Back to Babylon

Philosopher King

In his book, The Republic, Aristotle's teacher, Plato (427-347 B. C.E.), wrote about the views of his own teacher, Socrates (469-399 B. C.E.). Socrates and Plato believed that an ideal society can only exist when philosophers are kings or kings are philosophers. They defined a philosopher as a person who seeks to understand the essence of things instead of being interested only in their appearances. A philosopher king would be a wise leader motivated by a desire for wisdom, justice, temperance, and goodness in leading his people.

In April 323 B. C.E., Alexander returned to Babylon, which he planned to establish as the capital of his empire. There, he devoted himself, for the first time, to the administration of his vast domain, which stretched from Greece to India.

He had high hopes for his empire. He wanted to create the kind of government that Aristotle championed-rule by a benevolent “philosopher king” (see the box, left). He attempted to instill among his subjects the feeling that they were citizens of a united world, rather than just members of their own nation or culture. He wanted to establish during his reign an era of cooperation, hoping to unite and strengthen his empire by developing a common culture-Greek culture, although with some Persian influences. He gave his Persian cadets instruction in Greek literature and encouraged his eastern subjects to become more like the Greeks and Macedonians.

Alexander also had many ambitious plans. Believing that commerce would help unite his empire, he intended to make Babylon its commercial center. He laid plans to build docks along the Euphrates River at Babylon and to clear and dredge the river to the Persian Gulf. He also planned to colonize the eastern shore of the Persian Gulf and to circumnavigate and explore Arabia. He may have been preparing to invade Arabia and, from there, to conquer the entire North African coast.