Aristotle

Aristotle was born in 384 B.C. He was a philosopher, politician, botanist, and zoologist. He was a student of Plato. After studying under Plato for a time, he was requested by Phillip II of Macedonia to tutor his son Alexander the Great. Aristotle’s father was the court physician for Phillip’s father, so there was a personal connection to the Macedonian throne. After tutoring Alexander for three years, Aristotle returned to Athens.

In Athens, Aristotle developed his own school, called the Lyceum, in a grove sacred to Apollo. In his school, he and his students organized a large collection of research material and historical records. This collection eventually made its way to the Library of Alexandria in Egypt. Aristotle was known to have written over five hundred books, of which only thirty have survived.