>>If you think of Alexander spreading Aristotle in particular because of the fact that Aristotle was employed at the Macedonian court and tutored Alexander, there isn’t any discernable Aristotelian influence in the Alexander of the annals. He’s pure conquest.
True. However, Aristotle created a wealth of information that never existed previously in Greek ‘science’. I would argue that you’ve proven that Alexander left an intellectual legacy - Greek culture (well, Macedonia’s at least) spread throughout Africa and Western Asia. Furthermore Demetrius’ (Aristotle’s pupil) organization of the library at Alexandria seems to reemphasize Aristotle’s importance.
I don’t want to quibble about Aristotle’s importance. Clearly he’s one of the most influential thinkers in human history. But I would add that he owes a great deal to Plato, probably the greater part of his teachings are Platonic rather than sui generis. I say “Platonic” knowing, of course, that he was influenced in turn by countless forerunners, for instance Socrates, Heraclitus, Pythagoras, etc., and for all we know he stole it all from Socrates.
I should also add that the Alexandrian conduit may not be the primary route through which Greek philosophy ended up in Christianity. The Romans conquered Judea, and they had stolen all the best Greek thoughts after conquering them, too. Jesus, as we all know, was burn and died in the imperium. And the church received its biggest boost when an emperor adopted ot as an official religion.
Then again, one of the most influential early Christian philosophers Augustine, was from North Africa. I haven’t researched him enough to know whether he grew up around the remnants of Alexandrian conquest. Rome conquered North Africa, too, however. So it would stand to reason he got his Greekiness from Roman Greekery.