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Echecrates of Phlius

4th-century BC Greek philosopher

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionOct 27, 2024
Entity authorityQ962486 ↗
Source-derived summary

Echecrates (Greek: Ἐχεκράτης) was a Pythagorean philosopher from the ancient Greek town of Phlius.

He appears in Plato's Phaedo dialogue as an aid to the plot. He meets Phaedo, the dialogue's namesake, some time after the execution of Socrates, and asks Phaedo to tell him the story of the famed philosopher's last hours. Phaedo's presentation of the story comprises most of the dialogue's remainder, though Echecrates interrupts at times to ask questions relevant to the retold discussion.

Little is known about Echecrates other than what Plato reveals, as he is mentioned in very few works. His status as a Pythagorean, also mentioned by Diogenes Laërtius, and his general concern and respect for Socrates are all that can be discerned of his philosophical beliefs.

An Echecrates is mentioned by Aristoxenus as a student of Philolaus and Eurytus. (p.

Editorial summary

“Echecrates of Phlius” enters the record as 4th-century BC Greek philosopher. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Echecrates, Phlius and 4th-century can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current 137-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The linked authority record independently contributes the date -0500-01-01. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Echecrates, Phlius and 4th-century.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Echecrates of Phlius” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Echecrates, Phlius and 4th-century provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Oct 27, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q962486. VIAF identifies the subject as 7774989. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

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  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Echecrates of Phlius”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Echecrates of Phlius primary sources, Echecrates of Phlius archive and Echecrates research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Echecrates of Phlius”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Echecrates of Phlius” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.