Why was Plato important to history?

Plato wrote books on philosophy. His books influence the ways people think. He also wrote on government. Part of the greatness of western culture has been the teaching of thinking techniques rather than just the learning of rote information. Rote learning tells us how to face problems that people have faced in the past. It is Excellent for multiplication tables. It is Excellent for many basic techniques. Still, we will face many problems no one has ever faced in exactly the same combination. We will need to use our learned skills with our learned thinking techniques.He was almost as great a poet as Homer.