Probable school where Aristotle taught Alexander the Great found in Greece — Live Science
In ancient Mieza in northern Greece, archaeologists have excavated a complex of structures dating to the 4th century BC that was likely the school where Aristotle taught Alexander the Great. Live Science reports, citing Greece’s Ministry of Culture.
The complex includes two banquet halls, a sports ground, a stadium, a covered colonnade and a lecture hall with stone desks. It was decorated with mosaic floors and columns. The banquet halls had raised platforms where nearly twelve couches may originally have been placed.
Finds at the complex site
During the excavations, researchers found coins, ceramics and four styli — writing instruments used by students in antiquity. The architecture and decorative design of the structures resemble the Macedonian royal palace at Aigai, modern-day Vergina in northern Greece, where Philip II and his son Alexander the Great lived.
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The head of the excavation, archaeologist and honorary director of antiquities at Greece’s Ministry of Culture Angeliki Kottaridi, believes that the discovered complex is the school where Alexander studied. According to her, several years ago she identified ancient remains near the ancient theatre of Mieza, and her team began excavating the complex in 2024. More than 20 years ago, research was also conducted nearby after the discovery of a monument dedicated to the nymphs.
Testimony of ancient authors and scholars’ views
The ancient writer Plutarch wrote in the biography “Life of Alexander” that Alexander was educated in Mieza, where Aristotle taught. According to Kottaridi, Philip II built the school to educate his son and the children of the Macedonian nobility. Such educational institutions in ancient Greece were called gymnasia: various subjects were taught there, and students received physical training.
Jeanne Reames, director of the Ancient Mediterranean Studies Program at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, said the available evidence points to a school that Philip II provided to Aristotle for teaching the young Alexander and other students. At the same time, historian Miltiades Hatzopoulos stressed that additional archaeological information is needed for more definitive conclusions: the head of the excavation has given interviews but has not yet published a scholarly article with the relevant evidence.
