Mary Baldwin College, Staunton VA 24401
by Prof. Gordon L. Bowen, Ph.D.
384 BCE born in Stagira, son of Nichomachus, who was MD to Amyntas II, grandfather of Alexander. As an Ionian, Aristotle was never fully accepted in Athens.
367 at age 17 joins Platonic academy in Athens, stays 20 years.
347 Plato dies, but Aristotle cannot become head due to his Ionian birth. Spends next six years wandering with pupils and colleagues, developing the inductive method of science: observe, generalize, theorize. Biology, especially, develops.
342 Returns to Macedonia and at age 42 becomes tutor to heir to the throne, Alexander, age 14
338 Phillip of Macedon conquers/unites Greece.
336 Alexander, known later as Alexander The Great (pictured here) becomes king.
335 Aristotle returns to Athens
335-323 Aristotle leads and Alexander sponsors the Peripatetic School of Philosophy ('to walk around'). Studies of 158 city states' constitutions conducted. Classifies by number of rulers, and by evaluation of in whose interest they rule.
323 Alexander dies. Aristotle is expelled from Athens.
322 Aristotle dies in Euboea, Cyprus. His works, recorded on parchment and translated into Arabic and many other languages, form part of the essential studies of educated people.
700 years pass.
415 CE Christian mobs, led by Cyril, Archbishop of city of Alexandria, Egypt, sack the library run by female scholar Hypatia
and burn Aristotle's and other "heretic's" works. Only in the Renaissance are his works rediscovered, by translation back from Arabic.
