Philosophy is the talk on a cereal box

Athens is the birthplace of Western philosophy. If you want to walk in the footsteps of the great ancient philosophers, this is where you need to come. But what I find odd is the great differences in how their spaces are treated, and how accessible they are.

Start with the man himself: Socrates.

A face only a mother could love.

His presence is best appreciated in the Agora of Athens, where he spent most of his time hanging out, getting into arguments with people.

You can check out the Bouleuterion, where Socrates served on the Council (and refused to indict the generals of Arginusae en masse in 406), and the Tholos, where he was summoned by the Thirty to go arrest Leon of Salamis, another order he refused.

The rather confusing remains of the Old and New Bouleuteria, plus a 2nd-century BCE rebuild.

The base of the Tholos (or Prytaneion), where Socrates suggested he should be given free meals for life as "punishment" for being such a nuisance. No wonder they gave him the hemlock smoothie.

More personally, there are the remains of the house of Simon the Cobbler, where, according to later reports, he would meet with boys who were too young to enter the Agora to discuss his ideas. We know that this was Simon's house because it had shoe-making tools, a cup with Simon's name on it, and a small (later) statuette of Socrates, all well-displayed in the Agora Museum.

An open and shut case--or if the shoe fits...

 Even more thrillingly (albeit less well documented) is the large public building that the excavators believed to be the public jail, where Socrates would have spent the last few days of his life, receiving visitors like Crito and his other friends, and ultimately drinking the hemlock. 

The "State Prison" (some people don't buy that identification)

Although the Agora isn't the easiest site to figure out--all the lovely landscaping installed by the American School of Classical Studies makes for a cooler and greener experience, but it does interfere with the sight lines a bit--individual monuments are well labeled, and with the help of a good plan you can get a sense of what the place might have looked like in the late 5th century. As a bonus, the American School has been excavating north of Adrianou Street outside of the Agora, and has uncovered part of the Painted Stoa, which is the place where Zeno of Citium came to hang out and teach, thereby founding and naming the Stoic school. (It might take a knowledgeable guide, maybe someone from the ASCSA, to point out which stones among the mass of jumbled ruins belong to the Painted Stoa.) 

Next up is Plato, whose importance to Western Philosophy cannot be overestimated--Havelock famously said that Western Philosophy was "footnotes to Plato." But apparently the Athenians don't think so. Despite his being a hometown boy, his school, the Academy is sadly forlorn and neglected. I visited it for the first time in seven years--the last time it took me forever to find it, since it involved a long walk through some rough neighborhoods; and when I got there it was almost impossible to recognize it among the weeds and debris. This time the walk was shorter (thanks to Google Maps), if no less unpleasant, and the site has slightly better signage.

This is the sign at the entrance, so you know you are in trouble from the start.

The problem with the site is that, for whatever reason (probably because it is well off the beaten track, far from the haunts of tourists), it was not turned into an archaeological zone with guards and a ticket taker. Instead it is a public park, and like many public parks in Athens, is rather seedy and rundown. There are paths, and some athletic facilities and a playground, and there are signs explaining the remains; but there is also garbage, and a couple of guys smoking pot in the area of the gymnasium (I wonder what Plato would have thought of that.) There is an attempt at signage, which does provide decent information:

The signs themselves look rather like neglected ruins.

I felt like I'd stumbled upon a valuable inscription.

Part of the later gymnasium.

There has even been some attempt at site conservation.

Because of the improved signage, I was able to see that the ruins extend throughout the park, so there is a fair amount to see. Much of it is later--the Academy continued as a gymnasium and philosophical school through the Roman period, until it was closed by the Christian emperors. But with a bit of hunting I was able to find a 4th century BCE structure that may have been part of Plato's original school.

Plato himself may have trod upon--or maybe over--these unprepossessing blocks.

Elsewhere there are blocks that are clearly ancient, strewn about.

Not sure what this was. Some kind of offering table or statue base?

It is rare to see ancient stones that are tagged. One of the things I have always been impressed by is that graffiti artists generally leave the old structures alone.

Finally, I was able to find a museum that was shown on Google Maps. It turns out to be a "digital museum", whatever that means, and is rather small. It was closed when I got to it; hopefully it will still be there when I return.

I heard a rumor that developers were trying to claim the land to build some kind of shopping mall on it, but that idea was successfully blocked by both local residents and fans of ancient philosophy. I hope they can figure out how to manage the site with more care, without necessarily taking a park away from the local residents.

Finally there is Aristotle, who, despite not being a native Athenian (and only living here for part of his life), has received far better treatment than Plato. He seems to have benefited from both good timing and location. His Lyceum was only discovered a couple of decades ago, in a prominent site off of Vasileios Sophias Street, next to the Byzantine and Christian Museum, and near the National Gardens and the Parliament building. It was found when one of the big foundations was going to build a center there; when they realized they'd stumbled on the remains of Aristotle's school, they changed their plans. The Service excavated it properly, the whole thing has been conserved expertly, it is well labelled, and beautifully landscaped. They also have guards, and charge admission--I have to say the 4 euros is a bit steep, considering there isn't that much to look at.

 So if they can do all this for Aristotle, why does Plato get so neglected? Maybe there isn't that much of a constituency for philosophers. Socrates benefits from having lived at an exciting time, and his personality and habits were well-documented by his students, especially Plato. Aristotle benefits from his importance to the natural and physical sciences, as well as from his association with Alexander the Great. But Plato, despite his importance, doesn't have those historical associations. The fact is that most people who study philosophy aren't that concerned with the context of the ideas they study. They might not get that much out of seeing the places where these ideas were born. But for me, seeing the places, and getting a sense of the landscape out of which these ideas arose, is a good way of getting into closer touch with them.