Plato’s Fight Against Apollo’s Temple of Delphi and the Cult of Democracy

We are too often drawn into the bad habit of thinking of ancient Greek thinkers like Plato and his teacher Socrates as ivory tower philosophers lost in the abstract realm of “ideas” and utopian ideals detached of all reality and human struggle on earth. In this lecture, Cynthia Chung shatters that fantasy to pieces by introducing the geopolitical dynamic that both Socrates, Plato and a network of bright thinkers lived in and fought to transform for the better on a multitude of levels: military, cultural, scientific, and political. How did Plato establish a vast international web of allies which were coordinated increasingly through his Academy? How did the Cult of Marduk of Babylon use Persian forces to attempt to subjugate the entire known world and how did this Cult transplant itself to Greece with the creation of the Cult of Apollo at Delphi? How did these cults control imperial grand strategy, finance, religion and even military strategy for countless generations and how did such great figures as Solon, the law giver, Aeschylus and their allies work to subvert the Persian/Delphi operations? How did this process lead directly into Alexander the Great’s decision to fire his controller Aristotle and adopt a Platonic grand strategy that overthrew Philip of Macedon, defeated oligarchical forces of culture while securing the creation of the Library of Alexandria? Most importantly, how does understanding this history provide modern readers with the intellectual edge necessary to cut through lies, and recognize solutions to problems that too many believe are unsolvable?

For Cynthia Chung’s class on the philosophy of Socrates/Plato and Cicero’s attempt to follow in their path, see her class titled How To Conquer Tyranny and Avoid Tragedy: A Lesson on Defeating Systems of Empire.