Italian research has identified the exact burial place of Plato in Athens

His exact burial spot Plato it became possible to locate, according to his research Italian Research Foundation, which was based on papyri of the location of Ercolano, near Naples.

According to the investigation, in charge of Italian papyriologist Graziano Ranocchia, Plato was buried in the “Academy” that bears his name in Athens, in a garden near the “temple of the Muses”. This important discovery, according to what has become known, is due to a new reading of a papyrus of Philodemus the Epicurean, which contains the History of “Academy».

The papyri were “read” by a bionic eye, which, despite being charred by the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79. which also destroyed her 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, that is 30% more text.

The Italian researchers add that from this new reading “it appears that Plato was sold as a slave as early as 404 BC, when the Spartans conquered Aegina, or, alternatively, in 399 BC, immediately after his death of Socrates”. Until now, this particular event was always referred to in 387 BC. and in the period when Plato was in Syracuse, Sicily.

The importance of the Herculaneum papyri

The location of Plato’s burial site, at the Academy of Athens, was made possible thanks to a bionic reading of papyri located in Herculaneum in Lower Italy, which were charred by the explosion of Vesuvius in 79 AD.

It is a total of over 1,800 papyri, with philosophical texts, mainly by Philodemos the Epicurean. The great majority of them are kept in the National Library of Naples and are not exposed to the public because they are considered particularly “sensitive” archaeological 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.

THE papyrus of Hercolanowhich was read with a bionic eye and allegedly reveals Plato’s burial place, contains other important historical evidence, according to the Italian press.

These are references to Plato’s last night before his death, the corruption of the Oracle of Delphi by Heraclides and the exact rendering of the name of the philosopher Philo of Larissa, who died in Italy, due to a pandemic, in 83 BC.