Account of the life and exploits of Alexander the Great
See also: Alexander the Great in legend
Armenian illuminated manuscript of the 14th century
This article is part of a series about
Alexander the Great
Early life
Education
Personal relationships
Early rule
Consolidation of power
Balkan campaign
Pelium
Thebes
Conquest of the Persian Empire
Asia Minor
Granicus
Halicarnassus
Syria
Issus
Tyre
Egypt
Gaza
Mesopotamia
Gaugamela
Persia
Persian Gate
Persepolis
Bactria
Cyropolis
Sogdian Rock
Expedition into India
Indian campaigns
Cophen
Aornos
Hydaspes
Mallian
Death and legacy
Death
Tomb
Hellenistic period
Cities
Cult
Cultural impact
Legends
Alexander Romance
Historiography
Anabasis
Chronology
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Islamic theories
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The Alexander Romance, once described as "antiquity's most successful novel",[1] is an account of the life and exploits of Alexander the Great. The Romance describes Alexander the Great from his birth, to his succession of the throne of Macedon, his conquests including that of the Persian Empire, and finally his death. Although constructed around an historical core, the romance is mostly fantastical, including many miraculous tales and encounters with mythical creatures such as sirens or centaurs.[2] In this context, the term Romance refers not to the meaning of the word in modern times but in the Old French sense of a novel or roman, a "lengthy prose narrative of a complex and fictional character" (although Alexander's historicity did not deter ancient authors from using this term).[3]
It was widely copied and translated, accruing various legends and fantastical elements at different stages. The original version was composed in Ancient Greek some time before 338 AD, when a Latin translation was made, although the exact date is unknown. Some manuscripts pseudonymously attribute the texts authorship to Alexander's court historian Callisthenes, and so the author is commonly called 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 Islamicized regions of Asia and Africa, from Mali to Malaysia.[4] Some of the more notable translations were made into Coptic, Ge'ez, Middle Persian, Byzantine Greek, Arabic, Persian, Armenian, Syriac, and Hebrew. Owing to the great variety of distinct works derived from the original Greek romance, the "Alexander romance" is sometimes treated as a literary genre, instead of a single work.[5]
^Dowden 2019, p. 757.
^Pseudo-Callisthenes; Stoneman, Richard (1991). The Greek Alexander romance. Penguin classics. London, England ; New York, NY, USA: Penguin Books. pp. 11–23. ISBN 978-0-14-044560-2.
^Djurslev, Christine Thrue (2024). "The Alexander Romance". In Ogden, Daniel (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Alexander the Great. Cambridge University Press. p. 452.
^Doufikar-Aerts, Faustina (2020). "The Arabic Alexander Romance: Mirror of a Bold, Clever, and Devout Prince". In Seigneurie, Ken (ed.). A Companion to World Literature. Wiley. pp. 1–11. doi:10.1002/9781118635193.ctwl0072. ISBN 978-1-118-99318-7.
AlexanderRomance, once described as "antiquity's most successful novel", is an account of the life and exploits of Alexander the Great. The Romance describes...
military academies worldwide. Legends of Alexander's exploits coalesced into the third-century AlexanderRomance which, in the premodern period, went through...
conqueror Alexander III into Alexander "the Believing King", implying that he was a believer in monotheism. Eventually elements of the Alexanderromance were...
interpolated into the AlexanderRomances. According to one interpretation, "Goth and Magothy" are the kings of the Unclean Nations whom Alexander drove through...
Syriac AlexanderRomance (known in Syriac as the Tašʿītā d̄ʾAleksandrōs) is an anonymous Christian text in the tradition of the Greek AlexanderRomance of...
The Ethiopic AlexanderRomance, also known as the Ethiopic Pseudo-Callisthenes or the Zēnā Eskender ("History of Alexander the Great"), is the work of...
of Alexander, the Gates of Alexander became commonly associated with Alexander legends, as in the AlexanderRomance, the Syriac AlexanderRomance, and...
comes from the unreliable Alexander Romance. According to Andrew N. Williams and Robert Arnott, in his last days Alexander was unable to speak, which was due...
"Two-Horned One"). Some consider the Legend to be independent of the AlexanderRomance, whereas others consider it to be a substantially reshaped form of...
the name of Alexander's court historian Callisthenes (commonly referred to as Pseudo-Callisthenes) authored the Greek AlexanderRomance. This text would...
immortality, such as in the Epic of Gilgamesh. In the AlexanderRomance (3rd century AD), Alexander is travelling along with his company in search of the...
horns of Alexander included coinage, sculpture, medallions, textiles, and literary texts, such as in the tradition of the AlexanderRomance literature...
Armenian AlexanderRomance, known in Armenian as The History of Alexander of Macedon, is an Armenian recension (or version) of the Greek AlexanderRomance (in...
legend began to accumulate about his life and exploits. With the Greek AlexanderRomance and its translation into numerous languages including Armenian, Syriac...
As a literary genre, the chivalric romance is a type of prose and verse narrative that was popular in the noble courts of high medieval and early modern...
appearing in the pseudo-historical Alexanderromance that details another end for the last native pharaoh. Soon after Alexander the Great's godhood was confirmed...
earliest version of the AlexanderRomance in the Persian language, following closely the text in its Syriac translation. The Romance genre functioned to preserve...
Iskandarnama ; "Book of Alexander"), not to be confused with the Iskandarnameh of Nizami, is the oldest Persian recension of the AlexanderRomance tradition, anonymous...
was the horse of Alexander the Great, and one of the most famous horses of classical antiquity. According to the AlexanderRomance (1.15), the name "Bucephalus"...
monster, which attacks Alexander and his companions, is identified as "a lobster" in the Armenian version of the AlexanderRomance, or "beasts that are...
seventy cities in his Life of Alexander, but most texts attest to between ten and twenty foundations. The Greek AlexanderRomance lists between nine and thirteen...
of Alexander the Great is attested in several historical accounts, but its current exact location remains an enduring mystery. Following Alexander's death...
Greek prose fiction, such as Lucian's True Story, the AlexanderRomance and the Aesop Romance. B.P. Reardon has the following qualifications to define...
Horns of Alexander as originally signified by the Horns of Ammon. Legends of Alexander's exploits coalesced into the third-century AlexanderRomance which...
popular legend about Alexander the Great also known from the AlexanderRomance, Talmud, and other sources. In this legend, Alexander is travelling along...
appearing in the writings of Herodotus (5th century BC), in the Alexanderromance (3rd century AD), and in the stories of Prester John (early Crusades...
There are also several versions of the AlexanderRomance in which al-Khiḍr figures as a servant of Alexander the Great. In the Eskandarnāma by an anonymous...
composed around the second century of our era ... Like The AlexanderRomance, The Aesop Romance became a folkbook, a work that belonged to no one, and the...
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