Charles Platter “Killing Socrates” was Roberts Lecture

Charles Platter ’81, professor of classics at the University of Georgia, presented a Roberts Lecture “Killing Socrates” at 4:15 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 5, in ARH Room 102. His talk was sponsored by the Department of Classics.

Platter discussed Plato’s Apology, in particular a passage in which Socrates refers to a comic play by Aristophanes, the Clouds, as an example of the kind of characterization of him that was indirectly responsible for the accusations that have brought him to court. Platter examined how seriously the comic poet’s assault on Socrates’ character was taken by Socrates himself and by the larger Athenian audience.

Platter holds a Ph.D. in classics from the University of North Carolina.  He has taught at the University of Georgia since 1990, and has held visiting appointments at Jagiellonian University, Kraków, and the University of Lisbon. He is the author of a book, Aristophanes and the Carnival of Genres (Johns Hopkins University Press), and a commentary, Aristophanes’ Acharnians (Hackett Publishing), and has co-authored a commentary with Paul Allen Miller, Plato’s Apology of Socrates: A Commentary (University of Oklahoma Press). He has co-edited six books and has also published more than 15 articles and chapters.