Aristotle was the head of Royal Academy of Macedon at the time of Alexander's youth, and thus became his tutor when he reached schooling age. Though this relationship has probably been overstated in modern culture, it's likely Aristotle did have some impact on the young prince. Aristotle was also instrumental for work in physics, biology, and many other fields.

There were no major technological or economic breakthroughs between the Neolithic and Classical eras. Agriculture was a major breakthrough that marked the beginning of the Neolithic era, but we wouldn't see any other transformations of that significance until the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries. Civilizations and populations continued to grow as humans developed in terms of agriculture and were able to support more people. Furthermore, communication networks experienced major growth during the Classical era with development of networks like the Silk Roads, Indian Ocean network, trans-Saharan network, and Mediterranean network.

The compass was invented in China during the Han Dynasty - approximately two thousand years ago. The compass was refined during the Song Dynasty and eventually spread to Europe by the fourteenth century. The invention of the compass allowed for much more reliable navigation and greatly aided European exploration from the fifteenth century onwards.