AristotleAristoteles

A Greek philosopher circa 384-322 BCE.

Aristotle was a pupil of Plato and the tutor of Alexander the Great; as a historical figure, quite a bit is known of his life but I will only touch on the more notable aspects of his distinguished career as a natural scientist.

Aristotle was born in Stageira, Khalkidike (Chalcidice) in northern Greece; his father, Nikomakhus (Nicomachus), was the physician to Amyntas, the father of Philip II who was, in turn, the father of Alexander the Great.

Aristotle went to Athens in 367 BCE and studied under Plato until Plato’s death in 347; circa 343 he returned to Makedon (Macedon) to tutor young Alexander; in 335, as Alexander marched into Persia, Aristotle returned to Athens and became a popular and affluent lecturer at the gymnasium in the grove sacred to Apollon Lykeios, known as the Lykeum (Lyceum).

After the death of Alexander in 323, Aristotle left Athens and died the following year at Khalkis (Chalcis) on the island of Euboea.

His works have been divided into three divisions relating to 1) his early philosophical works (now lost), 2) his scientific and historical writing (mostly lost) and 3) his later scientific and philosophical works which are the major source of our knowledge of his thoughts.

This is simply a short description of the life and works of Aristotle because literally thousands of detailed books have been written about him and I suggest that any serious inquiry of Aristotle should begin at your favorite library or you may use the Book Shop on this site to look for books about him at Amazon.com.