Plato was born around 427 B.C. into a real influential family that was very supportive. As he became a man he bacame really involved in poetry and started to write things down, like his ideas and thoughts. Plato's family background consisted of politics, "that was his destiny". When he was supposed to enter the politcal field Athens suffered major defeat in ther Peloponnesian Wars and left Plato's politcal life gone. Plato was also pulled aside from politics because of his great friend and mentor Socrates. When Socrates was sentenced to death by the people involved in politics, Plato was diminshed. After Socrates death Plato and some friends were in fear of their own safety. During this times Plato visited schools of philosophy. Some of which were spent in megara Cyrene on the North African coast; in the Italian peninsula, Egypt, and Syracuse in Sicily. He fled from Syracuse after falling foul of it's ruler Dionysius Plato was captured by a rival of Athens and only released on the payment of a ransom by a merchant from Cyrene. Plato wrote extensively during these years of exile, returning to Athens in 387 B.C., and soon thereafter establishing a school that was known as the Acadeny which developed into much frequented institution of higher learning. With great personal relucance Plato, who had been living a life devoted to philosophy at his Academy, decided that he would have to leave behind his important and satisfying role there in the hope that he could be of help to Dionysius 11. Plato died around 347 B.C., and was buried in the grounds of the Academy. At his death Plato left behind him a body of works that was unprecedented in bulk, let alone quality of original content.