buried in “Academy” which bears his name in Athens, in a garden near “Temple of the Muses».
This important discovery, according to what is known, is due to a new reading of his papyrus Philodimos of Epicurean, which contains the History of the “Academy”. The papyri were “read” by a bionic eye, which, despite that charred from its explosion Vesuvius in 79 AD which also destroyed Pompeii, was able to discover this new, useful information. The whole research started three years ago and will be completed in 2026. The bionic eye detected a thousand new words, compared to the previous one, which was done in 1991, i.e. 30% extra text.
The Italian researchers add that from this new reading “it appears that Plato was sold as a slave already in 404 BC, when the Spartans conquered Aeginaor, as an alternative case, in 399 BC, immediately after the death of Socrates”.
Until now, this particular event was always referred to in 387 BC. and in the period when Plato was at Syracuse her Sicily.
The little we know about Plato
From the book “The Book of Dead Philosophers” it is stated that according to Cicero, Plato died while he was writing. But Hermippus says that he died at a wedding feast at the age of 81, and that he was buried in the grounds of the Academy.
The Renaissance Neoplatonist Marsilio Ficino adds that Plato died on his birthday and comments that the number 81 has enormous significance, as it is the ultimate, the product of 9 times 9 and the sum of 8 plus 1. But a different version states that Plato died plagued by lice. However, whoever spreads such a scurrilous story “touches him deeply”, declared the eminent Thomas Stanley in 1687 in the History of Philosophy.
The importance of the Herculaneum papyri
The location of Plato’s burial site, in Academy her Athens, was made possible by a bionic reading of papyri located at Herculaneum in Lower Italy and charred by the explosion of Vesuvius in 79 AD.
It is a total of over 1,800 papyri, with philosophical texts, mainly by him Philodimou of Epicurean. The vast majority of them are kept in the National Library of Naples and are not exposed to the public because they are considered special “sensitive” archeological findings.
According to the official record, there are 1,814 papyri and fragments, 1,756 of which were discovered in 1855. Thanks to the efforts of papyriologists, so far 340 have been read, 970 are considered partially damaged, while about 500 are charred fragments.
News today:
Those arrested for the Lyggeridis murder are at the prosecutor’s office
Fire at the junction to Souda Naval Station in Crete – 112 was activated
Premiere tomorrow for the “Easter Basket” – The products it will include
