Greek marble, 2nd cent. A.D.
Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, inv. 9

In 335 B.C., at a second Athenian school, the Lyceum, another of antiquity's famous philosophers, Aristotle, gathered his disciples in the garden, where he had a library, a portico and an altar erected.
The author of studies in botany, Aristotle believed that plants should be investigated through direct observation, which alone could provide indications on the dynamic development that could not be shown in pictures.