Academy

Originally, the Greek school of philosophy founded by Plato in the gardens of Academe, northwest of Athens; it was closed by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I, with the other pagan schools, AD 529. The first academy (in the present-day sense of a recognized society established for the promotion of one or more of the arts and sciences) was the Museum of Alexandria, founded by Ptolemy Soter in the 3rd century BC.

Charlemagne, at the suggestion of Alcuin, established a school or institute resembling an academy in 796 at St Martin's, Tours. Until the time of the Renaissance most of the learning was to be found in the monasteries, some of which might be regarded as academies. After that period most learned bodies were called academies.

After Plato's death there was some variation in the system, causing some distinctions to be made: the Platonic Academy under Plato, 398-347 BC; the Ancient Academy under Speusippus, Xenocrates, and Polemo; the Middle Academy under Arcestilaus; and the New Academy under Carneades. Two more academies were founded after these: the Fourth Academy by Philo of Larisa, and the Fifth Academy by Antiochus of Ascalon, which terminated 79 BC.