Idols, icons and phantasms in Plato's dialogues

In this paper I re-examine the epistemological and ontological status of the images in Plato's Dialogues. One often considers that Platon relegates eikones, eidola and phantasmata to the area of illusion, semblance and deception because of their relations with imitation. Thus the Platonic theory of mimesis tends to confer on the image an utterly negative sign. Nevertheless, it remains to see if it is really possible to include eikones, eidola and phantasmata into the same discredit, if they are equally far away from reality and truth, and lastly if imitation itself, as such, also has to fall into disrepute.