This book offers an original analysis of the construction of "theoretical" philosophy in fourth-century Greece. In the effort to conceptualize and legitimize theoretical philosophy, the philosophers turned to a venerable cultural practice: theoria (state pilgrimage). In this traditional practice, an individual journeyed abroad to officially witness sacralized spectacles. This book examines the philosophic appropriations and transformations of the practice of theoria. It offers a detailed analysis of fourth-century conceptions of "theoretical" wisdom, using an approach which combines philosophy and new historicism. By examining the link between traditional and philosophic theoria, this book locates the creation of theoretical philosophy in its historical context and analyzes theoria as a cultural and an intellectual practice.