Essay on "Aristotle & Alexander the Great"

Essay 3 pages (1136 words) Sources: 3

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Aristotle was well-known in royal and academic circles. Philip II also had plans to invade Persia, and Aristotle had served in a court that would help make Philip II's plans easier to carry out (Roisman, 62). There were ulterior motives on both sides of the equation, but none of that mattered to Alexander. What was important to him was getting an education. Philip II encouraged his son to work hard, because he knew that he had made a lot of mistakes with his rule and he did not want to see his son make those same kinds of errors. This was very noble, and one of the reasons Alexander was so dedicated to his studies. Alexander was very focused on succession, and was upset with his father for having children with other women. It was not the moral issue with which Alexander had a problem, but the idea that it could make it more difficult for him to take over for his father at a later date. He did not want anyone else attempting to lay claim to the throne, and a good education would help him fend off that problem.

Through Aristotle's teaching, Alexander became further convinced that all non-Greeks were barbarians and deserved to be treated as such. They were nothing more than beasts, and were actually meant to be slaves (Badian, 442). Because Aristotle also shared this viewpoint, Alexander became even further convinced that this was the case. Whether accurate or not, it was what shaped much of Alexander's beliefs regarding other people, and what led him to be a leader to his people and a conqueror of other nations. By the time Alexander was thirty years old, he had created one of the largest empires the world had ever seen (Engels, 128). He did not do this by being kind to everyone or by focusing his efforts on caring for the people. Instead, he did this by expanding his borders and conquering everything he found there. He was ruthless and focused.

Overall, religion and morality shaped much of what Alexander the Great did, but not in the way many people would assume today. Instead, his understanding was that Greeks were valuable and other races and peoples were not. He used that version of morality to focus on conquering the other people so he could build a huge empire and a better world for the Greeks. Since he was their leader, that made sense to him and was what he found appropriate. He was able to use the knowledge he acquired from Aristotle to continue to move forward throughout his life, so his empire could become as vast and as powerful as possible. His legacy still lives on in all the cities that are named for him and in the way military leaders have long compared themselves to him (Badian, 427). While he may not have been outspoken about where he gained so much of his valuable knowledge, it is clear that Aristotle played a large and significant role in Alexander the Great's development.

Works Cited

Badian, Ernst. "Alexander the Great and the Unity of Mankind," Historia 7. 1958. 425 -- 444. Print.

Engels, Donald W. Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1978. Print.

Roisman, Joseph, ed. Alexander… READ MORE

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