Locating the exact burial site of the Greek philosopher Plato has been made possible according to Italian papyrologist Professor Graziano Ranocchia, who presented the results of his research on papyri found at Ercolano, near Naples, ANA reports.
According to his findings, Plato was buried in the “Academy” that bears his name in Athens, in a garden near the “temple of the Muses.”
This important discovery came about through a new reading of a papyrus written by Philodemus the Epicurean, which contains the history of Plato’s Academy.
The papyri were “read” by a bionic eye, which was able to discern this new and useful information despite their having been charred in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, which also destroyed Pompeii, was able to discover this new, useful information. The effort to read the papyrus started three years ago and will be completed in 2026. The bionic “eye” detected one thousand additional words than those found in a previous effort to decipher the text in 1991, amounting to 30% more text.
The Italian researchers added that based on this new reading, “it appears that Plato was sold as a slave as early as in 404 BC, when the Spartans conquered Aegina, or 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 in Syracuse, Sicily.
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