An old, but still very useful article is one by Stocks, which looks at rival theories about composition. It essentially concludes that the Politics was composed in core in Athens before the setting up of the School. There are probably many more recent studies, but this is concise and mapped closely to the text.

The Composition of Aristotle's Politics. J. L. Stocks. The Classical Quarterly. Vol. 21, No. 3/4 (Jun. - Oct., 1927), pp. 177-187

Thanks very much for that reference, James, I'll definitely check it out.  The Introductions to both the Loeb and the Penguin translations had little, if anything, to say on the subject, which I found strange.  But Rackman's comments on the layout of the work as seeming to "consist of three sets of lectures" did suggest it had been written at Aristotle's school.

I'm interested in the passage in the Politics where Aristotle refers to the assassination of Philip II of Macedon.  Stocks' conclusions could place the composition of the passage much closer to the event than I'd originally thought.

Dear Kathleen

Please follow these links:

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ancient-political/

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-politics/

http://www.diffen.com/difference/Aristotle_vs_Plato

Regards 

Thanks, Saeed.  I have looked at all the sites you provided, but while they give an interesting overview of the Politics, they don't really address the issue of when and where the work was written in the detail I'm looking for.

A comprehensive effort to date Aristotle's works was made by John M. Rist in 1989.  All such efforts are speculative but Rist defends his conclusions in detail, including his assignment of chapter groupings from the longer works to different times. This is his chapter breakdown of the Politics as summarized in his Epilogue Chronology:

• 338-334  Politics 2, 3, 7, 8
• ca. 328 Politics 4-6
• ca. 328 Politics 4-6

As for where: Rist places Aristotle at the Lyceum in Athens between 334 and 324.

For the details see his Chapter 8, "Rhetoric and Politics: Form and Content"

The book:

John M. Rist. The Mind of Aristotle: A Study in Philosophical Growth.

Toronto; London: University of Toronto Press (1989).

Series: Phoenix., Supplementary volume, 25.

ISBN: 0802026923 9780802026927

WorldCat: https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/21598150

--Ralph

My apologies. Just to correct my previous post: What I referred to as Aristotle's "chapters" are, of course, "Books" in the standard nomenclature for Aristotle's works, which were divided into Works, Books, and Chapters because of the limits on the length of papyrus scrolls, where today we would call them Books (or Volumes), Chapters , and Sections.

--Ralph

Thanks, Ralph.  Have checked.  Rist's book is in the UQ library, and I'll get it out next time I'm out there.  Much appreciated.  (Also knew you meant books when you used chapters without even thinking about it.)

Also still open to other suggestions if anyone has them.

Kathleen also asks, "Also, how long did Aristotle live after he was forced to flee Athens? Could he still have been working on the work up to his death? And how close do scholars think the work was to being finished?"

There is general agreement among Aristotle biographers that he left Athens probably around September of 323 BC in the wake of Alexander the Great's death in June of that year. When news of Alexander's death reached Athens there was a widespread reaction against all things and persons associated with Macedonia, Aristotle among them. Aristotle was charged with impiety for his allegedly blasphemous hymn honoring Hermias of Atarneus and fled Athens for Chalkis, Euboea. He did so, in his famous words: "Lest Athens sin twice against philosophy." He survived for about a year and died of 'a stomach ailment', apparently shortly before Demosthenes took his own life in October of 322. So he lived for about one year after fleeing Athens.

I haven't seen any speculation about Aristotle's working on philosophical treatises in 323-22. In my opinion, he may well have tried to edit some of what he retained of his vast collection of lecture notes into something resembling treatises but the task was too daunting, since what we think of as his 'books' were not assembled into their current form until the time of Andronicus of Rhodes, centuries later. He is reported to have, in his final year, written in a letter to his friend Antipater, the surviving monarch over mainland Greece and the executor of his Will, that "The lonelier and the more isolated I am, the more I have come to love myths." My personal guess, for whatever it is worth, is that in his final year he may well have written a good deal of poetry. In Diogenes Laertius' list of his works -- four fifths of which are lost -- we find volumes of poetry of which all that survives are the aforementioned Hymn to Virtue in honor of Hermias and the first line of each of the two poetry volumes. In English they begin something like (1) "Hail holy, sacred, distant-shooting God" and (2) "Daughter of a mother blessed with fair offspring".

This material may be found in scholarly biographies of Aristotle including:

Blakesley, Joseph Williams (1808-1885):

A Life of Aristotle, Including a Critical Discussion of Some Questions of Literary History Connected with His Works

Cambridge: J. & J.J. Deighton, London: John W. Parker (1839)

WorldCat: https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1898673

Jaeger, Werner. Aristotle: Fundamentals of the History of His Development

Translated by Richard Robinson

Oxford University Press, Second Edition (1948)

WorldCat: https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/369716

Düring, Ingemar. Aristotle in the Ancient Biographical Tradition

Studia Graeca et Latina Gothoburgensia V

Göteborg: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis (1957).

ISBN: 0824069129 9780824069124

WorldCat: https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/15015557

Chroust, Anton Herman. Aristotle: New light on his life and on

some of his lost works, Volume I.

Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, (1973)

WorldCat: https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/926709463

Natali, Carlo. Aristotle, His Life and School

Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford (2013)

ISBN: 9780691096537 0691096538

WorldCat: https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/898695602

--Ralph

https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1898673

https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/369716

https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/15015557

https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/926709463

https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/898695602

Another correction! I messed up Rist's proposed chronology of the Politics. To try again:

338-334 B.C.  Politics, Books 2, 3, 7, 8

ca. 328  B.C.  Politics, Books 4-6

ca. 324  B.C.  Politics, Book 1

John M. Rist. The Mind of Aristotle: A Study in Philosophical Growth, pp. 285-87

--Ralph

Belated thanks again, Ralph, and apologies for my late reply.  Too busy writing feverishly.  Have checked out the other works you recommended as far as possible, soon after you posted your advice.  Have decided to follow Rist's chronology, which fits in well with my own theories.

Have you looked at Jowett's commentary (The Politics of Aristotle: Introduction and translation. Vol. 2. Clarendon Press, 1885.? Or Newman's Commentary [Newman, William Lambert, and William Lambert Newman, eds. Politics of Aristotle: with an introduction, two prefatory essays and notes critical and explanatory. In 4 volumes. Cambridge University Press, reprint 2010.] or Susemihl [Susemihl, Franz, and Robert Drew Hicks. The politics of Aristotle, books IV: A revised text. Ayer Company Pub, 1894. or if your German is good Franz Susemihl, Aristotelis Politica Publisher:Lipsiae : In aedibus B.G. Teubneri, 1882.].

Check Peter Simpson's commentary and translation, it will have something to say about that. Also check Lord, Carnes. "I. the Character and Composition of Aristotle's Politics." Political Theory 9, no. 4 (1981): 459-478.

Also, check out The Lives of Eminent Philosophers Diogenes Laertius as what he says about Aristotle will be rather helpful.