Plato's Bible?

Did Plato possess knowledge of a Greek Bible before the Septuagint?

In the second century, the Christian philosopher Justin Martyr made a striking claim: Plato had taken one of his most famous teachings about human choice and divine innocence from Moses.

"The choice makes you responsible. God is not responsible."

These words appear in the Myth of Er at the end of Plato's Republic. Yet Justin insisted that Plato had received this truth from the Hebrew prophet because Moses was older than all the Greek writers.

In Plato's Bible?, Antony Hylton examines this ancient accusation and asks whether it could have any historical foundation.

Drawing on Plato, Justin Martyr, Aristobulus, Clement of Alexandria, Eusebius, Josephus, Numenius, and other ancient witnesses, this concise study explores the early connections between Greece and Israel, the ancient tradition that Greek philosophers learned from Moses, Justin's charge of plagiarism, the meaning of the Myth of Er, and the evidence for a Greek translation of the Torah before the Septuagint.

Could Plato have encountered an early Greek version of the writings of Moses? Did Jewish ideas reach Greek philosophy through Egypt, trade, or Pythagorean tradition? Or was Justin simply identifying a similarity that cannot now be proved?

Carefully argued and accessible, Plato's Bible? takes listeners into the fascinating meeting place of biblical studies, classical philosophy, ancient Judaism, and early Christian apologetics.

Written and narrated by Antony Hylton.