Pi is evident in the Sanskrit Alphabet and Numbers just as Pi is evident as 3.141 defines Stonehenge and most probable by Occam's razor to be a writing system as in typography, a template to a paper. This definition will bring another common term although I have not heard it used in conversation outside of San Francisco, "the sun never sets on the British Empire" but what if it did?
This learning system would have been used in communal or public school education as England is an island, that would be a school system, platonic-in-nature, certainly cut-off from transportation and shipping would have been their only trades and the communication of education would have gained world renowned formulas, i.e. knowledge. It may possibly be the first school system outside of the Greek Philosophers ever to be recognized in our modern era that is still educating in some sort of horrid mockery of the rest of the world as it is a huge tourist trap and readily there is no explanation to either its size or why it was constructed. Current data from the dating of bones goes to 3000 BC as per common documentaries have reported and just this information from the documentaries would have upped the value as a 'Shop of Curiosity' and it would bring coin (money) to Great Britain funding many projects worldwide. Symbolizing mystery is not my work as I am identifying Pi at 3.141 and using photographic evidence to see the calculation as simplicity dictates to at least the discussion as a good conversation and to further understand the construction of language to words that than seem to go greater than, less than the numbers in equations to see why symbols must be used to describe the dimensions or bridges of depth and so forth.
Stonehenge in the bones of an auditorium, the strata of the University in a 'Time' that 'The Ages' did outdoor education, a national theater, an icon much like Plato explained in the Greek learning system giving lectures on life, reserved theories never proven, etc. and as shown from Wikipedia in their piece titled Platonic Academy (more on this later).
Examples by precedence is at the sight with just San Francisco, California, Sutro Baths showing the skeletal remains by blueprint to built and the common ground to be understood by equaling the mountain or to be understood, the diameters circumference of the hill. A natural built hill as is shown in Golden Gate Park, Strawberry Hill, Stow Lake (man-made), the museums, the Polo Field, and, Bercut Field top as the Dressage Arena in reality of space to recognition by the ease of location creates such an excitement that the shape of our Panhandle parallel to The Haight has description unto itself as the lines are beginning the basis of speech.
Sutro Baths burned down to the bones in 1966 leaving an outline of the plumbing, the undergird, the struts or however you would describe the concrete pour left as a tourists attraction. As it is close to Seal Rock and is an interesting view of Old San Francisco History it is the Cliff House that brought more attention to detail over the scope of the years past however it does still show the evidence at the location of what was an incredible Bath house. It's original structure still can be readily seen today by any person willing to make the endeavor to such a locale the saltwater baths must have been incredibly healing as reported by locals when I was a kid. In order to see the entire building one would have to have pictured it, or, known where the library with the biography of the development of Ocean Beach was kept and than worked your way to the fact as Mr. A. Sutro built Sutro Baths.
Rather than re-writing any persons equations I prefer to stick with weight and measure as each block of stone will represent the pound. To measure the accuracy of the time in the Stonehenge documented memorial I would measure the calculations of the difference between a mountain and a hill, or, in case to point, Chess and Tennis as a quote will fit nicely here; "the sun never sets on the British Empire."
"If you have two angles, you know the third, because the sum of the angles is 180 [degrees]"
“Pacific Service” Supplies the World's Largest Baths ... of the famous Sutro Baths in San Francisco which, from the time they opened some ... At the base of the rocks near the Cliff House, the late Mr. Adolph Sutro noticed a small inlet that was
He
built the Sutro saltwater baths and planted Sutro Forest. He owned the
finest private libary in America, much of which was destroyed during the
fire that followed the Great Earthquake of 1906. Sutro died in San Francisco August 8, 1898.
This
is the complete text of a small book published in 1895 to honor the new
mayor of San Francisco, Adolph Sutro. Sutro ran for mayor as the populist
"anti-octupus" candidate,— in opposition to the Southern Pacific
Railroad, which dominated California politics.
Adolph Heinrich Joseph Sutro was born April 29, 1830. He was well educated in the field of mining engineering. Sutro arrived in San Francisco aboard the steamship California, in 1850, and immediately engaged in trade, first in San Francisco and, later, in Stockton.
In 1859, when the Comstock Lode made headlines, he was again attracted to mining. He established a small mill, called the Sutro Metallurgical Works, in East Dayton, Nevada, for the reduction of ores by an improved process of amalgamation and was responsible for the planning and building of the Sutro Tunnel. This tunnel made it possible to drain and ventilate the many mines in the Comstock Lode, and to permit the miners to bring out the rich silver ore.
In
1879 Sutro sold his tunnel to the McCalmont Brothers, and countless lesser
investors, and returned to San Francisco.
In 1894 he ran for mayor on the Populist ticket and served one two-year term, and was succeeded by James. D. Phelan.
At one time Adolph Sutro owned one-twelth of the acreage of San Francisco. he purchased the Cliff House in the early 1880s, and one thousand acres of land facing the ocean, now called Sutro heights. He built the Sutro saltwater baths and planted Sutro Forest.
He owned the finest private libary in America, much of which was destroyed during the fire that followed the Great Earthquake of 1906.
Sutro died in San Francisco August 8, 1898.
Art illustration for this book is by Carl Dahlgren (1841-1920), a San Francisco artist. Little is known about Eugenia Kellog Holmes. The California State Library system holds only this work written by her.
A Brief Story of a Brilliant Life
At Aix-la-
of
which these municipalities form so important a part, is enriched to a degree
inestimable, since the qualities which form nobility of character are incalculably
precious and therefore beyond the judgment of men.
Amid scenes and associations unparalleled in historic trophies, the youthful years of this scion of the sterling virtues were passed; for Aix-la-
Certain it is, that Aquis Granum became a favorite resort of the Romans, who first sought it for the natural sulphur springs abounding there, renowned for their alleviation of varied infirmities, among them acute cases of rheumatism and gout.
This was long before the advent of the Emperor Charlemagne, who endowed it with added dignity by making it, during his dynasty, the first city in the Empire and the capital of all his dominions North of the Alps.
A magnificent mausoleum there marks his remains; his statue, in bronze, adorns the market place; his fountain sprays the bearded trees; planted it is said, by him.
The chapel where he worshipped, and where repose his remains, contains relics of reputed antiquity, which are objects of exceeding veneration by the children of the Roman Church, who assemble there in great numbers every seven years, when the relies are placed on exhibition.
For the citizens of Aix-
This wall, pierced originally by ten gates, and partially demolished by the Hollanders, was rebuilt and strengthened by Frederick Barbarossa, whose fondness for this Flysian of the ancients equaled that of the natives, who were wont to say with pride, "After Rome —
It was here that Napoleon the First rested, when wearied with war's rude reveilles.
Long ago the vandals razed the favorite palace of Charlemagne, and upon its ruins, by way of complimentary apology, was erected Coronation Hall, where his successors, for more than seven centuries, have been crowned.
Two towers, of ancient Roman origin, rear their stately battlements above the marts of manufacturers, mechanics and the kinsmen of commerce, in silent scorn, it would seem, for those usurpers of the picturesque; but the springs, where Kings loved to drink and bathe, remain unchanged.
Ephen, the favorite hunting ground of royalty, situated within the environs of Aix-la-
Though the commercial tendency of the age conduces to little reverence for the hallowed, the historic, the picturesque, yet those who are truly reflective must acknowledge the value of these mute, invisible sentinels.
We are all products of the past, and with it our lives are indissolubly linked.
Such sentiments seem inseparable from a study of the early life of Adolph Sutro, for as a lad, we may without elasticity of imagination, behold him alone and aloof from others of similar age; ruminating among the ruins of European rulers; delving into the intricate things of earth; scanning the mysteries of wave and wind for an intelligible answer to his earnest queries; experimenting with tangled shreds of dismembered machinery; tracing the starry constellations with a tiny telescope; such having been his youthful occupation, and as such be remains a part of the wise, serene, philanthropic, patriarchal old world.
A region of new, raw, jarring, nerve-
At the age of sixteen, much to his regret, the young student left school to assume the superintendence of his father's factory. Two years later, such being his acquired competency, he was intrusted to the more important post of establishing a similar store at Menel, in Eastern Prussia.
The death of Mr. Sutro, Senior, in December, 1847, increased the son's responsibility, the business by that event becoming family property, under the sole management of Adolph and his brother.
But for the Revolution of 1848, which sent a shudder through Europe, menacing the securest form of government, disorganizing business and sundering the sacred ties of kindred, it is presumable that the brothers might have continued in uninterrupted prosperity the work of manufacturing cloth, after the manner of their sire.
The universal crash, however, could not but affect the firm of the Sutros. There was no alternative—
With a ready resolution and unerring breadth of vision for which she was remarkable, Mrs. Sutro decided that there was small prospect in the Fatherland, under the circumstances, for such a future as she aspired too for her family, composed of eleven children. The choice of a foreign home was deemed imperative, and the lady favored America.
In the Autumn of 1850 the Sutros landed in New York, and subsequently settled in Baltimore, Maryland.
It was about this time that the California gold excitement waged most fiercely, when armies of men forsook the fetters which civilization had forged, and fled, with a speed impeded only by the pathless plains, the desert wastes, the hostile savages, the treacherous winds and tides, to the far-
Young Sutro readily grasped the meaning of this excitement, being among the first to take passage on a sailing vessel bound for the port of San Francisco.
During this voyage, which lengthened to months, the winds being variable, the ambitious adventurer beguiled his time by writing letters, descriptive of scenery witnessed, the strange and interesting types of life encountered, and in keeping an accurate record of occurring incidents.
Those letters, addressed to his mother and sisters, are still extant; their contents bespeak the same appreciation of nature, comradeship with humanity, independence of action and unswerving, lofty purpose, which has since been brought to such conspicuous fruition.
November 21st, 1851, marks the date of Mr. Sutro's arrival in San Francisco.
His fortune at that time consisted solely in youth (he was less than twenty), health, hope, courage, ambition and indomitable energy.
With this uncurrent capital he went into business on the water front. For nine years he worked hard in what is called petty trade, buying, selling, keeping a limited supply of the best cigars and tobacco; living, as those have ever lived who toil without compensation, other than frugal food, few comforts, and the recreation which exists only in name.
During this period of time (the year 1856) Mr. Sutro married, and was thereafter encouraged and assisted by a faithful, fond wife. "But for her,"—
Six children—
All survive their mother, who died December 8th, 1893, at the Hayes and Fillmore family residence, in San Francisco. Those survivors are Mrs. Albert Morbio, Mrs. Moritz Nussbaum, Mrs. Dr. Sutro L. Merritt, Miss Clara A. Sutro, Mr. Charles W. and Mr. Edgar Sutro.
Each is personally identified with some practical work, of a character largely philanthropic.
From the monotony of a life devoted to domesticity and the routine of retail trade, Mr. Sutro was at length, stirred by a sensation electrifying to the Pacific Coast, and extending in its interest, to remoter regions.
The occasion was the discovery of the Comstock Lode, in the State of Nevada.
Mr. Sutro visited this exciting section for the first time in the year 1859, and there found the opportunity to apply the scientific knowledge gained by years of patient study.
The immediate need of ventilating and draining the mines, was impressively apparent to the young man, who saw that great volumes of water impeded the progress of labor and its reasonable reward.
Pumping it was a costly and most precarious experiment; a depth of 1500
feet had been reached; the temperature in the lower levels was 110 degrees,
rendering work almost impossible for more than a very brief period. The
air was so foul that the men who inhaled it, fainted in those poisoned
caverns and fell—This thought found expression in a letter, first published in the "San Francisco Alta," April 30, 1860. "An unfeasible plan!" "The audacity of a dreamer!" sneered the pessimistic, for well they knew that a gateway through granite needed the resonance supplied by bonds and coined securities, ere the hidden treasures of the caverns would be made to surrender.
The young man, whose fortune was then locked in the rigid fastnesses, heeded not the hissing voices of harpies, but, by his own individual effort, alone and unaided, secured the right of franchise to those remote recesses.
His subsequent tasks were to obtain and retain the confidence of capitalists at home and abroad; to maintain control of political power in Washington, in London, and San Francisco; to make frequent marine and overland voyages extending over two hemispheres; to watch, at the same time, the progress of work at the mines, and act as their superintendent.
These were Herculean tasks, combined with hazardous venture, manual toil, and diplomacy unparalleled in the history of Courts, Kingdoms or Republics.
After the merits of the enterprise were fully understood and recognized, there followed even more desperate struggles to maintain it against conspiracies combined to thrust Mr. Sutro out, that others might appropriate the result of his efforts.
Only faith, preeminent and unswerving, in the project sought, coupled with
unremitting industry, could have carried such plans to successful completion.
It was accomplished however, exactly as proposed, and occupied its originator, fourteen years of such effort as few men could have approached.
The tunnel, linked inseparably with the name of Sutro, was finished October, 1878. Its dimensions were 10 feet high, 12 feet wide, 20,500 feet long, with North and South branches having 3600 feet in the aggregate, making its entire length more than five miles.
Its cost, without interest, was $4,500,000; including interest, $6,500,000.
From the corporation he had organized Mr. Sutro at length relinquished all monetary interest, retaining an amount to his credit of not less than $5,000,000. With it he returned to San Francisco, his favorite city, there to permanently reside.
About this time the "sand-
From a close study of the soil and its varied resources, the Seer of the sand hills knew that not a rood of the yellow dunes, sprayed by the swirling surf, would one day be worth less than its weight in gold, though it was then without shred of green, or glance of rill, or glint of bloom.
With the breadth of vision, unerring judgment, and prompt action which had brought the tunnel to successful completion, Mr. Sutro invested vastly in shore lands, believed, by the then doubting public to be worthless.
Men were employed for the improvement of those and acres, who, under the master's direction, pierced the subterranean depths by shafts and pumps; sent iron conduits through the stubborn hills in search of the needful water; blasted the rocks and had them cut into staircases, parapets, and the walls of lake-
Millions of tender seedlings were planted in the sear spaces and gently nurtured in the plastic sands, softened by soothing water brought from the summit stores.
These, Mr. Sutro calls the children of his age, for tree planting, with him, is a labor of love.
Those infant forests have grown to sturdy groves which skirt the horizon with swaying leaves.
Playgrounds, especially provided for children, are on those wooded hills, as well as reposeful places for gray-
At Sutro Heights, a superb suburb of the city of splendid eminences, situated upon a natural walled promontory, overlooking lone Tamalpais, the mist-
The more delicate exotics, formed to flourish in tropical climes, are sheltered from the harsh winds and dense fogs of that aerial altitude in a glass conservatory,—
The statuary, set in the niches, terraces, parterres, parapets, along the tree-
The residence, quaint and unique, is gemmed with speaking souvenirs of
Mr. Sutro's many tours in every accessible part of the world, each an expression
of taste, intelligence and appreciation for the best in human skill.
The rich, the cultivated and traveled find there, environments of harmony, while the poor are not pained by ostentation nor cankering contrasts.
Among the visitors entertained at the white-
The mailed knights at the gates are hospitable.
The snowy-
Mr. Sutro has said in public print—
But Mr. Sutro does not, in his lofty eyrie, on the cliff's crest, surrender himself to the exclusive delights of entertainment.
Much of his well-
This is the Sutro Library, conceded by men of the highest scholarship to be one of the four great libraries of the United States. Three, hundred thousand volumes have already been collected by agents stationed in the best Continental book marts, and additions are being constantly made. Among the rarest tomes and incunabula, may be mentioned duplicates of the early printer's art, from the famous Munich Library, four thousand in number; folios of the classics from the monastery of Boxheim and the Duke of Dahlberg, the Sunderland Library and the confiscated monasteries of Bavaria.
There are Mexican works, relating to the war of independence, from the
ancient archives of the Aztec capital; two thousand three hundred Japanese
manuscripts were borne from the bright land of the "Morning Calm;
" collections of Semitic philology, the chemical literature of the
late Secretary Wells, of the English Society of Industrial Chemistry, have
furnished about two thousand five hundred volumes.
A complete military, architectural and botanical library contributes its golconda of treasure; antique and priceless scrolls from the Orient are preserved with the parchments of Maimonides, author of "Ram Bam," who was called the Light of Israel, the Star of the West, and the Great Eagle. Classics, poems, plays in all languages of the learned, are in those closely packed cases, book-
When completed, as designed, it will be accessible to every disciple of science, that being the special motive of its magnanimous founder.
The structure site chosen for this colossal collection of literary treasure is in Golden Gate Park, near the music stand. It will be fire proof and free to the public.
But not alone in the absorbing walks of the bibliophile, the charms of hospitality, the conflicting cares of exalted office does Mr. Sutro find entire concentration ; his active brain demands perpetual achievement.
The more recent of these achievements partaking of the form of baths, which rival in magnitude, utility and beauty, the famous abluvion resorts of Titus, Caracalla, Nero or Diocletian.
Those wonderful expressions of architectural skill —
This consists of a series of basins, blasted in the rock, which receive the water pure from Ocean's briny caverns, by a complete system of tunnels and canals, so ingeniously devised as to supply the receptacles with both hot and cold currents, and drain them, after use. Thus have the tides been harnessed and made subservient to the multitudes.
There are six swimming tanks, the largest being L-
Four are, each, twenty-
Spring-
Five hundred dressing rooms, perfectly ventila ted, heated, lighted by electricity, furnished with showers, soap, toweling, bathing suits and all necessary toilet articles are reached by the aid of spacious elevators and broad staircases, that lead likewise to arcades, pavilions, balustrades, promenades, alcoves and corridors adorned with tropical plants, fountains, flowers, pictures, bric-
The facade has a portico with four Ionic columns and pilasters which lead to a noble staircase, wide, gradual of ascent, bordered with broad-
This staircase touches the very rim of the reveling waves. The foyer, on Point Lobos avenue, is in the Greek Doric cast of architecture, and conveys those who favor driving, to a carriage way that winds among tall terraces, rough-
A distinctly noticeable feature of this stupendous establishment is a stage, constructed for the performance of operas, dramas, acrobatic exhibitions, and the display of any talent or skill contributable to public entertainment.
The seats, arranged in tiers, form an amphitheatre, facing the ocean side of the structure, and are walled with glass of many colors.
The most fantastic effects are caused by the filtering sun, the reaching surf, the arching sky, the curving clouds, and those radiant mosaics.
Whether the sunbeams are imprisoned and tempered, the glare of electricity softened, the great, green billows are broken in snowy embroidery upon the amber sands, or ivory fogs fold the fair battlements in a fond embrace, the result is equally inspiring, incomparable and indescribable.
A seating capacity is afforded for twenty-
A man, however, may build and yet not be a master architect, though his buttressed walls be as adamant, his shafts and spires and towers soar starward.
That structure, surpassing mortal conception, must bear harmony with humanity, else it is like unto the "baseless fabric" of a dream. From his vast and varied creations, it might be inferred that Mr. Sutro is a man of force rather than feeling, of rigor rather than repose; but the fallacy of this inference is proven by his treatment of the poor, which is always more deferential than of the rich.
So considerate of the unfortunate is this prince of finance, that he has been christened by a wag not wholly witless, the " Czar of the Scavengers."
In the winter of '93, when great suffering prevailed among the indigent unemployed of San Francisco, Mr. Sutro purchased tickets from the Salvation Army to the value of eight hundred dollars, as occasion required, which were distributed, upon application, and secured to their holders a least temporary relief.
His contributions to all public charity, since his arrival to opulence, have been munificent, and confined neither to race, creed nor class. His private alms are said to be limited only to the immediate needs of the individual.
A princely jpgt, consisting of twenty-
Personally, Mr. Sutro presents a rare combination of strength and simplicity —
This election is the signal of something more than an expression of sentiment. It means a vic tory of honest elements in monopoly-
The masses, long steeped in enfeebling apathy, engendered by a piratic plutocracy more dangerous and degrading than foreign-
To those who best know this soft-
Despair is lifted to hope by his bounty. Commerce is vitalized by his energy. Hospitals claim him as their benefactor.
Schools own him as their patron. Art finds in him a supporter. The feet of progress are sandaled by his silver. Invention, by his fostering patronage, has successfully wrestled with the hidden forces of nature. Science leans on him, while her starry vision scales the infinite.
Patriotism sings paeans for him, who in the hour of the State's struggle, sent the ringing gold of mercy to chime with the flashing steel of valor. In the life of all enterprise, the vigor of all progress, all expansive and ennobling unfoldment contained in the history of California, the name of Adolph Sutro is inseparably identified. To such there comes no age nor death nor oblivion.
quote by Peter Molner via Live Science:
May 1, 2015 - "If you have two angles, you know the third, because the sum of the angles is 180 [degrees]," Molnar told Live Science. To carry out these ...
Peter Molnar is a professor in geological sciences at the University of Colorado. His research focuses on aspects of how mountain ranges form and continental lithosphere deforms.
He is a winner of the Crafoord Prize[1] and a fellow of the American Geophysical Union. He won the Crafoord Prize in 2014 for discovering "the driving forces behind plate motions and the place of continents in the plate tectonic model of Earth's evolution. Innovatively combining geological and geophysical methods of inquiry with satellite measurements and modelling, the Laureate has also paved the way to a new understanding of the formation of mountain ranges and their role in global tectonics."
Platonic Academy
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Coordinates: 37°59′33″N 23°42′29″E
The Academy (Ancient Greek: Ἀκαδημία) was founded by Plato (428/427 BC – 348/347 BC) in c. 387 BC in Athens. Aristotle (384–322 BC) studied there for twenty years (367–347 BC) before founding his own school, the Lyceum. The Academy persisted throughout the Hellenistic period as a skeptical school, until coming to an end after the death of Philo of Larissa in 83 BC. The Platonic Academy was destroyed by the Roman dictator Sulla in 86 BC.[1]
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Contents
Site
Ancient road to the Academy.
Map of Ancient Athens. The Academy is north of Athens.
The site of the Academy was sacred to Athena; it had sheltered her religious cult since the Bronze Age. The site was perhaps also associated with the twin hero-gods Castor and Polydeuces (the Dioscuri), since the hero Akademos associated with the site was credited with revealing to the brothers where the abductor Theseus had hidden their sister Helen. Out of respect for its long tradition and its association with the Dioscuri – who were patron gods of Sparta – the Spartan army would not ravage these original ‘groves of Academe’ when they invaded Attica.[4] Their piety was not shared by the Roman Sulla, who axed the sacred olive trees of Athena in 86 BC to build siege engines.
Among the religious observances that took place at the Akademeia was a torchlit night race from altars within the city to Prometheus’ altar in the Akademeia. The road to Akademeia was lined with the gravestones of Athenians, and funeral games also took place in the area as well as a Dionysiac procession from Athens to the Hekademeia and then back to the city.[5][6]
The site of the Academy[7] is located near Colonus, approximately, 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) north of Athens' Dipylon gates.[8]
Today
The site was rediscovered in the 20th century, in the modern Akadimia Platonos neighbourhood; considerable excavation has been accomplished and visiting the site is free.[9]Visitors today can visit the archaeological site of the Academy located on either side of the Cratylus street in the area of Colonos and Plato's Academy (Postal Code GR 10442). On either side of the Cratylus street are important monuments, including the Sacred House Geometric Era, the Gymnasium (1st century BC – 1st century AD), the Proto-Helladic Vaulted House and the Peristyle Building (4th century BC), which is perhaps the only major building that belonged to the actual Academy of Plato.
History
What was later to be known as Plato's school probably originated around the time Plato inherited the property at the age of thirty, with informal gatherings which included Theaetetus of Sunium, Archytas of Tarentum, Leodamas of Thasos, and Neoclides.[10] According to Debra Nails, Speusippus "joined the group in about 390 BC". She claims, "It is not until Eudoxus of Cnidos arrives in the mid-380s BC that Eudemus recognizes a formal Academy." There is no historical record of the exact time the school was officially founded, but modern scholars generally agree that the time was the mid-380s, probably sometime after 387 BC, when Plato is thought to have returned from his first visit to Italy and Sicily.[11] Originally, the meetings were held on Plato's property as often as they were at the nearby Academy gymnasium; this remained so throughout the fourth century.[12]Though the Academic club was exclusive and not open to the public,[13] it did not, at least during Plato's time, charge fees for membership.[14] Therefore, there was probably not at that time a "school" in the sense of a clear distinction between teachers and students, or even a formal curriculum.[15] There was, however, a distinction between senior and junior members.[16] Two women are known to have studied with Plato at the Academy, Axiothea of Phlius and Lasthenia of Mantinea.[17]
In at least Plato's time, the school did not have any particular doctrine to teach; rather, Plato (and probably other associates of his) posed problems to be studied and solved by the others.[18] There is evidence of lectures given, most notably Plato's lecture "On the Good"; but probably the use of dialectic was more common.[19] According to an unverifiable story, dated of some 700 years after the founding of the school, above the entrance to the Academy was inscribed the phrase "Let None But Geometers Enter Here."[20]
Many have imagined that the Academic curriculum would have closely resembled the one canvassed in Plato's Republic.[21] Others, however, have argued that such a picture ignores the obvious peculiar arrangements of the ideal society envisioned in that dialogue.[22] The subjects of study almost certainly included mathematics as well as the philosophical topics with which the Platonic dialogues deal, but there is little reliable evidence.[23] There is some evidence for what today would be considered strictly scientific research: Simplicius reports that Plato had instructed the other members to discover the simplest explanation of the observable, irregular motion of heavenly bodies: "by hypothesizing what uniform and ordered motions is it possible to save the appearances relating to planetary motions."[24] (According to Simplicius, Plato's colleague Eudoxus was the first to have worked on this problem.)
Plato's Academy is often said to have been a school for would-be politicians in the ancient world, and to have had many illustrious alumni.[25] In a recent survey of the evidence, Malcolm Schofield, however, has argued that it is difficult to know to what extent the Academy was interested in practical (i.e., non-theoretical) politics since much of our evidence "reflects ancient polemic for or against Plato".[26]
The three Platonic eras
Old Academy
Plato's immediate successors as "Scholarch" of the Academy were Speusippus (347–339 BC), Xenocrates (339–314 BC), Polemo (314–269 BC), and Crates (c. 269–266 BC). Other notable members of the Academy include Aristotle, Heraclides, Eudoxus, Philip of Opus, and Crantor.Middle Academy
Around 266 BC Arcesilaus became Scholarch. Under Arcesilaus (c. 266–241 BC), the Academy strongly emphasized a version of Academic skepticism closely similar to Pyrrhonism.[28] Arcesilaus was followed by Lacydes of Cyrene (241–215 BC), Evander and Telecles (jointly) (205 – c. 165 BC), and Hegesinus (c. 160 BC).New Academy
The New or Third Academy begins with Carneades, in 155 BC, the fourth Scholarch in succession from Arcesilaus. It was still largely skeptical, denying the possibility of knowing an absolute truth. Carneades was followed by Clitomachus (129 – c. 110 BC) and Philo of Larissa ("the last undisputed head of the Academy," c. 110–84 BC).[29][30] According to Jonathan Barnes, "It seems likely that Philo was the last Platonist geographically connected to the Academy."[31]Around 90 BC, Philo's student Antiochus of Ascalon began teaching his own rival version of Platonism rejecting Skepticism and advocating Stoicism, which began a new phase known as Middle Platonism.
Destruction of the Academy
The archaeological site of Plato's academy.
The destruction of the Academy seems to have been so severe as to make the reconstruction and re-opening of the Academy impossible.[34] When Antiochus returned to Athens from Alexandria, c. 84 BC, he resumed his teaching but not in the Academy. Cicero, who studied under him in 79/8 BC, refers to Antiochus teaching in a gymnasium called Ptolemy. Cicero describes a visit to the site of the Academy one afternoon, which was "quiet and deserted at that hour of the day".[35]
Neoplatonic Academy
Despite the Platonic Academy being destroyed in the first century BC, the philosophers continued to teach Platonism in Athens during the Roman era, but it was not until the early 5th century (c. 410) that a revived academy (which had no connection with the original Academy) was established by some leading Neoplatonists.[36] The origins of Neoplatonist teaching in Athens are uncertain, but when Proclus arrived in Athens in the early 430s, he found Plutarch of Athens and his colleague Syrianus teaching in an Academy there. The Neoplatonists in Athens called themselves "successors" (diadochoi, but of Plato) and presented themselves as an uninterrupted tradition reaching back to Plato, but there cannot have actually been any geographical, institutional, economic or personal continuity with the original academy.[37] The school seems to have been a private foundation, conducted in a large house which Proclus eventually inherited from Plutarch and Syrianus.[38] The heads of the Neoplatonic Academy were Plutarch of Athens, Syrianus, Proclus, Marinus, Isidore, and finally Damascius. The Neoplatonic Academy reached its apex under Proclus (died 485).The last "Greek" philosophers of the revived Neoplatonic Academy 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 Academy philosophers mentioned by Agathias were 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.[37]
In 529 the emperor Justinian ended the funding of the revived Neoplatonic Academy. However, other philosophical schools continued in Constantinople, Antioch, and Alexandria, which were the centres of Justinian's empire.[39]
The last Scholarch of the Neoplatonic Academy was Damascius (d. 540). According to Agathias, its remaining members looked for protection under the rule of Sassanid king 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, their personal security (an early document in the history of freedom of religion) was guaranteed.
It has been speculated that the Neoplatonic Academy did not altogether disappear.[37][40] After his exile, Simplicius (and perhaps some others) may have travelled to Harran, near Edessa. From there, the students of an Academy-in-exile could have survived into the 9th century, long enough to facilitate an Arabic revival of the Neoplatonist commentary tradition in Baghdad,[40] Beginning with the foundation of the House of Wisdom in 832; one of the major centers of learning in the intervening period (6th to 8th centuries) was the Academy of Gundishapur in Sassanid Persia.[clarification needed]
See also
Notes
- Richard Sorabji, (2005), The Philosophy of the Commentators, 200–600 AD: Psychology (with Ethics and Religion), page 11. Cornell University Press
| Library resources about Platonic Academy |
References
- Baltes, M. 1993. "Plato's School, the Academy." Hermathena, (155): 5-26.
- Brunt, P. A. 1993. "Plato's Academy and Politics." In Studies in Greek History and Thought. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- Cherniss, H. 1945. The Riddle of the Early Academy. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
- Dancy, R. M. 1991. Two Studies in the Early Academy. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
- Dillon, J. M. 1979. "The Academy in the Middle Platonic Period." Dionysius, 3: 63-77.
- Dillon, J. 2003. The Heirs of Plato. A Study of the Old Academy, 347–274 BC. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- Dorandi, T. 1999. "Chronology: The Academy." In The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy. Edited by Keimpe Algra, Jonathan Barnes, Jaap Mansfeld, and Malcolm Schofield, 31–35. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
- Glucker, J. 1978. Antiochus and the Late Academy. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
- Lynch, J. P. 1972. Aristotle's School: A Study of a Greek Educational Institution. Berkeley: University of California Press.
- Murray, J. S. 2006. "Searching for Plato's Academy, 1929-1940." Mouseion: Journal of the Classical Association of Canada, 6 (2): 219-56
- Russell, J. H. 2012. "When Philosophers Rule: The Platonic Academy and Statesmanship." History of Political Thought, 33 (2): 209-230.
- Wallach, J. R. 2002. "The Platonic Academy and Democracy." Polis (Exeter), 19 (1-2): 7-27
- Watts, E. 2007. "Creating the Academy: Historical Discourse and the Shape of Community in the Old Academy." The Journal of Hellenic Studies, 127: 106–122.
- Wycherley, R. 1961. "Peripatos: The Athenian Philosophical Scene--I." Greece & Rome, 8(2), 152-163.
- Wycherley, R. 1962. Peripatos: The Athenian Philosophical Scene--II. Greece & Rome, 9(1), 2-21.
- Zhmud, Leonid. 2006. "Science in the Platonic Academy.: In The Origin of the History of Science in Classical Antiquity. By Leonid Zhmud, 82–116. Berlin: De Gruyter.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Platonic Academy. |
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Wikisource has the text of a 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article about Platonic Academy. |
"Academy". Collier's New Encyclopedia. 1921.- The Academy, entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Directions to the archaeological site of Plato's Academy, other useful information, and some photos
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