The ancient school of Mieza, the elite college founded by Philip II, would be located in the north of the country. The archaeological site covers three hectares and includes classrooms with stone benches, banquet halls, mosaics, coins, writing styli and a 200-metre indoor running track. Archaeologist Angelikí Kottaridi, responsible for the excavations that began in 2024, described the structure as a center for preparing the sons of Macedonian nobility for both war and public life.
The school where, over 2,300 years ago, the philosopher Aristotle trained the young Alexander the Great has been identified in northern Greece. The archaeological site is located in the ancient Macedonian city of Mieza, in the current Imathia region. "We are totally certain that it is the school founded by Philip II," Angelikí Kottaridi, archaeologist responsible for the excavations in the region, explained to the Greek press. The Macedonian ruler reigned from 359 to 336 BC and was the father of Alexander, who succeeded him on the throne at the age of twenty, becoming the conqueror of an empire extending from Greece to India.
The archaeological complex extends for approximately three hectares and includes banquet rooms, an area for physical activity, a stadium, an indoor running track and environments used for teaching, with stone benches. Among the finds were found coins, ceramics and four styluses, the tools used in ancient times by students for writing. According to what the Roman historian Plutarch tells in the "Parallel Lives", Alexander was a student of Aristotle between the ages of 13 and 16. During this period the philosopher taught him ethics, politics, literature and natural sciences. Two years later, in 338 BC, Alexander participated in the Battle of Chaeronea leading the Macedonian cavalry. The clash ended with the victory of Philip II over the combined forces of Athens and Thebes.
Philip II founded other gymnasia in Amphipolis and Aigai, capital of the Macedonian kingdom, but that of Mieza had particular characteristics. Archaeologist Kottaridi described it as a sort of "elite boarding school", intended for the children of Macedonia's most important families and designed to prepare them for both war and public life. Overall, Greek literature, language and culture were studied, as well as military tactics and strategy, while physical education played a central role.
The excavations also brought to light a group of rooms adjacent to the classrooms, including an antechamber and two banquet rooms. The rooms retain mosaic floors and raised platforms on which sofas were placed for diners. The rooms could accommodate up to 20 people. Particularly significant is the presence of a covered track, the 'xystós', approximately 200 meters long. Along the route there were 64 Doric columns and the structure allowed students to train even in periods characterized by particularly cold or high temperatures. Architectural and decorative elements recovered in the school also present similarities with those of the Macedonian royal palace of Aigai, today's Vergina, where Philip II and Alexander lived. According to Kottaridi, the find also offers a new perspective on the history of education in the Greek world. The birth of an integral and organized education system, the archaeologist claims, cannot in fact be traced back only to democratic city-states such as Athens, where teaching was entrusted above all to private schools and to masters and philosophers such as Socrates and Plato.
The gymnasiums created in Philip II's Macedonia combined literary education, Greek culture, military training and physical preparation. A model which, according to the archaeologist's reconstruction, would have accompanied Alexander during his campaigns and contributed to the spread of Greek culture and language in the Hellenistic world. In 334 BC Alexander launched the military expedition that led him to conquer territories belonging to the Persian Empire, Egypt and Phoenicia. In little more than a decade his empire reached from Greece to the Indus Valley and from Egypt to Central Asia. Numerous cities were founded in the conquered territories, including Alexandria in Egypt. According to Kottaridi, schools and gymnasia represented one of the characteristic elements of these new centers and contributed to the spread of the Greek language and culture. Similar structures have also been identified much further east, up to the ancient Hellenistic city of Ai-Khanoum, in present-day Afghanistan, not far from modern Kabul. Excavations at Mieza began in 2024. Archaeological campaigns will continue this year, focusing in particular on the area of the sports complex and classrooms.
