The remains of Philodemus of Gadara’s History of the Academy (the school founded by Plato) preserved in the Herculaneum Papyri have yielded fascinating new information about Plato’s last days. The text, whose legibility has been dramatically improved by the latest scanning techniques, reveals that Plato was buried in the Academy’s garden, that he received a ‘Chaldean visitor’ during his last days, and that in spite of the fever that carried him off he was lucid enough to criticise a musical performance for faulty rhythm. These discoveries have been much in the press lately but we point out here that the new edition of Philodemus’ book was actually published in German a year ago by Dr Kilian Fleischer, a Friend of Herculaneum. His imposing volume is a masterpiece of Herculaneum scholarship and he deserves much of the credit, though almost totally unacknowledged in the extensive press coverage about these discoveries. Dr Fleischer has also published a volume on the chronicle of Apollodorus of Athens, one of the foundational documents for our knowledge of dates in ancient history, in the Society series Sozomena. This same Herculaneum papyrus contains many quotations from Apollodorus’ book in its original form.
Supporting World Heritage at Herculaneum