Scholarch

Academy mosaic from Pompeii

A scholarch (Ancient Greek: σχολάρχης, scholarchēs) was the head of a school in ancient Greece. The term is especially remembered for its use to mean the heads of schools of philosophy, such as the Platonic Academy in ancient Athens. Its first scholarch was Plato himself, the founder and proprietor. He held the position for forty years, appointing his nephew Speusippus as his successor. The members of the Academy elected later scholarchs.

A list of scholarchs of the four main philosophy schools during the Hellenistic period, with the approximate dates they headed the schools, is as follows:^[1][2]

Notes

1. Dorandi, Tiziano (1999). "Chapter 2: Chronology". In Algra, Keimpe; et al. (eds.). The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 53. ISBN 9780521250283.
2. Diogenes Laërtius, 'Lives of the Eminent Philosophers', Book 9, Chapter 12, Section 116