Alexander Romance - Middle Eastern Versions

Middle Eastern Versions

See also: Alexander the Great in the Qur'an

The Syriac, Persian, Arabic, Ethiopic and Bulgar versions of the Alexander romance are all closely related Christian and Muslim variants. Philologists, studying ancient Christian legends about Alexander the Great, have come to conclude that the Qur'an's stories about Dhul-Qarnayn closely parallel certain legends about Alexander the Great found in ancient Hellenistic and Christian writings. There is some numismatic evidence, in the form of ancient coins, to identify the Arabic epithet "Dhul-Qarnayn" with Alexander the Great. There is also a long history of monotheistic religions co-opting the historical Alexander. Finally, ancient Christian Syriac and Ethiopic manuscripts of the Alexander romance from the Middle East have been found which closely resemble the story in the Qur'an. This leads to the theologically controversial conclusion that Qur'an refers to Alexander in the mention of Dhul-Qarnayn. Two later Persian varieties are the Iskandarnameh and the A’ina-yi Sikanderi of Amir Khusrow

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