Changes

In 86 BCE, the school itself was destroyed in a fire that likely occurred during the siege of Athens. The Academy proved impossible to reconstruct; however, teaching resumed in Athens by 84 BCE in a gymnasium called Ptolemy. The teachings continued to thrive in the Roman Era, as Roman officials and others were even influenced by its teaching. By the 5th century CE, there was now an movement to reestablish the Academy itself. The Neoplatonists, as they were called, established the new Academy by 400-410 CE.<ref>For more on the Neoplatonists, see: Gregory, John. 1999. The Neoplatonists: A Reader. 2nd ed. London ; New York: Routledge.</ref> The Neoplatonists believed they were reviving Plato's original ideas; however, they were now influenced themselves by a wide variety of ideas, indicating that there philosophy was not just one central theme. Common beliefs of this new philosophy were that the soul or person was a microcosm of the universe and that this microcosm should strive to making the divine and natural world work better. There are a series of rituals that one goes through that help create a ore core dedicated to a pure and ethical life that then brings us closer to the divine nature of our existence. The One is seen as the divine source where we must strive to achieve understanding and unity with this source. Main Many of these ideas were influenced by Eastern mysticism, which blended with emerging concepts of a unified and single universe. This philosophy later becomes very influential in the Medieval period as it gets merged with Christian thinkers and philosophers. Others within this school, however, did not ascribe to all of this or even much of this philosophy, so it is somewhat doubtful that the Neoplaotnists Neoplatonists were actually one unified school of thought.

Nevertheless, the presence of the Neoplatonists revived the academy until the reign of Justinian I, who closed all philosophical schools in 529 CE.<ref>For more on Justianian philosophical school closures, see: Adamson, Peter, and Peter Adamson. 2014. Classical Philosophy. First edition. A History of Philosophy without Any Gaps, Peter Adamson ; Vol. 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pg. 259. </ref> Justinian believed the philosophical schools, which had their origins in the polytheistic past, were heretical and, therefore, must be closed. The philosophies of Platonism, however, did survive in the East, as the Eastern Christians adopted many of the philosopher refugees that left the Byzantine Empire during the closure of the philosophical schools. This eventually led these schools to once again influence the West through the later Medieval period, when some of the philosophies began to merge with Christian thoughtthrough a reexamination of the old Classical works.