A school where Alexander the Great was educated by the philosopher Aristotle has been discovered in the ancient Macedonian city of Mieza, now located in northern Greece, according to Greece’s Hellenic Ministry of Culture. The site includes a complex of buildings with two banquet halls, a sporting arena, a stadium, a roofed porch, and a lecture hall with stone desks, as well as mosaic floors and columns. The banquet halls featured raised platforms where nearly a dozen couches would have been placed, suggesting a setting for both social and academic gatherings. The architectural style and decoration of the school resemble those of the Macedonian royal palace at Aigai, now known as Vergina in northern Greece, where Alexander’s father, Philip II, and his son lived. Among the ruins, dating to the fourth century B.C., archaeologists found coins, ceramics, and four styluses—ancient writing tools used by students—offering clues about who might have been educated there. According to ancient writer Plutarch, the school was built by Philip II “for the education of his son Alexander and the children of the noble Macedonians,” said Angeliki Kottaridi, an archaeologist leading the excavation. In ancient Greece, such schools, known as "gymnasia," provided both intellectual and physical training to students. The discovery of the school was somewhat indirect, Kottaridi explained. She first identified the remains near the ancient theater of Mieza a few years ago, and her team began excavating the site in 2024. However, some earlier excavation had taken place over 20 years ago, when a monument dedicated to the nymphs was found nearby. Scholars not involved in the excavation have expressed support for the idea that Alexander studied at this school. Jeanne Reames, a professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, said the evidence strongly suggests this was the school Philip II built for Aristotle to tutor Alexander and other students. She hopes more details will be released to shed light on elite education in Macedonia during the late fourth century B.C. Graham Wrightson, a history professor at South Dakota State University, noted that it is exciting to excavate the very classrooms where Aristotle shaped Alexander’s early years. The discovery of four styluses, ancient writing tools, allows people to imagine that one might have belonged to Alexander, even though no proof exists. "Still, it allows us to put ourselves in the shoes of the young Alexander and understand more how he became the famous king," Wrightson said. Elizabeth Baynham, a historian from the University of Newcastle in Australia, pointed out that the school's opulence was expected given Philip II’s wealth. She also suggested that the school’s location, about 27 miles from the capital of Macedonia, Pella, might have been a safety measure in case of political assassination, a common occurrence in ancient times. While the site is likely where Alexander was educated, historian Miltiades Hatzopoulos noted that more archaeological data is needed to confirm this. Although the excavator has given interviews, she said, no formal academic paper has yet been published with the relevant evidence. The discovery, however, offers a rare glimpse into the education of one of history’s most influential figures and the environment that helped shape his early life.