A student of Plato, Xenocrates was an ancient Greek philosopher. He had joined Plato’s academy which was situated in Athens in the year 376 BC. When Plato started his journey to Syracuse in the year 367 BC, Xenocrates was the one to accompany him. After the death of Plato in 347 BC, Xenocrates left Athens along with Aristotle and went to Assos and stayed there for as long as five years where both of them were invited. On the death of Plato, his nephew, Speusippus, was made the head of Plato’s academy. Speusippus called Xenocrates back to Athens to take over from him and become the new head of the academy. Despite the fact that Xenocrates was elected to become the successor of Speusippus, after the death of Speusippus, an election was held to elect the new head of the academy. After a close contest, Xenocrates chipped in by a margin of few votes. Later on in his life, he was also a part of a political team from Athens which was going to negotiate the terms of settlement with Macedonia. Xenocrates stayed as the head of Plato’s academy all along his life. Xenocrates was a soft spoken, hard working, considerate and kind natured person.             .

Xenocrates’ Work:-
Although Xenocrates was a philosopher, he also studied and wrote about mathematics. According to sources, Xenocrates had probably written two mathematics books of which no records were to be found. In some cases, the ideology and knowledge preached by Xenocrates was not his own but of his mentor and guide, Plato. He always considered that any substance is comprised of small units that are further indivisible. This points out the fact that he was one the earlier people who believed in the atomic theory. Xenocrates was of the thinking that every human being has an existence in three folds; the mind, the body and the soul. He was also of the opinion that people face death two times in their lives. Once is when we die on earth and the other time is when we die on the moon. While dying on the moon, the mind and soul are separated.

Description: This article describes about Xenocrates, a Greek philosopher was a student of Plato and head of the Platonic academy in Athens.