Archaeologists Unearth the 2

The latest excavation at Aristotle’s gymnasium in ancient Mieza revealed ornate, mosaic-covered halls where researchers believe Alexander the Great learned his formative lessons. This aerial image shows a portion of the ancient school where researchers believe Aristotle taught and Alexander learned. Hellenic Ministry of Culture 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.

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. A researcher cleans an ancient mosaic at the site. Hellenic Ministry of Culture 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 In April 2026, the United States returned more than 300 artifacts, including a marble bust of Alexander the Great, to Italy. Carved in the first century C.E., the sculpture depicted the Macedonian king as the sun god Helios.

New York authorities had confiscated the marble head from a gallery in 2018, after learning that it was stolen sometime between 1910 and 1960. 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. This particular aerial view of the gymnasium complex includes the palaestra, or wrestling ring, and the Didaskaleion, or "place of teaching." Hellenic Ministry of Culture 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.

“All the evidence suggests this is the school Philip provided for Aristotle to tutor the young Alexander and his fellow students,” Jeanne Reames, director of the ancient Mediterranean studies program at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, who was not involved in the research, tells Live Science. 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. You Might Also Like Satellite Images Reveal Greenland and Antarctica Have Lost More Than 12 Trillion Tons of Ice Over the Past 50 Years September 28, 2026 Meet the 'Fire Amoeba,' a Newfound Blobby Organism That's Defying Expectations About How Much Heat Complex Life Can Handle September 28, 2026 Who Wrote Elizabeth I's Most Scathing Letters?

New Research Suggests the Tudor Queen's Male Secretaries Revised Her Correspondence to Emphasize Her Temper September 28, 2026 How to Make an Airplane Crash Look Real on Film September 26, 2026 Mysterious 'Anomalies' Have Been Detected Beyond King Tut's Tomb. Could They Be Secret Passageways Leading to the Long-Lost Remains of Queen Nefertiti?

September 25, 2026 Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.