Plato's Academy

Plato’s Academy, also known as the Academic School, was founded in Athens around 387 BCE by the philosopher Plato. Located in a public space northwest of Athens called Hekademia, near the village of Colonus. This area, rich in trees, contained shrines, a gymnasium, and a sacred olive grove dedicated to Athena, the goddess of wisdom. It was enclosed by a wall commissioned by the Athenian general and statesman Cimon (510–450 BCE). Hekademia was accessible from Athens by exiting through the Dipylon Gate and crossing the Kerameikos cemetery. In classical times, the site became known as Akademeia, named after the hero Academus. It was transformed by Plato into a philosophical community that gathered scholars, students, and thinkers in a setting dedicated to the intellectual and spiritual pursuits.

Map of the City of Athens in Ancient Greece and Plato's Academy Archaeological Site in Akadimia Platonos subdivision of Athens, Greece.

According to tradition, Plato founded his renowned philosophical school here in 387 BCE after returning from his travels in Sicily, following a failed attempt to influence the tyrant Dionysius the Elder in Syracuse. Plato, who was captured and sold into slavery, was ultimately freed by the philosopher Annicerides, who purchased land in Akademeia where Plato settled and began teaching.
The Academy was not only a school but also a religious association dedicated to the worship of Apollo and the Muses. Plato's Academy functioned as a community, where master and disciples lived and studied together. It became known as the Platonic Academy, a term that persisted even when activities moved to Athens. Structurally, the Academy had legal status, property, buildings, and its own resources, with a director, or scholarch, elected for life by its members. This leader, along with other prominent members, oversaw teaching and scientific research.
The Academy served as the main institution for preserving and developing Platonic philosophy. It lasted through various phases until the death of Philo of Larissa, although philosophers continued to teach Platonic thought in Athens during Roman times. In the 5th century, a new school was established as a center of Neoplatonism, but it was closed in 529 CE by Emperor Justinian I, who banned all pagan philosophical schools in the Byzantine Empire, where Christianity had become the state religion.
Throughout antiquity, the Academy was a symbol of Platonic philosophy, and even during the height of the Roman Empire, thinkers like Plutarch identified themselves as akademikoi (academics), upholding Plato’s intellectual heritage.
Plato led the Academy from its founding, teaching doctrines that, according to Aristotle, diverged from his written dialogues and reflected a deeper influence of Pythagorean thought. Upon Plato’s death in 347 BCE, the leadership passed to his nephew Speusippus, who may have been chosen for his age, family ties, or talent, though his philosophical views differed significantly from Plato's. When Speusippus died in 339 BCE, Xenocrates was elected to reconcile Plato’s and Speusippus's views, leading the Academy until 314 BCE.
Philodemus of Gadara listed notable students of Plato, including Speusippus, Xenocrates, Heraclides Ponticus, Amyntas, Menedemus of Pyrrha, and Aristotle, as well as two women, Lastenia of Mantinea and Axiothea of Phlius, who wore male attire to participate in the Academy's activities. Other sources mention that the mathematician and astronomer Eudoxus of Cnidus also studied there.
Aristotle, the Academy’s most prominent student, joined in 367 BCE at age 17 and remained for two decades. He taught rhetoric, defended the Academy’s philosophy against that of Isocrates, and wrote about key philosophical debates, including works On Ideas and On the Good. It is speculated that Aristotle was not chosen as scholarch upon Speusippus's death because he was away from Athens tutoring Alexander the Great in Macedonia.
The Academy’s teaching method centered on dialogue, where the master presented a problem and invited students to propose solutions, which were then critically examined and debated. This process allowed for diverse perspectives, in contrast to the stricter orthodoxy seen in Pythagorean schools.
Plato reportedly set four primary problems for his students: constructing an astronomical model to explain planetary movements, examining the existence of Ideas (a core aspect of his philosophy), investigating fundamental principles or elements of reality, and evaluating whether pleasure is a good and should serve as a guide to behavior.
Mathematics, both pure and applied, held a significant place in the Academy, reflecting Plato's view that mathematical study prepared students for philosophical pursuits. Proclus mentions several mathematicians associated with the Academy, including Leodamas of Thasos, Archytas of Tarentum, Theaetetus of Athens, and Eudoxus of Cnidus. Another major aim of the Academy was to prepare students for political roles, in line with the educational ideals outlined by Plato in The Republic. Many Academy members, including Plato himself, took on political roles as advisors or legislators.
As a premier institution for Athenian and foreign students, the Academy competed directly with the Sophists and other schools, such as Isocrates’ school of rhetoric and, later, Aristotle’s Lyceum.
Over the centuries, the Academy evolved through several philosophical phases, each marked by different approaches to Plato's original teachings:

Old Academy (347–266 BCE): After Plato's death, the leadership passed to Speusippus, followed by Xenocrates, Polemo, and Crates. This phase emphasized Plato’s doctrines and incorporated mathematical and Pythagorean ideas.
Middle Academy (266–155 BCE): Arcesilaus became the head of the Academy and introduced skepticism, challenging the possibility of absolute knowledge, a stance that opposed the dogmatic assertions of Stoicism. This skepticism continued under subsequent leaders.
New Academy (155 BCE onward): Carneades, a significant figure of this phase, argued against the certainty of knowledge and held that probability was the best standard for judgment. Philo of Larissa, the last undisputed head of the Academy, sought to balance dogmatic teachings with skepticism.

The Academy suffered severely in 86 BCE when the Roman general Sulla invaded Athens. The grove and its sacred trees were destroyed, and the physical site was devastated. Although some Platonic teaching continued, the Academy as an institution could not be revived. Antiochus of Ascalon, one of the Academy’s later philosophers, attempted to merge Platonic and Stoic ideas, signaling a shift from skepticism back to more dogmatic teachings, which laid foundations for later Neoplatonism.
By the early 5th century CE, a new Platonic Academy emerged in Athens under leading Neoplatonic philosophers, including Plutarch of Athens, Syrianus, and Proclus. Unlike the original Academy, this Neoplatonic school had no direct connection to Plato’s institution, but it continued to explore Platonic and metaphysical doctrines. The Neoplatonic Academy became a center of intellectual resistance to Christianity until Emperor Justinian I ordered its closure in 529 CE as part of his campaign against paganism. This decree effectively ended the Academy's presence in Athens, though its scholars continued teaching and transmitting their knowledge, which influenced the Islamic world through translation and preservation.
The influence of Plato’s Academy extended well beyond its physical destruction. In the Renaissance, a Platonic Academy was established in Florence by Cosimo de’ Medici, which played a role in reviving classical knowledge and fostering Renaissance humanism. In 1926, a modern Academy of Athens was founded as a national institution, carrying forward the ideals of intellectual inquiry and scholarship in the spirit of Plato’s original Academy.

Last update: November 11, 2024

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