Aristotle and His Great Pupil

One of the most famous mentor-student relationships in history was that between Aristotle and Alexander the Great. Shortly after Plato died, Aristotle left Athens and, at the request of Philip II of Macedon, tutored Alexander beginning in 343 BC. Aristotle actually had family connections with Philip; Aristotle's father was the doctor to Philip's father when he was king.

Teaching Alexander gave Aristotle many opportunities for research, and the philosopher was appointed as the head of the royal academy of Macedon. Alexander's education took place in a setting removed from the capital city of Pella, in a village of Mieza. During that time Aristotle gave lessons not only to Alexander, but also to two future kings: Ptolemy and Cassander. Aristotle encouraged Alexander toward eastern conquest and his attitude toward Persia was shamelessly ethnocentric. He counseled Alexander to be "a leader to the Greeks and a despot to the barbarians, to look after the former as if after friends and relatives, and to deal with the latter as with beasts or plants." Aristotle believed that slavery was a natural institution, and that barbarians were by nature meant to be slaves. Basically, he thought the Greeks were superior than any non-Greek, whom he categorized simply as barbarians.

Near the end of his life, Alexander and Aristotle became estranged over Alexander's relationship with Persia and Persians, and Alexander lost respect for Aristotle as his travels made it clear that much of Aristotle's geography was wrong.