Plato’s κάλλιστον δρᾶμα in Greek Biography

In the huge repertoire on Plato’s Nachleben in the ancient world conceived by Dörrie, several passages, which derive from the Greek biography, include a judgement of great value and sharp originality on Plato’s corpus: a judgement, that is mainly handed down by means of the Greek biography code, which, on the basis of his Peripatetic origin, demonstrates as central feature the fruitful commitment to project details of the work of an author on his personal life experiences. The paper will give a critical assessment on the reflection of Hermippus on Demosthenes as Plato’s pupil, of Dicaearchus on the dream of Socrates, of Alexander Polyhistor on the tragedies stake, of Dionysius of Halicarnassus on Plato’s troubles, of Euphorion of Chalcis and Panaitius on the incipit of the Politeia, of the author of the commentary in the Berlin Papyrus on the incipit of the Theaetetus. The principal aim is to reconstruct in the Greek biography the roots of the modern interpretation of Plato’s corpus as the result of a great and conscious literary engagement, in accordance to Plato’s definition of his own production as κάλλιστον δρᾶμα.