ALEXANDER THE GREAT

ALEXANDER THE GREAT. See MACEDONIA.

ALEXANDER of Aphrodisias, the most celebrated of the Greek commentators on Aristotle, and styled by way of pre-eminence, ὁ ἱερεινός, the expositor. He was a native of Aphrodisias, in Caria, and flourished between the 2d and 3d centuries. His first and principal work, On Fate, written in opposition to the stoical doctrine of necessity, was dedicated to Severus and his son Caracalla. It has been edited by Orelli, Zurich, 1824. His other works, which are very voluminous, consist chiefly of commentaries on treatises of Aristotle. They were greatly esteemed among the Arabians, who translated many of them. A list of his works, with an account of his life, will be found in the Bibl. Arab. Hisp. Escur. of Casiri, vol. i. p. 243.

ALEXANDER of Hales, Alexander Halensis, surnamed the irrefragable Doctor, a celebrated English theologian of the thirteenth century. Like most of the scholars of his time, he studied at Paris, where he took his degree of Doctor, and publicly taught philosophy and theology. Among his numerous disciples were the famous Bonaventura, Aquinas, and Duns Scotus. His great work is the system of theology known as his Summa, being a commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard, composed by the express orders of Pope Innocent IV., and approved after being submitted to the examination of 70 doctors, as a system of instruction for all the schools of Christendom. Of the private history of this famous man little is known. He died in 1245, and was buried in the convent of the Cordeliers at Paris, where he had spent the 23 last years of his life.

ALEXANDER of Tralles. See TRALLIANUS.