Some 250 known manuscripts of Plato survive. [1] The following is a partial list of manuscripts of Plato's dialogues.
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There are 51 Byzantine manuscripts in Greek minuscule that constitute the main basis for the text of Plato's works. [2]
| Name | Date | Content | Institution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Papyrus 2993 | 300 BC-200 BC | Sophist 223-224 | Digitised Manuscripts, British Library |
| P.Oxy.XXXIII 2662 | 100 BC-100 AD | Meno 92E-93B | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| Papyrus 3051 | 1-200 AD | Politicus 257B, 261D-262C | Digitised Manuscripts, British Library |
| Papyrus 187 | 1-250 AD | Laches 181a8-182a4 | Digitised Manuscripts, British Library |
| Papyrus 2048 | 100-300 AD | Phaedrus | Digitised Manuscripts, British Library |
| P.Oxy.LII 3667 | 200-300 AD | Alcibiades II 142 B-143 C | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.XV 1808 | 100-200 AD | Republic viii | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.LII 3678 | 200-300 AD | Philebus18 E-19 A | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.LXXVI 5087 | 200-300 AD | Laches 180 E, 182 B-C | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.LII 3682 | 100-200 AD | Theaetetus 209 A-C | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.LXXVI 5078 | 200-400 AD | Alcibiades I 105 C-D | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.LXXVI 5086 | 200-300 AD | Laches 179 C-D, 180 A-B | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.XXXIII 2663 | 100-200 AD | Cratylus 405C | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.LII 3677 | 100-200 AD | Phaedrus 267 C | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.XV 1809 | 100-200 AD | Phaedo | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.LII 3676 | 100-200 AD | Phaedo 107 D-110 A | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.LXXVI 5079 | 150-200 AD | Alcibiades I 109 A-B, 109 B | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.XLIV 3157 | 100-200 AD | Republic x | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.LII 3668 | 100-200 AD | Epistle 2. 310 E-311 A | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.LXXVI 5090 | 100-200 AD | Politicus 270 D-E | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.LII 3672 | 200-300 AD | Laws 6. 751 A-C | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.LII 3681 | 100-300 AD | Theaetetus 198 D-E | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.LII 3666 | 100-200 AD | Alcibiades I 113 B and 132 A-B | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.LXXVI 5088 | 100-200 AD | Meno 72 E, 73 A-B | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.LXXVI 5089 | 100-200 AD | Politicus 257 B-C, 257 D-258 A | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.XLVII 3326 | 100-200 AD | Republic 8. 545C-546A | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.XLIX 3509 | 200-300 AD | Republic i 330 a2 - b4 | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.LXXVI 5084 | 100-200 AD | Crito 43 B, 45 B-E, 45 E-46 A, 46 C-D | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.LII 3671 | 150-200 AD | Laches 179 B-C | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.LII 3670 | 100-300 AD | Hippias Major 291 D-E | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.XXXVI 2751 | 150-250 AD | Republic III | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.LII 3680 | 100-200 AD | Theaetetus 190 E-191 A | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.XVII 2102 | 150-200 AD | Phaedrus | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.XV 1809 | 100-200 AD | Phaedo | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.LXXVI 5091 | 100-300 AD | Politicus 299 E, 300 A-B, 300 C | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.LXXVI 5092 | 100-200 AD | Politicus 305 D-306 B | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.LII 3674 | 100-200 AD | Laws 9. 854 C-D | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.LII 3673 | 150-250 AD | Laws 6. 771 A-D | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.LII 3675 | 100-200 AD | Laws 9. 865 A-C | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.LII 3669 | 100-200 AD | Gorgias 491 B, 495 C-E | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.LXXVI 5081 | 100-300 AD | Charmides 166C, 167A | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.LXXVI 5085 | 200-300 AD | Euthedemus 286 D, 286 E | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.LII 3679 | 200-300 AD | Republic 5. 472 E-473 D | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.LXXVI 5082 | 200-300 AD | Charmides 172 C-D, 173 A-B | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
| P.Oxy.LXXVI 5083 | 200-350 AD | Cratylus 423 E | Papyrology Rooms, Sackler Library, Oxford |
Additional fragments with possibly outdated references
The traditional division of the works of Plato into tetralogies was done by Thrasyllus of Mendes. [6] The list includes works of doubtful authenticity (in italic), as well as the Letters.
| Works |
|  | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Philosophy | ||||
| Allegories and metaphors | ||||
| Life | ||||
| Legacy | ||||
Plato, born Aristocles, was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the written dialogue and dialectic forms. He raised problems for what became all the major areas of both theoretical philosophy and practical philosophy, and was the founder of the Platonic Academy, a philosophical school in Athens where Plato taught the doctrines that would later become known as Platonism.
Stephanus pagination is a system of reference and organization used in modern editions and translations of Plato based on the three-volume 1578 edition of Plato's complete works translated by Joannes Serranus and published by Henricus Stephanus in Geneva.
Socratic dialogue is a genre of literary prose developed in Greece at the turn of the fourth century BC. The earliest ones are preserved in the works of Plato and Xenophon and all involve Socrates as the protagonist. These dialogues, and subsequent ones in the genre, present a discussion of moral and philosophical problems between two or more individuals illustrating the application of the Socratic method. The dialogues may be either dramatic or narrative. While Socrates is often the main participant, his presence in the dialogue is not essential to the genre.
Georg Anton Friedrich Ast was a German philosopher and philologist.
Phaedo of Elis was a Greek philosopher. A native of Elis, he was captured in war as a boy and sold into slavery. He subsequently came into contact with Socrates at Athens, who warmly received him and had him freed. He was present at the death of Socrates, and Plato named one of his dialogues Phaedo.
Aeschines of Sphettus or Aeschines Socraticus, son of Lysanias, of the deme Sphettus of Athens, was a philosopher who in his youth was a follower of Socrates. Historians call him Aeschines Socraticus—"the Socratic Aeschines"—to distinguish him from the more historically influential Athenian orator also named Aeschines. His name is sometimes but now rarely written as Aischines or Æschines.
Minos is purported to be one of the dialogues of Plato. It features Socrates and a companion who together attempt to find a definition of "law".
The Oxyrhynchus Papyri are a group of manuscripts discovered during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by papyrologists Bernard Pyne Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt at an ancient rubbish dump near Oxyrhynchus in Egypt.
Albinus was a Platonist philosopher, who lived at Smyrna, and was teacher of Galen. A short tract by him, entitled Introduction to Plato's dialogues, has survived. From the title of one of the extant manuscripts we learn that Albinus was a pupil of Gaius the Platonist. The original title of his work was probably Prologos, and it may have originally formed the initial section of notes taken at the lectures of Gaius. After explaining the nature of the Dialogue, which he compares to a Drama, the writer goes on to divide the Dialogues of Plato into four classes, logical, critical, physical, ethical, and mentions another division of them into Tetralogies, according to their subjects. He advises that the Alcibiades, Phaedo, Republic, and Timaeus, should be read in a series.
This page is a list of topics in ancient philosophy.
Papyrus 104, designated by the symbol 𝔓104, is a fragment that is part of a leaf from a papyrus codex, it measures 2.5 by 3.75 inches at its widest. It is conserved in the Papyrology Rooms at Bodleian Art Library, Oxford, UK. The front (recto) contains lines from the Gospel of Matthew 21:34-37, in Greek, the back (verso) contains tentative traces of lines from verses 43 and 45.
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 4 is a fragment of a Christian theological work in Greek. It was discovered by Grenfell and Hunt in 1897 in Oxyrhynchus. The fragment is dated to the early 4th century. It is housed in the library of the University of Cambridge. The text was published by Grenfell and Hunt in 1898.
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 22 contains fragments of the Oedipus Tyrannus by Sophocles, written in Greek. It was discovered by Grenfell and Hunt in 1897 in Oxyrhynchus. The fragment is dated to the fifth century. It is housed in the British Library. The text was published by Grenfell and Hunt in 1898.
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 23 is a fragment of the ninth book of Plato's Laws, written in Greek. It was discovered by Grenfell and Hunt in 1897 in Oxyrhynchus. The fragment is dated to the third century. It is housed in the Cambridge University Library. The text was published by Grenfell and Hunt in 1898.
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 24 is a fragment of Chapter X of Plato's Republic, written in Greek. It was discovered by Grenfell and Hunt in 1897 in Oxyrhynchus. The fragment is dated to the third century. It is housed in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University. The text was published by Grenfell and Hunt in 1898.
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 29 is a fragment of the second book of the Elements of Euclid in Greek. It was discovered by Grenfell and Hunt in 1897 in Oxyrhynchus. The fragment was originally dated to the end of the third century or the beginning of the fourth century, although more recent scholarship suggests a date of 75–125 CE. It is housed in the library of the University of Pennsylvania. The text was published by Grenfell and Hunt in 1898.
Nag Hammadi Codex II is a papyrus codex with a collection of early Christian Gnostic texts in Coptic. The manuscript has survived in nearly perfect condition. The codex is dated to the 4th century. It is the only complete manuscript from antiquity with the text of the Gospel of Thomas.
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 228 is a fragment of the Laches, a dialogue of Plato, written in Greek. It was discovered in Oxyrhynchus. The manuscript was written on papyrus in the form of a roll. It is dated to the second century. It is housed in the Bodleian Library in Oxford.
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 229 is a fragment of the Phaedo, a dialogue by Plato, written in Greek. It was discovered in Oxyrhynchus. The manuscript was written on papyrus in the form of a roll. It is dated to the second or third century. Currently it is housed in the British Library in London.
Those works which have been falsely attributed to Plato, whether through error or forgery, are collectively known as Pseudo-Platonica. There are two main groups of such works.