Historical Figure
Nationality: Athens (born in Chalkidiki)
Date of Birth: 384 BCE
Date of Death: 322 BCE
Cause of Death: Natural causes
Religion: Polytheism
Occupation: Author of Non-Fiction, Cosmologist, Educator, Physicist, Philosopher
Spouse: Pythias (d. after 326 BCE)
Children: Pythias the Younger (died before Aristole)
Nicomachus (illegitimate)
Turtledove Appearances:
"The Maltese Elephant"
Set in OTL
Type of Appearance: Posthumous reference

"But It Does Move"
POD: c. 1633 (?)
Type of Appearance: Posthumous reference
"Islands in the Sea"
POD: 717 CE
Type of Appearance: Posthumous reference
Aristotle (384 BC–322 BC) was a Ancient Greek philosopher. Together with Plato and Socrates, Aristotle is one of the most important founding figures in Western philosophy. He was the first to create a comprehensive philosophical system, encompassing morality and aesthetics, logic and science, politics and metaphysics. Aristotle's views on the physical sciences profoundly shaped medieval scholarship, and their influence extended well into the Renaissance.

Literary commentEdit

Aristotle and his philosophy may be referenced fleetingly by characters in numerous Harry Turtledove works.

Aristotle in "The Maltese Elephant"Edit

Aristotle, in the Historia Animalium, 610.15, said of the Maltese Elephant, Ho elephas ho Melitaios megethi homoios te neso en he oikei.[1]

Aristotle in "But It Does Move"Edit

Aristotle's scientific method had led him to conclude that the Earth was the center of the solar system, with all heavenly objects revolving around it. This idea gained wide acceptance, and was eventually adopted by the Catholic Church, as it supported Scripture.

Thus, Galileo's support for the Copernican view was not only heretical in the view of the Church, but ran contrary to the views of one of the most revered thinkers in Western civilization.

Aristotle in "Islands in the Sea"Edit

Aristotle's name came up when Christian and Muslim delegations argued for the validity of their religions at the Bulgar court of Telerikh the Khan. The Bulgar language lacked an exact translation of sage or philosopher, so Aristotle was explained to the Khan as having been a shaman.[2]


  1. E.g., Counting Up, Counting Down, p. 167.
  2. See, e.g., Departures, p. 80.

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