Excavators uncover lecture corridor from ‘spectacular’ historical Greek highschool

The lecture corridor of an “impressive high school” from an historical Greek settlement was just lately uncovered in Italy – with the invention highlighting the similarities between historical and trendy education.

The Free College of Berlin introduced the discover in a press launch on April 9. The excavation occurred in Agrigento, Italy, on the southwestern coast of Sicily.

Agrigento was based in 580 B.C. as the most important Greek colony in Sicily. The settlement boasted each a highschool and a grammar faculty – but the lecture corridor of the advanced was solely unearthed this previous March.

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College officers described the corridor as “a small covered theater that could accommodate around 200 people on eight rising, semicircular rows of seats,” mentioned an announcement translated from German to English.

It went on, “When the grammar school was built in the 2nd century B.C., no other currently known grammar school in the ancient world offered such a lecture hall. It was only 250 to 300 years later that the large high school in Pergamon (Turkey) received a theater-like auditorium.”

An aerial picture of Agrigento, which options, in German captions, “rooms for sports and lessons,” a lecture corridor, a “large space” and a swimming pool. (Thomas Lappi – Monika Trümper, © Free College of Berlin, Institute for Classical Archaeology)

The corridor was primarily used for mental actions similar to classes, in addition to academic demonstrations and competitions. 

Faculties in antiquity positioned an emphasis on wholesome minds and wholesome our bodies — and lecturers ensured that younger males had been bodily and intellectually prepared for grownup life.

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“From the 4th century BC, [Greek] cities built large complexes with running tracks, bathing facilities and rooms where young men could train and learn,” the press launch mentioned. 

To this point, the varsity in Agrigento is the one historical construction within the western Mediterranean that provided a big swimming pool and 200-meter-long operating tracks, in accordance with officers.

An archaeologist is seen surveying the positioning of the Agrigento gymnasium. (S. Kay / Free College of Berlin)

Excavators additionally discovered a semi-circular part of the lecture corridor, the place “teachers and students once performed in front of an audience.”

“[T]wo large blocks with a Greek inscription were found, the letters of which were engraved in the white-plastered soft limestone and highlighted with red paint,” the press launch famous. 

Archaeologists additionally got here throughout an inscription indicating that the gymnasium was financed by a citizen who devoted the construction to Greek gods.

“Mention is made of a gymnasiarch, the head of the gymnasium, and the renewal of the roof of the apodyterium (changing room), which a generous citizen financed from his own resources and dedicated to the gods of the gymnasium, Hermes and Heracles,” the assertion learn.

Inscriptions on seats within the gymnasium of Agrigento had been present in earlier excavations. (M. Trümper / Free College of Berlin)

The inscription is extremely uncommon, consultants say, and helps to “provide insights into the social life of the city.”

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“The letter form suggests that the inscription was engraved in the late 1st century B.C., when Agrigento had long been under Roman rule.” the assertion mentioned. 

Agrigento was based in 580 B.C. as the most important Greek colony in Sicily. (iStock)

“Nevertheless, the Greek language, Greek offices and traditions continued to be maintained, and the Greek high school continued to be used and maintained as a central training center for young people.”

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The location might be excavated once more in 2026, in accordance with the Free College of Berlin.

Archaeologists are hoping to “uncover more sports and teaching spaces north of the auditorium and find more inscriptions that will reconstruct life in the ancient high school of Agrigento.”