3rd-Century Books (Study Guide) - Alexander Romance (Paperback)

This is nonfiction commentary. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Alexander Romance. Source: Wikipedia. Free updates online. Not illustrated. Excerpt: Alexander romance is any of several collections of legends concerning the mythical exploits of Alexander the Great. The earliest version is in Greek, dating to the 3rd century. Several late manuscripts attribute the work to Alexander's court historian Callisthenes, but the historical figure died before Alexander and couldn't have written a full account of his life. The unknown author is still sometimes called Pseudo-Callisthenes. The text was recast into various versions between the 4th and the 16th century, in Middle Greek, Latin, Armenian, Syriac, and most medieval European vernaculars. Alexander was a legend in his own time. In a now-lost history of the king, the historical Callisthenes portrayed the sea in Cilicia as drawing back from him in proskynesis. Writing after Alexander's death, another participant, Onesicritus, went so far as to invent a tryst between Alexander and Thalestris, queen of the mythical Amazons. (According to Plutarch, when Onesicritus read this passage to his patron Lysimachus, one of Alexander's generals who went on to become a king himself, Lysimachus quipped "I wonder where I was at the time.") Throughout Antiquity and the Middle Ages, the Romance underwent numerous expansions and revisions exhibiting a plasticity unseen in "higher" literary forms. Latin, Armenian, Georgian and Syriac translations were made in Late Antiquity (4th to 6th centuries). The Latin Alexandreis of Walter of Chatillon was one of the most popular medieval romances. A 10th century Latin version by one Leo the Archpriest is the basis of the later medieval vernacular translations in all the major languages of Europe, including French (12th century), English, Scots (...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=260353