Nietzsche's relation to Plato has received much attention, and it is often argued that he enters into a sort of agon, or competition, with Plato. Although there is some truth in such a view, I wish to argue the opposite case—first, that Nietzsche did not have a personal engagement with Plato (unlike the case with many other ancient Greeks, including Socrates, and with several modern philosophers such as Schopenhauer, Lange, Kant, Emerson, and Hartmann); and second that, on the whole, he only set up a caricature of Plato as a representative of the metaphysical tradition (including Christianity) to which he opposed his own. Most of those who have written on Nietzsche and Plato have assumed a much greater personal involvement from Nietzsche's side.

I shall begin by summarizing Nietzsche's knowledge of and engagement with Plato, and show that he had a good knowledge of Plato's writings, but little engagement with his philosophy. Already from early on Nietzsche seems to have rejected Platonic philosophy. Next, I shall summarize the content of Nietzsche's extensive lecture-series on Plato, which has hitherto received little attention, especially in the English-speaking world, and highlight some of the characterizations of his interpretation of Plato. Then, I shall discuss the late Nietzsche's relation to Plato's political philosophy. Finally, I shall discuss the frequent claim that Nietzsche sympathized with the Platonic “characters” and opponents, the Sophists Thrasymachus and Callicles.