Birth
Place: Stagira, Chalcidice
Time: In the 1st year of the 99th Olympiad (384 BC)
Parents
Father: Nicomachus, from Stagira, Chalcidice
Mother: Phaestis, from Chalcis, Euboea
Wife
Pythias (passed away early), Herpyllida
Children
Pythias (from Pythiada) and Nicomachus (from Herpyllida)
Financial Situation
Affluent
Family Situation
Aristotle's father was a physician at the court of the King of Macedonia, Amyntas III (father of Philip, grandfather of Alexander). Aristotle was orphaned early, losing both his parents. His guardianship was taken over by Proxenus, a close friend of his father, who lived in Atarneus in Ionian Aeolis, across from the island of Lesbos.
Meeting with Plato
Proxenus treated Aristotle as if he were his own child. In the second year of the 103rd Olympiad (367 BC), he sent Aristotle, at the age of seventeen, to Plato's Academy. He studied at the school for twenty consecutive years, until the death of Plato in the second year of the 108th Olympiad (347 BC). Aristotle distinguished himself at the Academy to such an extent that Plato himself referred to him as "the mind of the school". After Plato's death, there was a succession issue. The leading candidates were Speusippus, Xenocrates, and Aristotle. The direction was ultimately taken over by Speusippus, who was the son of Potone (Plato's sister).
The Post-Plato Era
After Speusippus took over the leadership of Plato's Academy, Aristotle, along with Xenocrates, left Athens and settled in Assos (a city in Ionia, opposite of Lesbos). The rulers of Assos were the brothers Erastus and Coriscus, who were Platonic philosophers. The leadership of Assos had been entrusted to them by the tyrant of Atarneus, also an old student of Plato's Academy, Hermias. The two rulers had established a philosophical school in Assos as an extension of Plato's Academy. Aristotle taught at this school for three consecutive years. The two rulers and Aristotle (along with Xenocrates) managed to form such a harmonious bond with Hermias and influenced him so much—as former classmates—that his tyranny became mild and just. Aristotle married Hermias's niece and adopted daughter, Pythiada, with whom he had a daughter named after her mother. Hermias anticipated the Macedonian expedition and allied with Philip, which led to his capture by the Persians in the fourth year of the 109th Olympiad (341 BC), who executed him in the customary manner of the time—crucifixion.
In the first year of the 109th Olympiad (344 BC), Aristotle moved to Lesbos and settled in Mytilene, where he taught until the second year of the 109th Olympiad (343 BC), when Philip summoned him to Macedonia to tutor Alexander. The education took place in Mieza for three consecutive years, until the first year of the 110th Olympiad (340 BC).
While at the Macedonian royal court, he requested that the city of his birth, Stagira, which had been destroyed by Philip, be rebuilt, which was accomplished. He also set laws for his fellow citizens.
His Teaching
Socrates and Plato, as we have already mentioned in their biographies, crystallized philosophy. Aristotle, based on this crystallized philosophy, turned to science. For the first (and only) time in history, science was based on philosophy. This is the reason why many today misinterpret Aristotle's sayings, such as the commonly misquoted "the mean between extremes". In the book ΠΡΑΓΜΑΤΙΚΟΤΗΣ - Η Δομή της Σκέψεως (REALITY - The Structure of Thought), a relevant analysis is provided, and things are placed in their rightful position.
When once asked what benefit liars gain, he replied: "they are not believed even when they tell the truth." He often used to say that just as the eyes are illuminated by light from outside, so too the soul is illuminated by teachings. Diogenes the Cynic once offered him fruits in the hope that he would make a sharp remark, thinking that he wouldn't accept them. Aristotle understood this and took the fruits, saying that Diogenes, along with his teasing, had lost the fruits. When they told him that someone was slandering him, he replied: "I allow even to be whipped in my absence."
He said that three things are necessary for education: a) natural inclination, b) study, c) practice. Education, he said, is the best provision for old age. The best letter of recommendation, he said, is beauty. He argued that happiness (a healthy state of the soul) consists of three kinds of goods: a) spiritual, b) physical—such as health, strength, beauty, and the like, c) external—such as wealth, lineage, fame, and the like. Virtue (spiritual good) cannot bring happiness on its own; it needs physical and external goods as well. On the other hand, wickedness can bring misfortune on its own, even when there is an abundance of physical and external goods.
Asked how the educated differ from the uneducated, he said: "as the living differ from the dead." Parents who have educated their children, he said, are more deserving of praise than those who merely gave birth to them, because the latter gave them only the gift of LIFE, while the former gave them the gift of LIVING WELL. To someone who boasted of being from a great and powerful city, he said: "the issue is whether you are worthy of that city." Some people, he used to say, are so stingy with their expenses, as if they were going to live forever. Others, on the other hand, are so wasteful, as if they were going to live their last day. To one who asked why we are fond of beauty, he replied: "it is a question that only the blind could ask." When asked what he gained from philosophy, he replied: "the ability to apply the laws (those of the time) without being compelled, as some do out of fear." When asked how students can make progress, he replied: "if they run to catch up with the first (the best) and not wait for the first to fall behind." (This means that students should focus on working hard to reach the top rather than hoping that the top students will fail or slow down. Progress comes from effort and ambition, not from others doing worse.)h
Lyceum
In the second year of the 111th Olympiad (335 BC), Aristotle returned to Athens and founded his own school. It was named "Lyceum", after the location dedicated to the god Apollo Lyceius (on what is now Rigillis Street). The organization of the school followed the model of Plato's Academy. With ample funds from Alexander, Aristotle built magnificent buildings, homes, and large colonnades called "walkways" because lessons were held while walking. The first known library in history was at the Lyceum. It was so well-organized that the later libraries of Alexandria and Pergamum were based on it as a model. At the school, Aristotle taught for only thirteen years. In the second year of the 114th Olympiad (323 BC), upon hearing of Alexander's death, the Athenians made Aristotle their scapegoat—despite having granted him citizenship and the rights of a 'Metic' in recognition of his contributions to Athens. (A 'Metic' in ancient Athens was a foreign resident granted certain rights, such as owning property and engaging in trade, but lacked full citizenship privileges, such as voting or holding public office. Full privileges were only granted to individuals born in Athens to Athenian parents.)They accused him of impiety. However, Aristotle understood the true motives of the accusers and left before the trial could be completed, saying: 'I will not allow the Athenian Democrats to condemn philosophy for a second time.' He withdrew in the third year of the 114th Olympiad (322 BC) to Chalcis, to a house he had inherited from his mother, where he lived with his second wife (Herpyllida) and his two children.
The End
It was in the fourth year of the 114th Olympiad (321 BC), when sixty-three-year-old Aristotle began his journey early toward the Elysian Fields. He left behind a body of work consisting of four hundred books, which were copied by many scientists, such as Isaac Newton (for proof, see the official library of Cambridge University).