Vu dans "Minerva - The International Review of Ancient Art & Archaeology"
(juillet-août 2009) :
Aristotle's Lyceum to Become Open-Air Museum, par Dr James Beresford
[www.minervamagazine.com]
"It was recently announced by the Greek Minister of Culture, Antonis
Samaras, that the site of the Lyceum, where the philosopher Aristotle taught
his students during the later 4th century BC, is to be provided with a roof
and turned into an outdoor museum.
The site was discovered in 1996 during the construction of a museum of
modern art (a project which was shelved when the remains came to light).
Little has survived of Aristotle's school and visitors to the site will see
little more than foundations and the footings of stone walls. Yet despite
the paucity of the archaeological remains, the site is well worth preserving
given its exceptionally important role in the development of Western
philosophy.
Aristotle was a native of Stageira in Chalcidice, northern Greece and, as a
non-citizen of Athens, was unable to own property in the city. On his return
to Athens in 335 BC (having spent the previous eight years in Macedonia
where he had been employed by Philip II to act as tutor to his son,
Alexander the Great) Aristotle therefore staged his classes in the Lyceum, a
gymnasium (the remains of Roman period baths used by the athletes can still
be seen). During antiquity the Lyceum was located just beyond the walls of
Athens, today the remains of the gymnasium are located just to the east of
the city centre, close to the Evangelismos Hospital.
Aristotle conducted his lectures among the colonnades (peripatoi) which ran
around the exercise grounds of the gymnasium - the philosopher's followers
subsequently became known as 'Peripatetics'. Alongside the teachings of
Plato and Socrates, the Peripatetics were to become the most influential
philosophical school in ancient Greece. The philosophical traditions of
Aristotle were continued by his students after his death in 322 BC, while
Theophrastus succeeded him at the Lyceum.
In order to protect the remains of the Lyceum, it was decided to erect an
opaque arc-shaped roof over the site, at a cost of nearly six million
dollars, money that has been pledged by OPAP, a Greek betting company. If
the concept of an outdoor museum proves successful, then the Greek
government is already considering expanding the idea to include other
ancient sites in Athens."