The Academy was a school of philosophy founded by Plato around 387 BCE in a grove outside the walls of Athens, named after the hero Akademos. It is often considered the first institution of higher learning in the Western world, and its members studied mathematics, astronomy, ethics, politics and metaphysics. Aristotle studied there for about twenty years before founding his own school, the Lyceum. After Plato's death the Academy was led by his successors, such as Speusippus and Xenocrates, and later in the Hellenistic period, under figures such as Arcesilaus and Carneades, it adopted a skeptical outlook. After a revival in the Neoplatonist period, it is traditionally held to have been closed in 529 CE by the Byzantine emperor Justinian, though historians debate exactly what happened.
Before and after
- 15 February 399 BCEDeath of Socrates
- from 398 BCE to 378 BCETwenty-ninth Dynasty of Egypt
- from 395 BCE to 387 BCECorinthian War
- c. 391 BCEThe Gauls sack Rome
- from 387 BCE to 529 CEConstruction of Platonic Academy
- 384 BCEBirth of Aristotle
- from 380 BCE to 343 BCEThirtieth Dynasty of Egypt
- c. 375 BCEWriting of The Republic
- c. 375 BCEWriting of the Allegory of the Cave
More in Civilizations & archaeology
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- 6th century BCEConstruction of Parthenon
- from January 27 BCE to January 395 CERoman Empire
- 81 CEConstruction of Colosseum
- 11 May 330 CEConstantine dedicates Constantinople
The era
This moment belongs to the Ancient civilizations (3,200 BCE to 500 CE), writing, cities and empires. You can also browse everything in the 4th century BCE.