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A scholarch ( grc, σχολάρχης, ''scholarchēs'') was the head of a
school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compuls ...
in
ancient Greece Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...
. The term is especially remembered for its use to mean the heads of schools of philosophy, such as the
Platonic Academy The Academy (Ancient Greek: Ἀκαδημία) was founded by Plato in c. 387 BC in Classical Athens, Athens. Aristotle studied there for twenty years (367–347 BC) before founding his own school, the Lyceum (classical), Lyceum. The Academy ...
in
ancient Athens Athens is one of the oldest named cities in the world, having been continuously inhabited for perhaps 5,000 years. Situated in southern Europe, Athens became the leading city of Ancient Greece in the first millennium BC, and its cultural achieve ...
. Its first scholarch was
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 ...
himself, the founder and proprietor. He held the position for forty years, appointing his nephew
Speusippus Speusippus (; grc-gre, Σπεύσιππος; c. 408 – 339/8 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher. Speusippus was Plato's nephew by his sister Potone. After Plato's death, c. 348 BC, Speusippus inherited the Academy, near age 60, and remained ...
as his successor. The members of the Academy elected later scholarchs. The Greek word is a produced compound of scholē (σχολή), 'school', and archē (ἀρχή), 'ruler'. The Romans did not Latinize the word, perhaps because they had no corresponding ''
archon ''Archon'' ( gr, ἄρχων, árchōn, plural: ἄρχοντες, ''árchontes'') is a Greek word that means "ruler", frequently used as the title of a specific public office. It is the masculine present participle of the verb stem αρχ-, mean ...
''. They used the
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
word ''scholasticus'' (savant) instead, which was always used for
headmaster A head master, head instructor, bureaucrat, headmistress, head, chancellor, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the teacher, staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school ...
s.


Usage in Latin and English

English does not use either of those two words for the name of the ancient office, but prefers scholiarch, a word that is not generally listed in the dictionary, because it is considered an error. If it were a produced word; i.e., a meaning compounded from words of known meaning, then it ought to mean 'master of the
scholia Scholia (singular scholium or scholion, from grc, σχόλιον, "comment, interpretation") are grammatical, critical, or explanatory comments – original or copied from prior commentaries – which are inserted in the margin of th ...
', a specious etymology sometimes put forward. Scholiarch was not known in classical, vulgar, or mediaeval Latin. It does appear in the
New Latin New Latin (also called Neo-Latin or Modern Latin) is the revival of Literary Latin used in original, scholarly, and scientific works since about 1500. Modern scholarly and technical nomenclature, such as in zoological and botanical taxonomy ...
of Renaissance monastic schools in Europe with reference to the schoolmaster. The ''Thesaurus linguae Latinae'' of 1573 by
Robertus Stephanus The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, hono ...
, a Parisian known to English authors as Robert Stephens, uses it to define scholasticus: ''vel Scholiarchus recte dicitur, qui in collegiis sacerdotum barbare vocatur',' referring to the 'colleges of priests'. What he meant by ''barbare'' is not very clear, but if the reference is to the Jesuit schools (which educated priests) then he appears to have been under the impression that scholiarch was the original office. Stephens was a Protestant convert from Catholicism. As he was a printer, his use of scholiarch perpetuated the word in English scholarship. It is used almost exclusively in the 19th and 20th centuries CE. Contemporaneously with the innovation of 'scholiarch' in the secular literature was a reinstitution of the ancient term in New Latin to describe the headmasters of the
cathedral schools Cathedral schools began in the Early Middle Ages as centers of advanced education, some of them ultimately evolving into medieval universities. Throughout the Middle Ages and beyond, they were complemented by the monastic schools. Some of these ...
. In Christian society of the Middle Ages the
cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...
s were responsible for maintaining
grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...
s in their vicinity. These institutions were the cultural descendants of the ancient grammar schools that prevailed during the Roman Empire. This basic educational necessity did not disappear with the advent of Protestantism; to the contrary, in Britain the Cathedrals and their schools were inherited by the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
, which continued to try to maintain New Latin as the language of the church. In this system the headmasters were denoted by a variety of Latin terms: the ''custodes'', the ''magistri scholarum'', and the ''scholarum praefecti''.
The Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
and subsequent
Neoclassicist Neoclassicism (also spelled Neo-classicism) was a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassicism was ...
periods saw a revival of interest in ancient Greek culture, which resulted in a new overlay of Hellenic terms on the Medieval Latin surviving from the empire, recognizable today as the mixed Greek and Latin words of scientific terminology. In the linguistic environment of the cathedral schools, a new term appears: the ''scholarchus'', the headmaster.


Social status

The social status, duties and legal powers of the headmaster depended on the society in which he conducted his school. In a small school, he might be the only or the chief teacher. In a university-sized school he would be the director of the school, its museum, and its library. Plato as scholiarch owned his school, the land, and the rest of the property. He had to sponsor the resident foreigners, representing them at law. Aristotle at the foundation of the Lyceum was not, as a resident foreigner, allowed to own property in Athens. He rented the buildings and organized the students into an administration. Socrates was a voluntary consultant who conducted discussions at various times and places, some public, others contributed by interested persons. The scholiarchs of Alexandria were royal officers hired by the king.


Major scholarchs

A list of scholarchs of the five main philosophy schools during the
Hellenistic period In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in 3 ...
, with the approximate dates they headed the schools, is as follows:
Diogenes Laërtius Diogenes Laërtius ( ; grc-gre, Διογένης Λαέρτιος, ; ) was a biographer of the Ancient Greece, Greek philosophers. Nothing is definitively known about his life, but his surviving ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' is a ...
, 'Lives of the Eminent Philosophers', Book 9, Chapter 12, Section 116


Notes

{{Reflist Education in ancient Greece Classical Greek philosophy