Alexander the Great had a very famous teacher
“TIL Aristotle was Alexander the Great’s private tutor and from his teachings developed a love of science, particularly of medicine and botany. Alexander included botanists and scientists in his army to study the many lands he conquered.” – Obscure fact revealed by SingLikeTinaTurner. What we would give to sit in on a lesson from one of the greatest minds in history! It’s amazing that two historical figures come together to make one extraordinary historical fact.
In 343 BCE, Aristotle was summoned by King Philip II of Macedon to tutor his son, Alexander, and held this post for the next seven years, until Alexander ascended to the throne in 336 BCE and began his famous conquests. But it sounds like Alexander took a lot of his lessons with him through life. He even quite literally took an annotated copy of Homer’s works that Aristotle gifted him with on his campaigns later on. But you have to wonder how the tutelage here affected history and how Alexander handled his leadership roles. Aristotle encouraged Alexander to be a leader to Greeks and a despot to barbarians, treating the former as friends and the latter as beasts. That’s some serious world influence.