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Alexander romance

See also: Alexander the Great in legendAlexander romance is any of several collections of leg-

17th-century manuscript of an Alexandrine novel (Russia): 

Alexander exploring the depths of sea

ends concerning the mythical exploits of  Alexander theGreat. The earliest version is in Greek, dating to the 3rdcentury. Several late manuscripts attribute the work to

Alexander’s court historian Callisthenes, but the histori-cal figure died before Alexander and could not have writ-ten a full account of his life. The unknown author is stillsometimes called  Pseudo-Callisthenes.

The text was recast into various versions between the4th and the 16th centuries, in  Medieval Greek,  Latin,Armenian, Syriac, Hebrew and most medieval Europeanvernaculars.

1 Versions of the romance

Alexander was a legend in his own time. In a now-lost history of the king, the historical Callisthenes por-trayed the sea in  Cilicia as drawing back from him inproskynesis. Writing after Alexander’s death, anotherparticipant, Onesicritus, went so far as to invent a trystbetween Alexander and Thalestris, queen of the mythicalAmazons. (According to Plutarch, when Onesicritus readthis passage to his patron Lysimachus, one of Alexander’sgenerals who went on to become a king himself, Lysi-machus quipped “I wonder where I was at the time.”[1])

Throughout Antiquity and the Middle Ages, the Romance

underwent numerous expansions and revisions exhibitinga plasticity unseen in “higher” literary forms. Latin, Ar-menian,  Georgian and Syriac translations were made in

Late Antiquity (4th to 6th centuries).

The Latin Alexandreis  of Walter of Châtillon was one ofthe most popular medieval romances. A 10th-centuryLatin version by one Leo the Archpriest is the basis ofthe later medieval vernacular translations in all the ma-jor languages of Europe, including Old French (12th cen-tury), Middle English, Early Scots (The Buik of Alexan-

der ) (13th century), Italian, Spanish (the Libro de Alexan-

dre),   Central German  (Lamprecht's   Alexanderlied   anda 15th-century version by Johannes Hartlieb), Slavonic,

Romanian, and Hungarian.The Syriac version gave rise to  Middle Eastern  recen-sions, including   Arabic,   Persian   (the   Iskandarnamah),Ethiopic, Hebrew (in the first part of Sefer HaAggadah),Ottoman Turkish[2](14th century), and Middle Mongo-lian (13th century).

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

18:83-98) matches the Gog and Magog episode in theRomance, which has caused some controversy among Is-lamic scholars (see Alexander the Great in the Quran).Alexander was identified in Persian and Arabic-language

sources as “Dhû-'l Qarnayn”, Arabic for the “HornedOne”, likely a reference to the ram horns Alexander wearson coins minted during his rule to indicate his descentfrom the Egyptian god Amun. Islamic accounts of theAlexander legend, particularly in Persia, combined thePseudo-Callisthenes material with indigenous  SasanianMiddle Persian ideas about Alexander.

2 Greek versions

Theoldest version of the Greek text, theHistoria Alexan-

dri Magni  (Recensio α), can be dated to the 3rd century.It was subjected to various revisions during the ByzantineEmpire, some of them recasting it into poetical form inMedieval Greek vernacular. Recensio α is the source of aLatin version by Julius Valerius Alexander Polemius (4thcentury), and an Armenianversion (5thcentury). Most ofthe content of the Romance is fantastical, including manymiraculous tales and encounters with mythical creaturessuch as Sirens or Centaurs.

•   Recensio α sive Recensio vetusta: W. Kroll, HistoriaAlexandri Magni, vol. 1. Berlin: Weidmann, 1926

•  Recensio β: L.Bergson, Der griechische Alexander-roman. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1965

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2   3 FRENCH VERSIONS 

•  Recensio β (e cod. Leidensi Vulc. 93) L. Berg-son, Der griechische Alexanderroman. Rezensionβ. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1965

•  Recensio β (e cod. Paris. gr. 1685 et cod. Messi-nensi 62): L. Bergson, Der griechische Alexander-

roman. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1965•   Recensio γ (lib. 1): U. vonLauenstein, Der griechis-

che Alexanderroman. [Beiträge zur klassischenPhilologie 4. Meisenheim am Glan: Hain, 1962]

•  Recensio γ (lib. 2): H. Engelmann, Der griechischeAlexanderroman. [Beiträge zur klassischen Philolo-gie 12. Meisenheim am Glan: Hain, 1963]

•   Recensio γ (lib. 3): F. Parthe, Der griechischeAlexanderroman. [Beiträge zur klassischen Philolo-gie 33. Meisenheim am Glan: Hain, 1969]

•   Recensio δ (e cod. Vat. gr. 1700, 88v‑89r): G.Ballaira, “Frammenti inediti della perduta recen-sione δ del romanzo di Alessandro in un codice Vat-icano,” Bollettino del comitato per la preparazionedell'edizione nazionale dei classici greci e latini 13(1965)

•   Recensio ε:   J. Trumpf, Anonymi Byzantini vitaAlexandri regis Macedonum. Stuttgart: Teubner,1974

•  Recensio λ (lib. 3):  H. van Thiel, Die Rezension λdes Pseudo-Kallisthenes Bonn: Habelt 1959

•  Recensio λ (Pseudo-Methodius  redactio 1) H. vanThiel, Die Rezension λ des Pseudo-CallisthenesBonn: Habelt 1959

•  Recensio λ (Pseudo-Methodius redactio 2) H. vanThiel, Die Rezension λ des Pseudo-KallisthenesBonn: Habelt 1959

•   Recensio F (cod. Flor. Laurentianus Ashburn1444), vernacular: V.L. Konstantinopulos andA.C. Lolos, Ps.-Kallisthenes‑ Zwei mittelgriechis-che Prosa-Fassungen des Alexanderromans, 2 vols[Beiträge zur klassischen Philologie 141 & 150,Meisenheim am Glan: Hain 1983]

•   Recensio φ: G. Veloudis, Ἡ φυλλάδα τοῦ Μεγαλέ-ξαντρου. Διήγησις Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ Μακεδόνος[Νέα Ἑλληνικὴ Βιβλιοθήκη 39. Athens: Hermes,1977]

•  Recensio Byzantina poetica (cod. Marcianus 408):S. Reichmann, Das byzantinische Alexandergedichtnach dem codex Marcianus 408 herausgegeben[Beiträge zur klassischen Philologie 13. Meisen-heim am Glan: Hain, 1963]

•   Recensio E (cod. Eton College 163), ver-nacular: V.L. Konstantinopulos and A.C. Lo-los, 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 [Miscel-lanea Byzantina Monacensia 7. Munich: Institutfür Byzantinistik und neugriechische Philologie derUniversität, 1967]

•   Recensio K (cod. 236 Kutlumussiu, Athos), ver-nacular: K. Mitsakis, "Διήγησις περὶ τοῦ Ἀλεξάν-δρου καὶ τῶν μεγάλων πολέμων,” Byzantinisch-neugriechische Jahrbücher 20 (1970)

•   Recensio poetica (recensio R), vernacular: D.Holton, Διήγησις τοῦ Ἀλεξάνδρου. The tale ofAlexander. The rhymed version [Βυζαντινὴ καὶ

Νεοελληνικὴ βιβλιοθήκη. Thessalonica, 1974]

3 French versions

There are several Old and Middle French and one Anglo-Norman Alexander romances:

1. The   Alexandre  of   Albéric de Briançon  was com-posed around 1120.

2.  Fuerre de Gadres  by a certain Eustache, later used

by Alexandre de Bernay and Thomas de Kent3.  Decasyllabic Alexander , anonymous from 1160–70.

4.   Mort Alixandre, an anonymous fragment of 159lines.

5.   Li romans d'Alixandre (c.1170), attributedto clergy-man Alexandre de Bernay (also known as Alexan-dre de Pâris), is based on the translations of var-ious episodes of the conqueror’s life as composedby previous poets (Lambert de Tort, Eustache andmore importantly Albéric of Besançon). Unlikeother authors of the era who undertook the Alexan-der saga, he did not base his work on the Pseudo-Callisthenes or on the various translations of JuliusValerius’ work. As is common in medieval litera-ture, the project stems from the desire to improveon the work of others and to offer the completelife of the hero to the public, a theme that is alsovery present in the cyclical turn that the  chansons 

de geste   took at the time. It should be noted thatThomas de Kent also penned (probably) the verysame decade a version of the saga,   Le roman de

toute chevalerie, which is independent of Alexandrede Bernay’s poem: Alexander’s influence on the me-

dieval imagination is thus shown as being as great,if not greater, than that of other pagan figures suchas Hercules or Aeneas.

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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  wascomposed around 1170.

9.   Le Vengement Alixandre by Gui de Cambrai, before1191.

10. The Roman d'Alexandre en prose was the most pop-ular 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 par-adisum

13. The Vow Cycle of Alexander romances includes theVoeux du paon by Jacques de Longuyon,  Restor du

Paon by Jean le Court, and Parfait du paon by Jeande Le Mote.

14. The Faicts et les Conquestes d'Alexandre le Grand  byJean Wauquelin c. 1448.

15. The Fais et concquestes du noble roy Alexandre is alate medieval prose version.

16. The Faits du grand Alexandre by Vasque de Lucèneis a prose translation (1468) of Quintus Curtius Ru-fus' Historiae Alexandri Magni .

4 English versions

In medieval   England   the   Alexander Romance   experi-enced a remarkable popularity. It is even referred to inChaucer's Canterbury Tales , where the monk apologizesto the pilgrimage group for treating a material so well

known. However, unlike the indigenous legend of KingArthur and the related romances dealing with the Matterof Britain, the Alexander Romance neither confines itselfto the history and culture of Western Europe, nor is ita story situated in the Middle Ages. There are five ma-jor romances in Middle English which have been passeddown to us and most remain only in fragments. There arealso two versions from Scotland, one which has some-times been ascribed to the Early Scots poet John Barbourwhich exists only in a sixteenth-century printing, and aMiddle Scots version from 1499:

1.   King Alisaunder   from c. 1275. In medieval or-thography, “king” could be “kyng” and “Alisaunder”could be “Alysaunder”.

2. The Romance of Alisaunder  (or Alexander of Mace-

don), sometimes referred to as Alexander A, is afragment of 1247 lines and written in   alliterativeverse. It was probably written between 1340and 1370, shortly before the beginning of theAlliterative Revival, of which it is believed to be

one of the oldest remaining poems. It has been pre-served in a school notebook dating from 1600. Inthe broad strokes Alexander A deals with the beget-ting of Alexander by Nectanebus, his birth and earlyyears and breaks off in the midst of the accountof Philip’s siege of Byzantium. It is likely that thesource for this fragment has been the I²-recensionof the Historia de Preliis . Beside that it has been ex-panded with additional material taken from PaulusOrosius' Historiae adversum paganos, the adverseremarks, which are typical of Orosius, however havebeen omitted by the poet, whose main concern is

Alexander’s 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 five letters which are passed be-tween Alexander and Dindimus, who is the king ofthe Brahmins, a people of philosophers who shunall worldly lusts, ambitions and entertainments. Inthis respect their way of life resembles the ideal ofan aescetic life, which was also preached by me-dieval monastic orders, such as the Franciscans. Thesource of Alexander B again is the I²-recension of

the Historia de Preliis .

4. The  Wars of Alexander , sometimes referred to asAlexander C, is the longest of the alliterative ver-sions 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 andin the Dublin Trinity College MS 213. Althoughboth manuscripts are incomplete they supplementeach other fairly well. In this version much spaceis given to letters and prophecies, which often beara moralizing and philosophical tenor. The letters arean integral part of the Pseudo-Callisthenes tradition.

The dominant theme is pride, which inevitably leadsto the downfall of kings. In The Wars of Alexan-

der  the hero is endowed with superhuman qualities,which shows in the romance insofar as his enemiesfall to him by the dozens and he is always at the cen-ter of action.

5. The   Prose Life of Alexander   copied by   RobertThornton, c. 1440.

6.   The Buik of Alexander , anonymous, attributed toJohn Barbour, dates to 1438 according to its firstprinted edition from 1580.

7.   The Buik of King Alexander the Conquerour   byGilbert Hay, 1499. This work is in Middle Scots.

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•  Gosman, Martin, “Le roman de toute chevalerie etle public visé: la légende au service de la royauté".In  Neophilologus  72 (1988), 335–343.

•   Gosman, Martin, “Le roman d'Alexandre et les“juvenes": une approche socio-historique”. In

Neophilologus  66 (1982), 328–339.•   Gosman, Martin, “La légende d'Alexandre le Grand

dans la littérature française du douzième siècle”,Rodopi, 1997. ISBN 90-420-0213-1.

•  Merkelbach, Reinhold, Die Quellen des griechischen

ALexanderromans   (Munich, 1977). Cf. his andStanley Burstein’s discussions of the epigraphicalfragment  SEG  33.802 in the journal  Zeitschrift für 

Papyrologie und Epigraphik , Vol. 77 (1989), 275-280.

•  Selden, Daniel, “Text Networks,” Ancient Narrative8 (2009), 1–23.

•  Stoneman, Richard,  Alexander the Great: A Life in

Legend , Yale University Press, 2008.  ISBN 978-0-300-11203-0

11 External links

•   The Medieval Alexander Project at the University ofRochester

•

  Wiki Classical Dictionary•  Is The Source Of Qur'an 18:60-65 The Alexander

Romances?

•   Милетич, Любомир. Една българскаАлександрия от 1810 год. (= Българскистарини, XIII). София, 1936

•  The Wild Man: Medieval Myth and Symbolism, anexhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museumof Art (fully available online as PDF), which con-tains material on Alexander romance (nos. 5-7)

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6   12 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES 

12 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

12.1 Text

•   Alexander romance  Source:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_romance?oldid=618391162  Contributors:   Shii, AnonMoos, Rob-bot, Kbahey, Mboverload, Wmahan, Dbachmann, Ogress, Aitch Eye, Andrew Gray, Woohookitty, Jeff3000, Cuchullain, BD2412, FlaBot,YurikBot, Aldux, Igiffin, Theda, NYArtsnWords, Doktor Waterhouse, Mais oui!, Kungfuadam, SmackBot, Srnec, Commander Keane bot,Siúnrá, Robth, Cplakidas, Шизомби, Fullstop, Jfren17, Kendrick7, Andrew Dalby, Jonathan Groß, A. Parrot, CmdrObot, ShelfSkewed,Tantris, Cydebot, Aristophanes68, Extramural, DaysAll, Thijs!bot, CW5270, G Purevdorj, Robina Fox, IvanFernandez, Spruce Bruce,Nono64, Eternalpeace, TXiKiBoT, Laval, Xenovatis, Yoshitsune, SieBot, Jingiby, Neophyrigian, Shakko, Lightmouse, Ken123BOT,ClueBot, Dlselden, Canis Lupus, Alexbot, Svejk74, Catalographer, DumZiBoT, BodhisattvaBot, Stitchill, Addbot, C6541, Omnipedian,Luckas-bot, I Feel Tired, RibotBOT, FrescoBot, Semaphoris, Reformeroftimes, ZéroBot, ChuispastonBot, ClueBot NG, Nikolov2010,Noym, ChrisGualtieri, Khazar2, AK456, WilliamDigiCol, George Greed, Bobi987 Ivanov and Anonymous: 35

12.2 Images

•  File:Alexandria_serbskaya.jpg Source:  http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Alexandria_serbskaya.jpg License:  CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors:  Own work Original artist:  user:shakko

12.3 Content license

•   Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0