Archaeologist Kostas Sismanidis is “almost certain” the tomb is inside a horseshoe-shaped, domed building in the ancient seaside city where the philosopher is said to have been born in 384 BC.
While Aristotle is thought to have been born in Stagira, he died in another city, Chalcis, about 50 miles north of Athens. Although literary sources claim his ashes were brought back to the city of his birth, his actual burial site has remained a topic of debate for many years.
Sismanidis, who has been painstakingly excavating the ruins of Stagira since 1990, spoke with CNN, saying his team has very strong evidence the 2,400-year-old tomb belongs to the great philosopher. “We think, without having proof but only strong indications, that it all points towards this theory that this is his final resting place.”
One literary source, an 11th century A.D., Arabic-language biography of the philosopher, gives a somewhat detailed physical description of the site, including that the tomb was hurriedly built and later “fancied up.”
The tomb is in a 32-foot tall domed structure with an altar, a marble floor, and views of the entire city. “It was constructed very rapidly,” he said. “It was in the center of the ancient city Agora.” The site has been tampered with over the ages. The first tower, a smaller one over the tomb, was destroyed in later years by the Byzantines, who built another tower on top of it.
Aristotle 2400 Years World Congress
A formal announcement explaining the origins of the tomb will be made Saturday at the Aristotle 2400 Years World Congress hosted by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece. Academics and researchers around the world have planned celebrations of Aristotle’s life this year, marking the 2,400-year anniversary of his life and teachings.
Rice University, in Texas, celebrated by having a conference entitled “An Aristotle Birthday Party” in February, with experts from Canada, England, and the United States attending.
“We put 24 candles on the cake [one for each century], lit the candles, turned out the lights and sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to Aristotle. Two scholars then sang ‘Happy Birthday’ in modern Greek,” conference organizer Don Morrison, professor of philosophy and classical studies at Rice, said in a press release.
Celebrating the world’s first genuine scientists
Aristotle studied under the great philosopher Plato, and is today considered by many as being the world’s first genuine scientist, says Raw Story. Aristotle tutored Alexander the Great, who in turn spread Greek philosophy to Africa and the Middle East.
Aristotle was influenced by his teacher Plato, but after his death, Aristotle shifted his views to empiricism, the concept that all knowledge comes from sensory experience. Empiricism became fundamental to all his writings, opening the world’s eyes to the natural sciences, zoology, physical sciences, metaphysics, and many other sciences.
His writings numbered in the hundreds of manuscripts, with two-thirds of them lost to mankind, but at the same time, his teachings and ideas are very much part of our modern philosophical ideas and modern logic concepts. To say he was one of the most influential people who ever lived would be about right. And while many of his ideas may be flawed, based on human knowledge today, it can be said that Aristotle contributed to almost every field of human knowledge in existence at that time.