In northern Greece, beneath the earth, a place lay waiting that for centuries had been nothing but a legend.
A group of archaeologists discovered the site of the school of Mieza, the place where Aristotle taught the young Alexander the Great more than 2,300 years ago. Yes, the very same philosopher and the very same future conqueror who would change the history of the ancient world.
King Philip II founded it as a training center for the Macedonian elite. It wasn’t just a simple room with benches: it had stone classrooms, sports facilities, and even banquet halls, because here the mind was educated, but so were the body and social life.
According to the research, this suggests that the origins of state-sponsored public and comprehensive education can be traced back to Macedonia, a model that later spread throughout the ancient world. And think about it for a moment: the way we understand school today may have taken root in this corner of Greece.