Lyceum (Classical)

The Lyceum (Ancient Greek: Λύκειον, Lykeion) was a gymnasium and before that a public meeting place in a grove of trees in Classical Athens. The grove was named in honor of its patron Apollo Lyceus ("Apollo as a wolf" or "Apollo in the form of a wolf"). Though best known for its connection with Aristotle, the Lyceum was in existence long before his founding the Peripatetic school there in 334 / 335 BCE and continued long after his flight from Athens in 323 BCE until the Roman general Sulla sacked Athens in 86 BCE.

The remains of the Lyceum were discovered in modern Athens in 1996 in a park behind the Hellenic Parliament.

The Lyceum before Aristotle

Speculation suggests that Pisistratus or Pericles may have originally initiated the building of the Lyceum as a gymnasium in the 6th or 5th centuries BCE, though the Lyceum grounds would have predated the gymnasium. In the early years of the Lyceum the head of the Greek army was said to have had an office there, which would have made it easy for him to be involved in the military training and exercises for which the grounds were used. The Lyceum’s use as a recreational gym and military training base is attested by the existence of wrestling rings, a racetrack, and seats for athlothetai, the judges of athletic events.