Has the Location of Plato’s Grave Been Found in Athens?

An Italian archaeologist says he has found the exact location of Plato’s grave in the Platonic Academy in Athens after deciphering the Herculaneum papyri.

The Herculaneum papyri are a collection of over 1,800 ancient scrolls discovered in the 18th century. They were unearthed in the Villa of the Papyri, a luxurious Roman estate located in Herculaneum, Italy.

These scrolls are unique because they were buried and preserved by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. The intense heat carbonized the papyri, turning them into fragile rolls. While this initially seemed like destruction, it actually protected the scrolls from the elements that normally would have caused them to rot away over time.

Using AI technology, scientists are now attempting to decipher the papyri.

The location of Plato’s burial place was contained in thousands of new words and differently read words in a papyrus on the history of the Academy by Philodemus of Gadara, an Epicurean philosopher and poet who lived in Herculaneum, said University of Pisa expert Graziano Ranocchia.

The scholar made the announcement at the Naples Biblioteca Nazionale (National Library) as he presented the mid-term results of the ‘Greek Schools’ research project conducted with the National Research Council.

Ranocchia said the texts suggested the burial place was in a garden reserved for Plato in a private area in the Academy, near the sacred shrine to the Muses.

Plato’s grave and the Platonic Academy in Athens

Plato’s Academy, or simply, ”The Academy,” was a famous school in ancient Athens founded by Plato in 387 BC, located on the northwestern outskirts of Athens, outside the city walls. The site acquired its name from the legendary hero Academos.

Plato is the one figure who must receive the credit for giving birth to this unique institution. He first acquired the land on which the Academy was eventually built and began holding informal gatherings there to discuss philosophical issues with some of his friends.

The gatherings included thinkers such as Theaetetus of Sunium, Archytas of Tarentum, Leodamas of Thasos, and Neoclides. These meetings and discussions continued for years but it was not until Eudoxus of Cnidos arrived in the mid-380s BC that Akademeia was recognized as a formal Academy.

Plato’s Academy was not an educational institution as we know it in modern times, but because it had the characteristics of a school and covered a wide variety of topics such as philosophy, astronomy, mathematics, politics, physics and more, it is considered to be the first university in the entire world.

The garden which Plato decided to use for his discussions had also been used previously by many Athenian groups, both civil and religious, with the Akademeia hosting a nighttime torchlight race from altars in Athens to the altar of Prometheus in its gardens.

The road that led to the University was also lined with the gravestones of many Athenians, and funeral games took place there, along with a Dionysian procession from the city of Athens to the site and then back into the city.

The Platonic Academy was destroyed by the Roman dictator Sulla in 86 BC.

An exclusive group of intellectuals met in Akademeia, with Plato’s “students” not truly bearing the title of a student apart from their distinction between junior and senior members of the body.

One of them, Aristotle, came to be one of the world’s most influential philosophers of all time.