Extract

Theophrastus of *Eresus in Lesbos, associate and successor of *Aristotle. In spite of a tradition that he had been a pupil of *Plato(1), it is probable that he first joined Aristotle when the latter was at *Assos. He became head of the Lyceum (see aristotle, §5) when Aristotle withdrew from Athens on the death of *Alexander (3) the Great. His most famous pupil was *Demetrius(3) of Phalerum, through whose influence he, though a *metic, was allowed to own property. He was also on friendly terms with *Cassander and *Ptolemy (1) I. He was succeeded as head of the school by *Straton(1).Theophrastus shared in, continued, and extended Aristotle's activity in every subject. His surviving works cover only a small part of the range of interests indicated by the lists of book-titles preserved in the biography by *Diogenes (6) Laertius (5.