Defiant Death · Place Maubert, Paris, France · 1546
A single disputed word in a translation of Plato was enough to have him tortured and burned alongside his own books.
Étienne Dolet was a French scholar, printer and humanist. He was accused of atheism for translating a single line of Plato incorrectly. The mistranslation implied the soul did not survive death. He was tortured, strangled, and then burned at the stake alongside his books. He was 37 years old.
Interesting Fact The execution took place on the same street in Paris where he had run his printing press. The church burned his words and his body in the same fire. His works survived anyway.
The claims in this story have not been independently checked for this edition. Where a detail is famous but unproven, we have tried to say so in the text.
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