The Glory that was Greece Note: For English Translations of the Greek philosophical works mentioned in this page, see the Online Books site for Classical Languages and Literature. Socrates (c. 469-399 BCE) Born in Athens around 469 BCE, Socrates lived during the period of the city's greatest cultural expansion. Son of a midwife and sculptor, he was acquainted with the intellectual elite at the court of Pericles, ruler of Athens, despite his plebian origins. As a young man, Socrates studied philosophy, establishing a familiarity with the work of earlier Greek philosophers. Heraclitus and Parmenides are thought to have been particularly influential in his education. During the Peloponnesian War, he fought in several battles and received commendation for his actions. By 423 BCE, Socrates was well-known in Athens, not so much for military distinction as for his non-traditional teaching methods. He did not keep a formal school, nor did he charge for his services. He was a popular guest at social gatherings, and could often be seen arguing against illogical reasoning and prejudice wherever people congregated. Socrates did not sympathize with the ascetics -- he believed in enjoying life.

He found fault with the Sophists, contemporary teachers who were willing to argue either side of any controversy and with whom he was often wrongly associated. Socrates believed that truth, beauty, and justice have objective content, and that we are born with an innate understanding of their existence. He taught his students to use their rational understanding to rediscover knowledge they already had. He also believed that a moral life brought men happiness, and that this morality was something that could be transmitted through education. He himself was fond of claiming that he knew nothing, which was his way of stating that he had no fixed doctrine. Socrates alleged ignorance was called by the Greeks eironeia, Socratic irony. His willingness to criticize arguments that he found unsound, regardless of subject, challenged and threatened some prominent Athenians. Socrates made powerful political enemies when he spoke against Athens' new democratic governmental system, which he considered ineffectual and corrupt. During this time, the Peloponnesian War dragged on, and the city of Athens suffered plague, treason, and finally total defeat. Socrates and his outspoken opinions became increasingly aggravating to the ruling elite.

It was thought that his influence over the youth of Athens was dangerous, particularly his association with Critias, a former student and a powerful figure in the Rule of Thirty, a tyrannic government that came to power in Athens after the period of political flux in the aftermath of the Peloponnesian War. While some of the members of this oligarchy had indeed been followers of Socrates, Socrates remained an outspoken critic of the new government. When the Democrats regained power, however, Socrates' association with the oligarchy, particularly with Critias and Alcibiades, gave his enemies reason to bring him to trial. He was charged with corrupting the youth of Athens and with impiety. Despite his eloquent defense, Socrates was found guilty and sentenced to death. Plato records Socrates's last month of life in jail in the Apology, the Phaedo, and the Crito. Socrates remained staunchly true to his beliefs, refused to recant any of his statements, and also refused to accept exile over death. He took a cup of hemlock surrounded by his friends, and, comforting them, drank the poison that would end his life. Socrates is considered to be among the most influential Western philosophers.

Although he never wrote a word himself, the many works of his student, Plato, provides a window into Socratic philosophy. His major contribution to the study of philosophy was to redirect inquiries away from the natural sciences and toward the contemplation of systems of ethics and questions of ethical conduct. Plato (c. 427-347 BCE) Plato was Socrates' student and one of the most influential philosophers in Western civilization. Born to a politically active and wealthy noble Athenian family, (Plato's mother was descended from Solon, the famous lawgiver credited with major democratic reforms that paved the way for Athen's Golden Age) Plato grew up during the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE), a conflict that arose among Athens, Sparta, and their allies. This civil war was the beginning of the end of the Athenian Golden Age, and created an opening for later conquest by Philip of Macedon. The principles of democracy in Athens were lost, as was much of the cultural wealth of both city states. During this general shift away from democracy, Plato was a young man, and probably served in the military around 409-404 BCE.

The Rule of the Thirty, a period of tyrannical government, replaced the last vestiges of democracy before Plato reached adulthood. Though Sparta emerged victorious in battle, the balance of power between the two city states remained uncertain, with neither state gaining a clear economic or political advantage. His relatives Critias and Charmides introduced Plato to Socrates and his radical and vibrant philosophical group. Socrates became Plato's teacher from 469-399 BCE. Plato was deeply influenced by Socrates' emphasis on ethics and politics, and would later commemorate Socrates as the wise and central speaker in his philosophical writings.When Athens lost the Peloponnesian War, Critias and Charmides, the same relatives who had established Plato in Athens, became part of the despotic Rule of Thirty, also known as the Thirty Tyrants. When the government of the Rule of Thirty crumbled in 403 BCE, Critias and Charmides were executed. Socrates was then put to death in 399 BCE, not by the Rule of Thirty, but by the newly reinstated and corrupt Athenian democratic system. Plato gave up all political aspirations after this tragedy, and pursued instead a career of travel and philosophy.

He travelled to the Greek city of Syracuse in Sicily around 387 BCE, ruled by the despotic Dionysius, where he tutored and befriended Dion, a relative of the king. During his journeying in Italy Plato encountered followers of Pythagoras, an early philosopher whose views on the soul and the afterlife seem to have greatly influenced Plato. Plato would also have been intrigued by tales of a Pythagorean class of philosopher-elites who had ruled over some of the Greek cities in Italy, an idea that would resurface in his Republic . Plato's visit to Syracuse, however, ended abruptly -- one legend suggests that Dionysius was annoyed by Plato's critical comments and tried to sell him as a slave -- and Plato came back to Athens in 386 BCE to found his school in a place dedicated to Academus, a mythical hero. The Academy among the first organized institutions of higher education in the Western world. He remained at the Academy for the next twenty years until drawn away from his work there in 367 BCE by a request from Dion, his old friend from Syracuse, to return to Sicily.

Plato probably made the voyage with the expectation that he could be instrumental in forming a new state in Syracuse, one dedicated to philosophical ideals. In 361 BCE, however, he returned to Athens, feeling that Sicily's problems were too great for one man to overcome. His return to Athens was marked by the arrival of a brilliant student to the Academy named Aristotle, whom Plato taught for the next twenty years until his death in 347 BCE, according to legend, with his pen still in his hand. Plato composed over twenty dialogues, (the dialogue itself was then a revolutionary prose form) as well as a series of philosophical letters. Although most of the letters are thought to be forged, the "Seventh Letter" contains information about Plato's life that most scholars believe to be accurate. Almost all of Plato's works were lost during the Middle Ages, except for the first third of the Timaeus. His writings were not recovered until the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, when Italian humanists gradually rediscovered and translated his works into Latin. From this point forward, Plato's texts, and his magnum opus The Republic , in particular, have had an impact on European history second only to the works of Aristotle.

Particularly influential was his theory of Forms, in which Plato suggested that the reality of corporeal and materials things is based on a metaphysical reality of ideas that exists in an eternal world of Forms. Plato's idea of a an absolute Form of the Good was close to the Christian monotheistic God; Neoplatonism in the Christianizing Roman Empire (100-400 CE) revived Plato as an early precursor of Christian doctrine. Aristotle (c. 384-322 BCE) Aristotle, or Aristoteles, (c.384-322 BCE) was born in Stagirus in the Greek colony of Chalcidice, which lies to the north of Greece near Macedon. Aristotle was never an Athenian citizen, despite having spent most of his life in Athens. Nicomachus, Aristotle's father, was court physician to King Amyntas III of Macedon. Aristotle came to Athens to study and joined Plato's Academy in 367 BCE. Aristotle became Plato's best student and was generally felt to be Plato's successor.

He remained at the Academy until Plato's death in 347 BCE, when, bypassed in the election of the Academy's next president, Aristotle left Athens with a few students and friends. He journeyed to the eastern Mediterranean and Asia Minor, where he established a school at Assos at the behest of the ruling Persian vassal, Hermias. Aristotle married Pythias, Hermia's adopted daughter. When Hermias fell out of favor with the Persian authorities and was executed, Aristotle and his followers fled to the Greek island of Lesbos. Here, Aristotle met Theophrastus, his successor. It was also at Lesbos that Aristotle made some of his most famous zoological observations and marine experiments in biology. In 343 BCE, Aristotle returned to Macedon at the invitation of King Philip.For three years he became the tutor of the adolescent Alexander the Great. Aristotle returned to Athens to found his own school, the Lyceum, in 355 BCE, after Alexander had assumed the throne. The Lyceum had a special status. Alexander had made a large donation to his former tutor's new enterprise, and additionally the Lyceum was under Macedonian protection.

At the Lyceum, Aristotle had the freedom to pursue a vast number of scientific and philosophic interests. He developed a course of study that in many ways resembles the modern Western university system. In fact, many of Aristotle's surviving works were probably intended as notes for his advanced courses. He also gave lectures to the general public. His philosophical school was known as "Peripatetic," either because Aristotle had a habit of walking around while addressing his audience, or because the roofed courtyard at the Lyceum was called a peripatos . Aristotle's good years in Athens did not last. Alexander died during his great Eastern campaign in 323 BCE, and the withdrawal of Macedonian power and protection from Aristotle's Athenian school gave his enemies the opportunity to charge him with impiety. Aristotle fled to Chalcis, explaining, according to legend, that he would not give the Athenians a chance to commit another sin against philosophy (referring to the execution of Socrates on a similar charge in 399 BCE). He died the following year at the age of sixty-two.

Despite the fact that only around thirty Aristotelean treatises remained extant, Aristotle's work has directed academic pursuits in the West since the middle ages. Among his most influential works are Politics, Physics, Metaphysics, Generation of Animals , History of Animals, Nicomachean Ethics (named after his son, Nicomachus, who is thought to have edited his father's work), Rhetoric , Poetics , On the Heavens, Meteorology, and Prior Analytics . Aristotle's work might be viewed as an attempt to reconcile naturalism, as posited by the pre-Socratics, with the metaphysical world described by his teacher, Plato.Ultimately, Aristotle would repudiate Plato's metaphysical understanding of the world. Aristotle preferred (and indeed developed) the processes of scientific observation and experimentation in the material world. He is credited with establishing systems and categories of scholarly research that have survived to the present day. Aristotle's work has been critical in the development of much of Western philosophic thought through to the nineteenth century. Contents Copyright © 2003 Leigh T.

Denault Plato Biography Born: 427 BC in Athens, Greece Died: 347 BC in Athens, Greece Best known for: Greek philosopher who helped form the foundation of Western philosophy and founded the Academy in Athens. Biography: Growing Up in Athens Plato grew up in the Greek city-state of Athens during the Classical Period of Ancient Greece. Although historians don't know a lot about Plato's early life they know he came from a wealthy family and likely had two brothers and a sister. He would have been taught by best Greek teachers about various subjects including music, gymnastics, math, grammar, and philosophy. The Peloponnesian War Much of Plato's youth would have been influenced by the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. It is likely that Plato served in the Athenian army during his early life. The war no doubt influenced his life and his philosophy. Meeting Socrates As Plato grew older he became more interested in academics and philosophy. He became a student and close follower to the famous philosopher Socrates . Socrates would hold conversations with his students about various aspects of politics and life. They then would break down the problem and come up with theories on the subject.

Socrates teachings and learning style became the cornerstone of Plato's writings. Travel and Study In 399 BC, Socrates was executed by the leaders of Athens for corrupting the youth and for not acknowledging the gods of Athens. Plato left Athens and traveled around the Mediterranean region for the next twelve years. During that time, he visited places like Italy, Egypt, and North Africa. He studied all sorts of subjects including science, math, and philosophy. The Dialogue While Plato was traveling around the Mediterranean, he began to write. He wrote in an interesting style called a "dialogue". In the dialogue, Plato would introduce several characters who would discuss a topic by asking questions of each other. This form allowed Plato to explore several sides of an argument and to introduce new ideas. Many of Plato's dialogues feature his former teacher Socrates as the main character. Most of what is known about Socrates' philosophies comes from Plato's dialogues. He wrote four dialogues about Socrates' final days including The Apology in which Socrates' defends himself before being sentenced to death. The Republic Plato's most famous writing is The Republic. In The Republic, several characters discuss the meaning of justice and how it relates to happiness.

Socrates is once again the main character in the dialogues and he discusses how being just or unjust can affect someone's life. They discuss various aspects of government and finally present the "philosopher-king" as the ideal ruler. Plato comes to the conclusion that philosophers must become kings, or kings must become philosophers. Founding the Academy When Plato was around 40 years old, he returned to Athens and founded a school called the Academy. Plato and other scholars taught subjects such as mathematics, philosophy, biology, and astronomy at the Academy. One of Plato's students was the famous scientist and philosopher Aristotle who studied at the Academy for nearly 20 years. Death and Legacy Plato died around the year 347 BC in Athens. Not much is known about this death, but he was 80 years old and likely died in his sleep. Plato's legacy lives on in modern Western philosophy. His writings have been studied for the last 2000 years and are still studied in universities today. Interesting Facts About Plato Plato's real name may have been Aristocles after his father.

Plato might have been a nickname that meant "broad" or "wide." He was related to the famous lawmaker and poet Solon through his mother. After Athens lost the Peloponnesian War to Sparta, Plato was offered to be one of the "Thirty Tyrants" that ruled over Athens, but he declined. Plato was also heavily influenced by the mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras. For more about Ancient Greece: Overview Aristotle - Philosopher - Biography.com Philosopher Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, together with Socrates and Plato, laid much of the groundwork for western philosophy. IN THESE GROUPS “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” “All men by nature desire knowledge.” “A friend to all is a friend to none.” Aristotle Synopsis Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle was born circa 384 B.C. in Stagira, Greece. When he turned 17, he enrolled in Plato’s Academy. In 338, he began tutoring Alexander the Great. In 335, Aristotle founded his own school, the Lyceum, in Athens, where he spent most of the rest of his life studying, teaching and writing.

Aristotle died in 322 B.C., after he left Athens and fled to Chalcis. Aristotle - Mini Biography (TV-14; 3:02) Learn more about the life of Greek philosopher Aristotle, whose work profoundly influenced the modern scientific method, in this mini biography. Early Life Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle was born circa 384 B.C. in Stagira, a small town on the northern coast of Greece that was once a seaport. Aristotle’s father, Nicomachus, was court physician to the Macedonian king Amyntas II. Although Nicomachus died when Aristotle was just a young boy, Aristotle remained closely affiliated with and influenced by the Macedonian court for the rest of his life. Little is known about his mother, Phaestis; she is also believed to have died when Aristotle was young. After Aristotle’s father died, Proxenus of Atarneus, who was married to Aristotle’s older sister, Arimneste, became Aristotle’s guardian until he came of age. When Aristotle turned 17, Proxenus sent him to Athens to pursue a higher education.

At the time, Athens was considered the academic center of the universe. In Athens, Aristotle enrolled in Plato ’s Academy, Greek’s premier learning institution, and proved an exemplary scholar. Aristotle maintained a relationship with Greek philosopher Plato, himself a student of Socrates , and his academy for two decades. Plato died in 347 B.C. Because Aristotle had disagreed with some of Plato’s philosophical treatises, Aristotle did not inherit the position of director of the academy, as many imagined he would. After Plato died, Aristotle’s friend Hermias, king of Atarneus and Assos in Mysia, invited Aristotle to court. During his three-year stay in Mysia, Aristotle met and married his first wife, Pythias, Hermias’ niece. Together, the couple had a daughter, Pythias, named after her mother. Teaching In 338 B.C., Aristotle went home to Macedonia to start tutoring King Phillip II’s son, the then 13-year-old Alexander the Great. Phillip and Alexander both held Aristotle in high esteem and ensured that the Macedonia court generously compensated him for his work.

In 335 B.C., after Alexander had succeeded his father as king and conquered Athens, Aristotle went back to the city. In Athens, Plato’s Academy, now run by Xenocrates, was still the leading influence on Greek thought. With Alexander’s permission, Aristotle started his own school in Athens, called the Lyceum. On and off, Aristotle spent most of the remainder of his life working as a teacher, researcher and writer at the Lyceum in Athens until the death of his former student Alexander the Great. Because Aristotle was known to walk around the school grounds while teaching, his students, forced to follow him, were nicknamed the “Peripatetics,” meaning “people who travel about.” Lyceum members researched subjects ranging from science and math to philosophy and politics, and nearly everything in between. Art was also a popular area of interest. Members of the Lyceum wrote up their findings in manuscripts. In so doing, they built the school’s massive collection of written materials, which by ancient accounts was credited as one of the first great libraries. In the same year that Aristotle opened the Lyceum, his wife Pythias died.

Soon after, Aristotle embarked on a romance with a woman named Herpyllis, who hailed from his hometown of Stagira. According to some historians, Herpyllis may have been Aristotle’s slave, granted to him by the Macedonia court. They presume that he eventually freed and married her. Regardless, it is known that Herpyllis bore Aristotle children, including one son named Nicomachus, after Aristotle’s father. Aristotle is believed to have named his famed philosophical work Nicomachean Ethics in tribute to his son. When Alexander the Great died suddenly in 323 B.C., the pro-Macedonian government was overthrown, and in light of anti-Macedonia sentiment, Aristotle was charged with impiety for his association with his former student and the Macedonian court. To avoid being prosecuted and executed, he left Athens and fled to Chalcis on the island of Euboea, where he would remain until his death a year later. Science Although Aristotle was not technically a scientist by today’s definitions, science was among the subjects that he researched at length during his time at the Lyceum. Aristotle believed that knowledge could be obtained through interacting with physical objects.

He concluded that objects were made up of a potential that circumstances then manipulated to determine the object’s outcome. He also recognized that human interpretation and personal associations played a role in our understanding of those objects. Aristotle’s research in the sciences included a study of biology. He attempted, with some error, to classify animals into genera based on their similar characteristics. He further classified animals into species based on those that had red blood and those that did not. The animals with red blood were mostly vertebrates, while the “bloodless” animals were labeled cephalopods. Despite the relative inaccuracy of his hypothesis, Aristotle’s classification was regarded as the standard system for hundreds of years. Marine biology was also an area of fascination for Aristotle. Through dissection, he closely examined the anatomy of marine creatures. In contrast to his biological classifications, his observations of marine life, as expressed in his books, are considerably more accurate. As evidenced in his treatise Meteorology, Aristotle also dabbled in the earth sciences. By meteorology, Aristotle didn’t simply mean the study of weather.

His more expansive definition of meteorology included “all the affectations we may call common to air and water, and the kinds and parts of the earth and the affectations of its parts.” In Meteorology, Aristotle identified the water cycle and discussed topics ranging from natural disasters to astrological events. Although many of his views on the Earth were controversial at the time, they were readopted and popularized during the late Middle Ages. Philosophy One of the main focuses of Aristotle’s philosophy was his systematic concept of logic. Aristotle’s objective was to come up with a universal process of reasoning that would allow man to learn every conceivable thing about reality. The initial process involved describing objects based on their characteristics, states of being and actions. In his philosophical treatises, Aristotle also discussed how man might next obtain information about objects through deduction and inference. To Aristotle, a deduction was a reasonable argument in which “when certain things are laid down, something else follows out of necessity in virtue of their being so.” His theory of deduction is the basis of what philosophers now call a syllogism, a logical argument where the conclusion is inferred from two or more other premises of a certain form.

In his book Prior Analytics, Aristotle explains the syllogism as “a discourse in which, certain things having been supposed, something different from the things supposed results of necessity because these things are so.” Aristotle defined the main components of reasoning in terms of inclusive and exclusive relationships. These sorts of relationships were visually grafted in the future through the use of Venn diagrams. Aristotle’s philosophy not only provided man with a system of reasoning, but also touched upon ethics. In Nichomachean Ethics, he prescribed a moral code of conduct for what he called “good living.” He asserted that good living to some degree defied the more restrictive laws of logic, since the real world poses circumstances that can present a conflict of personal values. That said, it was up to the individual to reason cautiously while developing his or her own judgment. Major Writings Aristotle wrote an estimated 200 works, most in the form of notes and manuscript drafts. They consist of dialogues, records of scientific observations and systematic works. His student Theophrastus reportedly looked after Aristotle’s writings and later passed them to his own student Neleus, who stored them in a vault to protect them from moisture until they were taken to Rome and used by scholars there.

Of Aristotle’s estimated 200 works, only 31 are still in circulation. Most date to Aristotle’s time at the Lyceum. Aristotle’s major writings on logic include Categories, On Interpretation, Prior Analytics and Posterior Analytics. In them, he discusses his system for reasoning and for developing sound arguments. Aristotle’s written work also discussed the topics of matter and form. In his book Metaphysics, he clarified the distinction between the two. To Aristotle, matter was the physical substance of things, while form was the unique nature of a thing that gave it its identity. Nicomachean Ethics and Eudemian Ethics are Aristotle’s major treatises on the behavior and judgment that constitute “good living.” In Politics, Aristotle examined human behavior in the context of society and government. Aristotle also composed a number of works on the arts, including Rhetoric, and science, including On the Heavens, which was followed by On the Soul, in which Aristotle moves from discussing astronomy to examining human psychology. Aristotle’s writings about how people perceive the world continue to underlie many principles of modern psychology.

Death and Legacy In 322 B.C., just a year after he fled to Chalcis to escape prosecution under charges of impiety, Aristotle contracted a disease of the digestive organs and died. In the century following his passing, his works fell out of use, but were revived during the first century. Over time, they came to lay the foundation of more than seven centuries of philosophy. Solely regarding his influence on philosophy, Aristotle’s work influenced ideas from late antiquity all the way through the Renaissance. Aristotle’s influence on Western thought in the humanities and social sciences is largely considered unparalleled, with the exception of his teacher Plato’s contributions, and Plato’s teacher Socrates before him. The two-millennia-strong academic practice of interpreting and debating Aristotle’s philosophical works continues to endure. Fact Check We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us ! Citation Information Lyceum, The | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy The Lyceum The Lyceum was a gymnasium near Athens and the site of a philosophical school founded by Aristotle. Table of Contents References and Further Reading 1.

Location, Structures, and Layout of the Lyceum Archaeological exploration of the topography of the Lyceum has been hampered by the sprawl of buildings in modern Athens. The general location of the Lyceum outside and East of the ancient city wall is well-attested (Strabo 9.1.24, Cleidemus, FGrH 323F18, and Pausanias 1.19.3). Ancient literary and epigraphic sources and modern archaeological investigation provide an occasional glimpse into the layout and use of the Lyceum area in antiquity. While most often connected with philosophical teaching and discourse, the Lyceum was used for military exercises, meetings of the Athenian assembly, and cult practice as well as athletic training. This multiplicity of use had a direct impact on the types of structures in the area and on the general development of the Lyceum. From the earliest times, the area was characterized by large open spaces and shady groves of trees, bounded roughly by the Ilissos river to the south and the Eridanus river and Mt. Lykabettos to the north.

A series of roads led to the Lyceum from in and around the city. From the sixth century BC to the sixth century AD the area saw ever increasing numbers of buildings constructed to serve its multiple functions. Some literary references to the Lyceum give a fuller picture. For example, in the first lines of Plato'sLysis, Socrates is walking along a road from the Academy to the Lyceum that ran under the city wall when he meets his friends Hippothales and Ktesippos near the Panops springhouse (Lysis203a-204a). This springhouse may be the one mentioned by Strabo (9.1.19), who adds that these springs were "near the Lyceum." Strabo also tells us that the Ilissus river flowed down "from above Agrai and the Lyceum" (9.1.24). In addition, Xenophon records that during a raid by the Spartans against the city from their encampment at Dekeleia to the East of the city, the Athenians came out and drew up their troops "immediately near the Lyceum gymnasium" (Hellenica 1.1.33).

Recent excavations by the Greek Archaeological Service in the area of modern Syntagma have revealed that the area immediately to the East of the ancient city wall was filled with ancient cemeteries and factories, and an immense bathing complex of the Roman period. In addition, sections of a broad, ancient road running East -West through this area have been uncovered. These finds merely add to the list of similar buildings, baths, and graves previously found in the Syntagma area. In 1996 excavations in the area of modern Rigillis Street uncovered a structure that has been identified by the excavator as a palaistra in the Lyceum. The site continues to be excavated and studied and has not yet been fully published. In sum, the ancient literary, epigraphic, and archaeological evidence indicates that the area known as the "Lyceum" probably covered a large area to the East of the ancient city wall, but was not immediately adjacent to the wall. It may have begun just to the West of the modern Amalias Blvd. and continued East through the modern National Gardens with the Olympieion and Ilissos river forming its southern boundaries; it may have extended northward as far as modern Kolonaki plateia.

If further excavation at the site near Rigillis St. confirms the excavator's assertions that the ancient buildings there were located in the Lyceum, then we may at least have an indication of the eastern extent of the gymnasium area. A number of different types of construction are mentioned in the literary and epigraphic sources as being in the Lyceum: an apodyterion (dressing room), dromoi (roads or running tracks) andperipatoi (walks), a gymnasium building, and a palaistra (wrestling school), cult sanctuaries, seating areas, and stoas. Irrigation channels were constructed to keep the area green and wooded. a. Apodyterion Literally an "an undressing room." The building in which the scene of Plato's Euthydemus (272e-273b) begins. This structure may be either a part of the gymnasium building or the palaistra, or it may have stood independently to serve the covered dromos (racetrack) mentioned in the passage. b.

Dromoi and Peripatoi Dromoi and Peripatoi: The sources refer to two different types of dromoi: 1) the main East-West road leading up to the city wall through the Lyceum (Xenophon, Hellenica 2.4.27, Xenophon, The Cavalry Commander 3.6, Callimachus, fr. 261 Pfeiffer), and 2) the running tracks (Plato,Euthydemus 272e-273b). Stretches of the main road, which ran through modern Syntagma square and past the modern Parliament building parallel to the present Vasilis Sophias Blvd. have been uncovered and should be the main dromos to which our sources refer. Excavation has not produced any evidence for the location of the dromoi for foot or horse races. c. Gymnasium Building An honorary decree for the Athenian statesman Lycurgus (IG II2 457) states that this building was repaired in the 330s BC.

The original structure may have been built either by Pericles (Philochoros,FGrH 328F37) in the fifth century BC or Pisistratus (Theopompus, FGrH 115F136) in the sixth century BC. It is the only gymnasium building that is attested in Athens during the Classical period. d. Palaistra The scene of Plato's Euthydemus, which was also perhaps repaired in the 330s BC by Lycurgus ([Plutarch], Lives of the Orators 841d). e. Sanctuaries The Lyceum itself was a sanctuary to Apollo, but it also contained a shrine to the Muses that housed many dedications and a portrait bust of Aristotle (Diogenes Laertius 5.51, also cf. IG II2 2613). There was also a cult of Hermes on the Lyceum grounds (IG II2 1357b4). f. Seats There were seats for the athlothetai (judges in an athletic contest) somewhere in the Lyceum grounds (Aischin. Soc. fr.

2.2 Dittmar=Demetr. Elocut. 205). g. Stoas A small stoa stood near the sanctuary to the Muses, and another stoa had maps of the earth displayed on tablets on the walls (Diogenes Laertius 5.51-52; Lucian, Anachar. 33). h. Trees and Streams Parts of the Lyceum were apparently wooded, and channels were dug from the Ilissus and Eridanus rivers to keep the area green. Theophrastus notes one enormous plane tree in particular that "sent out roots a distance of 33 cubits" (Theophrastus, On Plants 1.7.1). The woods were said to have been chopped down during the siege by Sulla in 86 BC (Plutarch, Sulla 12.3). 2. History of the Use of the Lyceum The Lyceum, like the other famous Athenian gymnasia (the Academy and Cynosarges ) was more than a space for physical exercise and philosophical discussion, reflection, and study.

It contained cults of Hermes, the Muses, and Apollo, to whom the area was dedicated and belonged. It was also used for military exercises, the marshaling of troops, and for military displays. The Lyceum thus encompassed a fairly large area, including large open spaces, buildings, and cult sites. The Lyceum was named after Apollo Lyceus, Apollo "the wolf-god." From at least the sixth-century BC the Lyceum is said to have been the place where the polemarch (head of the army) had his office (Hesychius, "Epilykeion" and Suda, "ArchÙn"). The area was also used for military exercises (Suda, "Lykeion") and for the marshaling of troops before departing on campaign (Aristophanes, Peace 351-357); it was also the site of cavalry displays (Xenophon, The Cavalry Commander 3.1). The Lyceum was also the place for meetings of the Athenian assembly before the establishment of a permanent meeting area on the Pnyx hill during the fifth century BC (IG I3 105).

The Lyceum was a place of philosophical discussion and debate well before Aristotle founded his school there in 335 BC. Socrates (Euthydemus 271a, Euthyphro 2a, Symposium 223d), Prodicus of Chios ([Plato], Eryxias 397c-d), and Protagoras (Diogenes Laertius 9.54) all apparently frequented the Lyceum to debate, discuss, and teach during the last third of the fifth-century BC. Plato's great rival Isocrates taught rhetoric in the Lyceum during the first half of the fourth century BC, as did other sophists and philosophers. Rhapsodes were said to teach there as well (Alexis, PCG fr. 25, Antiphanes, PCG fr. 120, and Isocrates, Panathenaecus 33.5). Upon his return to Athens in 335 BC, Aristotle rented some buildings in the Lyceum and established a school there.

For nearly the remainder of his life, it was here that Aristotle lectured, wrote most of his philosophical treatises and dialogues, and systematically collected books for the first library in European history. After Aristotle's death in 322 BC the headship of the school passed to Theophrastus, who continued his master's program of research and teaching in the Lyceum. Theophrastus also purchased buildings and land that he bequeathed to the school in his will. However, the quality of the school's library may have declined after Theophrastus' death in 287 BC with the apparent loss of many of Aristotle's works to Neleus of Scepsis (Strabo 13.1.54). From the time of Aristotle until 86 BC there was a continuous succession of philosophers in charge of the school in the Lyceum. The common name for the school, Peripatetic, was derived either from the peripatos in the Lyceum grounds or from Aristotle's habit of lecturing while walking. The school was a part of the military/educational institution for the city's elite, the ephebeia.

This program of study and military service provided eighteen- to twenty-year-old Athenian males with a curriculum of philosophy, knowledge of the ancestral cults, and instruction in the art of war. The Lyceum's fame-and the fame of other schools in Athens-attracted increasing numbers of philosophers and students from all over the Mediterranean world. The brutal sack of Athens by the Roman general Sulla in 86 BC destroyed much of the Lyceum and disrupted the life of the school considerably. The school may have been refounded later in the first century BC by Andronicus of Rhodes, but this is uncertain. By the second century AD, the Lyceum was again a flourishing center of philosophical activity. The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius appointed teachers to all the main philosophical schools in Athens, including the Lyceum. The utter destruction of Athens in AD 267 probably ended this renaissance of scholarly activity. The work of Peripatetic philosophers continued elsewhere, but it is unclear whether they returned to the Lyceum. Nothing certain is known about the Lyceum during the remainder of the third through early sixth centuries AD.

Any remaining philosophical activity would certainly have ended in AD 529, when the emperor Justinian closed all the philosophical schools in Athens. 3. References and Further Reading J.P. Lynch, Aristotle's School: A Study of a Greek Educational Institution. Berkeley 1972. C.E. Ritchie, "The Lyceum, the Garden of Theophrastos and the Garden of the Muses. A Topographical Reevaluation" J. Travlos, Pictorial Dictionary of Ancient Athens. Athens 1971. Wycherley, R.E. The Stones of Athens. Princeton 1978. Plato computer - definition of Plato computer by The Free Dictionary Plato computer - definition of Plato computer by The Free Dictionary Pla·to (plā′tō) 427?-347? bc. Greek philosopher noted for his many written dialogues in which his mentor Socrates appears as the central character. The best known of these, The Republic, expounds Plato's idealist philosophy and describes a hypothetical utopian state ruled by thinkers. He taught and wrote for much his life at the Academy, which he founded near Athens around 386.

Plato (ˈpleɪtəʊ) n (Biography) ?427–?347 bc, Greek philosopher: with his teacher Socrates and his pupil Aristotle, he is regarded as the initiator of western philosophy. His influential theory of ideas, which makes a distinction between objects of sense perception and the universal ideas or forms of which they are an expression, is formulated in such dialogues as Phaedo, Symposium, and The Republic. Other works include The Apology and Laws Plato (ˈpleɪtəʊ) n (Astronomy) a crater in the NW quadrant of the moon, about 100 km in diameter, that has a conspicuous dark floor Pla•to History : 1000 – 1 BC Home » history » History : 1000 – 1 BC History : 1000 – 1 BC 1000 BC Iron Age begins. David is King of Israel. 990 BC David conquers Jerusalem. 970 BC Solomon is King of Israel. 950 BC Solomon builds the Temple. 930 BC King Solomon dies – Hebrew kingdom divided in Israel and Judah.

900 BC Homer writes Iliad and Odyssey perhaps at around this time. 810 BC Phoenicians establish Carthage. Homer composes Iliad and Odyssey around this time. 800 BC Time of the prophets Amos, Hosea and Isaiah. Traders who visited the mysterious far East empires of Cathay and T’chin speak of carriages which moved with the aid of fire (instead of horses). 776 BC First Olympiad in Greece. 753 BC Rome founded by Romulus. 721 BC Sargon, king of Assyria, takes Samaria and moves large numbers of Israelites to Media and Mesopotamia: the northern kingdom of Israel never revives. 691 BC The aqueduct introduced to bring water from distant sources to a large urban population. One of the first known aqueducts is ordered by the Assyrian King Sennacherib for Nineveh – it is about 90 km (50 miles) long. 660 BC Byzantium founded by Greeks. 621 BC Draco writes the first code of law for Athens and Greece. The penalty for many offenses were so severe that the word “draconian” comes from his name.

(Citizens adored Draco and upon entering an auditorium one day to attend a reception in his honor, they showered him with hats and cloaks as was their custom. By the time they dug him out from under the clothing, he was smothered to death.) 606 BC Nabopolassar of Babylon and Cyaxares of Media destroy Nineveh; end of Assyrian Empire. 604 BC Nebuchadnezzar rules Babylon. 598 BC Nebuchadnezzar takes Jerusalem. 586 BC Nebuchadnezzar destroys Jerusalem. 585 BC Aesop’s fables thought to be written about this time. (They include “The Hare and the Tortoise” and “The Fox and the Grapes.” Aesop’s moral lessons usually are summarized in one-sentence parables at the end of his fables, such as “don’t count your chickens before they hatch.”) Very little is known about the author; some scholars believe Aesop was a slave, some believe he was legendary. 563 BC Buddha (Siddhārtha Gautama) born in India. 551 BC Confucius born in China.

550 BC Cyrus conquers Media and founds Persian Empire. 538 BC Cyrus conquers Babylon. 536 BC The Book of Punishments written in in China. Punishment for offenses include tattooing as a way to mark criminals, cutting off of the nose, castration, feet amputation and death. 535 BC The first Roman calendar introduced: it had 10 months, with 304 days in a year that began in March. 532 BC? Pythagoras of Crotona describes the relations between sides of right-angled triangle, and tone vibrations. 525 BC Tragedy and comedy theater performed. Celebratory songs and dances held in honor of Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and merrymaking, evolved into the earliest plays. 515 BC Second Temple built in Jerusalem. 500 BC End of monarchy in Rome, Republic founded. Completion of original Hebrew manuscripts which make up the 39 Books of the Old Testament. Thales (624 BC?-548 BC?) of Miletus calculates the geometry of the circle.

(He also discovered electricity .) 490 BC Greeks defeat Persians at Battle of Marathon 486 BC Spurius Cassius of Rome passes First Agrarian Law (land reform). 483 BC Buddha dies. 471 BC Lex Publilia passed at Rome; tribunes to be chosen by Comitia Tributa (popular assembly). 470 BC Socrates born near Athens. (He introduced the great tradition of Western philosophy. He was executed in 399 BC) 458 BC Ezra leads Jews from Babylon to Jerusalem. 450 BC The Twelve Tables ordered to be written by 10 Romans to establish the legal system of the Rome. Written on bronze and wood and tablets, the laws protected the lower class (plebes) from legal abuse by the ruling class (patricians); judges alone did not have the right the interpret the law; the organization of public prosecution was promoted; injured parties were allowed compensation by guilty parties. The Twelve Tables are considered the foundation of all modern law. (The tablets were destroyed by invading Gauls in 390.) 445 BC Nehemiah begins rebuilding of walls of Jerusalem.

440 BC Greek philosopher Leucippus and his student Democritus puts forward the notion that all matter consists of fundamental particles called atoms; they taught that everything is composed of infinitely tiny indivisible particles called atoms. (The word atom comes from the Greek word meaning”indivisible.”) 438 BC Construction of the Parthenon. 400 BC – 300 BC The Pentateuch , the first five books of the Old Testament evolve. Hippocrates of Cos (430 BC?-377 BC?), the father of medicine, records medical cases. Eudoxus of Cnidus (388 BC?-355 BC) theorize planetary motions. 399 BC – Socrates is required to drink hemlock to end his life after being found guilty of corrupting the youth of Athens. 350 BC Aristotle writes Meteorologica, the first book on weather. 347 BC – 322 BC Aristotle identifies and classifies living forms. Plato establishes a philosophy academy. 336 BC Alexander the Great becomes King of Macedon and supreme general of Greeks. 330 BC Darius II dies – end of Persian empire.

325 BC Theophrastus, philosopher and student of Aristotle, takes over leadership of Aristotle’s school, the Lyceum. His writing include Inquiry into Plants and Growth of Plants (The works survived. Theophrastus is considered the founder of botany.) 300 BC Great Wall of China constructed in parts. Euclid, a Greek from Alexandria, writes Elements, introducing geometry (which means “land measurement”). 264 BC First Roman gladiatorial games. 240 BC Livius Andronicus is the first Roman poet. 221 BC China unites when the king of Ch’in, Ying Zheng, defeat the kings of other 6 kingdoms – Zheng becomes Qin Shi Huang, first emperor of a unified China. 214 BC Great Wall of China being made continuous by Emperor Shih Huang Ti. 212 BC? Archimedes explains the area of circle, principles of lever, the screw, and buoyancy. 200 BC Completion of the Septuagint Greek Manuscripts which contain The 39 Old Testament Books AND 14 Apocrypha Books.

The first documented food fight takes place between Greek Mathematician Archimedes, who invented the catapult, and Egyptian King Ptolemy III. (At a dinner the king insisted that he found the geometry and physics of Archimedes’s design lacking in principle. Archimedes, so the story goes, says he’ll demonstrate the shortest distance between two points and starts pelting the king with olives. Ptolemy’s guards respond with fresh fruit, forcing Archimedes to surrender.) 194 BC? Eratosthenes determines the size of Earth and put forward theories of the climate. 183 BC Hannibal commits suicide rather than be captured by the Romans. 166 BC Maccabaean rebellion against Seleucid rule begins in Judah. 167 BC Antiochus IV dedicates the temple in Jerusalem as a shrine to Zeus. 150 BC Chinese make paper from macerated hemp fibers, plant bark, molded over old fishnets. 141 BC Wu of Han becomes emperor of China. 120 BC? Hipparchus of Rhodes (161 BC?-122 BC?) explains the pattern of the cosmos in latitude and longitude; and makes triangular measurement of celestial navigation.

100 BC The trip hammer and the use of paper developed in China. 77 BC The Book of Esther, the last book of the Old Testament, is translated into Greek. 74 BC Xuan of Han becomes emperor of China at age 17. 63 BC The Romans take control of Judah, which they call Judea. 55 BC The Romans invade Britain. 51 BC Rule of Cleopatra in Egypt (until 30 BC). [There were seven Cleopatras in history, one became legendary.] 50 BC Julius Caesar crosses Rubicon to battle Pompey. Heron of Greece invented steam power in 50 BC but the leaders of the day thought that it would cause unemployment which may lead to unrest and the invention, well, ran out of steam. 48 BC Yuan of Han becomes emperor of China. The library of Alexandria destroyed by fire during a battle between Julius Caesar and Ptolemy XIII. 45 BC Rome bans all vehicles from within the city – and in other cities vehicles, including horses, were allowed only at night – because of traffic jams. The Julian calendar introduced. 44 BC Julius Caesar assassinated. 37 BC Herod appointed as king of Judea.

Marc Antony marries Cleopatra. 33 BC Cheng of Han becomes emperor of China – he is known as a womanizer but did not leave an heir, dying in 7 BC of an aphrodisiac overdose. 30 BC Suicide of Antony and Cleopatra. Horace of Rome completes his Book of Epodes. 20 BC King Herod Agrippa begins reconstruction of the Great Temple in Jerusalem. 19 BC Roman poet Virgil completes the Aeneid . 7 BC Ai of Han is made emperor of China. 6 BC Probable year that Jesus Christ was born, perhaps in March. 4 BC The earliest known reference to the Scots was made by the Greek Pretanoi, who refers to their practice of painting faces or tattooing associated with the bluish dye known as woad. 1 BC Nine-year-old Ping of Han is made emperor of China – he is poisoned six years later. The revised Julian calendar introduced (on March 1). Time – 1001 BC | 1000 – 1 BC (The year 0 was not recorded) Plato: The Academy | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Plato: The Academy Philosophical institution founded by Plato , which advocated skepticism in succeeding generations.

The Academy (Academia) was originally a public garden or grove in the suburbs of Athens, about six stadia from the city, named from Academus or Hecademus, who left it to the citizens for gymnastics (Paus. i. 29). It was surrounded with a wall by Hipparchus, adorned with statues, temples, and sepulchres of illustrious men; planted with olive and plane trees, and watered by the Cephisus. The olive-trees, according to Athenian fables, were reared from layers taken from the sacred olive in the Erechtheum, and afforded the oil given as a prize to victors at the Panathenean festival. The Academy suffered severely during the siege of Athens by Sylla, many trees being cut down to supply timber for machines of war.Few retreats could be more favorable to philosophy and the Muses. Within this enclosure Plato possessed, as part of his patrimony, a small garden, in which he opened a school for the reception of those inclined to attend his instructions. Hence arose the Academic sect, and hence the term Academy has descended to our times.

The nameAcademia is frequently used in philosophical writings, especially in Cicero, as indicative of the Academic sect. Sextus Empiricus enumerates five divisions of the followers of Plato. He makes Plato founder of the first Academy, Aresilaus of the second, Carneades of the third, Philo and Charmides of the fourth, Antiochus of the fifth. Cicero recognizes only two Academies, the Old and the New, and makes the latter commence as above with Arcesilaus . In enumerating those of the old Academy, he begins, not with Plato, but Democritus, and gives them in the following order: Democritus, Anaxagoras, Empedocles, Parmenides, Xenophanes, Socrates, Plato, Speusippus, Xenocrates, Polemo, Crates, and Crantor. In the New, or Younger, he mentions Arcesilaus, Lacydes, Evander, Hegesinus, Carneades, Clitomachus, and Philo (Acad. Quaest. iv. 5).

If we follow the distinction laid down by Diogenes, and alluded to above, the Old Academy will consist of those followers of Plato who taught the doctrine of their master without mixture or corruption; the Middle will embrace those who, by certain innovations in the manner of philosophizing, in some measure receded from the Platonic system without entirely deserting it; while the New will begin with those who relinquished the more questionable tenets of Arcesilaus, and restored, in come measure, the declining reputation of the Platonic school. Views of the New Academy. The New Academy begins with Carnades (i.e. the Third Academy for Diogenes) and was largely skeptical in its teachings. They denied the possibility of aiming at absolute truth or at any certain criterion of truth. Carneades argued that if there were any such criterion it must exist in reason or sensation or conception; but as reason depends on conception and this in turn on sensation, and as we have no means of deciding whether our sensations really correspond to the objects that produce them, the basis of all knowledge is always uncertain. Hence, all that we can attain to is a high degree of probability, which we must accept as the nearest possible approximation to the truth.

The New Academy teaching represents the spirit of an age when religion was decaying, and philosophy itself, losing its earnest and serious spirit, was becoming merely a vehicle for rhetoric and dialectical ingenuity. Cicero's speculative philosophy was in the main in accord with the teachings of Carneades, looking rather to the probable (illud probabile) than to certain truth (see his Academica). Author Information The author of this article is anonymous. The IEP is actively seeking an author who will write a replacement article. Academy of Plato The Academy of Plato Since the words "academy" and "academic" come from the name of the area where Plato taught, it is worth spending a moment to describe the park which was used for gymnastics from the sixth century BC. Academus or Hecademus, a mythical hero who had a cult following, left a garden and grove, which was about a mile north west of the centre of the city of Athens, to the citizens to use for gymnastics. The area, named after Academus, was developed by Hippias, the son of Peisistratos, who built a wall round it and put up statues and temples.

Excavations have detected the foundations of Hippias's wall. The statesman Kimon planted olive and plane trees there and diverted the river Cephisus to make the dry land fertile. Festivals were held there, as were athletic events in which runners would races between the altars, and funeral games also took place in the Academy. It must have been a beautiful park when Plato, who had a house nearby and a garden within the area, began to teach there in around 387 BC. The first point that we must make is that the modern use of the word 'academy' will give us a false impression of what Plato actually set up. Chermiss writes [1]:- What, then, did Plato really do in his Academy? ... 'Academy' and 'Academic' are terms which men of formal training ... have been pleased to apply to themselves and their organisations. It is not surprising, therefore, that by a more or less unconscious retrojection modern scholars have attached the particular significance which 'Academy' has in their own milieu to the garden of Plato 's which was situated in the suburb northwest of Athens called 'Academia' after a mythical hero ...

The fresco The School of Athens by Raphael represents the modern idea of an academy and he has placed Plato and Aristotle into such a setting, but the reality of Plato 's Academy must have been totally different. A similar sentiment is expressed by Glucker [3]:- To us ... the word 'Academy' has come to mean an institution of learning, a learned society, or at least a place of theoretical ('academic') education. In ancient Athens, the Academy was first and foremost a public park dominated by its gymnasium, and the connection between it and Plato's school was only one of the numerous historical reminiscences in an area rich in history. Glucker goes on to look at the writings of Pausanias who gives what is essentially a tourist guide to Athens written in the second century AD (when the Academy was still supposed to be in existence). He describes the graves, altars, and olive trees of the Academy (i.e. the olive grove). He says that a memorial to Plato is found not far from the Academy but there is no mention of Plato 's school nor, for that matter, is there any mention that Plato was connected with the Academy which is simply a park. What then was Plato 's Academy?

Chermiss writes [1]:- All the evidence points unmistakably to the same conclusion: the Academy was not a school in which an orthodox metaphysical doctrine was taught, or an association of members who were expected to subscribe to the theory of ideas ... The metaphysical theories of the director were not in any way 'official' and the formal instruction in the Academy was restricted to mathematics. ... Plato 's influence on these men, then, was that of an intelligent critic of method, not that of a technical mathematician with the skill to make great discoveries of his own; and it was by his criticism of method, by his formulation of the broader problems to which the mathematician should address himself, and ... by arousing in those who took up philosophy an interest in mathematics that he gave a great impulse to the development of the science. We should look at perhaps the only 'fact' which is usually given about the Academy in Plato 's time. This is that above the door Plato inscribed "Let no one who is not a geometer enter".

This is not stated in any literature which has come down to us earlier than a document from the middle of the 4th century AD which, therefore, was written about 750 years after Plato founded the Academy. Before we discuss whether it is likely that indeed this was written above the door of the Academy, let us give what is probably a more accurate translation - "Let no one who cannot think geometrically enter". First we note that above the doors of sacred places there was often placed an inscription "Let no unfair or unjust person enter". What is reported above the door of the Academy is exactly the same Greek words except "unfair or unjust" has been replaced by "non-geometrical". Next we note that the sentiment is exactly what Plato might have written, for it expresses an idea which runs throughout his writings. However, it seems highly unlikely that something of this nature would be handed down by word of mouth for 750 years before being written down, so despite it being an attractive idea, it is almost certainly fictitious. It appears that the Head of the Academy was elected for life by a majority vote.

The first few to lead the Academy were: Plato , Speuisppus, Xenocrates, Polemon, Crates and Crantor. Aristotle was a member of the Academy for many years but never became its Head. We should note, however, that Cicero, writing in the first century BC, traces the Academy back earlier than Plato and gives its leaders up to 265 BC as: Democritus , Anaxagoras , Empedocles , Parmenides, Xenophanes, Socrates, Plato , Speusippus, Xenocrates, Polemo, Crates, and Crantor. A new phase began when Arcesilaus became Head of the Academy in 265 BC. Some authors see this as the beginning of the New Academy as opposed to the that from the time of Plato to that of Crantor which is called the Old Academy. Cicero gives the leaders of the New Academy as: Arcesilaus, Lacydes, Evander, Hegesinus, Carneades, Clitomachus, and Philo. Philo left Athens in about 85 BC and went to Rome. About a year earlier Lucius Sulla had marched an army on Athens.

During the siege of Athens many of the trees in the Academy park were cut down to provide timber for the war effort but there is no evidence that by this time the school led by Philo had any connection with the Academy parkland. It appears that after Philo left Athens the activity in the school ended and there is little evidence that it was restarted before the 2nd century AD. The usual suggestion that Plato 's Academy existed from 387 BC until Justinian closed it down in 529 AD is, therefore, not only inaccurate because it appears that there was no Academy from 85 BC until the 2nd Century AD but also because the Academy continued to exist after Justinian's edict to close the pagan schools. Damascius was Head of the Academy in 529 AD and he left Athens at this time with Simplicius and other members of the school. However Simplicius returned to Athens where he certainly wrote, undertook research and was Head of a very restricted Academy until his death in 560 AD.

Question: Which philosopher founded the 'Academy' in Athens around 355 BC?
Answer: Plato