Plato famously set up his school of philosophy at the Academy. This was a sacred grove and the site of a gymnasium. We are told that Socrates used to go there (Plato, Lysis 203a). Initially, Plato and his companions met in this public space but later Plato bought a property nearby and set up a more formal place of education.
The journey to the Academy begins at the Dipylon Gate, in the area known as the Ceramicus.
The journey to the Academy begins at the Dipylon Gate, in the area known as the Ceramicus.
1. The Ceramicus
The Ceramicus is the dramatic setting for Plato's dialogue Parmenides, which recounts Parmenides and Zeno of Elea visiting Athens and meeting with a young Socrates (full text here).
Plato, Parmenides 127b
'Zeno and Parmenides once came to the Great Panathenaea. Parmenides was already quite elderly, about sixty-five years old, very white-haired, and of handsome and noble countenance; Zeno was at that time about forty years of age; he was tall and good-looking, and there was a story that Parmenides had been in love with him. He said that they lodged with Pythodorus outside of the wall, in the Ceramicus, where Socrates, then a very young man, came to see them, and many others with him; they wanted to hear the writings of Zeno, which had been brought to Athens for the first time on the occasion of their visit. These Zeno himself read to them in the absence of Parmenides, and had very nearly finished when Pythodorus entered, and with him Parmenides and Aristoteles who was afterwards one of the Thirty, and heard the little that remained of the dialogue.'
Plato, Parmenides 127b
'Zeno and Parmenides once came to the Great Panathenaea. Parmenides was already quite elderly, about sixty-five years old, very white-haired, and of handsome and noble countenance; Zeno was at that time about forty years of age; he was tall and good-looking, and there was a story that Parmenides had been in love with him. He said that they lodged with Pythodorus outside of the wall, in the Ceramicus, where Socrates, then a very young man, came to see them, and many others with him; they wanted to hear the writings of Zeno, which had been brought to Athens for the first time on the occasion of their visit. These Zeno himself read to them in the absence of Parmenides, and had very nearly finished when Pythodorus entered, and with him Parmenides and Aristoteles who was afterwards one of the Thirty, and heard the little that remained of the dialogue.'
2. The Road to the Academy
The area along this road, outside the city walls, was a cemetery and a. number of famous philosophers were buried there, including the Stoics Zeno and Chrysippus (Diogenes Laertius 7.11, 15, 182; Cicero, De finibus 1.39; Pausanius, Description of Greece 1.29.4-15). Epicurus's Garden was also located somewhere along this road.
Cicero gives an evocative account of making the walk along this road to visit the site of the Academy.
Cicero, De finibus 5.1-3
'We arranged to take our afternoon stroll in the Academy, chiefly because the place would be quiet and deserted at that hour of the day. Accordingly at the time appointed we met at our rendezvous, Piso’s lodgings, and starting out beguiled with conversation on various subjects the three-quarters of a mile from the Dipylon Gate. When we reached the walks of the Academy, which are so deservedly famous, we had them entirely to ourselves, as we had hoped. Thereupon Piso remarked: “Whether it is a natural instinct or a mere illusion, I can’t say; but one’s emotions are more strongly aroused by seeing the places that tradition records to have been the favourite resort of men of note in former days, than by hearing about their deeds or reading their writings. My own feelings at the present moment are a case in point. I am reminded of Plato, the first philosopher, so we are told, that made a practice of holding discussions in this place; and indeed the garden close at hand yonder not only recalls his memory but seems to bring the actual man before my eyes. ... “For my part,” said Pomponius, “you are fond of attacking me as a devotee of Epicurus, and I do spend much of my time with Phaedrus, who as you know is my dearest friend, in Epicurus’s Gardens which we passed just now”.'
Cicero gives an evocative account of making the walk along this road to visit the site of the Academy.
Cicero, De finibus 5.1-3
'We arranged to take our afternoon stroll in the Academy, chiefly because the place would be quiet and deserted at that hour of the day. Accordingly at the time appointed we met at our rendezvous, Piso’s lodgings, and starting out beguiled with conversation on various subjects the three-quarters of a mile from the Dipylon Gate. When we reached the walks of the Academy, which are so deservedly famous, we had them entirely to ourselves, as we had hoped. Thereupon Piso remarked: “Whether it is a natural instinct or a mere illusion, I can’t say; but one’s emotions are more strongly aroused by seeing the places that tradition records to have been the favourite resort of men of note in former days, than by hearing about their deeds or reading their writings. My own feelings at the present moment are a case in point. I am reminded of Plato, the first philosopher, so we are told, that made a practice of holding discussions in this place; and indeed the garden close at hand yonder not only recalls his memory but seems to bring the actual man before my eyes. ... “For my part,” said Pomponius, “you are fond of attacking me as a devotee of Epicurus, and I do spend much of my time with Phaedrus, who as you know is my dearest friend, in Epicurus’s Gardens which we passed just now”.'
3. The Academy
At the Academy Plato developed his mature philosophy, as outlined in dialogues such as the Republic (online here). However, he was never a dogmatic 'Platonist' and was the first person to question his own theory, in later dialogues such as the Parmenides (online here).
One of the most interesting objections to the Platonic theory of Ideal Forms can be found in both Plato's Parmenides and the fragments of a lost work by Aristotle, called On Ideas. It was no doubt the product of one of the many discussions that Plato and Aristotle had together here at the Academy, during the twenty years that Aristotle studied with Plato.
Plato, Parmenides 132a:
'If you regard the absolute great and these many great things in the same way, will not another great appear beyond, by which all these must appear to be great? ... another idea of greatness will appear in addition to absolute greatness and the objects which partake of it; and another again in addition ... each of your ideas will no longer be one, but their number will be infinite.'
Aristotle, On Ideas (in Alexander of Aphrodisias, in Metaph. 84,23 ff.):
'If what is predicated truly of several items is also something other apart from the things of which it is predicated, separated from them ... if this is so, there will be some third man. For if ... man is predicated both of the particular men and of the Idea, then there will be some third man apart both from the particular and from the Idea. On this basis there will also be a fourth man, predicated of the third man, of the Idea, and of the particulars; and similarly also a fifth, and so on ad infinitum.'
One of the most interesting objections to the Platonic theory of Ideal Forms can be found in both Plato's Parmenides and the fragments of a lost work by Aristotle, called On Ideas. It was no doubt the product of one of the many discussions that Plato and Aristotle had together here at the Academy, during the twenty years that Aristotle studied with Plato.
Plato, Parmenides 132a:
'If you regard the absolute great and these many great things in the same way, will not another great appear beyond, by which all these must appear to be great? ... another idea of greatness will appear in addition to absolute greatness and the objects which partake of it; and another again in addition ... each of your ideas will no longer be one, but their number will be infinite.'
Aristotle, On Ideas (in Alexander of Aphrodisias, in Metaph. 84,23 ff.):
'If what is predicated truly of several items is also something other apart from the things of which it is predicated, separated from them ... if this is so, there will be some third man. For if ... man is predicated both of the particular men and of the Idea, then there will be some third man apart both from the particular and from the Idea. On this basis there will also be a fourth man, predicated of the third man, of the Idea, and of the particulars; and similarly also a fifth, and so on ad infinitum.'
After: The Museum
Close to the site of the Academy is the Plato's Academy Digital Museum.
Further Reading
For a detailed study of both the site and the school at the Academy see:
For a recent, engaging biography of Plato:
- Paul Kalligas, et al., ed., Plato's Academy: Its Workings and Its History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020), https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108554664
For a recent, engaging biography of Plato:
- Robin Waterfield, Plato of Athens: A Life in Philosophy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023)
