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[[File:Plato_Silanion_Musei_Capitolini_MC1377.jpg|thumbnail|left|250px|Plato made be Silanion in 370 BC for Academy of Athens]]
====The Establishment of the Academy====
Plato founded the Academy sometime between 390-380 BCE in Athens. Fundamentally, the school served as a place where Plato's philosophies would be taught.<ref>For more on the founding of the Academy, see: Press, Gerald A. 2007. Plato: A Guide for the Perplexed. Guides for the Perplexed. London ; New York: Continuum.</ref> The Academy was initially located in an area that was a grove or garden of olive trees that included statues and nearby buildings. The term academy derives from Academus or Hecademus, a mythical hero the garden was dedicated to. This term becomes both the term for Plato's school but also our word for academy and academic.
The Academy's idea was to have an institution where dedicated scholars would meet, discuss, and lecture about the nature of the universe.<ref>For a history on the Academy, see: Reale, Giovanni, John R. Catan, and Giovanni Reale. 1990. Plato and Aristotle. A History of Ancient Philosophy, Giovanni Reale ; 2. Albany, NY: State Univ. of New York Press.</ref> Plato believed that knowledge was not attained by only contemplation but through discussion, teaching, and research.
