Editing Academus

{{short description|Ancient Greek mythological hero}}
'''Academus''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|æ|k|ə|ˈ|d|iː|m|ə|s}}; {{langx|grc|Ἀκάδημος|Akádemos}}), also '''Hecademus''' ({{langx|grc|Ἑκάδημος|Hekádemos}}), was an [[Ancient Athens|Attic]] [[hero cult|hero]] in [[Greek mythology]]. The site of Academus, either a [[Grove (nature)|grove]] or a park, which became known as ''Akademeia'', lies on the [[Cephissus (Athenian plain)|Cephissus]], six [[Stadia (length)|stadia]] from [[Athens]]. He is the namesake of the [[Platonic Academy|Academy]] founded by [[Plato]], who taught his students at the site, and as such of the modern [[English language|English]] word ''[[academy]]'', signifying an institution of higher learning.<ref>{{Cite web |date= |title=Definition of ACADEMY |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/academy |access-date= |website=Merriam-Webster |language=en}}</ref>

==Place origins==

Academus, the site, was sacred to [[Athena]], the goddess of [[wisdom]], and other immortals; it had since the [[Bronze Age]] sheltered her religious cult, which was perhaps associated with the hero-gods, the [[Dioscuri|Dioskouroi]] ([[Castor (mythology)|Castor]] and [[Pollux (mythology)|Polydeukes]]), and for the hero Akademos. By [[Classical antiquity|classical times]] the name of the place had evolved into the ''Akademeia''. It had also earlier been called ''Ecademia'' (Ἑκαδημία).<ref>[[Plutarch]], ''Theseus'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0067%3Achapter%3D32 32]: "But Dicaearchus says that Echedemus and Marathus of Arcadia were in the army of the Tyndaridae at that time, from the first of whom the present Academy was named Echedemia, and from the other, the township of Marathon"</ref>

According to [[Plutarch]], [[Cimon]] converted this, "waterless and arid spot into a well watered grove, which he provided with clear running-tracks and shady walks".<ref>Plutarch, ''[[Cimon]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0017%3Achapter%3D13%3Asection%3D813 § 8]</ref> Its [[sacred grove]] furnished the [[olive oil]] that was distributed as prizes in the [[Panathenaic Games]] and contained in the finely decorated [[Panathenaic amphora]]e presented to the winners.

== Mythology ==
[[Plutarch]], in his [[biography]] of the [[Athenian]] king [[Theseus]] (the slayer of the [[Minotaur]]), writes that, after being widowed and reaching age 50, the king abducted the 12-year-old child [[Helen of Troy|Helen]] (long before she married [[Menelaus]], met [[Paris (mythology)|Paris]] and was the cause of the [[Trojan War]]). Due to this outrage, her twin brothers [[Castor and Pollux]] invaded [[Attica]] to liberate their sister and threatened to destroy [[Athens]]. Academus saved the city by telling them where she was hidden, at [[Afidnes|Aphidnae]]. Also for this reason [[Tyndareus]] (a [[Spartan]] king and the father of Castor and step father of Helen) showed Academus much gratitude. As noted by [[Plutarch]]: "For this reason he was honored during his life by the Tyndaridae, and often afterwards when the Lacedaemonians invaded Attica and laid waste all the country round about, they spared the Academy, for the sake of Academus."<ref>Plutarch, ''Theseus'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0067%3Achapter%3D32 32]</ref>

==Plato==

Academe was the site of [[Plato]]'s [[Platonic Academy|Academy]] and within its groves, he gave his lectures. According to [[Diogenes Laertius]], [[Dion of Syracuse|Dion]], "bought for Plato the little garden which is in the Academy".<ref>[[Diogenes Laërtius]], 3.20</ref> Diogenes Laertius, notes [[Timon of Phlius]] observes that there Plato "a big fish, but a sweet-voiced speaker, musical in prose as the cicada who, perched on the trees of Hecademus, pours forth a strain as delicate as a lily".<ref>Diogenes Laërtius, 3.7</ref>

==Groves of Academe==
The phrase "the groves of Academe" comes from [[Horace]]'s ''[[Epistles (Horace)|Epistles]],''  20 b.c.): ''Atque inter silvas academi quaerere verum'' (To seek for truth in the groves of Academe)'. [[John Milton]], in [[Paradise Regained]] book 4, 244-245, uses the phrase: "See there the Olive Grove of Academe, Plato's retirement, where the Attic Bird Trills her thick-warbl'd notes the summer long". [[Mary McCarthy (author)|Mary McCarthy]] made the phrase the title of her satirical novel ''[[The Groves of Academe]]''.

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

== References ==

* [[Plutarch|Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus]], ''Lives'' with an English Translation by Bernadotte Perrin. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. 1. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0067 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0075 Greek text available from the same website].

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[[Category:Greek mythological heroes]]
[[Category:Mythological people from Attica]]
[[Category:Theseus]]