Abstract

Plato’s Phaidon, as generally held, is set in Phlius (northern Argolis), shortly after the death of Socrates: the scarcely twenty-year-old Phaidon (see 89b2), on his way from Athens to his home town of Elis, is visiting the Pythagorean Echecrates and his companions. In this article I will show that the established place and time neglect some special dynamics of the start of the meeting (Section I) and a series of ethopoietic effects in the course of the dialogue (Section II). Moreover, relevant testimonies about Echecrates of Phlius and some adverbial references (especially 118a16 τότε) suggest that the dramatic time of the dialogue should be understood as set substantially later (Section III). Finally, general reflections on the naturalness of the whole setting (Section IV) seem to confirm that in the Platonic Phaidon, the already more mature Phaidon, when visited ‘years after’ (Wilamowitz) in Elis by the Pythagorean Echecrates, reports details of the memorable death of his former master.