Schoolcraft College

Aristotles Influence

Kristen Mason
HIST 134
Dr. Thomson
11/6/16

Mason
Alexander the Great started learning from Aristotle at the age of fourteen in 338 B.C., and
continued to be taught by him for six years. Aristotle was invited by King Philip II become the
tutor of Alexander. In Alexander the Great and His Mentor, the author recall a legend says that
King Philip said, possibly to Aristotle, Take this son of mine away and teach him the poems of
Homer. Philip II chose Aristotle to work as Alexanders tutor not only because of his high
academic standing but also because of two other reasons. First of all was Aristotles family
connection, his father had served as a court physician to a prior king of Macedonia. Also,
Aristotle had served in the court of Hermeias in Atarneus, and having an alliance there would be
helpful to Philips plans of invading Persia.
In Alexander the Great, the author states that Aristotle had his own royal school in the
city of Mieza. Aristotle taught Alexander all kinds of things. He taught him Greek, Hebrew,
Babylonian, and Latin. He taught him about the nature of the sea and wind and how to chart the
stars. Aristotle taught the life-span of the world and the revolutions of the firmament. He even
taught Alexander the meaning of justice and skills of rhetoric and even warned him about the
wiles of loose women.
Alexanders education was mostly formal It included standard subjects such as poetry,
rhetoric, geometry, astronomy, and eristic, which is the practice of arguing a point from either
side. Alexander even developed an interest in medicine, which went beyond just reading books.
He actually prescribed treatments to sick friends throughout his life.
Greek philosophers were starting to believe that there were not any gods that controlled
everything that happened on Earth. Instead, it was man who learned to master nature. Aristotle
believed this and his works covered everything from nature of the human soul to the physics of
the universe, city politics and personal ethics, the history of plants and animals, and from public

Mason
speaking and poetry to music, memory and logic. Aristotle combined the best of what he had
learned over the years from his teachers and everything he had observed in the natural world. In
Aristotle and Alexander, the author states that this led him to the conclusion that underneath all
of reality, there is a set of fundamental universal natural laws that explains everything to do with
life, the universe, and everything from politics to the weather. The key to understanding these
rules was careful observation of the world and its systems by suing human intellect to deduce the
truth.
What his findings led him to was that it was the rules of nature that were the essence of
all that is divine in the universe. But to fulfil his ideas, he needed a way for them to spread. His
student Alexander was the perfect person to do this for him. Alexander ascended the throne of
Macedonia in 336 B.C. and for the next thirteen years he led an army of forty two thousand
Greek soldiers on an expedition across Persia, Egypt, and India. By traveling far and conquering
new lands, Alexander was able to spread Aristotles findings and start a new way of thinking.
Aristotle inspired Alexanders love of literature. While Alexander was conquering the
world, he collected books, although it is unknown what happened to the collection. Aristotle
gave him an annotated copy of Homers The Iliad which was Alexanders favorite book and one
that he considered to be a handbook on the art of war. He would bring this book with him on his
conquests and even keep it under his pillow along with a dagger while he slept. Alexander
enjoyed Homer so much because he saw the mythical Achilles as a role model.
Aristotle encouraged Alexander to conquer in the east. In Alexander the Great, the author
recall that Aristotle counseled Alexander to be a leader to the Greeks and a despot to the
barbarians, to look after the former as after friends and relatives, and to deal with the latter as
with beasts or plants. Aristotle also taught Alexander much about persuasion and motivation.

Mason
One of Aristotles own great books The Art of Rhetoric is primed in the subject of finding all the
available means of persuasion. Aristotle published his Ethics and Politics and used these to
influence Alexander. Alexander was anti-Persian and Aristotle provided him with intellectual
justifications for his mission which he inherited from his father Philip II.
Aristotle believed that slavery was a natural institution and that barbarians were meant to
be slaves. He encouraged Alexander to be a leader to the Greeks and an absolute ruler to the
barbarians. Aristotle saw barbarians as living only day da and unable to rise above hedonism. In
his hope to be a respectable model, Alexander placed great value on honor and the virtues of selfcontrol and self-denial. Aristotles influence pushed Alexander to be very different than the
model that was set for him by his father. Even after he finished tutoring Alexander, they still
stayed in touch and Aristotle helped Alexander to skillfully and diplomatically handle difficult
political problems throughout his kingship.
After the death of Alexander the Great, in 323 B.C., Aristotle was charged with impiety
due to his earlier association with Alexander and the Macedonian Court. Historians are not really
sure what drove Alexander the Great to try and conquer the entire world. It might have been
because he wanted to continue his fathers legacy and complete the empire that he had started.
Perhaps it was because he wanted to pay Aristotle back for tutoring him and helping him be king
by spreading Aristotles finding and beliefs across the world. Or possibly, Alexander might have
wanted to prove to his subjects that he was not a weak young king and that he could be stronger
and build an empire larger than his father ever could have. If any of these were his goal, he
managed to complete it successfully. Whatever the reason, Aristotle in some way influenced
Alexander to become the powerful, ambitious and driven leader that he was in order to create an
empire that was larger than life.

Mason
Endnotes

1. Aristotle and Alexander: The man who codified Greek ideas about nature, and the man
who spread them abroad. Independent. Last modified February 13, 2009.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/world-history/aristotle-and-alexander-theman-who-codified-greek-ideas-about-nature-and-the-man-who-spread-them1608033.html
1. Bos, Carole "LEARNING FROM ARISTOTLE" AwesomeStories.com. Oct 01, 2004.
Nov 07, 2016.https://www.awesomestories.com/asset/view/THE-YOUNGALEXANDER-Alexander-the-Great
1. Nanguneri, Dr. Shree. Alexander the Great and his Mentor- Aristotle. Millennium
Global Business Solutions.http://mgbs.com/alexander-the-great-and-his-mentor-aristotle

1. Alexander the Great: Aristotle Sparknotes

http://www.sparknotes.com/biography/alexander/section2/page/2/

Annotated Bibliography

Mason
Alexander the Great: Aristotle Sparknotes.
http://www.sparknotes.com/biography/alexander/section2.rhtml
This article contains a summary of Aristotles influences over Alexander the Great. Including his
beliefs and why he became tutor to Philip of Macedonias son.

Aristotle and Alexander: The man who codified Greek ideas about nature, and the man who
spread them abroad. Independent. Last modified February 13, 2009.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/world-history/aristotle-and-alexander-the-man-whocodified-greek-ideas-about-nature-and-the-man-who-spread-them-1608033.html
This article contains Aristotles worldly beliefs, how he came to these beliefs, and how he taught
the man who spread these beliefs.

Bos, Carole "LEARNING FROM ARISTOTLE" AwesomeStories.com. Oct 01, 2004. Nov 07,
2016.
<https://www.awesomestories.com/asset/view/LEARNING-FROM-ARISTOTLEAlexander-the-Great>.
This article contains a brief explanation of Aristotles time with young Alexander the Great. It
showcases the subjects that he learned and how he was mentored by Aristotle.

Nanguneri, Dr. Shree. Alexander the Great and his Mentor- Aristotle. Millennium Global
Business Solutions. http://mgbs.com/alexander-the-great-and-his-mentor-aristotle
This article contains a summary of Aristotle and his teachings to Alexander the Great. Including
his influences and lessons.