Academy

An academy is an institution for the study of higher learning.

The original Academy

Before the Akademeia was a school, however, even before Cimon enclosed its precincts with a wall (Plutarch Life of Cimon xiii:7), it contained a sacred grove of olive trees outside the city walls of ancient Athens (Thucydides ii:34). The archaic name for the site was Hekademeia, which by classical times evolved into Akademeia and was explained, at least as early as the beginning of the 6th century BC, by linking it to an eponymous Athenian hero, a legendary "Akademos".

Related Topics:
Cimon - Plutarch - Athens - Thucydides - 6th century BC - Eponym - Hero - Akademos

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The site of the Academy was sacred to Athena and other immortals; it had sheltered a religious cult since the Bronze Age, a cult that was perhaps associated with the hero-gods the Dioskouroi (Castor and Polydeukes), for the hero Akademos associated with the site was credited with revealing to the Divine Twins where Theseus had hidden Helen. Out of respect for its association with the Dioskouri, the Spartans would not ravage these original "groves of Academe" when they invaded Attica (Plutarch, Life of Theseus xxxii), a piety not shared by the Roman Sulla, who axed the sacred olive trees in 86 BC to build siege engines.

Related Topics:
Hero-gods - Dioskouroi - Theseus - Helen - Sulla - 86 BC

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Among the religious observations that took place at the Akademeia was a torchlit night race from altars within the city to the Promemeikos altar in the Akademeia. Funeral games also took place in the area as well as a Dionysiac procession from Athens to the Hekademeia and then back to the polis (Paus. i 29.2, 30.2; Plut. Vit. Sol. i 7). The road to Akademeia was lined with the gravestones of Athenians.

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The Platonic Academy is usually contrasted with Aristotle's own creation, the Peripatetics.

Related Topics:
Aristotle - Peripatetic

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Famous philosophers entrusted with running the Academy include Arcesilaus, Speusippus, Xenocrates and Proclus.

Related Topics:
Arcesilaus - Speusippus - Xenocrates - Proclus

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