Middle Platonism

Middle Platonism ( Fourth Academy ) is the conventional name for the period of development of Plato's philosophy after the closure of the historical Platonov Academy (87 BC) and before the spread of Neo-Platonism in the III century. It is characterized by an “eclectic” character ^[1] , founded by Antioch from Ascalon . A distinctive feature of the 4th Academy is a synthesis with Aristotelism , Pythagoreanism and Stoicism , as well as a theistic bias. This Platonism only inherits the traditions of the Academy, but develops in different centers: Alexandria , Athens (it is noteworthy that he did not find Platonists there during the journey of Paul the Apostle to Athens), Rome . Circles of the average Platonists also existed in Apamea , Smyrna , Heronee .

In ethics, the central point is the assimilation to the deity, and in physics, the distinction between the creator God and the good God, which anticipated the philosophy of Gnosticism . The influence of average Platonism on the philosophy of early Christianity is also noted ^[2] .

In 176, the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius restored the academy in Athens. Atticus , a pupil of Calven Taurus, becomes a skolarh of the new school ^[3] .