Question: The person Metrocles studied under presided over the Peripatetic school for how many years?
Context: Commentaries on Aristotle refers to the great mass of literature produced, especially in the ancient and medieval world, to explain and clarify the works of Aristotle.  The pupils of Aristotle were the first to comment on his writings, a tradition which was continued by the Peripatetic school throughout the Hellenistic period and the Roman era.  The Neoplatonists of the late Roman empire wrote many commentaries on Aristotle, attempting to incorporate him into their philosophy.  Although Ancient Greek commentaries are considered the most useful, commentaries continued to be written by the Christian scholars of the Byzantine Empire and by the many Islamic philosophers and Western scholastics who had inherited his texts. The multitude of Hindu temples in North Paravur are often attributed to the influence of the Travancore and Cochin state rulers who presided over the region for many years.  In addition, throughout history North Paravur saw the arrival of many Brahmins, who settled and constructed many more temples of worship. Alexander of Aphrodisias (Greek: Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Ἀφροδισιεύς ; fl.  200 AD) was a Peripatetic philosopher and the most celebrated of the Ancient Greek commentators on the writings of Aristotle.  He was a native of Aphrodisias in Caria, and lived and taught in Athens at the beginning of the 3rd century, where he held a position as head of the Peripatetic school.  He wrote many commentaries on the works of Aristotle, extant are those on the "Prior Analytics", "Topics", "Meteorology", "Sense and Sensibilia", and "Metaphysics".  Several original treatises also survive, and include a work "On Fate", in which he argues against the Stoic doctrine of necessity; and one "On the Soul".  His commentaries on Aristotle were considered so useful that he was styled, by way of pre-eminence, "the commentator" (ὁ ἐξηγητής ). Metrocles (Greek: Μητροκλῆς ; fl.  c. 325 BC) was a Cynic philosopher from Maroneia.  He studied in Aristotle’s Lyceum under Theophrastus, and eventually became a follower of Crates of Thebes who married Metrocles’ sister Hipparchia.  Very little survives of his writings, but he is important as one of the first Cynics to adopt the practice of writing moral anecdotes ("chreiai") about Diogenes and other Cynics. John Matthias is an American poet.  He was born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1941.  Matthias attended the Ohio State University and Stanford University.  While still in high school, he studied with John Berryman at a summer writing conference at the University of Utah in 1959 and kept in touch with Berryman for the rest of the latter's life.  While in graduate school at Stanford he studied under the poet and critic Yvor Winters but did not conform to Winters' stringent anti-modernist position.  In fact, Matthias became deeply interested in modernism, especially British modernism, which he came to know well during many years of residence in England, editing the anthology "23 Modern British Poets" in 1970, a groundbreaking personal intervention.  His peers at Stanford included two future poets laureate of the United States, Robert Hass and Robert Pinsky, as well as the poets Ken Fields, James McMichael, and John Peck.  When he left Stanford in 1966, he spent a year in London as a Fulbright Scholar where he met Diana Adams, and married her a year later.  Diana's distinguished family includes several artists and writers, including her brother-in-law Wayland Young (Lord Kennet), the sculptor Emily Young, and the novelist Louisa Young.  Many of Matthias’s poems deal with this family.  In 1976 Matthias became a Visiting Fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge, and has since 1977 been a Life Member.  Although his main academic job has been at the University of Notre Dame, he has spent much of his professional life in Britain, where he did major scholarly work on the Anglo-Welsh poet and painter David Jones, editing both the poetry and essays on Jones’ work for Faber and Faber, the National Poetry Foundation, and University of Wales Press. Satyrus (Greek: Σάτυρος ) of Callatis was a distinguished peripatetic philosopher and historian, whose biographies ("Lives") of famous people are frequently referred to by Diogenes Laërtius and Athenaeus.  He came from Callatis Pontica, as we learn from a Herculaneum papyrus.  He lived earlier than the reign of Ptolemy VI Philometor (181–146 BC) when his "Lives" were epitomized by Heraclides Lembus, probably during the 3rd century BC.  Athenaeus frequently refers to him as a Peripatetic, but his connection to the Peripatetic school is otherwise unknown.  His biographies dealt with many eminent people including kings (Dionysius the Younger, Philip), statesmen (Alcibiades), orators (Demosthenes), poets (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides), and philosophers (Bias of Priene, Chilon of Sparta, Pythagoras, Empedocles, Zeno of Elea, Anaxagoras, Socrates, Diogenes, Anaxarchus, Stilpo).  He also wrote on the population of Alexandria, and a work "On Characters" (Περὶ χαρακτήρων ).  Fragments of his biography of the Athenian dramatist Euripides were found at the end of a papyrus scroll discovered at Oxyrhynchus in the early twentieth century. David J. Elliott is Professor of Music and Music Education at New York University.  He was educated at the University of Toronto (B.Mus., B.Ed., M.Mus.)  and Case Western University (Ph.D., 1983).  During his middle and high school years, he studied jazz trombone with Steve Richards and jazz piano and composition with Vincent Cinanni.  While he was an undergraduate and graduate music education major at the University of Toronto, he studied classical trombone with Ralph Sauer (principal trombone of the Toronto Symphony and, subsequently, principal trombone of the Los Angeles Philharmonic).  For many years, he played professionally as a jazz trombonist in Toronto.  He also studied composition/arranging privately with several classical and jazz composers, including Gordon Delamont and R. Murray Schafer.  His first major composition for full jazz ensemble won first prize in the 1976 composition competition of the US National Association of Jazz Educators (subsequently the IAJE).  Since then, he has composed and arranged numerous choral and instrumental works, many of which have been published by Boosey & Hawkes/Hal Leonard. Aristotelianism ( ) is a tradition of philosophy that takes its defining inspiration from the work of Aristotle.  This school of thought is in the modern sense of philosophy, covering existence, ethics, mind and related subjects.  In Aristotle's time, philosophy included natural philosophy, which was replaced by modern science during the Scientific Revolution.  The works of Aristotle were initially defended by the members of the Peripatetic school and later on by the Neoplatonists, who produced many commentaries on Aristotle's writings.  In the Islamic Golden Age, Ibn Sina and Ibn Rushd translated the works of Aristotle into Arabic and under philosophers such as Al-Kindi, Al-Farabi, Avicenna and Averroes, Aristotelianism became a major part of early Islamic philosophy. Lyco of Troas ( ; Greek: Λύκων "Lykon", "gen". : Λύκωνος; c. 299 – c. 225 BC ), son of Astyanax, was a Peripatetic philosopher and the disciple of Strato, whom he succeeded as the head of the Peripatetic school, c. 269 BC; he held that post for more than forty-four years. Theophrastus ( ; Greek: Θεόφραστος "Theόphrastos"; c. 371 – c. 287 BC ), 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 who took to Theophrastus his writings.  When Aristotle fled Athens, Theophrastus took over as head of the Lyceum.  Theophrastus presided over the Peripatetic school for thirty-six years, during which time the school flourished greatly.  He is often considered the "father of botany" for his works on plants.  After his death, the Athenians honoured him with a public funeral.  His successor as head of the school was Strato of Lampsacus.
Answer: thirty-six