{"id":4845,"date":"2015-03-21T13:00:25","date_gmt":"2015-03-21T12:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antiquitatem.com\/en\/platonic-academy-geometry-nepotism\/"},"modified":"2015-03-21T13:00:25","modified_gmt":"2015-03-21T12:00:25","slug":"platonic-academy-geometry-nepotism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiquitatem.com\/en\/platonic-academy-geometry-nepotism\/","title":{"rendered":"Platonic Academy (1): \u00abLet none but geometers enter here.\u00bb"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>The tradition says that this phrase was recorded at the entrance of the Academy of Plato.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>\n\tThis tradition is transmitted by several commentators of <em>Aristotle<\/em>, as <em>Elias <\/em>in his &quot;<em>Commentary on the Categories, XVIII, 118, 18-19<\/em>:<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<em><strong>&quot;In Plato&#39;s Academy, before the temple of the Muses was written: &#39;&nbsp; Let None But Geometers Enter Here&#39;<\/strong><\/em>,<\/p>\n<p>\n\t&kappa;&alpha;\u1f76 &delta;&iota;\u1f70 &Pi;&lambda;&alpha;&tau;\u1f41&nu;&alpha; \u1f10&pi;&iota;&gamma;&rho;\u03ac&psi;&alpha;&nu;&tau;&alpha; &pi;&rho;\u1f78 &tau;&omicron;\u1fe6 &mu;&omicron;&upsilon;&sigma;&epsilon;\u03af&omicron;&upsilon; \u1f00&gamma;&epsilon;&omega;&mu;\u03ad&tau;&rho;&eta;&tau;&omicron;&sigmaf; &mu;\u03ad&delta;&epsilon;&iota;&sigmaf; &epsilon;\u1f30&sigma;\u03af&tau;&omega; (&quot; <em>kai dia Platona epigr&aacute;psanta pro tou mouse&iacute;ou ageom&eacute;tretos m&eacute;deis eis&iacute;to <\/em>&quot;)<\/p>\n<p>\n\tand <em>John Philoponus<\/em> on &#39;<em>Commentary on the soul, XV, 117.27<\/em>, with a slight variation:<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<em>&quot; <strong>Let None But Geometers Enter Here<\/strong><\/em>&quot;,<\/p>\n<p>\n\t&quot;<em>ageometretos me eisito&quot;<\/em> \u1f00&gamma;&epsilon;&omega;&mu;\u03ad&tau;&rho;&eta;&tau;&omicron;&sigmaf; &mu;\u1f74 &epsilon;\u1f30&sigma;\u03af&tau;&omega;.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<em>Diogenes Laertius in IV, 10<\/em> has an anecdote that shows the importance of geometry in Plato&#39;s teaching:<\/p>\n<p>\n\t&quot;<em><strong>Xenocrates wanted to study with him without knowing music or geometry or astronomy, and Plato said,&quot; Go, because you do not have the handholds of philosophy <\/strong><\/em>&quot;.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tBut what was Plato&#39;s <em>Academy<\/em>? The name, which comes from the Latin <em>Academy <\/em>and this from Greek <em>akademeia<\/em>, \u1f08&kappa;&alpha;&delta;&eta;&mu;\u03af&alpha;, defines the institution, school or philosophical-political corporation founded by Plato in the outskirts of the city of <em>Athens<\/em>, near the walls, which receives the name of the place where it was built, a space in which there was a shrine to the mythical hero attic <em>Academo <\/em>(minor in Greek mythology who revealed to the <em>Dioscuri <\/em>the place where Helena was hiding). So etymologically it means &quot;<em>the garden or field of Academos<\/em>&quot;.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tAlthough the news is scarce, we must assume that this center would continue the educational program that <em>Plato <\/em>disclosed in the &quot;<em>Republic<\/em>&quot; dialogue. <em>Mathematics <\/em>and <em>geometry <\/em>had a specific gravity in it, as I said at the beginning of this article. <em>Music <\/em>is also essential&nbsp; in the sense of &quot;<em>arts<\/em>&quot; inspired by the <em>Muses<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tBut the essential purpose of the <em>Academy <\/em>was to prepare men for the service of the state. From it&nbsp; many statesmen came out, educated by the dialectical method, by which students were discovering the truth in coexistence with other members of the institution. Alongside philosophical activity an intense scientific reflection on mathematics was also developped on music, astronomy, division and classification. His teaching was based on lessons and dialogues. It also produced a lot of comments on <em>Plato <\/em>and <em>Aristotle <\/em>which have provided us with valuable information.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe <em>Academy <\/em>is thus one of the oldest institutions of higher education; it must have been founded around 387 BC He continued actively to the death of Plato (347 BC), when his nephew <em>Speusippus <\/em>took it, although it certainly had other major philosophers. It is somewhat curious that who demanded choose the best for the city government, he did not follow the same principle to guide your institution, a clear example of nepotism. Among these best was precisely <em>Aristotle<\/em>, who created his school which is known as the <em>Lyceum<\/em>;&nbsp; I will talk some other time on it.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<em>Note:<\/em> it&#39;s called <em>nepotism <\/em>the granting of appointments and public employments to relatives and own family members. It derives from the Latin word <em>nepos, -tis<\/em> which means <em>grandson, nephew.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe <em>Academy <\/em>received a mortal blow when in 86 BC the Roman general <em>Sulla <\/em>captured and destroyed <em>Athens<\/em>. The director of the Academy, <em>Philo of Larissa<\/em>, left Athens the following year and he died leaving no successor, what resulted in the death of the institution.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tCenturies later, in the V of Christ <em>Neoplatonic <\/em>philosophers resurrected the <em>Academy<\/em>, but without the splendor and future of the first. However it survived until 529, when <em>Justinian <\/em>closed it for religious reasons, rather than philosophical, because Neoplatonism continued to influence in <em>Byzantine <\/em>era. From this time the institution was running out by starvation. So the Academy came to last more than nine hundred years.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tRegarding the closure by <em>Justinian<\/em>, it seems that no formal abolition, but it was a result of its legislation to suppress paganism.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tOne of the main measures to prevent the spread of paganism was the prohibition that&nbsp; pagan philosophers and teachers could teach, establishing harsh penalties for those who infringe these laws.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tDuring the consulate of <em>Decius<\/em>, the emperor sent an order to <em>Athens <\/em>that stipulates that no one could teach philosophy or interpret the law. This order is placed in relation to the law of the <em>Code of Justinian I, tit. XI, 10, 2<\/em> which among other things says:<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<em><strong>Moreover, we forbid the teaching of any doctrine by those who labor under the insanity of paganism, so that they may not in that manner pretend to instruct those coming to see them in a way to excite pity, while in fact they corrupt the souls of their disciples. Nor shall they receive any salary (annona) in as much as they are not permitted to claim anything of the kind pursuant to a rescript or pragmatic sanction.<\/strong><\/em> (Translated by&nbsp; Fred H. Blume)<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<em>Omnem autem doctrinam ab&nbsp; iis, qui impiorum paganorum furore laborant, doceri prohibemus, ut ne hoc modo simulent, se&nbsp; eos, qui misera sorte ad ipsos veniant, erudire, sed revera &aacute;nimos erudiendorum corrumpant,&nbsp; neque magis aliquid annonae ex publico percipiant, non habentes licentiam, ne ex divinis&nbsp; quidem rescriptis vel pragmaticis sanctionibus eiusmodi ius sibi vindicandi <\/em>(1.11.10) .&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe law, it appears that not formally closes the <em>Academy<\/em>, but requires teachers to be baptized or exile. This situation and the economic hardships would end up ruining it. But there is no absolute agreement among historians about it.<br \/>\n\t&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The tradition says that this phrase was recorded at the entrance of the Academy of Plato.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,9,13,14,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-education","category-history","category-language-literature","category-philosophy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiquitatem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiquitatem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiquitatem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiquitatem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiquitatem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiquitatem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4845\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiquitatem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiquitatem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiquitatem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}