Ariston of Athens

Who was Ariston of Athens?

Ariston of Collytus, was the father of the Greek philosopher Plato. Legend holds that he was descended from Codrus, the ancient king of Athens. Diogenes Laërtius on the authority of Speusippus and others, relates a story that "Ariston made violent love to Perictione, then in her bloom, and failed to win her; and that, when he ceased to offer violence, Apollo appeared to him in a dream, whereupon he left her unmolested until her child was born." Ariston died when Plato was still a boy, and his mother Perictione remarried Pyrilampes, a friend of the Athenian politician Pericles.

Ariston had three other children by Perictione: Glaucon, Adeimantus, and Potone.