Plato (c.427-347 BC) stands with Socrates and Aristotle as one of the shapers of the whole intellectual tradition of the West. He founded in Athens the Academy, the first permanent institution devoted to philosophical research and teaching, and the prototype of all Western universities.
Christopher Rowe was until 2009 Professor of Greek in Durham University. His co-edited publications include The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Political Thought (2000), New Perspectives on Plato, Modern and Ancient (2002), Plato's Lysis (2005), and Plato and the Art of Philosophical Writing (2007). In Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics (2002), Sarah Broadie's philosophical commentary is accompanied by Christopher Rowe's translation. His translation of Phaedrus appeared in Penguin Classics in 2005, and his new version of The Last Days of Socrates - comprising Euthyphro, Apology, Crito and Phaedo - was published in 2010. He was awarded an OBE in 2009 for services to scholarship.