For other uses, see Old Academy (disambiguation). Cicero recognised only two Academies, the Old and New, and had the latter commence with Arcesilaus. He made Plato founder of the first Academy Arcesilaus of the second Carneades of the third Philo and Charmadas of the fourth and Antiochus of the fifth.

Sextus Empiricus enumerated five divisions of the followers of Plato. At the head of the Old he put Plato, at the head of the Middle Academy, Arcesilaus, and of the New, Lacydes. ĭiogenes Laërtius divided the history of the Academy into three: the Old, the Middle, and the New. Two women are known to have studied with Plato at the Academy, Axiothea of Phlius and Lasthenia of Mantinea. There was, however, a distinction between senior and junior members. Therefore, there was probably not at that time a 'school' in the sense of a clear distinction between teachers and students, or even a formal curriculum. It did not, at least during Plato's time, charge fees for membership. Though the academy was open to the public, the main participants were upper-class men. Originally, the meetings were held on Plato's property as often as they were at the nearby Academy gymnasium this remained so throughout the fourth century. She claims, 'It is not until Eudoxus of Cnidos arrives in the mid-380s BC that Eudemus recognizes a formal Academy.' There is no historical record of the exact time the school was officially founded, but modern scholars generally agree that the time was the mid-380s, probably sometime after 387 BC, when Plato is thought to have returned from his first visit to Italy and Sicily. According to Debra Nails, Speusippus 'joined the group in about 390 BC'. Plato inherited the property at the age of thirty, with informal gatherings which included Theaetetus of Sunium, Archytas of Tarentum, Leodamas of Thasos, and Neoclides. What was later to be known as Plato's school appears to have been part of Academia. The School of Athens by Raphael (1509–1510), fresco at the Apostolic Palace, Vatican City. The road to Akademeia was lined with the gravestones of Athenians, and funeral games also took place in the area as well as a Dionysiac procession from Athens to the Hekademeia and then back to the city. Their piety was not shared by the Roman Sulla, who had the sacred olive trees of Athena cut down in 86 BC to build siege engines.Īmong the religious observances that took place at the Akademeia was a torchlit night race from altars within the city to Prometheus' altar in the Akademeia. Out of respect for its long tradition and its association with the Dioscuri – who were patron gods of Sparta – the Spartan army would not ravage these original 'groves of Academe' when they invaded Attica. The site was perhaps also associated with the twin hero-gods Castor and Polydeuces (the Dioscuri), since the hero Akademos associated with the site was credited with revealing to the brothers where the abductor Theseus had hidden their sister Helen. The site of the Academy was sacred to Athena it had sheltered her religious cult since the Bronze Age. His land, six stadia (a total of about one kilometer, or a half mile, the exact length of a stadion varied) north of Athens, became revered even by neighboring city-states, escaping destruction during the many local wars. Having thus spared Athens a war (or at least delayed it), Academus was seen as a savior of Athens. Academus was said to have saved Athens from attack by Sparta, revealing where Helen of Troy was hidden, when she had been kidnapped by King Theseus years before the incidents of the later Trojan War. It was located in or beside a grove of olive trees dedicated to the goddess Athena, which was on the site even before Cimon enclosed the precincts with a wall, and was called Academia after its original owner, an Attic hero in Greek mythology. The Akademia was a school outside the city walls of ancient Athens. The Platonic Academy was destroyed by the Roman dictator Sulla in 86 BC. The Academy persisted throughout the Hellenistic period as a skeptical school, until coming to an end after the death of Philo of Larissa in 83 BC. Aristotle studied there for twenty years (367–347 BC) before founding his own school, the Lyceum. The Academy ( Ancient Greek: Ἀκαδημία) was founded by Plato in c. Plato's Academy mosaic – from the Villa of T.

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