A Chronology of Events Related to the Life of Aristotle
All dates are before the common era (BCE).
399 — Socrates is executed at Athens for impiety and corrupting the youth; Plato flees to Megara, eventually returning to Athens
384 — Birth of Aristotle at Stagira, a small town in northern Greece founded in 655 BCE by Ionian settlers from Andros and Chalkis
382 — Birth of Philip II, son of Amyntas III, king of Macedon
~380 — Aristotle's father Nicomachus begins serving as personal physician to Amyntas
~373 — Aristotle's parents die under unknown circumstances, whereupon he is cared for by his older sister Arimneste and her husband Proxenus at Atarneus in Ionia
369 — Death of Amyntas III
368 — Aristotle, in his 16th year, travels to Athens to study, perhaps initially with Isocrates since at the time Plato was away in Sicily advising the tyrant Dionysius
365 — Plato returns to Athens; Aristotle studies and works with Plato for the next 18 years
361 — Plato again travels to Syracuse
360 — Plato returns to Athens
359 — After a time of troubles, accession of Philip II as king of Macedon
356 — Birth of Alexander the Great, son of Philip by his fourth wife Olympias
348 — Philip destroys the city of Olynthus (an ally of Athens) and other settlements on the peninsula of Chalkidiki, including Stagira; because of anti-Macedonian sentiment, Aristotle leaves Athens for Atarneus, perhaps as a diplomatic agent of Philip
347 — Death of Plato at Athens
~346 — Aristotle marries Pythias, the niece or adopted daughter of Hermias
345 — Aristotle relocates to the island of Lesbos, where he completes much biological research at the Bay of Kalloni with his student and friend Theophrastus
341 — Hermias is captured, tortured, and killed by the Persians; Aristotle returns to mainland Greece or Macedonia
338 — Battle of Chaeronea, in which Philip's army defeats those of Athens and Thebes; Antipater (perhaps with assistance from Aristotle) acts as Macedonian ambassador to Athens
~337 — Death of Aristotle’s wife Pythias
336 — Assassination of Philip; accession of Alexander the Great as king of Macedon
335 — While putting down a rebellion of Greek cities, Alexander destroys Thebes but spares Athens, seemingly at the intercession of Aristotle; Aristotle returns to Athens, where he stays until 323
334 — Alexander invades Persia with a large army, including Aristotle’s nephew Kallisthenes as official historian; Antipater becomes regent of Greece; Aristotle begins teaching at the Lyceum, a sanctuary and gymnasium just outside the walls of Athens
327 — Kallisthenes is executed for conspiring to assassinate Alexander
324 — Death of Alexander at Babylon
323 — Because of renewed anti-Macedonian sentiment (and it seems a charge that, like Socrates, Aristotle was impious), Aristotle leaves Athens for Chalkis, where his mother's family has an estate
322 — Death of Aristotle at Chalkis
Peter Saint-Andre > Writings > Aristotle