Alexander the Great in Arabic tradition information
Alexander the Great was the king of the Kingdom of Macedon and the founder of an empire that stretched from Greece to northwestern India.[1] Legends surrounding his life quickly sprung up soon after his own death. His predecessors represented him in their coinage as the son of Zeus Ammon, wearing what would become the Horns of Alexander as originally signified by the Horns of Ammon. Legends of Alexander's exploits coalesced into the third-century Alexander Romance which, in the premodern period, went through over one hundred recensions, translations, and derivations and was translated into almost every European vernacular and every language of the Islamic world.[2] After the Bible, it was the most popular form of European literature.[3] It was also translated into every language from the Islamicized regions of Asia and Africa, from Mali to Malaysia.[4]
The first appearance of Alexander traditions in Arabic literature occurs in the first extant Arabic book, the Quran, in its description of Dhu al-Qarnayn. Alexander was widely believed to be Dhu al-Qarnayn, and this identification is found in some of the earliest texts which discuss this, like the biography of Muhammad by Ibn Ishaq and the commentary on the Quran by Muqatil ibn Sulayman.[5] Likewise, Alexandrian texts feature among the earliest known texts translated from other languages into Arabic, such as the Rasāʾil Arisṭāṭālīsa ilāʾl-Iskandar (The Letters of Aristotle to Alexander or the Epistolary Romance), consisting of a set of apocryphal letters meant to confirm Alexander's reputation as a wise ruler produced during the reign of Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik (r. 724–743) from sources originally in Greek. Versions of the Alexander Romance were repeatedly translated into Arabic from Syriac, Latin, and Hebrew throughout the Middle Ages and beyond, the most popular being the Sirat al-Iskandar. These stories about Alexander were believed to be historically factual by the people who transmitted them.[6]
^Bloom, Jonathan M.; Blair, Sheila S. (2009) The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture: Mosul to Zirid, Volume 3. (Oxford University Press Incorporated, 2009), 385; "[Khojand, Tajikistan]; As the easternmost outpost of the empire of Alexander the Great, the city was renamed Alexandria Eschate ("furthest Alexandria") in 329 BCE."Golden, Peter B. Central Asia in World History (Oxford University Press, 2011), 25;"[...] his campaigns in Central Asia brought Khwarazm, Sogdia and Bactria under Graeco-Macedonian rule. As elsewhere, Alexander founded or renamed a number of cities, such as Alexandria Eschate ("Outernmost Alexandria", near modern Khojent in Tajikistan)."
^Doufikar-Aerts 2020.
^Mínguez Cornelles, Víctor; Rodríguez Moya, Inmaculada (2024). The visual legacy of Alexander the Great from the Renaissance to the age of revolution. Routledge research in art history. New York London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. p. 22. ISBN 978-1-032-54990-3.
^Doufikar-Aerts 2020, p. 1.
^Doufikar-Aerts 2020b, p. 401–402.
^Doufikar-Aerts 2010, p. 10.
and 26 Related for: Alexander the Great in Arabic tradition information
Mali to Malaysia. The first appearance of AlexandertraditionsinArabic literature occurs inthe first extant Arabic book, the Quran, in its description...
One') with AlexandertheGreat. Following this, Alexander would quickly feature prominently in early Arabic literature often as Alexander, and his name...
Richard (2003). "AlexandertheGreatinArabicTradition". In Panayotakis, Stelios; Zimmerman, Maaike; Keulen, Wytse (eds.). The Ancient Novel and Beyond...
Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 October 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2010. Stoneman, Richard (2003). "AlexandertheGreatinArabicTradition". In Panayotakis...
The Horns of Alexander represent an artistic tradition that depicted AlexandertheGreat with two horns on his head, a form of expression that was associated...
Persian, Syriac and Arabic. AlexandertheGreat's accomplishments and legacy have been depicted in many cultures. Alexander has featured in both high and popular...
"Chapter Five. The 'Accursed' And The 'Adventurer': AlexanderTheGreatIn Iranian Tradition", A Companion to Alexander Literature inthe Middle Ages, Brill...
The Qiṣṣat Dhī ʾl-Qarnayn (Qissat Dhulqarnayn, "Story of Dhulqarnayn") is a Hispano-Arabic legend of AlexandertheGreat preserved in two fourteenth-century...
Iskandar Zulkarnain (Arabic: حكاية إسكندر ذو القرنين, lit. 'The Story/Exploits of Alexander') is a Malay epic inthetradition of theAlexander Romance describing...
with other ArabicAlexander legends inthetradition of theAlexander Romance literature, the story describes Alexander's journeys across the world (such...
concerning legends about AlexandertheGreat. It had been falsely attributed nearly unanimously inthe manuscript tradition to Jacob of Serugh (451–521)...
(i.e. ⲡⲁⲛⲓⲣⲁⲛ, ⲡⲁⲙⲃⲱ, ⲗⲟⲩⲗⲉ, ⲧⲁⲗⲟⲩϣⲏⲙ). The conquest of Egypt by AlexandertheGreat and subsequent rule of the Ptolemaic dynasty led to Hellenisation...
Tradition also connects it to theGreat Wall of Gorgan (Red Snake) on its south-eastern shore. These fortifications were historically part of the defence...
immortal. The same story is found intheArabictradition identifying Dhu al-Qarnayn with Alexander. The Land of Darkness was also identified with the area...
"The 'Accursed' and the 'Adventurer': AlexandertheGreatin Iranian Tradition". In Zuwiyya, David (ed.). A companion to Alexander literature inthe Middle...
Yajuj and Majuj (Arabic: يَأْجُوجُ وَمَأْجُوجُ, romanized: Yaʾjūju wa-Maʾjūju) are a pair of names that appear inthe Bible and the Quran, variously ascribed...
described in Abrahamic tradition as being descended from and named after Ishmael, a prophet according to the Quran, the first son of Abraham and the Egyptian...
spoken primarily inthe Arab world. The ISO assigns language codes to 32 varieties of Arabic, including its standard form of Literary Arabic, known as Modern...
The Nabi Daniel Mosque (Arabic: مسجد النبي دانيال), is a historic mosque located in Alexandria, Egypt. It is named after Muhammad Daniyal al-Mawsili,...
cultural origins and traditions. Such traditions often date to a period regarded as the "golden age" of music for a particular culture. The following tables...
scholars inthe medieval Islamic world. The word alchemy was derived from theArabic word كيمياء or kīmiyāʾ: 854 and may ultimately derive from the ancient...
Alexander" or the "Christian Syriac Alexander Legend" (CSAL)), is a Syriac legendary account of the exploits of AlexandertheGreat composed inthe sixth...
Global Information