Archaeologists Unearth the 2,400-Year-Old School Where Aristotle Taught Alexander to Be Great

Ongoing excavations in northern Greece are shedding light on the early years and education of Alexander the Great—and the teachings of his mentor, Aristotle. In a recent statement, Greek officials announced that archaeologists working at the historical site of the royal gymnasium of Mieza have uncovered ornate, mosaic-decorated halls that may have formed part of Alexander’s school. The recent discoveries are the latest in a three-year-long project to peel back the layers of Mieza, where scholars say Aristotle taught a teenage Alexander, Guillermo Carvajal reports for La Brújula Verde.

Previous excavations revealed that the 30-acre gymnasium complex housed a palaestra, or wrestling ring; a stadium; arcades; and a xystus, a covered, 200-meter-long running track where athletes could train regardless of the weather. However, this newest dig may be the most revealing yet, offering insight into the specifics of Alexander the Great’s education. In the first century C.E., the ancient writer Plutarch wrote in his biography The Life of Alexander that Alexander’s father, the ruling king Philip II, had a school built for his son and other nobles in the Macedonian town of Mieza.

Although the complex is called a gymnasium, the ancient Greeks used these buildings for much more than just physical training, Live Science’s Owen Jarus writes. A team of archaeologists led by Angeliki Kottaridi, director emerita of antiquities with the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, has uncovered a large area called the Didaskaleion, or “place of teaching,” where students learned using styluses and stone desks, according to La Brújula Verde. Archaeologists also uncovered two banquet halls adjacent to the teaching area: lavish rooms with mosaic tile floors and intricate finishes that mirror those of Philip II’s palace at Aigai.

Kottaridi says that she believes these similarities are no coincidence; rather, they confirm that the complex at Mieza was expressly built by Philip II “for the education of his son Alexander and the children of the noble Macedonians.” The school’s layout also offers a glimpse into the structure and values of elite Macedonian education during the fourth century B.C.E., John Koutroumpis writes for the Greek Reporter. He says the complex’s size and structure—combining athletic and instructional spaces—reveal the Mieza gymnasium’s status as a Macedonian educational institution. Quick fact: Alexander the Great's marble head The formal nature of the banquet halls, once fitted with reclining couches, suggest that social education played a central role in the schooling of Alexander and his peers, La Brújula Verde reports.

As they prodded the limits of Aristotelian logic and pushed the boundaries of physical strength, they also practiced the refined mores necessary to host and attend “symposia,” the dining parties of the Macedonian elite. Earlier discoveries in the complex unearthed pieces of pottery, old coins and assorted antiquities, along with four bronze writing styluses that may have been used by Aristotle’s students—potentially even by Alexander himself, according to La Brújula Verde. Archaeologists also found fragments of containers meant to hold sacred olive oil from Athens, suggesting that students at the Mieza complex had access to one of the most valuable products in the Hellenic world.

Although the findings may not conclusively prove that this gymnasium is where Alexander learned the lessons that would turn him into one of history’s greatest conquerors, researchers are confident in the clues archaeologists have already amassed, and hope more will turn up soon. As the excavation continues, she believes it will “shed more light on elite education in Macedonia in the second half of the fourth century B.C.E.” The finds are generating interest across the academic world for their potential to illuminate the day-to-day lives of two of ancient Macedonia’s most prominent men. Graham Wrightson, a historian at South Dakota State University who was not involved in the research, tells Live Science that the discoveries allow “us to put ourselves in the shoes of the young Alexander and understand more how he became the famous king.” As researchers continue chipping through centuries of dust and stone, that picture will only become clearer, perhaps revealing a key waypoint on Alexander the Great’s journey from schoolboy to ruler of one of history’s largest empires.