Alexander Romance

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Alexander Romance

Alexander romance is any of several collections of legends concerning the mythical exploits of Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great , also known as Alexander III of Macedon was an ancient Greeks King of Macedon . He was one of the most successful military commanders of all time and is presumed undefeated in battle....
. The earliest version is in Greek

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
, dating to the 3rd century. Several late manuscripts attribute the work to Alexander's court historian Callisthenes

Callisthenes

Callisthenes of Olynthus was a Ancient Greece historian. He was the son of Hero and Proxenus of Atarneus, which made him the great nephew of Aristotle by his sister Arimneste....
, but the historical figure died before Alexander and couldn't 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 century, in Middle Greek, Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
, Armenian

Armenian language

The 'Armenian language' is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenians. It is the official language of the Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh....
, Syriac, and most medieval European vernaculars.

ander was a legend in his own time.

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Encyclopedia

Alexander romance is any of several collections of legends concerning the mythical exploits of Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great

Greek language

Callisthenes

Latin

Armenian language

Versions of the romance

Alexander was a legend in his own time. In a now-lost history of the king, the historical Callisthenes portrayed the sea in Cilicia

Cilicia

In antiquity, Cilicia now known as ?ukurova, was a commonly used name of the south coastal region of the Anatolian peninsula, and a political entity in Roman times....
as drawing back from him in proskynesis

Proskynesis

Proskynesis, formed from the Ancient Greek words pros and kuneo literally means "kissing towards", and refers to the traditional Persian Empire act of prostrating oneself before a person of higher social rank....
. Writing after Alexander's death, another participant, Onesicritus

Onesicritus

Onesicritus , a Greek historical writer, , who accompanied Alexander the Great on his campaigns in Asia. He claimed to have been the commander of Alexander's fleet but was actually only a helmsman; Arrian and Nearchus often criticize him for this....
, went so far as to invent a tryst between Alexander and Thalestris

Thalestris

According to the Greek mythology Greek Alexander Romance, Queen Thalestris of the Amazons brought 300 women to Alexander the Great, hoping to breed a race of children as strong and intelligent as he....
, queen of the mythical Amazons

Amazons

The Amazons , ) are a nation of all-female warriors in Classical and Greek mythology, who were possibly historical. Herodotus placed them in a region bordering Scythia in Sarmatians....
. (According to Plutarch

Plutarch

Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. AD 46 ? 120 ? commonly known in English as Plutarch ? was a Ancient Rome historian , biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonism....
, when Onesicritus read this passage to his patron Lysimachus

Lysimachus

Lysimachus was a Macedonian officer and Diadochi of Alexander the Great, who became a basileus in 306 BCE, ruling Thrace, Anatolia andMacedonia....
, one of Alexander's generals who went on to become a king himself, Lysimachus quipped "I wonder where I was at the time.")

Throughout Antiquity

Classical antiquity

Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome....
and the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
, the Romance underwent numerous expansions and revisions exhibiting a plasticity unseen in "higher" literary forms. Latin

Latin

Armenian language

The 'Armenian language' is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenians. It is the official language of the Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh....
, Georgian

Georgian language

Georgian is the official language of Georgia , a country in the Caucasus .Georgian is the primary language of about 3.9 million people in Georgia itself, and of another 500,000 abroad ....
and Syriac translations were made in Late Antiquity

Late Antiquity

Late Antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the transitional centuries from Classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, in both mainland Europe and the Mediterranean world: generally from the end of the Roman Empire's Crisis of the Third Century to the Islamic conquests and the re-organization of the Byzantine Empire under...
(4th to 6th centuries).

The Latin Alexandreis
Alexandreis

Alexandreis, sive Gesta Alexandri Magni is a medieval Latin language epic poetry by Walter of Ch?tillon, a 12th-century France writer and theology....
of Walter of Châtillon

Walter of Chatillon

Walter of Ch?tillon was a 12th-century France writer and theology who wrote in the Latin. He studied under Stephen of Beauvais and at the University of Paris....
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

Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
, including French

Old French

Old French was the Romance languages dialect continuum spoken in territories which span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from around 1000 to 1300....
(12th century), English

Middle English

Middle English is the name given by historical linguistics to the diverse forms of the English language spoken between the Norman conquest of England of 1066 and about 1470, when the #Chancery Standard, a form of London-based English, began to become widespread, a process aided by the introduction of the printing press into England by William...
, Scots

Early Scots

Early Scots language describes the emerging literary language of the Northern Middle English speaking parts of Scotland in the period before 1450....
(The Buik of Alexander
The Buik of Alexander

The Buik of Alexander is a short title for the two known Scots language versions of the Alexander romance stories ? a genre which was common in Medieval European literature, particularly France from the 12th century onwards, and the British Isles in the 14th and 15th centuries....
) (13th century), Italian

Italian language

Italian is a Romance languages spoken by about 63 million people as a first language, primarily in Italy. In Switzerland, Italian is one of four Linguistic geography of Switzerlands....
, Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish or Castilian is a Romance languages that originated in northern Spain, and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile and evolved into the principal language of government and trade....
(the Libro de Alexandre
Libro de Alexandre

The Libro de Alexandre is a Old Spanish epic poem about Alexander the Great written between 1178 and c. 1250 in the mester de clerec?a. It is largely based on the Alexandreis of Walter of Ch?tillon, but also contains many fantastical elements common to the Alexander romance....
), German

Middle German

The phrase Middle German can mean two things, both of which may be more precisely expressed with different terms.Used to indicate a historical period, it refers to the German language of the 11th-15th centuries....
(the Alexanderlied and a 15th century version by Johannes Hartlieb

Johannes Hartlieb

Johannes Hartlieb was a physician of Late Medieval Bavaria, probably of a family from Neuburg an der Donau. He was in the employment of Louis VII, Duke of Bavaria and Albert VI of Austria in the 1430s, and of Albert III, Duke of Bavaria from 1440, and of the latter's son Sigismund of Bavaria from 1456....
), Slavonic

Slavic languages

File:Slavic europe.svgThe Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia....
, Romanian

Romanian language

Romanian or Daco-Romanian ; self-designation: limba rom?na, ) is a Romance languages spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova....
, and Hungarian

Hungarian language

Hungarian is a Uralic languages unrelated to most other languages in Europe. It is mainly spoken in Hungary and by the Hungarian minorities in the seven neighbouring countries....
.

The Syriac version gave rise to Middle East

Middle East

File:GreaterMiddleEast1.pngThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, western Asia, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East....
ern recensions, including Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages languages such as Hebrew language and Aramaic language....
, Persian

Middle Persian

Middle Persian is the Iranian languages language/ethnolect of Southwestern Iran that during Sassanid times became a prestige dialect and so came to be spoken in other regions as well....
(the Iskandarnamah), Ethiopic

Ge'ez language

Ge'ez is an ancient South Semitic language that developed in the current region of Eritrea and northern Ethiopia in the Horn of Africa. It later became the official language of the Kingdom of Aksum and Ethiopian imperial court....
, Hebrew

Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic languages of the Afro-Asiatic languages. Modern Hebrew is spoken by more than seven million people in Israel and Classical Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jews communities around the world....
(in the first part of Sefer HaAggadah), Turkish

Ottoman Turkish

Ottoman Turkish may refer to:* Ottoman Turkish language* Ottoman Turks* Ottoman Empire...
, and Mongol (13th century).

The story of Dhul-Qarnayn

Dhul-Qarnayn

Dhul-Qarnayn , literally meaning "He of the Two Horns", is a figure mentioned in the Qur'an, the sacred scripture of Islam, where he is described as a great and righteous ruler who built a long wall that keeps Gog and Magog from attacking the people of the West....
in the Qur'an

Qur'an

The Qur?an is the central religious text of Islam. Muslims believe the Qur?an to be the book of divine guidance and direction for mankind, and consider the original Arabic text to be the final revelation of God....
(Sura

Sura

A Sura is a "chapter" of the Qur'an, each of which is traditionally ordered roughly in order of decreasing length. Each Sura is named for a word or name mentioned in an ayah , of that 'Sura'....
The Cave
Al-Kahf

Sura al-Kahf "The Cave" is the 18th surah of the Qur'an with 110 ayat. It is a Meccan sura....
18:83-98) matches the Gog and Magog

Gog and Magog

The tradition of Gog and Magog begins in the Bible with the reference to Magog , son of Japheth, in the Book of Genesis and continues in cryptic prophecies in the Book of Ezekiel which are echoed in the Book of Revelation and in the Qur'an....
episode in the Romance, which has caused some controversy among Islamic scholars. Alexander was identified in Persian and Arabic-language sources as "Dhû-'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

Egyptian mythology

Ancient Egyptian religion encompasses the various religious beliefs and rituals practiced in ancient Egypt over at least 3,000 years, from the Predynastic Egypt until the adoption of Coptic Christianity in the early centuries Common Era....
Amun

Amun

Amun, reconstructed Egyptian language Yamanu , was the name of a deity in Egyptian mythology who gradually rose from being an abstract concept to the patron deity of Thebes, Egypt and one of the most important deities in Ancient Egypt before fading into obscurity....
. Islamic accounts of the Alexander legend, particularly in Persia, combined the Pseudo-Callisthenes material with indigenous Sassanid

Sassanid Empire

The Sassanid Empire or Sassanian Dynasty is the name of the last pre-Islamic Iranian empire. It was one of the two main powers in Western Asia for a period of more than 400 years....
Middle Persian

Middle Persian

Ferdowsi

Hakim Abu'l-Qasim Firdawsi Tusi , more commonly transliterated as Ferdowsi , was a highly revered Persian people poet. He was the author of the Shahnameh, the national epic of Iran as well as other Persian communities in other countries....
's Shahnama.

Greek versions

The oldest version of the Greek text, the Historia Alexandri Magni (Recensio a), can be dated to the 3rd century. It was subjected to various revisions during the Byzantine

Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire and Eastern Roman Empire are conventional names used to describe the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered on its capital of Constantinople....
period, some of them recasting it into poetical form in Middle Greek vernacular. Recensio a is the source of a Latin

Latin

Armenian language

The 'Armenian language' is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenians. It is the official language of the Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh....
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.

Recensio a sive Recensio vetusta: W. Kroll, Historia Alexandri Magni, vol. 1. Berlin: Weidmann, 1926
Recensio ß: L. Bergson, Der griechische Alexanderroman. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1965
Recensio ß (e cod. Leidensi Vulc. 93) L. Bergson, Der griechische Alexanderroman. Rezension ß. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1965
Recensio ß (e cod. Paris. gr. 1685 et cod. Messinensi 62): L. Bergson, Der griechische Alexanderroman. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1965
Recensio ? (lib. 1): U. von Lauenstein, Der griechische Alexanderroman. [Beiträge zur klassischen Philologie 4. Meisenheim am Glan: Hain, 1962]
Recensio ? (lib. 2): H. Engelmann, Der griechische Alexanderroman. [Beiträge zur klassischen Philologie 12. Meisenheim am Glan: Hain, 1963]
Recensio ? (lib. 3): F. Parthe, Der griechische Alexanderroman. [Beiträge zur klassischen Philologie 33. Meisenheim am Glan: Hain, 1969]
Recensio d (e cod. Vat. gr. 1700, 88v-89r): G. Ballaira, "Frammenti inediti della perduta recensione d del romanzo di Alessandro in un codice Vaticano," Bollettino del comitato per la preparazione dell'edizione nazionale dei classici greci e latini 13 (1965)
Recensio e: 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 [Beiträge zur klassischen Philologie 141 & 150, Meisenheim am Glan: Hain 1983]
Recensio f: G. Veloudis, [ 39. Athens: Hermes, 1977]
Recensio Byzantina poetica (cod. Marcianus 408): S. Reichmann, Das byzantinische Alexandergedicht nach dem codex Marcianus 408 herausgegeben [Beiträge 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 Prosa.Fassungen des Alexanderromans, 2 vols [Beiträge zur klassischen Philologie 141 & 150- Meisenheim am Glan: Hain 1983]
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 für Byzantinistik und neugriechische Philologie der Universität, 1967]
Recensio K (cod. 236 Kutlumussiu, Athos
Athos

Athos may refer to:* Athos , one of the title characters in the novel The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, p?re* Athos , one of the Gigantes in Greek mythology...
), vernacular: K. Mitsakis, "," Byzantinisch-neugriechische Jahrbücher 20 (1970)
Recensio poetica (recensio R), vernacular: D. Holton, . The tale of Alexander. The rhymed version [. Thessalonica, 1974]

French versions

There are several Old

Old French

Middle French

Middle French is an historical division of the French language which covers the period from 1340 to 1611 . It is a period of transition during which:...
and one Anglo-Norman

Anglo-Norman language

The Anglo-Norman language is a term traditionally used to refer to the variety of French used in England and to some extent elsewhere in the British Isles following the Norman conquest in 1066....
Alexander romances:

The Alexandre of Albéric de Briançon was composed around 1120.
Fuerre de Gadres by a certain Eustache, later used by Alexandre de Bernay and Thomas de Kent
Decasyllabic Alexander, anonymous from 1160–70.
Mort Alixandre, an anonymous fragment of 159 lines.
Li romans d'Alixandre
Li romans d'Alixandre

The Roman d'Alexandre, from the Old French Li romans d'Alixandre , is a massive 16,000-verse twelfth-century) Old French Alexander romance detailing various episodes in the life of Alexander the Great....
(c.1170), attributed to clergyman Alexandre de Bernay (also known as Alexandre de Pâris), is based on the translations of various episodes of the conqueror's life as composed by previous poets (Lambert de Tort, Eustache and more importantly Albéric of Besancon). Unlike other authors of the era who undertook the Alexander saga, he did not base his work on the Pseudo-Callisthenes 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 offer 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 Bernay's poem: Alexander's influence on the medieval imagination is thus shown as being as great, if not greater, than that of other pagan figures such as Hercules
Hercules

Hercules is the Ancient Rome name for the mythical Ancient Greece hero Heracles, son of Zeus and the mortal Alcmene. Early Roman sources suggest that the imported Greek hero supplanted a mythic Italian shepherd called "Recaranus" or "Garanus", famous for his strength....
or Aeneas
Aeneas

This article is about the Roman hero. For other uses, see Aeneas .In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas was a Troy hero, the son of prince Anchises and the goddess Venus_....
.
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.
La Venjance Alixandre by Jehan le Nevelon.
The Alixandre en Orient of Lambert de Tort was composed around 1170.
Le Vengement Alixandre by Gui de Cambrai
Gui de Cambrai

Gui de Cambrai , is a medieval writer from the north of France who used vernacular French rather than Latin. He wrote Le Vengement Alixandre , an 1806 line long epic poem ....
, before 1191.
The Old French Prose Alexandre was the most popular Old French version. Anonymous.
Prise de Defur, from Picardy
Picardy

This article is about the historical French province. For other uses, see Picardy .Picardy is a historical province of France, in the north of France....
c. 1250.
The Voyage d'Alexandre au Paradis terrestre is a French adaptation (c. 1260) of the Latin Iter ad paradisum
The Vow Cycle of Alexander romances includes the Voeux du paon by Jacques de Longuyon
Jacques de Longuyon

Jacques de Longuyon of Duchy of Lorraine is the author of a chanson de geste, Les Voeux du paon , written for Thibaut de Bar, bishop of Li?ge in 1312....
, Restor du Paon by Jean le Court, and Parfait du paon by Jean de Le Mote.
The Faicts et les Conquestes d'Alexandre le Grand by Jean Wauquelin c. 1448.
The Fais et concquestes du noble roy Alexandre is a late medieval prose version.
The Faits du grand Alexandre by Vasque de Lucène is a prose translation (1468) of Quintus Curtius Rufus
Quintus Curtius Rufus

Quintus Curtius Rufus was a Ancient Rome historian. It is generally thought that he has written his works during the reign of the Emperor Claudius or Vespasian....
' Historiae Alexandri Magni.

English versions

In medieval England

England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
the Alexander Romance experienced a remarkable popularity. It is even referred to in Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer was an English author, poet, philosopher, Bureaucracy, Noble court and diplomat. Although he wrote many works, he is best remembered for his unfinished frame narrative The Canterbury Tales....
'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

King Arthur

King Arthur is a legendary Britons leader who, according to medieval histories and Romance , led the defence of Britain against the Saxon invaders in the early 6th century....
and the related romances dealing with the Matter of Britain

Matter of Britain

The Matter of Britain is a name given collectively to the legends that concern the Celtic and legendary history of Great Britain, especially those focused on King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table ....
, the Alexander Romance neither confines itself to the history and culture of Western Europe, nor is it a story situated in the Middle Ages. There are five major romances in Middle English

Middle English

Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
, one which has sometimes been ascribed to the Early Scots

Early Scots

Early Scots language describes the emerging literary language of the Northern Middle English speaking parts of Scotland in the period before 1450....
poet John Barbour

John Barbour

John Barbour , was a Scotland poet and the first major literary voice to write in Scots language, the vernacular language of Lowland Scotland....
which exists only in a sixteenth-century printing, and a Middle Scots

Middle Scots

Middle Scots describes the English languages of Scottish Lowlands in the period from 1450 to 1700. By the end of the 13th century its phonology, orthography, accidence, syntax and vocabulary had diverged markedly from Early Scots, which was virtually indistinguishable from early Northumbrian Middle English....
version from 1499:

King Alisaunder from c. 1275. In medieval orthography, "king" could be "kyng" and "Alisaunder" could be "Alysaunder".
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
Alliterative verse

In meter , alliterative verse is a form of poetry that uses alliteration as the principal structuring device to unify lines of poetry, as opposed to other devices such as rhyme....
. It was probably written between 1340 and 1370, shortly before the beginning of the Alliterative Revival
Alliterative Revival

The Alliterative Revival is a term adopted by academics to refer to the resurgence of poetry using the alliterative verse form - the traditional versification of Old English poetry - in Middle English during the period c.1350 - c.1500....
, 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
Nectanebo II

Nectanebo II , also known by the name Nakhthoreb, was the third and last king of the Thirtieth dynasty of Egypt and also the last native List of pharaohs of the country in antiquity....
, his birth and early years and breaks off in the midst of the account of Philip's siege of Byzantium
Byzantium

Byzantium was an Ancient Greece city, which was founded by Greeks colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas or Byzantas ....
. It is likely that the source for this fragment has been the I²-recension of the Historia de Preliis. Beside that it has been expanded with additional material taken from Paulus Orosius
Orosius

Paulus Orosius was a Christianity historian, theology and disciple of Augustine of Hippo who came from Gallaecia , probably from the capital city Bracara Augusta....
' Historiae adversum paganos, the adverse remarks, which are typical of Orosius, however have been omitted by the poet, whose main concern is Alexander's heroic conduct.
Alexander and Dindimus, sometimes referred to as Alexander B, is also written in alliterative verse. This fragment is found in the MS Bodley and consists of five letters which are passed between Alexander and Dindimus, who is the king of the Brahmin
Brahmin

Brahmin is the class of educators, law makers, scholars and preachers of Dharma in Hinduism. It is said to occupy the highest position among the varna in Hinduism of Hinduism....
s, 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 I²-recension of the Historia de Preliis.
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 I³-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.
The Prose Life of Alexander copied by Robert Thornton
Robert Thornton (scribe)

Robert Thornton was a Yorkshire landowner, a member of the landed gentry. His efforts as an amateur scribe and manuscript compiler resulted in the preservation of many valuable works of Middle English literature, and have given him an important place in its history....
, c. 1440.
The Buik of Alexander
The Buik of Alexander

The Buik of Alexander is a short title for the two known Scots language versions of the Alexander romance stories ? a genre which was common in Medieval European literature, particularly France from the 12th century onwards, and the British Isles in the 14th and 15th centuries....
, anonymous, attributed to John Barbour
John Barbour

John Barbour , was a Scotland poet and the first major literary voice to write in Scots language, the vernacular language of Lowland Scotland....
, dates to 1438 according to its first printed edition from 1580.
The Buik of King Alexander the Conquerour by Gilbert Hay
Gilbert Hay

Gilbert Hay or Sir Gilbert the Haye , Scotland poet and translator, was perhaps a kinsman of the house of Errol.If he is the student named in the registers of the University of St Andrews in 1418-1419, his birth may be fixed about 1403....
, 1499. This work is in Middle Scots
Middle Scots

Middle Scots describes the English languages of Scottish Lowlands in the period from 1450 to 1700. By the end of the 13th century its phonology, orthography, accidence, syntax and vocabulary had diverged markedly from Early Scots, which was virtually indistinguishable from early Northumbrian Middle English....
.

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 0-231-04416-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).

Literature

Boyle, J. A., "The Alexander Romance In The East And West", Bulletin Of The John Rylands University Library Of Manchester, 1977, Volume 60, pp. 19-20.
Budge, E. A. W., The History Of Alexander The Great Being The Syriac Version Of The Pseudo-Callisthenes, ,Cambridge University Press (1889).
Gero, S., "The Legend Of Alexander The Great In The Christian Orient", Bulletin Of The John Rylands University Library Of Manchester, 1993, Volume 75.
Gosman, Martin (1988). "Le roman de toute chevalerie et le public visé: la légende au service de la royauté". In Neophilologus 72, 335-343.
Gosman, Martin (1982). "Le roman d'Alexandre et les "juvenes": une approche socio-historique". In Neophilologus 66, 328-339.
Gosman, Martin (1997). La légende d'Alexandre le Grand dans la littérature française du douzième siècle. Rodopi. ISBN 90-420-0213-1.

External links

at the University of Rochester
University of Rochester

The University of Rochester is a private university, nonsectarian, research university located in Rochester, New York. The university grants undergraduate, graduate, doctoral, and professional degrees through six schools and various interdisciplinary programs....