Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle were the three greatest philosophers of the ancient Greek world. Socrates (469 - 399 BC) was a loyal but outspoken Athenian citizen who was concerned about the right conduct in life.
The Delphic Oracle even declared that he was the wisest man alive. He provoked discussion on ethical and moral issues with people in public and in private and let them defeat themselves by their own arguments.
He therefore made many enemies, particularly Sophists who claimed that they could teach knowledge, and in 399 BC he was accused of corrupting the young. He was sentenced to death by drinking the poison, hemlock.
Socrates' most famous pupil was another Athenian called Plato (429 - 347 BC). He recorded and expounded much of Socrates' philosophy and founded the very first institution of higher education - the Academy at Athens - around 387 BC.
Its most famous pupil was Aristotle (384 - 322 BC) who is renowned for his works on logic and ethics, and his tutoring of Alexander the Great.
He collected many manuscripts at the Lyceum, the school which he founded in Athens; this became a prototype of all the great libraries in antiquity.
