I created a timeline of the major philosophers of the Platonic tradition. Knowing the history of our tradition grounds our understanding of the philosophers within it. I find that when I learn a lot, it is simply by knowing who was a contemporary of a philosopher or who came before them and influenced them most directly.
Through charts like these, the progression of thought becomes clearer, and the lengthy conversation of philosophy comes into focus and context. What strikes me is the continuity of the chain over time. It’s easy to think that there is a break between the Homeric era of Poetry and the philosophical eras later on. Still, we see here that the Homeric Era, in many ways, marks the beginning of the era of philosophy. It points to something beyond the material world, gives it names and characters for us to think about. That way of thinking primes us to ask who these gods are and how we know them.
Myth and philosophy go hand in hand. They are explaining the same things in different ways.
Also, we see this world flourish, and as we descend into a Christian obsession with revelation over philosophy, the Ancient world declines. Toward the end, the Platonic Academy makes a last stand but ultimately gets snuffed out by the power of the Christian Roman Emperors. And almost immediately, the light of the ancient world goes out, and we slip into 500 years of the Dark Ages. Only when we rediscover this flame in the Renaissance does the Western world awake from its slumber.
That’s not to say we live in a paradise of wisdom today. Unfortunately, the Renaissance gave way to an even worse dogmatism in the scientific rationalism of the “Enlightenment.” In reality, we are still shaking off centuries of bad ideas, but just like the ancients kept the chain alive, so will we today and march toward a new renaissance of truth, beauty, and goodness.
We can break down Platonic history into a few sections:
Homeric & Archaic Background
Homeric Era - 8th century BCE
Homer (c. 750–700 BCE), Iliad & Odyssey.
Hesiodic Era - 7th century BCE
Hesiod (c. 720–650 BCE), Theogony, Works and Days.
Sages & Proto-Philosophy
Seven Sages - 6th century BCE (some born in late 7th)
Solon, Thales, Bias, Pittacus, Chilon, Cleobulus, Periander.
Practical wisdom, early moral and political thought.
Pre-socratics
6th–5th centuries BCE
Milesians: Thales (c. 624–546), Anaximander, Anaximenes.
Heraclitus (c. 535–475).
Parmenides & Eleatics (c. 515–450).
Pythagoras & school (c. 570–495).
Empedocles, Anaxagoras, Democritus (5th c.).
Classical Philosophy
Socrates (469–399 BCE)
Plato (427–347 BCE) - Academy founded 387 BCE.
Aristotle (384–322 BCE) - Lyceum founded 335 BCE.
Hellenistic Schools (4th–1st centuries BCE)
Stoicism: Zeno (334–262 BCE) - Cleanthes - Chrysippus.
Epicureanism: Epicurus (341–270 BCE).
Skepticism: Pyrrho (c. 360–270 BCE), later Academic Skepticism.
Peripatetics (Aristotle’s successors).
Middle Platonism (1st century BCE – 2nd century CE)
Antiochus of Ascalon (125–68 BCE).
Eudorus of Alexandria (fl. ~50 BCE).
Philo of Alexandria (20 BCE – 50 CE).
Plutarch of Chaeronea (45–120 CE).
Alcinous, Atticus, Numenius (2nd century CE).
Later Platonists “Neoplatonism” (3rd–6th centuries CE)
Ammonius Saccas (175–242 CE).
Plotinus (204–270 CE).
Porphyry (234–305 CE).
Iamblichus (245–325 CE).
Proclus (412–485 CE).
Damascius (458–after 538 CE), the last scholarch of the Academy before its closure in 529 CE by Justinian.