Alexander the Great in the Shahnameh

The eleventh-century Shahnameh of Ferdowsi (d. 1020) preserves the earliest version of the Alexander Romance in the Persian language, following closely the text in its Syriac translation. The Romance genre functioned to preserve and describe the legends and exploits of Alexander the Great. Although the Shahnameh is a much larger text and contains legends of many other rulers of Persia, three consecutive sections of it cover Alexander (who the text refers to as "Sekandar"), amounting to ~2,500 verses. Furthermore, the sections about Alexander act as a bridge between the narratives of the kings before and after him, representing a transition from a realm of mythological kings and exploits to the historical kings of the Sasanian Empire.

The Shahnameh is much less polemical towards Alexander as compared with representations in the Middle Persian and Zoroastrian pre-Islamic Sasanian Empire.[1] Nevertheless, it has been demonstrated that negative portraitures of Alexander from this period have influenced the Shahnameh.[2][3]

## Synopsis

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The first two sections describe the birth of Alexander, his ascent to the throne, and then his wars against Darius in which he emerges victorious and conquers Persia. In the story, Alexander is represented as a legitimate heir to the Persian throne by virtue of his descent from Darab (= Darius III), and so comes from a line of legitimate Persian shahs. In the third section, Alexander conquers the entire world and is in a search in pursuit of the Fountain of Youth. This part describes his war against the domain of the Indian king, a pilgrimage to Mecca, his journeys through Egypt and meeting with Qeydâfe, the queen of Al-Andalus (who represents the equivalent to the Ethiopian Kandake in the original Greek Romance). He also reaches the Land of Amazons and the Land of Darkness. In the latter, he searches for the Fountain of Life. He erects a barrier against Gog and Magog in the east. Over the course of his journeys, he receives repeated and stronger hints of his coming death. Eventually, he dies in Iraq, after having sent a letter to his mother containing instructions about how to proceed with affairs after his enclosing demise.[4]

## Sources and influence

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It is thought that most of the episodes of Alexander in the Shahnameh rely on an Arabic intermediary of the Syriac Alexander Romance, which itself is now thought to be a translation of the original Alexander Romance into Syriac.[3] The representation of Alexander in the Shahnameh had a profound influence on the subsequent Alexander romance literature in Persian, including on the Iskandarnameh of Nizami,[5] the Ayina-i Iskandari of Amir Khusrau,[6] and others.

## See also

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* Alexander the Great in Islamic tradition
* Qissat al-Iskandar

## References

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1. ^ Wiesehöfer, Josef (2011-01-01), "Chapter Five. The 'Accursed' And The 'Adventurer': Alexander The Great In Iranian Tradition", A Companion to Alexander Literature in the Middle Ages, Brill, pp. 113–132, doi:10.1163/ej.9789004183452.i-410.56, ISBN 978-90-04-21193-3, retrieved 2024-03-11
2. ^ Yamanaka, Yuriko (1999). "Ambiguïté de l'image d'Alexandre chez Ferdowsī: les traces des traditions sassanides dans le Livre des Rois". Alexandre le Grand dans les littératures. Paris. pp. 341–353.`{{cite book}}`: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
3. ^ a b Nawotka, Krzysztof (2018-04-26), "Syriac and Persian Versions of the Alexander Romance", Brill's Companion to the Reception of Alexander the Great, Brill, pp. 525–542, doi:10.1163/9789004359932_022, ISBN 978-90-04-35993-2, retrieved 2024-03-25
4. ^ Casari, Mario (2023). "The Alexander Legend in Persian Literature". In Ashtiany, Mohsen (ed.). Persian narrative poetry in the classical era, 800-1500: romantic and didactic genres. A history of Persian literature / founding editor - Ehsan Yarshater. London New York Oxford New Delhi Sydney: I.B. Tauris. pp. 443–461\. ISBN 978-1-78673-664-2.
5. ^ Asif, Manan Ahmed (2016). A book of conquest: the Chachnama and Muslim origins in South Asia. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 95\. ISBN 978-0-674-66011-3.
6. ^ Casari, Mario (2023). "The Alexander Legend in Persian Literature". In Ashtiany, Mohsen (ed.). Persian narrative poetry in the classical era, 800-1500: romantic and didactic genres. A history of Persian literature / founding editor - Ehsan Yarshater. London New York Oxford New Delhi Sydney: I.B. Tauris. pp. 491–504\. ISBN 978-1-78673-664-2.

## External links

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* Alexander the Great in Firdawsi's Book of Kings - Asian and African studies blog