Callisthenes (c. 360-328 BC)

Greek historian, nephew of the philosopher Aristotle. He accompanied Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia, to Asia and wrote an account of the expedition, a history of Greece 387-357 BC, and a history of the Phocian war. A few fragments survive.

Callisthenes objected to Alexander's adoption of Oriental manners and customs. He was charged with complicity in the conspiracy of Alexander's attendant Hermolaus and died in prison.

The Romance of Alexander the Great, from which all the medieval Alexander legends derive, dates from Ptolemaic times, although the extant version belongs to the 3rd century AD. Its author is now generally known as ‘pseudo-Callisthenes’.