THINGS YOU PROBABLY DON'T KNOW ABOUT ARISTOTLE

HE WAS BORN IN 384 BCE IN STAGIRA, A SMALL

CITY IN ANCIENT MACEDONIA ON THE

NORTHERN PERIPHERY OF GREECE

HE CAME FROM A WELL-RESPECTED AND WEALTHY

FAMILY. HIS FATHER WAS A DOCTOR AND THE

PERSONAL PHYSICIAN TO KING AMYNTAS

OF MACEDON

ARISTOTLE WAS MARRIED TO PYTHIAS, ONE OF

THE FEW FEMALE BIOLOGISTS AND EMBRYOLOGISTS

OF HER TIME. SHE BORE ARISTOTLE A DAUGHTER,

WHOM THEY ALSO NAMED PYTHIAS

WHEN HIS WIFE, PYTHIAS, DIED, ARISTOTLE BECAME

INVOLVED WITH HER SLAVE HERPYLLIS;

WITH HER HE HAD A SON

HE NAMED HIS SON NICOMACHUS AFTER HIS FATHER,

BUT UNFORTUNATELY NICOMACHUS DIED IN

BATTLE WHEN HE WAS STILL YOUNG. THE

NICOMACHEAN ETHICS, A COMPILATION OF

ARISTOTLE’S LECTURE NOTES, WAS SO NAMED

IN HIS HONOUR

WHEN ARISTOTLE WAS A YOUNG MAN, ATHENS

WAS THE RICHEST CITY AND THE MOST FAMOUS

CULTURAL CENTRE OF THE AGE. HE WENT TO

ATHENS WHEN HE WAS SEVENTEEN AND LIVED

THERE FOR THE BETTER PART OF HIS LIFE

THERE HE BECAME A STUDENT OF PLATO AT THE

FAMOUS ACADEMY AND SOON BECAME HIS

FAVOURITE STUDENT. YEARS LATER, ARISTOTLE

WOULD FOUND HIS OWN SCHOOL, THE LYCEUM

HE WOULD EVENTUALLY RETURN TO MACEDONIA FOR

TEN YEARS FROM 345 TO 335 BCE, WHERE HE

BECAME ALEXANDER THE GREAT’S TUTOR

ARISTOTLE MIGHT BE FAMOUS FOR BEING THE TUTOR

OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT, ARGUABLY THE

GREATEST GENERAL WHO EVER LIVED, BUT FEW

ARE AWARE THAT HE WAS ALSO THE TEACHER

OF CASSANDER AND PTOLEMY, BOTH OF WHOM

WOULD EVENTUALLY BE CROWNED KINGS OF

THE KINGDOM OF MACEDON AND EGYPT,

RESPECTIVELY