The Alexander Legend in Central Asia
The Alexander Legend in Central Asia
The Alexander Legend in Central Asia
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
THE ALEXANDER LEGEND IN CENTRAL ASIA<br />
concern<strong>in</strong>g <strong>Alexander</strong>, an apocalyptic work which does not appear to<br />
have been known <strong>in</strong> the West, and of which the Syriac text was<br />
discovered and published only <strong>in</strong> comparatively recent times.7 It is<br />
found at the end of the manuscripts of a Syriac version of the<br />
Romance made not much later than the seventh century from a lost<br />
Pahlavi (Middle Persian) text.8 <strong>The</strong> contents of the <strong>Legend</strong> are<br />
summarized <strong>in</strong> a brief <strong>in</strong>troductory head<strong>in</strong>g:<br />
An exploit by <strong>Alexander</strong>, the son of Philip the Macedonian, show<strong>in</strong>g<br />
how he went forth to the ends of the world, and made a gate of iron, and<br />
shut it <strong>in</strong> the face of the north w<strong>in</strong>d, that the Huns might not come forth<br />
to spoil the countries: from the manuscripts <strong>in</strong> the house of the archives<br />
of the K<strong>in</strong>gs of Alexandria.9<br />
He apparently journeys first to the West to the shores of the fetid<br />
sea that surrounds the earth and then to the East. And here I quote<br />
the text <strong>in</strong> extenso:<br />
So the whole camp mounted, and <strong>Alexander</strong> and his troops went up<br />
between the foetid sea and the bright sea to the place where the sun<br />
enters the w<strong>in</strong>dow of heaven; for the sun is the servant of the Lord,<br />
and neither by night nor by day does he cease from his travell<strong>in</strong>g. <strong>The</strong><br />
place of his ris<strong>in</strong>g is over the sea, and the people who dwell there,<br />
when he is about to rise, flee away and hide themselves <strong>in</strong> the sea, that<br />
they may not be burnt by his rays; and he passes through the midst of<br />
the heavens to the place where he enters the w<strong>in</strong>dow of heaven; and<br />
wherever he passes there are terrible mounta<strong>in</strong>s, and those who dwell<br />
there have caves hollowed out <strong>in</strong> the rocks, and as soon as they see the<br />
sun pass<strong>in</strong>g (over them), men and birds flee away from before him and<br />
hide <strong>in</strong> the caves, for rocks are rent by his blaz<strong>in</strong>g heat and fall down,<br />
and whether they be men or beasts, as soon as the stones touch them<br />
they are consumed. And when the sun enters the w<strong>in</strong>dow of heaven,<br />
he straightway bows down and makes obeisance before God his<br />
Creator; and he travels and descends the whole night through the<br />
heavens, until at length he f<strong>in</strong>ds himself where he rises.10<br />
After his journeys to the East and West <strong>Alexander</strong> travels<br />
northwards through Armenia <strong>in</strong>to the Caucasus. He asks the<br />
natives: 'Who are the nations with<strong>in</strong> this mounta<strong>in</strong> upon which<br />
we are look<strong>in</strong>g?' <strong>The</strong>y reply that they are the Huns and that their<br />
k<strong>in</strong>gs are 'Gog and Magog and Nawal the k<strong>in</strong>gs of the sons of<br />
Japhet .. .'.11 He orders the construction of a gate of brass to close<br />
218<br />
This content downloaded from 71.172.230.205 on Fri, 22 Mar 2013 18:32:24 PM<br />
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions