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The history of Plato's Academy up to Antiochus of Ascalon proves that the organisation of the school did not safeguard Plato's philosophy from the infiltration of doctrines of other philosophies, particularly the Stoic philosophy, which themselves, on the other hand, were open to Platonic influence. This mutual penetration was even strenthened in the first certuries of the Roman Empire. The Academy in Athens continued its activities. But Platonism had many adherents also outside of it. These, each in his own way, were seeking direct contacts with Plato through his writings and returned thus, despite of the development of the Academy, to its founder. There was no permanent unity among them, neither external, organisational, nor internal, intellectual. But because they are chronologically and doctrinally the ancestors of Neo-Platonism, a definite school in the true sense of this word, they are given as a whole the denomination "Middle Platonists". Chronologically they cover the period from Antiochus of Ascalon up to Plotinus, i. e. from the second half of the 1st century B. C. to the first decades of the 3rd century A. D.

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-009-9704-2_9

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