The Allegory of the Cave is a passage in Book VII of Plato's Republic in which Socrates describes prisoners chained inside a cave since childhood, able to see only shadows cast on a wall by objects carried behind them. When one prisoner is freed and climbs out into daylight, he is first dazzled, but gradually learns to see real things and finally the sun, which stands for the Form of the Good. If he returns to the cave to tell the others, they will ridicule him. The story illustrates Plato's theory of Forms and his view that education turns the soul toward truth, and that philosophers have a duty to guide others. It remains one of the most discussed images in Western philosophy.
Before and after
- from 387 BCE to 529 CEConstruction of Platonic Academy
- 384 BCEBirth of Aristotle
- from 380 BCE to 343 BCEThirtieth Dynasty of Egypt
- c. 375 BCEWriting of The Republic
- c. 375 BCEWriting of the Allegory of the Cave
- 375 BCEBirth of Chanakya
- 370 BCEDeath of Hippocrates
- 20 July 356 BCEBirth of Alexander the Great
- 4th century BCEOrigins of Servian Wall
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- from 448 BCE to 433 BCEConstruction of the Parthenon begins
- 196 BCERosetta Stone
The era
This moment belongs to the Ancient civilizations (3,200 BCE to 500 CE), writing, cities and empires. You can also browse everything in the 4th century BCE.