Alexander romance

See also: Alexander the Great in legend

Late Antiquity (4th to 6th centuries).
Alexander romance is any of several collections of leg- The Latin Alexandreis of Walter of Chtillon was one of
the most popular medieval romances. A 10th-century
Latin version by one Leo the Archpriest is the basis of
the later medieval vernacular translations in all the major languages of Europe, including Old French (12th century), Middle English, Early Scots (The Buik of Alexander) (13th century), Italian, Spanish (the Libro de Alexandre), Central German (Lamprecht's Alexanderlied and
a 15th-century version by Johannes Hartlieb), Slavonic,
Romanian, and Hungarian.
The Syriac version gave rise to Middle Eastern recensions, including Arabic, Persian (the Iskandarnamah),
Ethiopic, Hebrew (in the rst part of Sefer HaAggadah),
Ottoman Turkish[2] (14th century), and Middle Mongolian (13th century).
17th-century manuscript of an Alexandrine novel (Russia):
Alexander exploring the depths of sea

The story of Dhul-Qarnayn in the Quran (Sura al-Kahf

18:83-98) matches the Gog and Magog episode in the
Romance, which has caused some controversy among Islamic scholars (see Alexander the Great in the Quran).
Alexander was identied in Persian and Arabic-language
sources as Dh-'l Qarnayn, Arabic for the Horned
One, likely a reference to the ram horns Alexander wears
on coins minted during his rule to indicate his descent
from the Egyptian god Amun. Islamic accounts of the
Alexander legend, particularly in Persia, combined the
Pseudo-Callisthenes material with indigenous Sasanian
Middle Persian ideas about Alexander.

ends concerning the mythical exploits of Alexander the

Great. The earliest version is in Greek, dating to the 3rd
century. Several late manuscripts attribute the work to
Alexanders court historian Callisthenes, but the historical gure died before Alexander and could not have written a full account of his life. The unknown author is still
sometimes called Pseudo-Callisthenes.
The text was recast into various versions between the
4th and the 16th centuries, in Medieval Greek, Latin,
Armenian, Syriac, Hebrew and most medieval European
vernaculars.

2 Greek versions
1

Versions of the romance

The oldest version of the Greek text, the Historia Alexandri Magni (Recensio ), can be dated to the 3rd century.
It was subjected to various revisions during the Byzantine
Empire, some of them recasting it into poetical form in
Medieval Greek vernacular. Recensio is the source of a
Latin version by Julius Valerius Alexander Polemius (4th
century), and an Armenian version (5th century). Most of
the content of the Romance is fantastical, including many
miraculous tales and encounters with mythical creatures
such as Sirens or Centaurs.

Alexander was a legend in his own time. In a nowlost history of the king, the historical Callisthenes portrayed the sea in Cilicia as drawing back from him in
proskynesis. Writing after Alexanders death, another
participant, Onesicritus, went so far as to invent a tryst
between Alexander and Thalestris, queen of the mythical
Amazons. (According to Plutarch, when Onesicritus read
this passage to his patron Lysimachus, one of Alexanders
generals who went on to become a king himself, Lysimachus quipped I wonder where I was at the time.[1] )

Recensio sive Recensio vetusta: W. Kroll, Historia

Alexandri Magni, vol. 1. Berlin: Weidmann, 1926

Throughout Antiquity and the Middle Ages, the Romance

underwent numerous expansions and revisions exhibiting
a plasticity unseen in higher literary forms. Latin, Armenian, Georgian and Syriac translations were made in

Recensio : L. Bergson, Der griechische Alexanderroman. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1965
1

FRENCH VERSIONS

Recensio (e cod. Leidensi Vulc. 93) L. Bergson, Der griechische Alexanderroman. Rezension
. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1965

Prosa.Fassungen des Alexanderromans, 2 vols

[Beitrge zur klassischen Philologie 141 & 150
Meisenheim am Glan: Hain 1983]

Recensio (e cod. Paris. gr. 1685 et cod. Messinensi 62): L. Bergson, Der griechische Alexanderroman. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1965

Recensio V (cod. Vind. theol. gr. 244): K.

Mitsakis, Der byzantinische Alexanderroman nach
dem Codex Vind. Theol. gr. 244 [Miscellanea Byzantina Monacensia 7. Munich: Institut
fr Byzantinistik und neugriechische Philologie der
Universitt, 1967]

Recensio (lib. 1): U. von Lauenstein, Der griechische Alexanderroman. [Beitrge zur klassischen
Philologie 4. Meisenheim am Glan: Hain, 1962]
Recensio (lib. 2): H. Engelmann, Der griechische
Alexanderroman. [Beitrge zur klassischen Philologie 12. Meisenheim am Glan: Hain, 1963]
Recensio (lib. 3): F. Parthe, Der griechische
Alexanderroman. [Beitrge zur klassischen Philologie 33. Meisenheim am Glan: Hain, 1969]

Recensio K (cod. 236 Kutlumussiu, Athos), vernacular: K. Mitsakis, " , Byzantinischneugriechische Jahrbcher 20 (1970)
Recensio poetica (recensio R), vernacular: D.
Holton, . The tale of
Alexander. The rhymed version [
. Thessalonica, 1974]

Recensio (e cod. Vat. gr. 1700, 88v89r): G.

Ballaira, Frammenti inediti della perduta recensione del romanzo di Alessandro in un codice Vaticano, Bollettino del comitato per la preparazione 3 French versions
dell'edizione nazionale dei classici greci e latini 13
(1965)
There are several Old and Middle French and one AngloNorman
Alexander romances:
Recensio : J. Trumpf, Anonymi Byzantini vita
Alexandri regis Macedonum. Stuttgart: Teubner,
1974
Recensio (lib. 3): H. van Thiel, Die Rezension
des Pseudo-Kallisthenes Bonn: Habelt 1959
Recensio (Pseudo-Methodius redactio 1) H. van
Thiel, Die Rezension des Pseudo-Callisthenes
Bonn: Habelt 1959
Recensio (Pseudo-Methodius redactio 2) H. van
Thiel, Die Rezension des Pseudo-Kallisthenes
Bonn: Habelt 1959
Recensio F (cod. Flor. Laurentianus Ashburn
1444), vernacular: V.L. Konstantinopulos and
A.C. Lolos, Ps.-Kallisthenes Zwei mittelgriechische Prosa-Fassungen des Alexanderromans, 2 vols
[Beitrge zur klassischen Philologie 141 & 150,
Meisenheim am Glan: Hain 1983]
Recensio : G. Veloudis, .
[ 39. Athens: Hermes,
1977]
Recensio Byzantina poetica (cod. Marcianus 408):
S. Reichmann, Das byzantinische Alexandergedicht
nach dem codex Marcianus 408 herausgegeben
[Beitrge zur klassischen Philologie 13. Meisenheim am Glan: Hain, 1963]
Recensio E (cod.
Eton College 163), vernacular: V.L. Konstantinopulos and A.C. Lolos, Ps.-Kallisthenes, Zwei mittelgriechische

1. The Alexandre of Albric de Brianon was composed around 1120.

2. Fuerre de Gadres by a certain Eustache, later used
by Alexandre de Bernay and Thomas de Kent
3. Decasyllabic Alexander, anonymous from 116070.
4. Mort Alixandre, an anonymous fragment of 159
lines.
5. Li romans d'Alixandre (c.1170), attributed to clergyman Alexandre de Bernay (also known as Alexandre de Pris), is based on the translations of various episodes of the conquerors life as composed
by previous poets (Lambert de Tort, Eustache and
more importantly Albric of Besanon). Unlike
other authors of the era who undertook the Alexander saga, he did not base his work on the PseudoCallisthenes or on the various translations of Julius
Valerius work. As is common in medieval literature, the project stems from the desire to improve
on the work of others and to oer the complete
life of the hero to the public, a theme that is also
very present in the cyclical turn that the chansons
de geste took at the time. It should be noted that
Thomas de Kent also penned (probably) the very
same decade a version of the saga, Le roman de
toute chevalerie, which is independent of Alexandre
de Bernays poem: Alexanders inuence on the medieval imagination is thus shown as being as great,
if not greater, than that of other pagan gures such
as Hercules or Aeneas.

3
6. Thomas de Kent (or Eustache), around 1175,
wrote the Anglo-Norman Roman de toute chevalerie,
which became the basis for the Middle English King
Alysaunder.
7. La Venjance Alixandre by Jehan le Nevelon.
8. The Alixandre en Orient of Lambert de Tort was
composed around 1170.
9. Le Vengement Alixandre by Gui de Cambrai, before
1191.
10. The Roman d'Alexandre en prose was the most popular Old French version. Anonymous.
11. Prise de Defur, from Picardy c. 1250.
12. The Voyage d'Alexandre au Paradis terrestre is a
French adaptation (c. 1260) of the Latin Iter ad paradisum
13. The Vow Cycle of Alexander romances includes the
Voeux du paon by Jacques de Longuyon, Restor du
Paon by Jean le Court, and Parfait du paon by Jean
de Le Mote.
14. The Faicts et les Conquestes d'Alexandre le Grand by
Jean Wauquelin c. 1448.
15. The Fais et concquestes du noble roy Alexandre is a
late medieval prose version.
16. The Faits du grand Alexandre by Vasque de Lucne
is a prose translation (1468) of Quintus Curtius Rufus' Historiae Alexandri Magni.

English versions

In medieval England the Alexander Romance experienced a remarkable popularity. It is even referred to in
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, where the monk apologizes
to the pilgrimage group for treating a material so well
known. However, unlike the indigenous legend of King
Arthur and the related romances dealing with the Matter
of Britain, the Alexander Romance neither connes itself
to the history and culture of Western Europe, nor is it
a story situated in the Middle Ages. There are ve major romances in Middle English which have been passed
down to us and most remain only in fragments. There are
also two versions from Scotland, one which has sometimes been ascribed to the Early Scots poet John Barbour
which exists only in a sixteenth-century printing, and a
Middle Scots version from 1499:
1. King Alisaunder from c. 1275. In medieval orthography, king could be kyng and Alisaunder
could be Alysaunder.

2. The Romance of Alisaunder (or Alexander of Macedon), sometimes referred to as Alexander A, is a

fragment of 1247 lines and written in alliterative
verse. It was probably written between 1340
and 1370, shortly before the beginning of the
Alliterative Revival, of which it is believed to be
one of the oldest remaining poems. It has been preserved in a school notebook dating from 1600. In
the broad strokes Alexander A deals with the begetting of Alexander by Nectanebus, his birth and early
years and breaks o in the midst of the account
of Philips siege of Byzantium. It is likely that the
source for this fragment has been the I-recension
of the Historia de Preliis. Beside that it has been expanded with additional material taken from Paulus
Orosius' Historiae adversum paganos, the adverse
remarks, which are typical of Orosius, however have
been omitted by the poet, whose main concern is
Alexanders heroic conduct.
3. Alexander and Dindimus, sometimes referred to as
Alexander B, is also written in alliterative verse.
This fragment is found in the MS Bodley 264(it)
and consists of ve letters which are passed between Alexander and Dindimus, who is the king of
the Brahmins, a people of philosophers who shun
all worldly lusts, ambitions and entertainments. In
this respect their way of life resembles the ideal of
an aescetic life, which was also preached by medieval monastic orders, such as the Franciscans. The
source of Alexander B again is the I-recension of
the Historia de Preliis.
4. The Wars of Alexander, sometimes referred to as
Alexander C, is the longest of the alliterative versions of the Middle English Alexander Romances.
It goes back to the I-recension of the Historia de
Preliis and can be found in the MS Ashmole 44 and
in the Dublin Trinity College MS 213. Although
both manuscripts are incomplete they supplement
each other fairly well. In this version much space
is given to letters and prophecies, which often bear
a moralizing and philosophical tenor. The letters are
an integral part of the Pseudo-Callisthenes tradition.
The dominant theme is pride, which inevitably leads
to the downfall of kings. In The Wars of Alexander the hero is endowed with superhuman qualities,
which shows in the romance insofar as his enemies
fall to him by the dozens and he is always at the center of action.
5. The Prose Life of Alexander copied by Robert
Thornton, c. 1440.
6. The Buik of Alexander, anonymous, attributed to
John Barbour, dates to 1438 according to its rst
printed edition from 1580.
7. The Buik of King Alexander the Conquerour by
Gilbert Hay, 1499. This work is in Middle Scots.

10 LITERATURE

Jewish versions

Josephus in his Antiquities of the Jews mentions that

Alexander visited Jerusalem and saluted the high priest,
saying that he has seen him in his dreams back in
Macedonia.[3]
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 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.[4][5]
There is also the legend of the Egyptians suing the Jews
before Alexander.[6]

Christian and Islamic versions

See also: Alexander the Great in the Qur'an

The Syriac, Persian, Arabic, Ethiopic and Bulgar versions of the Alexander romance are all closely related
Christian and Muslim variants. Philologists, studying ancient Christian legends about Alexander the Great, have
come to conclude that the Qur'ans stories about DhulQarnayn closely parallel certain legends about Alexander
the Great found in ancient Hellenistic and Christian writings. There is some numismatic evidence, in the form
of ancient coins, to identify the Arabic epithet DhulQarnayn with Alexander the Great. There is also a long
history of monotheistic religions co-opting the historical
Alexander. Finally, ancient Christian Syriac and Ethiopic
manuscripts of the Alexander romance from the Middle
East have been found which closely resemble the story in
the Qur'an. This leads to the theologically controversial
conclusion that Qur'an refers to Alexander in the mention of Dhul-Qarnayn. Two later Persian varieties are the
Iskandarnameh and the Aina-yi Sikanderi of Amir Khusrow

Slavonic versions

In the Middle Ages and later, on the Balkans and in Eastern Europe, also appeared many translations of the novel
in Old-Slavonic and Slavonic languages.
This is how a version in Bulgarian from 1810 begins:
Alexandriada a story of the great Emperor
Alexander of Macedonia, son of Philip. God
decided to punish those kings who had equated

themselves with Him And chose the glorious

Macedonia to make it happen. [7]

8 Notes
[1] Plutarch, Life of Alexander, XLVI.
[2] Ahmedi, Taceddin. universalium.academic.ru.
trieved 19 December 2011.

Re-

[3] Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews XI

[4] Jewish Encyclopedia, Alexander The Great
[5] Chabad, Alexander in Jerusalem
[6] Chabad, Egyptians Sue the Jews
[7] Lyubomir Miletich -
1810 . ( XIII), page 48, Soa,
Bulgaria, 1936

9 Translations
Harf-Lancner, Laurence (translator and commentator, edited by Armstrong and al.) (1994). Le roman
d'Alexandre, Livre de poche. ISBN 2-253-06655-9.
Southgate, Minoo (translator) (1978). Iskandarnamah : a Persian medieval Alexander-romance.
New York: Columbia Univ. Press. ISBN 0-23104416-X.
Stoneman, Richard (editor and translator) (1991).
The Greek Alexander Romance. New York: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-044560-9.
Wolohojian, A. H., The Romance of Alexander the
Great by Pseudo-Callisthenes (from the Armenian),
Columbia University Press (1969).

10 Literature
Boyle, J. A., The Alexander Romance In The East
And West, Bulletin Of The John Rylands University
Library Of Manchester 60 (1977), pp. 1920.
Budge, E. A. W., The History Of Alexander The
Great Being The Syriac Version Of The PseudoCallisthenes, Cambridge University Press, 1889.
Chasseur, M., Oriental Elements in Surat al Kahf.
Annali di Scienze Religiose 1, Brepols Publishers
2008, ISSN 2031-5929, p. 255-289 (Brepols Journals Online)
Gero, S., The Legend Of Alexander The Great In
The Christian Orient, Bulletin Of The John Rylands
University Library Of Manchester, 1993, Volume
75.

5
Gosman, Martin, Le roman de toute chevalerie et
le public vis: la lgende au service de la royaut".
In Neophilologus 72 (1988), 335343.
Gosman, Martin, Le roman d'Alexandre et les
juvenes": une approche socio-historique. In
Neophilologus 66 (1982), 328339.
Gosman, Martin, La lgende d'Alexandre le Grand
dans la littrature franaise du douzime sicle,
Rodopi, 1997. ISBN 90-420-0213-1.
Merkelbach, Reinhold, Die Quellen des griechischen
ALexanderromans (Munich, 1977). Cf. his and
Stanley Bursteins discussions of the epigraphical
fragment SEG 33.802 in the journal Zeitschrift fr
Papyrologie und Epigraphik, Vol. 77 (1989), 275280.
Selden, Daniel, Text Networks, Ancient Narrative
8 (2009), 123.
Stoneman, Richard, Alexander the Great: A Life in
Legend, Yale University Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0300-11203-0

11

External links

The Medieval Alexander Project at the University of

Rochester
Wiki Classical Dictionary
Is The Source Of Qur'an 18:60-65 The Alexander
Romances?
, .

1810 .
(=
, XIII). , 1936
The Wild Man: Medieval Myth and Symbolism, an
exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum
of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Alexander romance (nos. 5-7)

12

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12.1

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