View source for Alexander the Great in legend

{{short description|Legendary accounts surrounding the life of Alexander the Great}}
[[File:The coronation of Alexander.jpg|thumb|The coronation of Alexander depicted in medieval European style in the 15th century romance ''[[Peniarth 481|The History of Alexander's Battles]].'']]
{{Alexander the Great series}}
The vast conquests of the [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Macedonian]] king [[Alexander the Great]] quickly inspired the formation and diffusion of legendary material about his deity, journeys, and tales. These appeared shortly after his death, and some may have already begun forming during his lifetime. Common themes and symbols among legends about Alexander include the [[Gates of Alexander]], the [[Horns of Alexander]], and the [[Gordian Knot]].

In the third century AD, an anonymous author writing in the name of Alexander's court historian [[Callisthenes]] (commonly referred to as Pseudo-Callisthenes) authored the Greek ''[[Alexander Romance]]''. This work gave rise to a genre of literature chronicling the myths and adventures of Alexander, which evolved through over a hundred versions during premodern times and was translated into nearly every language across European and Islamic civilizations.

==Greek tradition==
[[File:Alexander Tetradrachm Amphipolis.jpg|thumb|243x243px|Posthumously issued silver [[tetradrachm]] of Alexander III with the inscription {{Lang|grc|ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ}} 'of Alexander'; [[Archaeological Museum of Amphipolis]]]]

===Prophesied conqueror===
[[Philip II of Macedon|King Philip II]] had a dream in which he took a [[Seal (emblem)|wax seal]] and sealed up the womb of his wife. The seal bore the image of a lion. The seer [[Aristander]] interpreted this to mean that [[Olympias]] was pregnant, since men do not seal up what is empty, and that she would bring forth a son who would be bold and lion-like.<ref>Plutarch Al. 2.2–3</ref>

After Philip took Potidaea in 356 BC, he received word that his horse had just won at the Olympic games, and that [[Parmenion]] had defeated the Illyrians. Then he got word of the birth of Alexander. The seers told him that a son whose birth coincided with three victories would always be victorious.<ref name="Worthington">{{cite book |last=Worthington |first=I. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xnQABAAAQBAJ |title=Alexander the Great: Man and God |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-317-86644-2 |pages=32–33 |access-date=2023-08-03}}</ref> When the young Alexander tamed the steed [[Bucephalus]], his father noted that Macedonia would not be large enough for him.<ref name=Worthington/>

===Deification===
When Alexander went to Egypt, he was given the title of [[Pharaoh]] and the epithet "Son of [[Ra]]" (the Egyptian sun deity). In 331 BC in Egypt, he would visit the oracle of the [[Siwa Oasis]] (also known as the Oasis of Amun-Ra). It was at that point, legend holds, that Alexander began to refer to [[Zeus Ammon]] as his true father. Returning to Memphis after the oracle visit, he was informed that the prophetess of the Apollonian oracle, the [[Erythraean Sibyl]], had also confirmed his divine paternity as the son of Zeus.<ref name="Lendering">{{Cite web |title=Lendering, Jona. "Alexander the God", Livius.org |url=https://www.livius.org/aj-al/alexander/alexander_z3.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161201165831/http://www.livius.org/aj-al/alexander/alexander_z3.html |archive-date=2016-12-01 |access-date=2020-03-26}}</ref>

=== Apocryphal letters ===
{{see also|Letters of Alexander the Great}}
*[[Leon of Pella]] wrote the work ''On the Gods in Egypt'' on the basis of an apocryphal letter sent from Alexander to his mother Olympias''.''
*The ''[[Epistola Alexandri ad Aristotelem]]'', described as being a letter sent from Alexander to his mentor [[Aristotle]], concerning his adventures in India.

=== Plutarch ===
Many Alexander legends are found in the writings of the Greek historian [[Plutarch]], such as that Alexander was born in the same day that the [[Temple of Artemis]] at Ephesus was burnt down, during which the god Artemis was too preoccupied with his birth to pay the requisite attention needed to save her burning temple. Later in life when Alexander offered to pay for the temples reconstruction, he was informed that it was not appropriate for gods to dedicate offerings to other gods. In another anecdote, it was said that the priestess of the Temple of Apollo in Delphi exclaimed to him "You are invincible o young!"

=== In Thessalonica ===
{{Main|Thessalonike of Macedon#Legend of Thessalonike}}

In medieval [[Thessalonica]], the largest city in the region of [[Diocese of Macedonia|Macedonia]], a popular legend arose among the inhabitants of the city connecting Alexander with the sculptures of a Roman-era portico of the city known as [[Las Incantadas]] ("the enchanted ones"), which had been erected long after his death. According to the legend, a Thracian king once visited Alexander, and his queen fell in love with him. They arranged to meet at night next to the portico, but the king learnt of this, and had his magician bewitch the portico so that everyone who passed near would be petrified. Alexander was notified not to go by his tutor [[Aristotle]], but the queen and her attendants were not as lucky, and they turned all into sculptures. The king and his magician arrived later to see their work, and they were petrified too.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Stuart |first1=J. |url=https://archive.org/details/gri_33125008297349/page/n229/mode/2up |title=The Antiquities of Athens, Measured and Delineated |last2=Revett |first2=N. |publisher=John Nichols |year=1762 |isbn= |volume=3 |location=London |pages=53–56}}</ref>

A popular Greek legend has it that Thessalonike became a [[mermaid]] who lived in the [[Aegean Sea|Aegean]] after the [[death of Alexander the Great]].<ref>{{cite book |last=MacEwen |first=Gwendolyn |title=Mermaids and Ikons: A Greek Summer |publisher=Anansi |year=1978 |isbn=978-0-88784-062-3 |page=73 |authorlink=Gwendolyn MacEwen}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Manna |first1=Anthony L. |title=Folktales from Greece |last2=Mitakidou |first2=Soula |publisher=Libraries Unlimited |year=2002 |isbn=1-56308-908-4 |page=96}}</ref> The legend states that Alexander, in his quest for the Fountain of Immortality, retrieved with great exertion a flask of immortal water.  In some versions of the story, he used the water to wash his sister's hair, making her immortal; in others, he forgot to tell her the contents of the flask and so used it to water a wild onion plant.<ref>Taietti, G. D. M. (2017). ''The greek reception of alexander the great'' (Order No. 10768496). [Doctoral Dissertation, University of Liverpool] Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (2116951715).</ref> When Alexander died his grief-stricken sister attempted to end her life by jumping into the sea.<ref>[[Amy Richlin]]. (2016). "The Kings of Comedy." In ''Roman Drama and Its Contexts''. Edited by Stavros Frangoulidis, Stephen J. Harrison, & Gesine Manuwald. (2016). De Gruyter.</ref> Instead of drowning, however, she became a mermaid who passes judgment on mariners throughout the centuries and across the seven seas. To the sailors who encounter her, she always poses the same question: "Is king Alexander alive?" (Greek: ''Ζει ο βασιλεύς Αλέξανδρος;''), to which the correct answer would be "He lives and reigns and conquers the world" (Greek: ''Ζει και βασιλεύει, και τον κόσμο κυριεύει!''). Given this answer, she would allow the ship and her crew to sail safely away in calm seas. Any other answer would transform her into the raging [[Gorgon]], bent on sending the ship and every sailor on board to the bottom of the sea.

===Claudius Aelianus===

[[Claudius Aelianus]] in the ''Characteristics of Animals'' wrote that [[Scythia]]ns say that there were horned donkeys, and their horns were holding water from the river [[Styx]]. Adding that Sopater brought one of these horns to Alexander, then Alexander set up the horn as a votive offering at [[Delphi]], with an inscription beneath it.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0590%3Abook%3D10%3Achapter%3D40 Aelian, Characteristics of Animals, § 10.40]</ref>

==Jewish tradition==

=== Josephus ===
[[Josephus]], a first-century historian, describes the [[Gates of Alexander]] (and is the first to mention them after [[Pliny the Elder]]).<ref>{{cite book |last=Meserve |first=Margaret |title=Empires of Islam in Renaissance historical thought |date=2008 |publisher=Harvard historical studies |isbn=978-0-674-02656-8 |location=USA |page=254}}</ref> Josephus describes these gates in the context of a barbarian group called the Scythians, for whom the boundary prevents their incursion. Elsewhere, Josephus also clarifies that the [[Scythians]] were known among the Jews as Magogites, descendants of the [[Magog (Bible)|Magog]] described in the Hebrew Bible. These references occur in two different works. ''[[The Jewish War]]'' states that the iron gates Alexander erected were controlled by the king of [[Hyrcania]] (on the south edge of the Caspian), and allowing passage of the gates to the [[Alans]] (whom Josephus considered a Scythic tribe) resulted in the sack of [[Media (region)|Media]]. Josephus's ''[[Antiquities of the Jews]]'' contains two relevant passages, one giving the ancestry of Scythians as descendants of Magog son of [[Japheth]], and another that refers to the Caspian Gates being breached by Scythians allied to [[Tiberius]] during the [[Armenian War of 58–63|Armenian War]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bietenholz |first=Peter G. |title=Historia and fabula: myths and legends in historical thought from antiquity to the modern age |publisher=Brill |year=1994 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZFjXaCAWoOUC&q=%22from+a+Syrian+version+it+found+its+way+into+the+Koran%22 |isbn=978-9004100633 | page=122}}</ref>

=== Talmud ===
The [[Talmud]] also has many legends relating to Alexander, For example, it mentions that the [[Samaritans]] conspired for the destruction of the temple, but Alexander prostrated himself at the feet of the high priest [[Simon the Just]]. It also mentions many other legends on Alexander, such as the Ten Questions of Alexander to the Sages of the South, his Journey to the Regions of Darkness, the Amazons, the Gold Bread, Alexander at the Gate of Paradise, his Ascent into the Air, and Descent into the Sea.<ref>[http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/1120-alexander-the-great Jewish Encyclopedia, Alexander The Great]</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://m.chabad.org/calendar/view/day_cdo/aid/240874/jewish/Alexander-in-Jerusalem.htm |title=Chabad, Alexander in Jerusalem |access-date=2013-11-04 |archive-date=2014-11-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141108221855/http://m.chabad.org/calendar/view/day_cdo/aid/240874/jewish/Alexander-in-Jerusalem.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The Talmud also records a story that describes Alexander seeking the [[Fountain of Life]], which also has versions appear in the ''[[Alexander Romance]]'' and in the Syriac ''[[Song of Alexander]]''. In the version as it appears in the Talmud, Alexander washes a fish in a spring which immediately jumps to life upon being washed. Realizing that he has discovered the Fountain, he washes his own face in it, though the significance of this is not explained in the story. The Talmudic version differs from the other versions, insofar as only in the Talmud does Alexander succeed in accessing the Fountain, and in this story, Alexander is the one to discover it as opposed to one of his servants.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Crone |first=Patricia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uDBRDAAAQBAJ&dq=song+of+alexander+jacob+serugh&pg=PA67 |title=Islam, the Ancient Near East and Varieties of Godlessness: Collected Studies in Three Volumes, Volume 3 |date=2016 |publisher=Brill |pages=67–68|isbn=978-90-04-31931-8 }}</ref>

== European tradition ==

=== Alexander sees the world ===
[[File:Aleksandar Makedonski in Otranto cathedral.jpg|thumb|Alexander the Great carried aloft by griffins, [[Otranto Cathedral]] floor mosaic]]{{Contradiction|section|did he ascend or descend?|about=whether Alexander ascended into the sky or descended into the ocean|date=November 2024}}
Wishing to see the world, Alexander was thought to have descended into the depths of the ocean in a sort of [[diving bell]], which would let him see the world from above. To do this he harnessed two large [[griffin]]s between which he was seated. He would hold meat skewers above their heads to entice them to keep flying further up.

Around 1260, [[Bertold von Regensburg]] preached, that like Alexander believed that "he could take down the highest stars from the sky by hand, so you too would like to go up in the air if you could." But the story showed where such a climb would lead, and proved that the great Alexander "was one of the greatest fools the world has ever seen."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bernd und Hiltrud Hainmüller |date=n.d. |title=Weltbilder des Mittelalters,Station 4: Innenraum – Symbolik in visuellen Medien,1. Die romanischen Skulpturen |url=https://hainmueller.de/publikationen/weltbilder-des-mittelalters.html |access-date=2022-03-16 |website=hainmueller.de}}</ref>

[[David Talbot Rice|Rice]] and [[John Boardman (art historian)|Boardman]] have both argued that the figure on the Anglo-Saxon [[Alfred Jewel]] intended to represent this scene in order to represent the notion of one coming to knowledge through sight. Boardman has also argued that the Anglo-Saxon [[Fuller Brooch]] carries a similar theme.<ref>[[John Boardman (art historian)|Boardman, John]], "Alfred and Alexander", pp. 137-139, in: Gosden, Christopher, Crawford, Sally, Ulmschneider, Katharina, ''Celtic Art in Europe: Making Connections'', 2014, Oxbow Books, {{ISBN|1782976582}}, 9781782976585, [https://books.google.com/books?id=YOOZBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA137 google books]</ref>

=== Slavic folk tales ===

In the [[Bulgarian_Folk_Songs|Bulgarian folk songs]] collection published by [[Miladinov_brothers|Dimitar and Konstantin Miladinov]] in 1861, under the chapter Legends, the first legend is about Tsar Aleksandar seeking the Immortal Water. The tale is recorded in what seems to be an Ohrid-Struga dialect. In the legend, Alexander finds the immortal water behind after walking three days in darkness, behind two mountains that open and close. He leaves the bottle with immortal water to his sister, who breaks it by accident. Alexander chases his sister to the sea, where she escapes and turns into a dolphin.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Miladinov |first1=Konstantin |last2=Miladinov |first2=Dimitar |title=Bulgarian Folk Songs |date=1861 |pages=526 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4I_KAAAAMAAJ&q=%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B8&pg=PA526}}</ref>

== Arabic tradition ==
{{Main|Alexander the Great in Arabic tradition}}
With the Greek ''[[Alexander Romance]]'' and its translation into numerous languages including [[Armenian Alexander Romance|Armenian]], Syriac, Arabic, Persian, Ethiopic, and more, an entire genre of literature was dedicated to the exploits of Alexander in both Christian and Muslim realms. Alexander was also the one [[Theories about Alexander the Great in the Quran|most frequently identified]] with [[Dhu al-Qarnayn]] ([[Arabic]]: ذو القرنين; lit. "The Two-Horned One"),<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Griffith |first=Sidney |date=2022-03-15 |title=Narratives of "the Companions of the Cave," Moses and His Servant, and Dhū 'l-Qarnayn in Sūrat al-Kahf |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5913/jiqsa.6.2021.a005 |journal=Journal of the International Qur'anic Studies Association |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=146–147 |doi=10.5913/jiqsa.6.2021.a005 |issn=2474-8420 |s2cid=251486595|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Chism |first=Christine |title=Alexander the Great in the Middle Ages |date=2016-02-04 |pages=51–75 |access-date=2024-01-17 |chapter=Facing The Land Of Darkness: Alexander, Islam, And The Quest For The Secrets Of God |chapter-url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.3138/9781442661301-007/html |publisher=University of Toronto Press |language=en |doi=10.3138/9781442661301-007 |isbn=978-1-4426-6130-1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Daneshgar |first=Majid |title=Studying the Qur'ān in the Muslim Academy |date=2020 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-006754-0 |series=AAR reflection and theory in the study of religion |location=New York (N.Y.) |pages=77}}</ref> a figure that appears in Surah [[Al-Kahf]] in the [[Quran]], the holy text of Islam, which greatly expanded the attention paid to him in the traditions of the Muslim world.

[[Arabic]] was introduced as the court language of the caliphate during the [[Umayyad Caliphate]] around the year 700. One of the first texts translated into Arabic was the ''Rasāʾil Arisṭāṭālīsa ilāʾl-Iskandar'' (''The Letters of Aristotle to Alexander'' or the ''Epistolary Romance''), which consist of a letter of apocryphal letters meant to confirm Alexander's reputation as a wise ruler. It was composed during the reign of [[Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik]] (r. 724–743) from Greek sources like the ''[[Epistola Alexandri ad Aristotelem]]''. Part of this text became a constituent of the ''[[Secretum Secretorum|Kitāb Sirr al-Asrār]]'' (''Book of Secret of Secrets'') by [[Yahya ibn al-Batriq]] (d. 815), a Pseudo-Aristoteliean treatise which became immensely popular and was translated directly from the Arabic into many other (including European) languages. Both Alexander and Aristotle became important figures in Islamic wisdom literature, such as in the chapter dedicated to Alexander in the 9th-century ''Ādāb al-Falāsifa'' (''Sayings of the Philosophers'') written in the name of the famous Christian translator and physician [[Hunayn ibn Ishaq]]. Other texts in this tradition from the tenth century onward included ''Ṣiwān al-Ḥikma'' (''Chest of Wisdom'') of [[Abu Sulayman Sijistani]], the ''al-Ḥikma al-Khālida'' (''Everlasting Wisdom'') of [[Miskawayh]], and the ''al-Kalim al-Rūḥānīya fīʾl-Ḥikam al-Yūnānīya'' (''Spiritual Sayings about Greek Maxims'') of [[Ibn Hindu]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Gaullier-Bougassas |first1=Catherine |title=Literature: A World History, Volumes 1-4 |last2=Doufikar-Aerts |first2=Faustina |date=2022 |publisher=Wiley |pages=532–533 |chapter=Alexander the Great in Medieval Literature}}</ref>

The ''Alexander Romance'' literature would enter into the Arabic world through its [[Syriac language]] recension (version), known as the ''[[Syriac Alexander Legend]]''. It would become the main source for Arabic-language historians who wanted to discuss the role of Alexander in pre-Islamic history. For example, the ''Kitāb al-Akhbār al-Ṭiwal'' (''Book of Comprehensive History'') of [[Abu Hanifa Dinawari]] (d. 896), itself based on an older version in Pseudo-Aṣma‛ī's ''Nihāyat al-Arab'' (''Ultimate Aim''), includes a short history of the kingdom of Alexander in this tradition. Other examples include the ''Tārīkh'' (''Historiae'') of al-Yaʿqūbī (d. 897), the ''[[History of the Prophets and Kings|al-Rusul waʾl-Mulūk]]'' (''History of the Prophets and Kings'', or simply ''Annales'') of al-Tabbari (d. 923), the ''Murūj al-Dhahab'' (''Meadows of Gold'') of [[al-Masudi]] (d. 956), and the ''Naẓm al-Jawhar'' (''String of Pearls'') of [[Eutychius of Alexandria]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Gaullier-Bougassas |first1=Catherine |title=Literature: A World History, Volumes 1-4 |last2=Doufikar-Aerts |first2=Faustina |date=2022 |publisher=Wiley |pages=534 |chapter=Alexander the Great in Medieval Literature}}</ref>

The earliest full-length Arabic ''Alexander Romance'' was the ''[[Qissat al-Iskandar]]'' of ʿUmara ibn Zayd, composed in the late 8th or early 9th century. The other prominent Arabic versions would be the ''[[Qissat Dhulqarnayn]]'' (9th century), a second ''Qissat Dhulqarnayn'' in the ''Ara'is al-Majalis fi Qisas al-Anbiya''' (''Book of Prophets'') of [[Abu Ishaq al-Tha'labi|al-Tha'labi]] (11th century), the ''[[Hadith Dhulqarnayn]]'' (15th century), the ''[[Sīrat al-Iskandar]]'' (15th century), the ''[[Sirat al-malek Eskandar Dhu’ l-Qarneyn|Sirat al-Malek Eskandar Dhu’ l-Qarneyn]],'' and the ''[[Tārīkh al-Iskandar al-Makdūni]]'' (''History of Alexander of Macedon'') (17th century).<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Gaullier-Bougassas |first1=Catherine |title=Literature: A World History, Volumes 1-4 |last2=Doufikar-Aerts |first2=Faustina |date=2022 |publisher=Wiley |pages=534–535 |chapter=Alexander the Great in Medieval Literature}}</ref>

== Persian tradition ==
[[File:Eskandar fighting the enemy.jpg|thumb|''Eskandar fighting the enemy'', 15th century Persian miniature, [[Czartoryski Museum]]|268x268px]]
Pre-Islamic Persian tradition of Alexander is overwhelmingly negative, as in the ''[[Book of Arda Viraf]]'' and the ''[[Bundahishn]]''. In these texts, Alexander is the enemy of [[Iran]] and of true religion. For example, the former text at one point says: "Then the accursed, wicked Evil Spirit deluded the accursed (''gizistag'') Alexander the Roman, who lived in Egypt, in order to cause the people to have doubt about this religion." Early Islamic representations of Alexander retain some vestige of such views, as Alexander is occasionally called a ''gizistag'' in the Shahnameh.<ref name=":0">{{Citation |last=Nawotka |first=Krzysztof |title=Syriac and Persian Versions of the Alexander Romance |date=2018-04-26 |work=Brill's Companion to the Reception of Alexander the Great |pages=525–542 |url=https://brill.com/display/book/9789004359932/BP000023.xml |access-date=2024-03-25 |publisher=Brill |language=en |doi=10.1163/9789004359932_022 |isbn=978-90-04-35993-2|url-access=subscription }}</ref> [[Theodor Nöldeke]] has also inferred the existence of a now-lost [[Middle Persian]] recension of the ''[[Alexander Romance]]'', which he believed was translated into [[Syriac language|Syriac]] as the [[Syriac Alexander Romance]], but more recent scholarship has cast doubt on the existence of such an intermediary.<ref name=":0" />

Islamic-era Persian accounts of the Alexander legend, known as the ''[[Iskandarnameh]]'', combined the Pseudo-Callisthenes and Syriac material about Alexander, some of which is found in the Qur'an, with [[Sasanian Empire|Sasanian]] Persian ideas about Alexander the Great. This is an ironic outcome considering Zoroastrian Persia's hostility to the national enemy who finished the [[Achaemenid Empire]], but was also directly responsible for centuries of Persian domination by [[Seleucid Empire|Hellenistic]] "foreign rulers".<ref>E.g. the Greek scholar G. G. Aperghis goes so far as to state: "Rather than considering the arrival of the Greeks as bringing something entirely new to the management of an empire, one should probably see them as apt pupils of excellent [Achaemenian] teachers. ([http://www.eie.gr/greece%2Diran%2Dconference/abstracts/abstr-aperghis.pdf link])"</ref> However, he is sometimes not depicted as a warrior and conqueror, but as a seeker of truth who eventually finds the ''[[Fountain of Youth|Ab-i Hayat]]'' (Water of Life).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Algar |first1=Hamid |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WuSK1054j54C&pg=PA292 |title=Mīrzā Malkum Khān: A Study in the History of Iranian Modernism |date=1973 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520022171 |page=292, ft. 26 |language=en}}</ref> Persian sources on the Alexander legend devised a mythical genealogy for him whereby his mother was a concubine of [[Darius II of Persia|Darius II]], making him the half-brother of the last Achaemenid king, [[Darius III of Persia|Darius III]]. By the 12th century such important writers as [[Nezami Ganjavi]] were making him the subject of their [[Epic poetry|epic poems]]. The ''Romance'' and the ''Syriac Legend'' are also the sources of incidents in [[Ferdowsi]]'s ''[[Shahnameh]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Manteghi |first=Haila |title=Alexander the Great in the Persian Tradition: History, Myth and Legend in Medieval Iran |date=2018-02-28 |publisher=I.B.Tauris |isbn=978-1-78672-366-6 |quote=The ''Shahnama'' also contains parts from the Syriac sources discussed in the first chapter of this book: the Syriac ''Alexander Romance'' (such as the dragon slaying and the journey to Chin), episodes from the ''Syriac Legend'' and ''Poem'' (such as Gog and Magog, and the Water of Life) and the philosophers' laments over Alexander's tomb.}}</ref> In the ''Shahnameh'', the Persian epic, [[Kai Bahman]]'s elder son Dara(b) is killed in battle with [[Alexander the Great]], that is, Dara/Darab is identified as [[Darius III]] and which then makes Bahman a figure of the 4th century BC. In another tradition, Alexander is the son of Dara/Darab and his wife Nahid, who is described to be the daughter of "Filfus of [[Rûm]]" i.e. "Philip the Greek" (''cf.'' [[Philip II of Macedon]]).<ref>[[Encyclopædia Iranica]] - Page 12 {{ISBN|978-0-7100-9109-3}}</ref><ref>Alexander the Great was called "the Ruman" in Zoroastrian tradition because he came from Greek provinces which later were a part of the [[eastern Roman empire]] - The archeology of world religions By Jack Finegan Page 80 {{ISBN|0-415-22155-2}}</ref>

== Indian tradition ==
Alexander the Great was claimed as the ancestor of the [[Hunza (princely state)|Hunza]] rulers.<ref name="Knight1893">{{cite book |author=Edward Frederick Knight |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_kL0RAAAAYAAJ |title=Where Three Empires Meet: A Narrative of Recent Travel in Kashmir, Western Tibet, Gilgit, and the Adjoining Countries |publisher=Longmans, Green, and Company |year=1893 |page=330}}</ref>

==Alexander Romance==
{{Main|Alexander Romance}}
[[File:Alexander romance. Armenian illuminated manuscript of XIV century (Venice, San Lazzaro, 424) (1).jpg|thumb|248x248px|''Alexander Romance'',14th century Armenian illuminated manuscript.]]
In the third-century AD, a quantity of legendary and historical material about Alexander the Great coalesced into the production of a text known as the ''[[Alexander Romance]]''. The text is pseudonymously attributed to [[Callisthenes]], a court historian of Alexander the Great. For this reason, its author is usually referred to as Pseudo-Callisthenes.

In premodern times, the ''Alexander Romance'' underwent more than 100 translations, elaborations, and derivations in 25 languages, including almost all European vernaculars as well as in every language from the Islamicised regions of Asia and Africa, from [[Mali]] to [[Malaysia]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Doufikar-Aerts |first=Faustina |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781118635193.ctwl0072 |title=A Companion to World Literature |date=2020 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-1-118-99318-7 |editor-last=Seigneurie |editor-first=Ken |edition= |pages=1–11 |language=en |chapter=The Arabic ''Alexander Romance'': Mirror of a Bold, Clever, and Devout Prince |doi=10.1002/9781118635193.ctwl0072}}</ref>

In Europe, the ''Alexander Romance'' was forgotten until [[Leo the Archpriest]] discovered a Greek copy in [[Constantinople]] while he was on a diplomatic missions. He produced a translation into Latin titled the ''[[Nativitas et victoria Alexandri Magni regis]]'', which became the basis of the far more successful and expanded version known as the ''[[Historia de preliis|Historia de Proeliis]]'', which went through three recensions between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries and made Alexander a household name throughout the [[Middle Ages]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stoneman |first=Richard |title=A history of Alexander the Great in world culture |date=2022 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-16769-8 |editor-last=Stoneman |editor-first=Richard |location=Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY |pages=7–8 |chapter=Introduction: Formation and Diffusion of the Alexander Legend}}</ref> Another very popular Latin version was the ''[[Alexandreis]]'' of [[Walter of Châtillon]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Walter |title=The Alexandreis of Walter of Châtillon: a twelfth-century epic: a verse translation |last2=Townsend |first2=David |date=1996 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-3347-6 |series=The Middle Ages series |location=Philadelphia, Pa}}</ref>

Translations would subsequently be made into all the major languages of [[Europe]] as versions of the Alexander romance became the most popular form of medieval European literature after the [[Bible]],<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last1=Mínguez Cornelles |first1=Víctor |title=The visual legacy of Alexander the Great from the Renaissance to the age of revolution |last2=Rodríguez Moya |first2=Inmaculada |date=2024 |publisher=Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group |isbn=978-1-032-54990-3 |series=Routledge research in art history |location=New York London |pages=22}}</ref> such as [[Old French]] (12th century),<ref>{{Cite book |last=Damian-Grint |first=Peter |title=The new historians of the twelfth-century Renaissance: inventing vernacular authority |date=1999 |publisher=Boydell Press |isbn=978-0-85115-760-3 |location=Rochester, N.Y |pages=2–3}}</ref> [[Middle Scots]] (''[[The Buik of Alexander]]'', 13th century),<ref name=":6">{{Citation |last=Mainer |first=Sergi |title=The Alexander and Charlemagne Romances |date=2010-01-01 |work=The Scottish Romance Tradition c. 1375–c. 1550 |pages=223–255 |url=https://brill.com/display/book/9789042029767/B9789042029767-s009.xml |access-date=2024-03-11 |publisher=Brill |language=en |doi=10.1163/9789042029767_009 |isbn=978-90-420-2976-7|url-access=subscription }}</ref> [[Italian language|Italian]],<ref>{{Citation |last=Morosini |first=Roberta |title=The Alexander Romance In Italy |date=2011-01-01 |work=A Companion to Alexander Literature in the Middle Ages |pages=329–364 |url=https://brill.com/display/book/edcoll/9789004211933/Bej.9789004183452.i-410_015.xml |access-date=2024-03-11 |publisher=Brill |language=en |doi=10.1163/ej.9789004183452.i-410.109 |isbn=978-90-04-21193-3|url-access=subscription }}</ref> [[Spanish language|Spanish]] (the ''[[Libro de Alexandre]]''), [[Central German]] ([[Lamprecht]]'s ''Alexanderlied'', and a 15th-century version by [[Johannes Hartlieb]]), [[Slavic languages|Slavonic]],<ref name=":7">{{Cite book |last1=Minaéva |first1=Oxana |title=Scandinavia and the Balkans: cultural interactions with Byzantium and Eastern Europe in the first Millennium AD |last2=Holmquist Olausson |first2=Lena |date=2015 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |isbn=978-1-4438-7761-9 |location=Newcastle upon Tyne (GB) |pages=107–108}}</ref> [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[Romanian language|Romanian]], [[Irish language|Irish]], and more.<ref name=":5" /><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Pseudo-Callisthenes |title=The Greek Alexander romance |last2=Stoneman |first2=Richard |date=1991 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-044560-2 |series=Penguin classics |location=London, England ; New York, NY, USA |pages=7–8}}</ref>

The ''[[Syriac Alexander Legend]]'', composed either in ~630 shortly after [[Heraclius]] defeated the Persians<ref name="ciancaglini">{{Cite journal |last=Ciancaglini |first=Claudia A. |date=2001 |title=The Syriac Version of the Alexander Romance |journal=Le Muséon |volume=114 |issue=1–2 |pages=121–140 |doi=10.2143/MUS.114.1.302}}</ref> or in the mid-6th century during the reign of [[Justinian I]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tesei |first=Tommaso |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197646878.001.0001 |title=The Syriac Legend of Alexander's Gate |date=2023-10-19 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/oso/9780197646878.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-19-764687-8}}</ref> contains additional motifs not found in the earliest Greek version of the ''Romance'', including the apocalypticization of the wall built against [[Gog and Magog]].<ref name="brillA">{{Cite book |last1=Donzel |first1=Emeri J. van |title=Gog and Magog in Early Eastern Christian and Islamic Sources: Sallam's Quest for Alexander's Wall |last2=Schmidt |first2=Andrea Barbara |date=2010 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-17416-0 |page=17 |quote=The episode of Alexander's building a wall against Gog and Magog, however, is not found in the oldest Greek, Latin, Armenian and Syriac versions of the ''Romance''. Though the Alexander Romance was decisive for the spreading of the new and supernatural image of Alexander the king in East and West, the barrier episode has not its origin in this text. The fusion of the motif of Alexander's barrier with the Biblical tradition of the apocalyptic peoples Gog and Magog appears in fact for the first time in the so called ''Syriac Alexander Legend''. This text is a short appendix attached to the Syriac manuscripts of the ''Alexander Romance''.}}</ref> Subsequent [[Middle East]]ern recensions of the Alexander legend were generated in the tradition of the Syriac recension, including versions in [[Arabic language|Arabic]], [[Middle Persian|Persian]] (''[[Iskandarnameh]]''), [[Ge'ez language|Ethiopic]], Hebrew (in the first part of [[Sefer HaAggadah]]), [[Ottoman Turkish language|Ottoman Turkish]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Ahmedi, Taceddin |url=http://universalium.academic.ru/256043/Ahmedi,_Taceddin |access-date=19 December 2011 |work=universalium.academic.ru}}</ref> (14th century), and [[Middle Mongol language|Middle Mongolian]] (13th-14th century).<ref name=":10">{{Cite journal |last=Cleaves |first=Francis Woodman |date=1959 |title=An Early Mongolian Version of The Alexander Romance |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2718540 |journal=Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies |volume=22 |pages=1–99 |doi=10.2307/2718540 |jstor=2718540 |issn=0073-0548|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

=== Eastern reception ===

==== Quran ====
[[File:"Alexander is Lowered Into the Sea".jpg|thumb|''Alexander is Lowered into the Sea'', from a ''Khamsa'' of [[Amir Khusrow|Amir Khusrau Dihlavi]], an illustrated manuscript from [[Mughal Empire]], attributed to Mukanda c. 1597-98, [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]<ref>{{Cite web |title="Alexander is Lowered into the Sea", Folio from a Khamsa (Quintet) of Amir Khusrau Dihlavi, 1597–98 |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/140003774?rpp=20&pg=8&ao=on&ft=mughal+empire&pos=145 |access-date=2018-12-14 |website=www.metmuseum.org}}</ref>|291x291px]]Alexander is often identified with [[Dhu al-Qarnayn]], literally ''"The Two-Horned One"'', mentioned in the [[Quran]], [[Al-Kahf]] 18:83–94. Similarities between the Quranic account and the ''[[Syriac Alexander Legend]]'' were also found in recent research<ref>Darvishi, Dariush, [https://www.academia.edu/95955711/%D8%A7%D9%81%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%87_%DB%8C_%D8%A7%D8%B3%DA%A9%D9%86%D8%AF%D8%B1_The_Alexander_Romance The Alexander Romance], page 44-51, Tehran, Negah-e Moaser, 2022</ref> (see [[Alexander in the Qur'an]]).<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = University of Toronto Press| isbn = 978-1-4426-4466-3| last = Fastina Doufikar-Aerts| title = Alexander the Great in the Middle Ages: Transcultural Perspectives| chapter = Coptic Miniature Painting in the Arabic Alexander Romance| date = 2016|page=173|quote=The essence of his theory is that parallels can be found in the Quranic verses on Dhu’l-qarnayn (18:82-9) and the Christian Syriac Alexander Legend. The hypothesis requires a revision, because Noldeke’s dating of Jacob of Sarug’s ''Homily'' and the ''Christian Syriac Alexander Legend'' is no longer valid; therefore, it does not need to be rejected, but it has to be viewed from another perspective. See my exposé in ''Alexander Magnus Arabicus'' (see note 7), chapter 3.3 and note 57.}}</ref> The Arabic tradition also elaborated the legend that Alexander the Great had been the companion of [[Aristotle]] and [[Plato]].

==== Persian tradition ====
Persian versions of the ''Alexander Romance'' began with depictions covering three sections of [[Ferdowsi]]'s ''[[Shahnameh]]'' (''Book of Kings''). The first full length Persian recension of the ''Romance'' appeared in an anonymous work entitled the ''[[Iskandarnameh]]'', likely dating to the eleventh century. [[Nizami Ganjavi]] would then compose his own ''[[Iskandarnameh (Nizami)|Iskandarnameh]]'' under significant influence from the representations of Ferdowsi's chronicle. The next major Persian version was the ''[[Ayina-i Iskandari (Amir Khusrau)|Ayina-i Iskandari]]'' (''Alexandrine Mirror'') of the poet [[Amir Khusrau]], who began first by surveying the earlier works of Ferdowsi and Nizami before proceeding into his own portrait. The final major Persian version was the ''[[Kherad-name|Kherad-name-ye Eskandari]]'' (''Alexandrian Book of Wisdom'') of [[Jami|Jâmi]] composed in the 15th century,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Casari |first=Mario |title=Persian narrative poetry in the classical era, 800-1500: romantic and didactic genres |date=2023 |publisher=I.B. Tauris |isbn=978-1-78673-664-2 |editor-last=Ashtiany |editor-first=Mohsen |series=A history of Persian literature / founding editor - Ehsan Yarshater |location=London New York Oxford New Delhi Sydney |pages=491, 504–510 |chapter=The Alexander Legend in Persian Literature}}</ref> though numerous other versions would also continue to be written.<ref name=":13">{{Cite book |last=Casari |first=Mario |title=Persian narrative poetry in the classical era, 800-1500: romantic and didactic genres |date=2023 |publisher=I.B. Tauris |isbn=978-1-78673-664-2 |editor-last=Ashtiany |editor-first=Mohsen |series=A history of Persian literature / founding editor - Ehsan Yarshater |location=London New York Oxford New Delhi Sydney |pages=513–534 |chapter=The Alexander Legend in Persian Literature}}</ref>

==== Malay tradition ====
The [[Malay language|Malay]] ''[[Hikayat Iskandar Zulkarnain]]'' was written about Alexander the Great as Dhul-Qarnayn and the ancestry of several Southeast Asian royal families is traced from Iskandar Zulkarnain, through Raja [[Rajendra Chola]] (Raja Suran, Raja Chola) in the [[Malay Annals]], such as the [[Sumatra]] [[Minangkabau people|Minangkabau]] royalty.<ref name="Miksic2013">{{cite book |author=John N. Miksic |author1-link=John N. Miksic |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bMt3BgAAQBAJ&q=chola+zulkarnain&pg=PA147 |title=Singapore and the Silk Road of the Sea, 1300_1800 |date=30 September 2013 |publisher=NUS Press |isbn=978-9971-69-574-3 |pages=147–}}</ref><ref name="Vienne2015">{{cite book |author=Marie-Sybille de Vienne |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IfpIBwAAQBAJ&q=chola+zulkarnain&pg=PA47 |title=Brunei: From the Age of Commerce to the 21st Century |date=9 March 2015 |publisher=NUS Press |isbn=978-9971-69-818-8 |pages=47–}}</ref>

===Western reception===
Western epics based on the ''Alexander Romance'' include:
*''[[Alexandreis]]'' (Latin)
*''[[Alexanderlied]]'' (German)
*[[The Buik of Alexander|''Buik of Alexander'']] (Middle Scots)
*''[[Li romans d'Alixandre]]'' (French)
*''[[Libro de Alexandre]]'' (Spanish)
*''[[Alexanders saga]]'' (Old Norse-Icelandic)

== See also ==
*[[Dhu al-Qarnayn]]
*[[Mythography]]
*[[Historiography of Alexander the Great]]
*[[History of Greece]]
*[[Cultural depictions of Alexander the Great]]

==References==

=== Citations ===
{{reflist}}

=== Sources ===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book |last=Aerts |first=Faustina Clara Wilhelmina |author-link=Aerts |title=Alexander Magnus Arabicus: A Survey of the Alexander Tradition Through Seven Centuries : from Pseudo-Callisthenes to Ṣūrī |title-link= |date=2010 |publisher=Peeters |isbn=978-9042921832}}
* {{refend}}

== Further reading ==
* Doufikar-Aerts, Faustina. ''Alexander Magnus Arabicus: A Survey of the Alexander Tradition Through Seven Centuries: From Pseudo-Callisthenes to Suri'', Peeters 2010.
* Manteghi, Haila. ''Alexander the Great in the Persian Tradition: History, Myth and Legend in Medieval Iran'', I.B. Tauris 2018.
* Moore, Kenneth. ''Brill's Companion to the Reception of Alexander the Great'', Brill 2018.
* Ogden, Daniel. ''The Cambridge Companion to Alexander the Great'', Cambridge University Press 2024.
* Stock, Markhus (ed.). ''Alexander the Great in the Middle Ages: Transcultural Perspectives'', University of Toronto Press 2016.
* Stoneman, Richard. ''Alexander the Great: a Life in Legend.'' New Haven, Conn.; London: Yale University Press, 2008. ISBN 9780300112030 (hbk).
* Stoneman, Richard et al. (eds.). ''The Alexander Romance in Persia and the East'', Barkhuis 2012.
* Stoneman, Richard. ''A History of Alexander the Great in World Culture'', Cambridge University Press 2022.
* Zuwiyya, David (ed.). ''A Companion to Alexander Literature in the Middle Ages'', Brill 2011.

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[[Category:Alexander the Great in legend| ]]
[[Category:Legendary dreams]]