James Romm — Plato and the Tyrant: The Fall of Greece's Greatest Dynasty and th

Many people know something of Plato's works, yet few are familiar with his life outside of his writings. In Plato and the Tyrant, acclaimed classicist James Romm uses a little-known set of Plato's personal letters to introduce the man behind the ethereal image, and to explore the formation of his most famous work, Republic. In the second half of his life, an already famous Plato involved himself in the affairs of the two Dionysii, a father and son who ruled Syracuse, at that time the greatest power in the Greek world. Plato's interventions in the violent contest between Dionysius the Younger and his brother-in-law, Dion--with whom Plato may have had a long love affair--were the backdrop and perhaps the motivation for his masterwork. In a thrilling narrative, Romm captures how Plato's experiment in enlightened autocracy spiraled into catastrophe and gives us a new account of the origins of Western political philosophy.PURCHASE BOOK HERE: https://politics-prose.com/book/9781324093183?ic_referral=VQJBc71zOy1b6Kw33Vc76ylwOCHsv6TbHHdPzXleEcMwMzqGDYT2hYLCqZsHRw8As_5WcRN8mO0mwyss8MMPkAeVYn8GN48IAPZn8x1mEiZnpQ3WTb9UnjzVQ9Gt19ndyKCMkgJames Romm is the James H. Ottaway Jr. Professor of Classics at Bard College and editor of the Ancient Lives biography series from Yale University Press. He is the author of several other studies of Greek history, and his reviews and essays appear regularly in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Review of Books.Romm is in conversation with Mary Beard, one of the world's leading classicists and cultural commentators, and the author of bestselling and award-winning books, including SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome and Women and Power: A Manifesto. A specialist in Roman history and art, she has also written and presented many television programs, from Civilisations and Meet the Romans to The Shock of the Nude.*recorded 5/9/2025