The Academia de Atenas, founded by Plato around 387 BC, was one of the earliest institutions of higher learning in the Western world. It served as a place for philosophical discussion and education, focusing on subjects like mathematics, ethics, and metaphysics. The academy attracted many notable thinkers, including Aristotle, who studied there for twenty years. The Academia de Atenas operated for nearly a thousand years until it was closed by the Roman Emperor Justinian I in 529 AD. Its influence on education and philosophy laid the groundwork for future universities and shaped Western intellectual thought.