The term Neoplatonism ('New Platonism') is used for a school of philosophy which developed in the 3rd century AD. The most influential figures were Plotinus and St Augustine, both of whom were born in Roman North Africa. They took the Theory of Forms, embeded in many of Plato's books, and transformed it into a more specific theory. It came to have a major influence on religious thinking and also on what became known as the Ideal Theory of Art.