Stagira (ancient city) Stagira (ancient city) Stagira (), Stagirus (), or Stageira ( or ) was an ancient Greek city, located in central Macedonia, near the eastern coast of the peninsula of Chalkidice, and is chiefly known for being the birthplace of Aristotle, who was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. The city lies approximately north northeast of the present-day village of Stagira, close to the town of Olympiada. Stagira was founded in 655 BC by Ionian settlers from Andros. Xerxes I of Persia occupied it in 480 BC. The city later joined the
Ecbatana identifying the Ecbatana/Hagmatana mentioned in later Greek and Achaemenid sources with the city Sagbita/Sagbat frequently mentioned in Assyrian texts, since the Indo-Iranian sound /s/ became /h/ in many Iranian languages. The Sagbita mentioned by Assyrian sources was located in the proximity of the cities Kishesim (Kar-Nergal) and Harhar (Kar-Sharrukin). It is now proposed that the absence of any mention of Ecbatana in Assyrian sources can be explained by the possibility that Assyria never became involved as far east as the Alvand mountains, but only in the western Zagros. Sir Henry Rawlinson attempted to prove that there was a second and