Alexander philosopher-king: from Philosophy to action

Abstract

Plutarch, in his Life of Alexander and his speeches On the Fortune or Virtue of Alexander the Great, draws a portrait of a philosopher-king, inspired by Plato, Aristotle and Diogenes’ philosophies. This paper aims to analyse the dialogues between these philosophers and Alexander and to scrutinise the Macedonian’s political path whereby philosophical ideals were put in action. This study, therefore, may suggest that whilst in the encomiastic speeches Plutarch draws a king, enlightened by Philosophy, who made happier «all the inhabited earth», in the biography, contradictions of imposing a ‘blessed life’ are unveiled.