Alexander had the advantage of being brought up under his father Stephanus, who was himself a physician,[REF] and also under another person, whose name he does not mention, but to whose son Cosmas he dedicates his chief work,[REF] which he wrote out of gratitude at his request.
German scholar Johann Albert Fabricius considered Alexander to have belonged to the sect of the Methodici, but in the opinion of Freind this is not proved sufficiently by the existing text.