Glaucon facts for kids
Glaucon (born around 445 BC) was an important person in ancient Athens. He was the older brother of the famous philosopher Plato. Glaucon is best known for his conversations with another very famous philosopher, Socrates, especially in Plato's book called Republic.
Who Was Glaucon?
Glaucon was the son of a man named Ariston. We know he was old enough to have fought in the Battle of Megara, which shows he was a grown-up and likely a soldier.
Glaucon in Famous Books
Glaucon appears as a main speaker in Plato's Republic. In this book, he and Socrates discuss many big ideas about justice, what a good society looks like, and how people should live.
He is also mentioned briefly in two other books by Plato: the Parmenides and the Symposium.
Other ancient writers also mentioned Glaucon:
- Xenophon wrote about him in his book Memorabilia.
- Aristotle mentioned him in his Poetics. Aristotle disagreed with some of Glaucon's ideas about how people criticize poetry.
Books Attributed to Glaucon
Later historians said that Glaucon himself wrote nine different books. Some of their titles were Phidylus, Euripides, and Menexenus. However, none of these books have survived, so we can't read them today.
See also
- List of speakers in Plato's dialogues
