bility of his pre-designation as Plato’s successor at the Academy. However, after Plato’s death in circa 347 BC, the titular element of the successor passed down to Plato’s nephew Speusippus instead of Aristotle.
According to historians, there might be two reasons for the outcome. The first theory relates to how Aristotle’s views already started to diverge from that of Plato, thereby curtailing the chance for the succession. The second conjecture relates to nascent political reasons, with the anti-Macedonian sentiment growing in Athens during the reign of King Philip II (father of Alexander). To that end, it is certainly possible that Aristotle, known for his close ties to Macedonian aristocracy, already left Athens before the death of Plato, by circa 347 BC. And his destination to Asia Minor could have even been a directive from Philip II himself, as means to bolster Macedonian influence in the Greek cities of Anatolia that recently revolted against the Persian rule.
3) The Return of the Philosopher –
Thus after leaving Athens, Aristotle traveled with his friend Xenocrates (another Greek philosopher and mathematician) to the court of Hermias of Atarneus – who was the ruler of Atarneus and Assos in Mysia (situated in
However, by circa 343 BC, Aristotle once again came out of the ‘retirement’, as he was officially summoned by none other than King Philip II of Macedon. Once inducted into the Macedonian court, Aristotle served not only as a tutor to Alexander – the future conqueror of the Persian Empire but also as a teacher to future kings of the Hellenistic era – Ptolemy and Cassander. Furthermore, he was accorded the honorable title as the head of the royal academy of Macedon. Unsurprisingly, during the tenure, Aristotle was known for proclaiming his ethnocentric views (that were resonantly anti-Persian), given his own familial complications resulting from the Persian intrusion in Asia Minor.
4) The Rival School –
In circa 335 BC, after Philip’s death, Alexander was already primed as the Macedonian king. Aristotle, by-then known as an influential philosopher, completing his designated tutorship (to Alexander), returned to Athens and established his own school – the Lyceum. In the following twelve years, he probably composed the majority of his 200 works (of which only 31 survive), while also playing an active role in teaching at his own school. Pertaining to the latter, it was common knowledge among the students at the establishment that Aristotle had the habit of walking about as he discoursed – known as peripatetikos (or peripatetics). During the period, after the death of his official wife Pythias, Aristotle also fathered a son named Nicomachus, from a relationship with his mistress (or slave) Herpyllis of Stagira.
Interestingly enough, towards of the end of Alexander’s short life, the Macedonian conqueror was estranged from his erstwhile teacher Aristotle, possibly because of the former’s inclusive policies entailing both the Persians and other Greeks. But in spite of the souring of their rapport, many notable Athenians, like Eurymedon (one of the overseers of the Eleusinian Mysteries), rebelliously denounced Aristotle on the basis of his ‘impiety’ and ties with the Macedonian aristocracy. Consequently, a year after Alexander’s death, in circa 322 BC, he was forced to flee to his mother’s family estate in Chalcis, on Euboea. On reaching the haven, Aristotle famously proclaimed – “I will not allow the Athenians to sin twice against philosophy”, which refers to the earlier execution of Socrates in Athens due to his controversial views. Later on, in the very same year, Aristotle breathed his last, probably dying from natural causes (or digestion problems) at the age of 62.
5) Earliest Proponent of Formal Logic –
Aristotle’s works on ‘logic’ are compiled into six books collectively known as the Organon (many of which were modified and edited later by his students and other ancient Greek lecturers), and Prior Analytics, as one of them, is often regarded as the earliest known study of formal logic. Quite intriguingly, Aris