The Euthyphro is crucially important for understanding Plato’s presentation of the last days of Socrates, dramatized in four brief dialogues: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito and Phaedo.
In addition to narrating this evocative series of events in the life of Plato’s philosophical hero, the texts also can be read as reflecting how a wise man faces death. This particular dialogue contains Socrates’ vivid examination of the intentions of Euthyphro to prosecute his own father for murder and culminates in an attempt to understand holiness—a topic central both to Euthyphro’s justification of his actions and to the charge of impiety that Socrates faces before the Athenian court.
A Student’s Commentary on Plato’s Euthyphro is written by Charles Platter, a professor of classics in UGA’s Franklin College. It presents an introduction to the Euthyphro, the full Greek text and a commentary designed for undergraduates and selected graduate students. The volume is part of the series Michigan Classical Commentaries.
