Greggory Adams 9/5/12
World Lit Biography Aristotle Aristotle was born in 384 BC at Stagira, a Greek colonial town on the Aegean Sea near the Macedonian border. His mother was a native of Chalcis, from which Stagira had been colonized. His father, Nicomachus, was court physician to the father of Philip of Macedon. Not only did Aristotle study rhetoric, but he also probably studied medicine under his father while he was living in his parent’s household. Also, tradition claims that he practiced medicine when her first journeyed to Athens. In 397 BC Aristotle entered the Academy at Athens. When he arrived, Plato was sixty-one years of age. The Academy at that time was placing particular attention to the problems of politics and legislation. Little information is known about Aristotle’s life during his twenty years at the Academy. It is said that he became a rhetoric teacher at the school, and wrote numerous dialogues modeled after those of his master, Plato. Upon the death of Plato, in 347 BC, Aristotle wrote an elegy for an altar of friendship to Plato. When Speusippus became leader of the Academy in 347 BC, Aristotle chose to leave Athens with a friend, and the two of them traveled to Assus, where two former members of the Academy were now teaching. Hermias, the ruler of that area, had become a follower of theirs, and decided to give the town of Assus to Aristotle and his colleagues. Then they set up a school in the likeness of the Academy. Through teaching rhetoric to Hermias, Aristotle earned the friendship and respect of Hermias. Around 344 BC Aristotle moved to Mytilene on the island of Lesbos, where he mainly studied marine biology and natural history. In 342 BC, Aristotle moved back to Macedonia from the island of Lesbos, to become the tutor for young Alexander, who later became Alexander the Great. Aristotle remained in Macedonia for years. Tradition holds that he taught rhetoric and politics, and prepared an edition of Homer’s Odyssey for young Alexander, who was just thirteen years of age. In 340 BC Alexander’s father Philip went to war, so Alexander began directing political affairs at home as a replacement for his father. When Alexander made his trip to the East, he did not forget about Aristotle. In fact, he brought along Aristotle’s nephew as his historian. After Alexander became emperor in 336 BC, Aristotle moved back to Athens, where his friend Xenocrates had become the master of the Academy.