Academus or Akademos (;

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic pe ...

: Ἀκάδημος), also Hekademos or Hecademus (Ἑκάδημος) was an Attic

hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or strength. Like other formerly gender-specific terms (like ''actor''), ''her ...

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities o ...

. Academus, the place lies on the Cephissus, six stadia from Athens.

Place origins

Academus, the site was sacred to

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of v ...

, the goddess of

wisdom Wisdom, sapience, or sagacity is the ability to contemplate and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense and insight. Wisdom is associated with attributes such as unbiased judgment, compassion, experiential self-knowledg ...

, and other immortals; it had since the Bronze Age sheltered her religious cult, which was perhaps associated with the hero-gods, the Dioskouroi ( Castor and Polydeukes), and for the hero Akademos. By classical times the name of the place had evolved into the ''Akademeia''. It had also earlier been called Ecademia (Ἑκαδημία). According to Plutarch, Cimon converted this, "waterless and arid spot into a well watered grove, which he provided with clear running-tracks and shady walks". Its

sacred grove Sacred groves or sacred woods are groves of trees and have special religious importance within a particular culture. Sacred groves feature in various cultures throughout the world. They were important features of the mythological landscape and ...

furnished the olive oil that was distributed as prizes in the Panathenaic Games and contained in the finely decorated Panathenaic amphorae presented to the winners.

Mythology

Plutarch, in his

biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or c ...

of the

Athenian Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

king Theseus (the slayer of the Minotaur), writes that, after being widowed and reaching age 50, the king abducted the 12-year-old child

Helen Helen may refer to: People * Helen of Troy, in Greek mythology, the most beautiful woman in the world * Helen (actress) (born 1938), Indian actress * Helen (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) Places * Helen, ...

(long before she married

Menelaus In Greek mythology, Menelaus (; grc-gre, Μενέλαος , 'wrath of the people', ) was a king of Mycenaean (pre- Dorian) Sparta. According to the ''Iliad'', Menelaus was a central figure in the Trojan War, leading the Spartan contingent of ...

, met

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

and was the cause of the

Trojan War In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans ( Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and ...

). Due to this outrage, her twin brothers Castor and Pollux invaded

Attica Attica ( el, Αττική, Ancient Greek ''Attikḗ'' or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and its countryside. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean ...

to liberate their sister and threatened to destroy

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

. Academus spared the city by telling them where she was hidden, at Aphidnae. Also for this reason Tyndareus (a Spartan king and the father of Castor and step father of Helen) showed Academus much gratitude. As noted by Plutarch: "For this reason he was honored during his life by the Tyndaridae, and often afterwards when the Lacedaemonians invaded Attica and laid waste all the country round about, they spared the Academy, for the sake of Academus."

Plato

Academe was the site of

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

's Academy and within its groves, he gave his lectures. According to Diogenes Laertius, Dion, "bought for Plato the little garden which is in the Academy". Diogenes Laertius, notes

Timon of Phlius Timon of Phlius ( ; grc, Τίμων ὁ Φλιάσιος, Tímōn ho Phliásios, , ; BCc. 235 BC) was a Greek Pyrrhonist philosopher, a pupil of Pyrrho, and a celebrated writer of satirical poems called ''Silloi'' (). He was born in ...

observes that there Plato "a big fish, but a sweet-voiced speaker, musical in prose as the cicada who, perched on the trees of Hecademus, pours forth a strain as delicate as a lily".Diogenes Laërtius, 3.7

Groves of Academe

The phrase "the groves of Academe" comes from Horace's '' Epistles,'' 20 b.c.): ''Atque inter silvas academi quaerere verum'' (To seek for truth in the groves of Academe)'. John Milton, in Paradise Regained book 4, 244-245, uses the phrase: "See there the Olive Grove of Academe, Plato's retirement, where the Attic Bird Trills her thick-warbl'd notes the summer long". Mary McCarthy made the phrase the title of her satirical novel '' The Groves of Academe''.

Notes

References

* Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus, ''Lives'' with an English Translation by Bernadotte Perrin. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. 1
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.Greek text available from the same website
{{Greek-myth-stub Greek mythological heroes Attican characters in Greek mythology Characters in Greek mythology Theseus