Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T07:15:04.089Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

1 - Introduction

Formation and Diffusion of the Alexander Legend

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 January 2022

By
Richard Stoneman
Edited by
Richard Stoneman
Richard Stoneman
Affiliation:
University of Exeter
Get access

Summary

The introduction briefly surveys Alexander’s historical career before going on to describe the development of his legend in the various Greek and Latin versions of the Alexander Romance, which continued to be rewritten (as the Historia de Proeliis) to the end of the Middle Ages. It also provides the context for the contributions surveying the Jewish, Persian, Arabic, Spanish, Slavic, French and German receptions of Alexander in literature, as well as his impact as a political role model in the Crusades, Muslim expansion and the world-dominating ambitions of early modern Europe. It concludes with a glance at the contested figure of Alexander and his homeland of Macedonia, in the present-day Balkans.

Keywords

Alexander RomanceJulius ValeriusHistoria de ProeliisWalter of ChâtillonSyriacPersianPersiaQur’anMacedonia
Type
Chapter
Information
A History of Alexander the Great in World Culture , pp. 1 - 13
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ben Shahar, Meir. 2018. ‘Jews, Samaritans and Alexander: Facts and Fictions in Jewish Stories on the Meeting of Alexander and the High Priest’. In Moore 2018, 403–26.Google Scholar
Bohm, Claudia. 1989. Imitatio im Hellenismus. Munich: Tuduv.Google Scholar
Bosworth, A. B. 1988. Conquest and Empire: The Reign of Alexander the Great. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bosworth, A. B. 2000. ‘Ptolemy and the Will of Alexander’. In Bosworth, A. B. and Baynham, E. J. (eds.), Alexander the Great in Fact and Fiction. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 207–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colker, Marvin L. (ed.) 1978. Galteri de Castellione Alexandreis. Padova: Editrice Antenore.Google Scholar
Danforth, Loring M. 2003. ‘Alexander the Great and the Macedonian Conflict’. In Roisman 2003, 347–64.Google Scholar
Doufikar-Aerts, Faustina. 2010. Alexander Magnus Arabicus: A Survey of the Alexander Tradition through Seven Centuries, from Pseudo-Callisthenes to Ṣūrī. Leuven: Peeters.Google Scholar
Fraser, P. M. 1996. Cities of Alexander the Great. Oxford: Clarendon.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heckel, Waldemar. 1988. The Last Days and Testament of Alexander the Great. Historia Einzelschr. 56.Stuttgart: Franz Steiner.Google Scholar
Kirsch, W. 1971. Quilichinus von Spoleto. Historia Alexandri Magni nach demText der Zwickauer HS der Historia de Proeliis Alexandri Magni J3. Skopje: Živa Antika 4.Google Scholar
Lane Fox, Robin. 1973. Alexander the Great. London: Allen Lane.Google Scholar
Lane Fox, Robin. 1997. ‘The Itinerary of Alexander: Constantius to Julian’, Classical Quarterly n.s. 47, 239–52.Google Scholar
Mayor, Adrienne. 2010. The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Moore, K. R. (ed.) 2018. Brill’s Companion to the Reception of Alexander the Great. Leiden: Brill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ogden, Daniel. 2009. ‘Alexander, Scipio and Octavian: Serpent-Siring in Macedonia and Rome’. Syllecta Classica 20, 31–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ogden, Daniel. 2017. The Legend of Seleucus: Kingship, Narrative and Mythmaking in the Ancient World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peltonen, Jaakkojuhani. 2019. Alexander the Great in the Roman Empire, 150 BC to AD 600. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Pritchard, R. Telfryn. 1986. Walter of Châtillon: Alexandreis. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies.Google Scholar
Spencer, Diana. 2002. The Roman Alexander. Exeter: Exeter University Press.Google Scholar
Stone, Charles Russell. 2013. From Tyrant to Philosopher-King: A Literary History of Alexander the Great in Medieval and Early Modern England. Turnhout: Brepols.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stoneman, Richard. 1999. ‘The Latin Alexander’. In Hofmann, Heinz (ed.), Latin Fiction. London: Routledge, 167–86.Google Scholar
Stoneman, Richard. 2003a. ‘Alexander the Great in the Arabic Tradition’. In Panayotakis, St, Zimmerman, M. and Keulen, W. (eds.) The Ancient Novel and Beyond. Leiden: Brill, 3–22.Google Scholar
Stoneman, Richard. 2003b. ‘The Legacy of Alexander in Ancient Philosophy’. In Roisman, J. (ed.), Brill’s Companion to Alexander the Great. Leiden: Brill, 325–56.Google Scholar
Stoneman, Richard. 2004. Alexander the Great (Lancaster Pamphlets). Second edition. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stoneman, Richard. 2008. Alexander the Great: A Life in Legend. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Stoneman, Richard. 2009. ‘The Author of the Alexander Romance’. In Paschalis, M., Panayotakis, St and Schmeling, G. (eds.), Readers and Writers in the Ancient Novel. Groningen: Barkhuis, 142–54.Google Scholar
Stoneman, Richard. 2011. ‘Primary Sources from the Classical and Early Medieval Periods’. In Zuwiyya 2011, 1–20.Google Scholar
Stoneman, Richard. 2012. The Book of Alexander the Great: The Phyllada tou Megalexandrou. London: I. B. Tauris.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stoneman, Richard. 2013. ‘Alexander, Philotas and the Origins of Modern Historiography’. Greece & Rome 60, 296–312.Google Scholar
Stoneman, Richard. 2017. ‘Alexander the Great and the End of Time: The Syriac Contribution to the Development of the Alexander Romance’. In Teule, H., Keser-Kayaalp, E., Akalin, K., Dorum, N. and Toprak, M. Sait (eds.), Syriac in Its Multi-cultural Context. Leuven: Peeters, 39–46.Google Scholar
Tabacco, Raffaella. 2000. Itinerarium Alexandri. Torino: Olschki.Google Scholar
Taietti, Guendalina. 2018. ‘Alexander the Great Screaming Out for Hellenicity: Greek Songs and Political Dissent’. In Moore 2018, 795–822.Google Scholar
Zuwiyya, Z. David. 2001. Islamic Legends Concerning Alexander the Great. Binghamton, NY: Global Publications.Google Scholar
Zuwiyya, Z. David (ed.) 2011. A Companion to Alexander Literature in the Middle Ages. Leiden: Brill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Introduction
  • Edited by Richard Stoneman, University of Exeter
  • Book: A History of Alexander the Great in World Culture
  • Online publication: 13 January 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316711798.002
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Introduction
  • Edited by Richard Stoneman, University of Exeter
  • Book: A History of Alexander the Great in World Culture
  • Online publication: 13 January 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316711798.002
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Introduction
  • Edited by Richard Stoneman, University of Exeter
  • Book: A History of Alexander the Great in World Culture
  • Online publication: 13 January 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316711798.002
Available formats
×