  After an early education in geometry and astronomy in his native Pitanê (in Aeolis, the northwest Aegean coast of modern Turkey), Arcesilaus escaped to Athens against his guardian’s wishes. There he is said to have studied rhetoric in association with Theophrastus (Aristotle’s successor) until c. 295–290 BCE, when he abandoned it to study philosophy in Plato’s Academy with Crantor (d. 276/5) and its leaders Polemo (d. 270/69) and Crates (d.268/7). He became the head of the Academy (‘scholarch’) after Crates’ death and led the school for more than 25 years until his own death in 241/40 BCE.