Plato (427-347 BC) remained the most faithful disciple of Socrates throughout the last 8 years of the latter's life. after
his master's death, Plato travelled for 12 years and then returned to Athens where he founded his Academy(the name derives from one Academos in whose grove Plato located his school) to teach there for 40 years. such sciences as
philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, logic and medicine thrived in the Academy. Plato put his philosophy into 35 dialogues: colloquial conversations which were similar to Socratic methods of reaching the truth. Plato's philosophical adversaries were sophists. He criticized their relativism and tried to grasp the eternal and immutable Good. Plato is particularly famous for his
metaphor of the cave. This metaphor shows human beings as perceiving the true reality only by means of shadows that fire causes to appear on the wall of the cave. Plato believed that human soul is prior to the body and that it comes back to eternity after death. He also compared the world to a bubble in its ephemerality and elusiveness. It was Plato who first advocated public education as well as equal rights for men and women. He divided human body into 3 parts(head, breast, stomach)and he made analogous distinctions within the political state.