Who taught Alexander the Great?
Quick answer
The Greek philosopher Aristotle taught Alexander the Great. In 343 BC, King Philip II of Macedon invited Aristotle to tutor his 13-year-old son. For about three years, at a school in Mieza, Aristotle taught Alexander philosophy, politics, science, medicine and literature.
A chain of great teachers
| Teacher | Student |
|---|---|
| Socrates | Plato |
| Plato | Aristotle |
| Aristotle | Alexander the Great |
Aristotle studied at Plato’s Academy in Athens for about 20 years before going to Macedonia.
What Alexander learned
- Ethics and politics: how to rule well
- Natural science: animals, plants and medicine
- Literature: especially Homer; Alexander saw himself as a new Achilles
- Rhetoric: the art of persuasion
According to ancient writers, Alexander sent his old teacher animal and plant specimens from his campaigns, though historians doubt how many.
How the relationship cooled
Alexander became king at 20 in 336 BC and conquered an empire stretching from Greece and Egypt to the Persian Empire and northwest India; see the Persian Royal Road. Aristotle disagreed with some of his policies, such as Alexander’s adoption of Persian customs and treating conquered peoples as equals. After Alexander executed Aristotle’s relative, the historian Callisthenes, their relationship reportedly grew distant.
Aristotle’s own legacy
In 335 BC, Aristotle founded his own school in Athens, the Lyceum. He wrote about almost everything:
| Field | Contribution |
|---|---|
| Logic | The first formal system of logical reasoning |
| Biology | Classified hundreds of animal species |
| Ethics | The idea of virtue as a “golden mean” between extremes |
| Politics | Compared different types of government |
| Poetry and drama | Analyzed tragedy in his Poetics |
His ideas dominated Western and Islamic science and philosophy for nearly 2,000 years.
Alexander’s lasting mark
Alexander founded many cities named Alexandria, the most famous in Egypt, where Ptolemy’s successors built a great library; see what the Library of Alexandria was. He died in 323 BC, aged 32.
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