Influentia Plato And Dante's Inferno

What is truly real?
(A discussion of the three most influential texts read during the first semester of AP Literature) Almost every book or novel written can teach the reader and world something important about life. Millions of books are published every year. However, a majority of the books required by school curriculums are considered classics and seem as old as time itself. How does a book become regarded as a classic? Tales have been passed down through the centuries and have influence in the world of thought. The three most important texts read in the first semester to me were Homer’s Iliad, Plato’s Republic, and Dante’s Inferno. These three texts provide important insight into life and death, and how people should live. Homer’s Iliad is extremely

Although Socrates talks of an ideal republic, it is merely an idea, because the world can never be perfect. Socrates outlines ways in which perfection can be almost reached in his tripartite view of society. Socrates believed that there must be a philosopher king, planned families, and women must be equal to men in education. Socrates believed that both men and women should be educated equally in order to ensure men and women could do their jobs. Socrates states, “Then if we are to use the women for the same things as the men, we must teach them the same things,”(249). Socrates comments on the idea that in an ideal state, if men and women were educated equally, the best suited person for the job would be chosen, regardless of his or her gender. Providing equal opportunities like this for both men and women help the ideal state, because the best suited person for the job would be chosen. This idea was centuries ahead of the time and was extremely controversial. Socrates’ and Plato’s ideas disrupted society and changed societal views. Socrates was later killed for being a heretic because of such