Ancient classroom where Aristotle taught Alexander the Great yields rare student writing tools

In a quiescent country of bluish Greece, archaeologists person uncovered a uncommon glimpse into the intelligence beingness of antiquity. At the royal gymnasium of Mieza, the tract wherever Aristotle erstwhile tutored a teenage Alexander the Great, a caller signifier of excavations has revealed 4 slender penning styluses believed to person belonged to his students much than 2,300 years ago.

The find was announced by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture connected 27 August arsenic portion of a wider archaeological programme focused connected the site’s excavation, conservation and eventual nationalist presentation. It is simply a find that goes beyond architecture oregon monumental remains, offering thing acold much intimate – a carnal nexus to the regular rhythms of survey successful a spot that helped signifier the people of history.

Constructed successful the mid-fourth period BC by King Philip II of Macedon, the gymnasium was nary mean school. It was portion of a royal imaginativeness to amended the adjacent procreation of leaders successful philosophy, science, civic beingness and the arts of warfare and peace. It was here, beneath shaded colonnades and on cautiously laid chromatic terraces, that Aristotle instructed Alexander and his companions, who were men specified arsenic Ptolemy, Seleucus and Cassander, who would aboriginal carve retired empires crossed the known world.

Southern country of the palaestra and the southwestern complex

While the gymnasium itself is monumental successful scale, covering astir 14 acres and featuring a palaestra for diversion grooming and a 200-metre Doric colonnade utilized for carnal exercise, the recently unearthed styluses connection a much idiosyncratic perspective. A stylus successful the past satellite was a slender instrument, often made of bronze, bony oregon wood, utilized to inscribe words into the brushed aboveground of wax-coated tablets. These tablets functioned arsenic reusable notebooks, and the styluses were their pens — the tools with which students recorded Aristotle’s teachings, copied philosophical arguments oregon worked done exercises successful logic and rhetoric.

“These are not expansive monuments, but instruments of thought,” said Dr Angeliki Kottaridi, honorary ephor of antiquities and manager of the project. “They punctual america that adjacent the top humanities transformations often statesman with thing arsenic tiny arsenic a student’s penning tool.”

Dr Angeliki Kottaridi, honorary ephor of antiquities and manager of the excavation and probe task astatine the Royal Gymnasium of Mieza. Credit: @instagram

The gymnasium itself continues to uncover details astir however acquisition and statecraft were intertwined successful Macedon. Its 3 immense terraces, carved straight into the limestone bedrock, were meticulously planned to make a hierarchical statement of space, from classrooms and lecture areas to grooming grounds and ceremonial courtyards. Fragments of good achromatic stucco inactive cling to the walls, portion ample sections of poros chromatic masonry past to awesome heights, echoing the architectural benignant of the royal palace and tombs astatine adjacent Aigai.

Archaeological grounds besides points to a program that blended intelligence and carnal disciplines. Fragments of Panathenaic amphorae recovered astatine the tract erstwhile held ineffable Athenian olive lipid utilized successful diversion rituals, suggesting that Macedonian elites not lone trained their bodies but besides participated successful the taste practices of the wider Greek world. This was acquisition successful its fullest consciousness — a operation of caput and body, mentation and practice, preparing young men for the demands of leadership.

The caller discoveries are portion of a semipermanent probe and conservation effort launched nether a programme agreed successful August 2024 betwixt the Ministry of Culture and the Municipality of Naoussa. Alongside excavation, the task involves documentation, architectural studies, and the improvement of protective measures for the site. Future plans see stabilising sections of the gymnasium and restoring parts of the analyzable to marque it accessible to visitors, bringing to beingness 1 of the astir important acquisition spaces of the past world.

For historians, the 4 styluses supply a reminder that the ideas which shaped empires were erstwhile scratched into wax by students listening intently to their teacher. And for a wider audience, they connection a tangible transportation to a infinitesimal successful clip erstwhile the seeds of a caller satellite were planted.

Photo credit: Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports

Read besides You tin present program and publication your adjacent travel successful ChatGPT with Expedia and Booking.com

Natalie Martin

Editor

Natalie Martin is exertion and writer astatine Greek City Times, specialising successful penning diagnostic articles and exclusive interviews with Greek personalities and celebrities. Natalie focuses connected bringing authentic stories to beingness and crafting compelling narratives. Her endowment for storytelling and compassionate attack to journalism guarantee that each nonfiction connects with readers astir the world.