The Academy of Plato in Athens, ruled by an old friend of Aristotle - Xenocrates, continued to be the cradle of philosophical thought in Greece. With the permission of Alexander the Great and with the help of generous royal financing Aristotle opens his educational institution - the Lyceum, trying to surpass the glory of the heritage of the great Plato. With short interruptions, the philosopher will spend the rest of his life in the capital studying and composing his famous works.
The magnificent building with the arcades that he built, made it possible to train listeners during a walk, brightened by a pleasant conversation, perhaps that's why the students were named Peripatetics, which means walking or strolling. Students studied mathematics and philosophy, politics and art, as well as everything that could only interest them in the world around them.
Parchments, in which students carefully outlined the results of their philosophical research, will soon create a huge collection of papyri, making the Lyceum one of the first major libraries on the planet and an example to follow for creating the famous libraries of Alexandria and Pergamon. In addition to that, Aristotle enriched the scientific community of that time with detailed maps and various instruments, turning the school into a research center!
During the thirteen years that Aristotle will spend in Athens, along with lengthy teaching duties, he will find time to write most of his colossal labors. The volume of information gathered and his critical view of metaphysics, politics and philosophy continue to amaze the imagination to this day. This, undoubtedly, can be considered the most fertile period in the work of the philosopher.
Aristotle got widowed in the year of the opening of his lyceum, but after a while he married again. His wife was Erpilida, who, according to historians, was a slave and passed to Aristotle as a gift.
When the former disciple of Aristotle and the great conqueror Alexander the Great unexpectedly dies in 323 BC, the Athenian society, opposed to the Macedonian Dynasty, tries to accuse Aristotle of contempt for local gods. The scientist did not wait for the trial and left Athens for Chalcis, where he died, outliving his beloved pupil for one year.
The body of the great thinker was transferred to his native city, Stagira in Macedonia, on the peninsula of Halkidiki, where it was met with unprecedented honors, while the locals even called one of the months of the year "Aristotle"! As for his famous school, it continued to function even after losing its inspirer, becoming a beacon of knowledge and research until the final decline of the Hellenistic culture.