Editing Academy (section)

==Origins==
===Original Academy===
{{main|Platonic Academy}}
[[File:"The School of Athens" by Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino.jpg|thumb|''[[The School of Athens]]'', fresco by [[Raphael]] (1509–1510), that depicts a congregation of philosophers, mathematicians, and scientists from [[Ancient Greece]], including [[Plato]], [[Aristotle]], [[Pythagoras]], [[Archimedes]], and [[Heraclitus]]]]

Before ''Akademia'' was a school, and even before [[Cimon]] enclosed its precincts with a wall,<ref>[[Plutarch]] ''Life of Cimon'' 13.8</ref> it contained a sacred grove of olive trees dedicated to [[Athena]], the goddess of [[wisdom]], outside the city walls of ancient [[Athens]].<ref>[[Thucydides]] ii:34</ref> The archaic name for the site was ''Hekademia'', which by classical times evolved into ''Akademia'' and was explained, at least as early as the beginning of the 6th century BC, by linking it to an Athenian [[Greek hero cult|hero]], a legendary "[[Akademos]]". The site of ''Akademia'' was sacred to [[Athena]] and other immortals.

Plato's immediate successors as "scholarch" of ''Akademia'' were [[Speusippus]] (347–339 BC), [[Xenocrates]] (339–314 BC), [[Polemon (scholarch)|Polemon]] (314–269 BC), [[Crates of Athens|Crates]] ({{circa|269}}–266 BC), and [[Arcesilaus]] ({{circa|266}}–240 BC). Later scholarchs include [[Lacydes of Cyrene]], [[Carneades]], [[Clitomachus (philosopher)|Clitomachus]], and [[Philo of Larissa]] ("the last undisputed head of the Academy").<ref>''Oxford Classical Dictionary'', 3rd ed. (1996), s.v. "Philon of Larissa."</ref><ref>See the table in [https://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0521250285 The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy] (Cambridge University Press, 1999), pp. 53–54.</ref> Other notable members of ''Akademia'' include [[Aristotle]], [[Heraclides Ponticus]], [[Eudoxus of Cnidus]], [[Philip of Opus]], [[Crantor]], and [[Antiochus of Ascalon]].

===Neoplatonic Academy of Late Antiquity===
{{Further|End of Hellenic Religion}}

After a lapse during the early Roman occupation, ''Akademia'' was refounded<ref>{{cite journal|first = Alan|last = Cameron|jstor = 44696832|title = The last days of the Academy at Athens|journal = Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society| volume = 195 (n.s. 15)|date = 1969| issue=15 (195) |pages = 7–29| doi=10.1017/S1750270500030207 | s2cid=163730386 }}</ref> as a new institution of some outstanding Platonists of late antiquity who called themselves "successors" (''[[Diadochi|diadochoi]]'', but of Plato) and presented themselves as an uninterrupted tradition reaching back to Plato. However, there cannot have actually been any geographical, institutional, economic or [[personal continuity]] with the original Academy in the new organizational entity.<ref name="bechtle">[http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/2000/2000-04-19.html Gerald Bechtle, Bryn Mawr Classical Review of Rainer Thiel, ''Simplikios und das Ende der neuplatonischen Schule in Athen''. Stuttgart, 1999] {{webarchive|url= http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20050313013529/http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/2000/2000-04-19.html |date=2005-03-13 }} (in English).</ref>

The last "Greek" philosophers of the revived ''Akademia'' in the 6th century were drawn from various parts of the [[Hellenistic]] cultural world and suggest the broad [[syncretism]] of the common culture (see ''[[koine]]''): Five of the seven ''Akademia'' philosophers mentioned by Agathias were [[Syriac Christians|Syriac]] in their cultural origin: Hermias and Diogenes (both from Phoenicia), Isidorus of Gaza, [[Damascius]] of Syria, [[Iamblichus]] of Coele-Syria and perhaps even [[Simplicius of Cilicia]].<ref name="bechtle"/>

The [[Byzantine Empire|emperor]] [[Justinian I|Justinian]] ceased the school's funding in AD&nbsp;529, a date that is often cited as the end of [[Classical antiquity|Antiquity]]. According to the sole witness, the historian [[Agathias]], its remaining members looked for protection under the rule of [[Sassanid dynasty|Sassanid]] king [[Khosrau I of Persia|Khosrau I]] in his capital at [[Ctesiphon]], carrying with them precious scrolls of literature and philosophy, and to a lesser degree of science. After a peace treaty between the Persian and the Byzantine empire in 532 guaranteed their personal security (an early document in the history of [[freedom of religion]]), some members found sanctuary in the [[paganism|pagan]] stronghold of [[Harran]], near [[Edessa, Mesopotamia|Edessa]]. One of the last leading figures of this group was Simplicius, a pupil of Damascius, the last head of the Athenian school.

It has been speculated that ''Akademia'' did not altogether disappear.<ref name="bechtle"/><ref name="sorabji11">Richard Sorabji, (2005), ''The Philosophy of the Commentators, 200–600 AD: Psychology (with Ethics and Religion)'', page 11. Cornell University Press</ref> After his exile, Simplicius (and perhaps some others), may have travelled to [[Harran]], near [[Edessa, Mesopotamia|Edessa]]. From there, the students of an academy-in-exile could have survived into the 9th century, long enough to facilitate the Arabic revival of the Neoplatonist commentary tradition in [[Baghdad]].<ref name="sorabji11"/>