GREEK archaeologists believe they have found the ancient Lyceum, the school where the philosopher Aristotle and other great classical minds taught young Athenians, the culture ministry said yesterday.
"The excavation has revealed finds that, according to archaeologists, identify the area with the Lyceum of the city of Athens," the Culture Minister, Mr Evangelos Venizelos, told a news conference.
He said early reports strongly indicate one of Athens's great ancient schools had been located under a sprawling dirt car parking lot near the heart of the capital, about 2 km from the Acropolis.
"It is one of the most interesting finds in recent years," Dr Yannis Tzedakis, director of antiquities at the ministry, said. "This is the place of Aristotle's Peripatetic school, where Socrates also frequented.
Archaeologists digging ahead of the construction of a new modern art museum on the spot found a sprawling gymnasium dating to Roman times.
Under this they unearthed the major part of a wrestling arena dating to the 4th century BC when Aristotle taught and wrote about politics, science and ethics, laying the foundations of western thinking.
Excavators said the arena was well-preserved and offered a wide range of evidence indicating it was part of the Lyceum complex and used until the end of the 4th century BC.
"Building phases reflect all the great historical events of their times," said an initial report released by the ministry. "For the first time, evidence locates the Lyceum and answers one of the major topographical questions of ancient Athens.
Aristotle, who studied under Plato and taught the Macedonian king Alexander the Great, liked to take small groups of students for walks under the arcade of his Lyceum.
"These were schools with facilities for both the body and the spirit to train and were attended by the elite of the time," Dr Tzedakis said.
Aristotle lived between 384 and 322 BC.