In his History of Prophets and Kings, better known as History of Al-Tabari, Al-Tabari has devoted a chapter to the tale of Darius the Great and Darius the Younger (see Faustina Doufikar-Aerts, Alexander Magnus Arabicus, Paris-Leuven, 2010, 22-3 with notes 35-7. It is more famous in western literature as the Annales of Al-Tabari, as noted…

The designation and depiction of Alexander the Great as “Two-Horned” goes back to the close connection between the Macedonian king and the syncretic god Zeus-Ammon. After Alexander’s journey to the Ammon Temple in the Egyptian oasis of Sīwa, Alexander is said to have been declared the son of Ammon (cf. Callisthenes, FGrH 124, F14a, Jacoby…

Article While many literary works translated into the Syriac did not have much of an impact on Syriac literature in general, the texts dealing with the igure of Alexander, together with other works of Persian origin such as Kalīlah wa-Dimnah, raised a great deal of interest not only in the West (L. Braccesi, L’Alessandro occidentale.…

The Syriac Alexander Romance (ar) is the most distinguished part of the Syriac and indeed of all eastern literary tradition of Alexander the Great. A notable peculiarity of ar is that a very high number of its versions were produced in late Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the early modern age in Europe, Asia and…

Jerome’s work provides an idealized picture of Hilarion—anchorite and saint. Even though Alexander was not the subject of the work, it is interesting how Jerome connects together Classical and Jewish literary tradition on Alexander the Great. The anecdote of Alexander weeping at the grave of Achilles was commonplace in the Classical Greco-Roman literature appearing in…

Alexander and the High Priest: Josephus’ Account The encounter between Alexander and the high priest first appears in Book 11 of Flavius Josephus’ Jewish Antiquities. This is obviously not the first reference to Alexander in Jewish literature. 1Maccabees opens with a description of Alexander’s conquests and of his death (1Macc 1:1–7). It is also highly…

Article For a good part of the irst two books of Pseudo-Kallisthenes, Alexander and his main rival, the Persian king Darius III, are shown exchanging letters, by which they menace each other or negotiate on various occasions of their conlict. For the peculiar divergences of the Syriac and Medieval Greek versions see below. Generally on…

The post-Alexander world would return to his character over and over, to illustrate a number of various and conflicting features. The king would obviously be recalled by numerous Greek and Roman writers in their works, but the reflected memory of his deeds and life was preserved in the histories of numerous other cultures, and not…

Article Philip was depicted as a thirteenth Olympian at his daughter’s wedding at Aegae in 336 (d.s. 16.92.5), Demades proposed in 324bc that Alexander be included as a thirteenth god (Ael. vh 5.12), and Lucian claimed that Alexander was added to the Dodekatheoi by a number of Greek cities (DMort 391). On the phenomenon of…