The Broken History of The Academy
The Story Of Two & A Half Millennia Of Thought & Theory In Just Five Minutes
The site isn’t much to look at now, but some 2500 years ago — it launched a revolution in thought, in science, and in understanding. It’s history began with two names, both often misunderstood.
The etymology of academy is not typical, though not entirely unique. The word was derived from a name given to a place where a thing happened. The name was Academus, widely recognized as an Athenian “Hero”. As is often the case in Greek history, a hero is defined quite differently than we expect today. Academus was a guy who ran to meet an army of angry invaders and give them exactly what they were asking for, thus betraying the local leadership — but saving the city from “almost certain destruction”. To honor him, the locals named a nearby olive grove for him, at least it was apropos.
Along comes Aristocles, son of Ariston… wait who? Well today, we know him better as Plato. Plato — meaning “broad-shoulders”, would inherit the property that contained the garden of Academus. Plato, as a refresher, was the student of Socrates and teacher of Aristotle. Unlike his predecessor, he wrote down his thoughts. And while wildly theoretical, he had a penchant for formalizing things. Thus was born Plato’s Academy… sort of.
I should have said that Plato transformed the teachings of Socrates and many of his own into content that others were later able to formalize. The same is true of his Academy Gymnasium. While it was the site of his teaching after he returned to Athens, historians don’t believe that he did very much to formalize it. Plato was too busy theorizing on “forms” to be creating them. He would leave the creation of structure to his followers.
Long Live The Academy
The Academy would last (physically speaking) for two centuries. Long enough to gain an old, middle, and new designation before finally being demolished during the First Mithridatic War. Essentially, the institution flourished under the Greek Empire and died with the emergence of the Roman Empire… sort of.
Platonism survived in Roman controlled Athens for centuries to come. They just didn’t use the Academy as a location or name. That remained the case for nearly 500 years, but in the mid-400’s the Neoplatonic Academy was established in much the same way as the original. A new school of followers claiming to be the “successors” of the ancient philosophy took up residence in the old academy and began teaching again. Eventually, some one formalized it with a name.
Long Live The New Academy
The new Academy was not as long lived as it’s predecessor. Roughly a century later, the Academy was ended by order of Emperor Justinian. It was “the day antiquity died” though Don McLean never wrote a song about… though I suppose it is a theory and antiquity — so perhaps apropos none-the-less. While many want to make that decision a pillar in a war between “Christianity & Science”, it was more likely a business move. Justinian was launching competing schools. Regardless, the Academy was no longer… sort of.
Nothing So Simple…
Enter Simplicius, the last of the Neo-Platonist? Perhaps. He was a scholar of Plato and Aristotle, a big believer in “everything changes”, and perhaps the man who brought the Academy to the newly burgeoning Islamic Golden Age. There is much debate. But if so, this would explain the re-emergence of Neoplatonism at The House of Wisdom a few centuries later.
“Panta Rhei” — Heraclitus (and a recurring motto of Platonism)
…Or A Grand Circular Reference
The original Academy is often linked to a Temple of Athena — the Goddess of Skill & Wisdom. It would certainly be fitting for the final re-emergence of the Academy to be linked to another religious building of similar thought and aspiration. But that is a weak argument to make it true, and few are offering much more solid proof. Regardless, the thinking did re-emerge. The teachings were referenced. Whether by purpose, luck, or destiny — the legacy of the Academy would build again with the Arab Empire.
The Academies of Europe and The New World
There is some interest in reinvigorating the Academy of antiquity, but by most accounts it is more of a branding exercise. The legacy does continue today. As is often the case, it continued with the Empires of Europe and continued with the Colonial Empires of the New World, but it took a different form… sort of.
From the 16th century through today, many new academies have prospered. They are music academies, military academies, and other academies of art. They are institutions that favor skill and practice, very much in line with their heritage and namesake. They have famous and beautiful locations and they embrace theory and perspective.
You might want to hedge at the idea that academies are now the locations of art not science, but remember there was little distinction in Plato’s day. So they are a fitting legacy. The absence of a similar Academy of any great acclaim in the area of science would be more a disappointment to Aristotle than Plato, but remember “Panta Rhei”.
More and more, STEM is becoming STEAM. Stubborn education systems are remembering the theory, practice, and wisdom of the past. While the National Academy of Science has more in common with the history and origin of “university” than “academy”, everything will continue to change and flow. History is often revisited — it really isn’t so much circular as it is a giant sphere. Plato and his academy would have never believed otherwise. Thanks for reading!
