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Plato starts teaching at the Academy

c. 387 BCE, Athens. An event.

Where and when

c. 387 BCEAthens

about 2,412 years ago

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, Athens

Back in Athens from his travels, Plato makes his home at the Academy, a gymnasium outside the city walls, and his school takes its name.

Having returned to Athens, he lived in the Academy, which is a gymnasium outside the walls, in a grove named after a certain hero, Hecademus

Diogenes Laertius 3.7Translated by R. D. Hicks (1925)Read the full passage (Diogenes Laertius 3.7, opens scaife.perseus.org)

Background: Platonic Academy, Wikipedia (opens en.wikipedia.org)

Why it matters

The Academy is regarded as the first institution of higher education in the West, where subjects from biology and geography to astronomy and mathematics were taught and investigated.

Based on Wikipedia: Platonic Academy

The academy is regarded as the first institution of higher education in the West, where subjects as diverse as biology, geography, astronomy, mathematics, history, and many more were taught and investigated.

Wikipedia, Platonic Academy (opens en.wikipedia.org), as of 2026-09-25. Text CC BY-SA 4.0. Our line is checked against these sentences only.

Related moments

In time order, with this one in its place. Each says why it is here.

  1. 399 BCEabout 12 years earlier Socrates as a midwife Also about teaching and learning
  2. c. 387 BCEThis momentPlato starts teaching at the Academy
  3. c. 386 BCE1 year later Aspasia's speech on how a state shapes men Also in Athens
  4. c. 386 BCE1 year later Aspasia's speech on how Athens is ruled Also in Athens
  5. c. 386 BCE1 year later Aspasia's speech on grieving too much Same years
  6. c. 386 BCE1 year later Aspasia's speech on wealth and cowardice Also in Athens
  7. c. 386 BCE1 year later Socrates on Aspasia's funeral speech Same years
  8. c. 367 BCEabout 20 years later Aristotle, aged about seventeen, joins Plato's Academy Also about teaching and learning

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