100 Years Carnegie: Plato: Did you know...?

Plato's writing often has an undertone of homosexuality, a tendency that may also have been a characteristic of his teacher, Socrates. Homoeroticism is identifiable in his dialogues, such as the Phaedrus and the Symposium, at times becoming quite blatant (if you know what to look for). His sexual preferences may also have affected his obvious sympathy with the claims of women, which can be seen in the early books of the Republic . The Academy also supposedly accepted two women, who affected masculine ways and are often assumed to have been lesbians.
Plato was named Aristocles by his parents, and may have been called Platon for his broad shoulders or forehead.
Plato's doctrine of the Forms had a great influence on religious philosophy, including the conception of the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic God. These conceptions of God all include the idea that He is infinitely excellent, and infinitely above a world which depends on Him absolutely. Such a God is very compatible with Platonic terms, embodying and being excellence – an excellence that is only reflected in inadequate examples on earth. God is seen as being all these excellences in a pure and perfect form – exactly the description of Plato's Form of the Good.

Findlay, J.N. Plato and Platonism.
New York: The New York Times Book Company, Inc., 1978, pg. 15-16, 219-220
call number: B395.F488 1978

Hare, R.M. Plato.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982, pg. 1
call number: B393.H37 1982

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