Nicomachus lived c.
325 BCYear 325 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Camillus and Scaeva...
, was the son of
AristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
.
The
SudaThe Suda or Souda is a massive 10th century Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Suidas. It is an encyclopedic lexicon, written in Greek, with 30,000 entries, many drawing from ancient sources that have since been lost, and often...
states that he was from
StageiraStageira was an ancient Greek city on the Chalkidiki peninsula and is chiefly known for being the birthplace of Aristotle. The city lies approximately 8 kilometres north northeast of the present-day village of Stagira, close to the town of Olympiada....
, a philosopher, a pupil of
TheophrastusTheophrastus , a Greek native of Eresos in Lesbos, was the successor to Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. He came to Athens at a young age, and initially studied in Plato's school. After Plato's death he attached himself to Aristotle. Aristotle bequeathed to Theophrastus his writings, and...
, and, according to
AristippusAristippus of Cyrene, , was the founder of the Cyrenaic school of Philosophy. He was a pupil of Socrates, but adopted a very different philosophical outlook, teaching that the goal of life was to seek pleasure by adapting circumstances to oneself and by maintaining proper control over both...
, his lover. He may have written a commentary on his father's lectures in physics. Nicomachus was born to the slave
HerpyllisHerpyllis of Stagira was Aristotle's mistress after his wife, Pythias, died Together Aristotle and Herpyllis had a son, named Nicomachus after Aristotle's father...
, and his father's will commended his care as a boy to several tutors, then to his adopted son, Nicanor. Historians think the
Nicomachean EthicsThe Nicomachean Ethics is the name normally given to Aristotle's best known work on ethics. The English version of the title derives from Greek Ἠθικὰ Νικομάχεια, transliterated Ethika Nikomacheia, which is sometimes also given in the genitive form as Ἠθικῶν Νικομαχείων, Ethikōn Nikomacheiōn...
, a compilation of Aristotle's lecture notes, was probably named after or dedicated to Aristotle's son. Several ancient authorities may have conflated Aristotle's ethical works with the commentaries that Nicomachus wrote on them. Ancient sources indicate that Nicomachus died in battle while still a "lad".
Aristotle's father was also called
NicomachusNicomachus , lived c. 375 BC, was the father of Aristotle.The Suda states that he was a doctor descended from Nicomachus, son of Machaon the son of Asclepius. Greenhill notes he had another son named Arimnestus, and a daughter named Arimneste, by his wife Phaestis, or Phaestias, who was also...
.