2,400 YEARS FROM THE FOUNDATION OF PLATO’S ACADEMY Rolls

The Athenian philosopher Plato (427-347 B.C.) was the most distinguished disciple of Socrates and the one most credited with preserving the Socratic teachings for posterity in his Dialogues. Upon his return to Athens from a first journey to Italy in 387 B.C., he founded a philosophical school in the area of Academia (today’s Kolonos) named after the local hero Academos. For nearly 1,000 years (until 529 A.D.), the Academy enjoyed a reputation for excellence, building on and renewing the teachings of its founder. The ideas of the Academy were transmitted to the Arab world and, from there, to Medieval Europe. The word academy and its derivatives are now used in almost all languages for notions associated with higher learning, the scholarly community and prestigious cultural institutions.