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Submitted by bigmay on November 27, 2007
Category: History Other
Words: 1228 | Pages: 5
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Since the words "academy" and "academic" come from the name of the area where Plato taught, it is worth spending a moment to describe the park which was used for gymnastics from the sixth century BC. Academus or Hecademus, a mythical hero who had a cult following, left a garden and grove, which was about a mile north west of the centre of the city of Athens, to the citizens to use for gymnastics. The area, named after Academus, was developed by Hippias, the son of Peisistratos, who built a wall round it and put up statues and temples. Excavations have deteceted the foundations of Hippias's wall. The statesman Kimon planted olive and plane trees there and diverted the river Cephisus to make the dry land fertile. Festivals were held there, as were athletic events in which runners would races between the altars, and funeral games also took place in the Academy.
It must have been a beautiful park when Plato, who had a house nearby and a garden within the area, began to teach there in around 387 BC. The first point that we must make is that the modern use of the word 'academy' will give us a false impression of what Plato actually set up. Chermiss writes [1]:-
What, then, did Plato really do in his Academy? ... 'Academy' and 'Academic' are terms which men of formal training ... have been pleased to apply to themselves and their organisations. It is not surprising, therefore, that by a more or less unconscious retrojection modern scholars have attached the particular significance which 'Academy' has in their own milieu to the garden of Plato's which was situated in the suburb northwest of Athens called 'Academia' after a mythical hero ...
The fresco The School of Athens by Raphael represents the modern idea of an academy and he has placed Plato and Aristotle into such a setting, but the reality of Plato's Academy must have been totally different. A similar sentiment is expressed by Glucker [3]:-
To us ... the word 'Academy' has come to...
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