Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-fqc5m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T14:57:34.934Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

10 - Alexander the Great in Byzantine Tradition, AD 330–1453

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 January 2022

Richard Stoneman
Affiliation:
University of Exeter
Get access

Summary

The Byzantines had direct access to much ancient material about Alexander, and so their view of him, compared to that of other cultures, tended to be more grounded in history. Yet they also continued to develop the Romance tradition in new directions and combined it with parallel Christian interpretations that tied the Conqueror to prophesies made in the book of Daniel and apocalyptic scenarios involving Gog and Magog. These different elements combined in various permutations when the Byzantine historians turned to Alexander in their surveys of world history. Alexander was also invoked in rhetoric that praised the Byzantine emperors, often to show that they had surpassed him, but he was not a meaningful model of kingship for them as he imparted no lessons about how to actualy rule a kingdom.

Type
Chapter
Information
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

Primary Sources

Secondary Sources

Basilakes, N. (1983) Progymnasmata, ed. Pignani, A.. Progimnasmi e monodie. Naples.Google Scholar
Georgios the Monk (1978) Chronicle, ed. de Boor, C., corr. P. Wirth. Georgii Monachi Chronicon. 2 vols. Leipzig.Google Scholar
Ioannes of Sardeis (1928) Commentary on Aphthonios, ed. Rabe, H.. Ioannis Sardiani Commentarium in Aphthonii Progymnasmata. Leipzig.Google Scholar
Jeffreys, E., ed. and trans. (1998) Digenis Akritis: The Grottaferrata and Escorial Versions. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Kedrenos, G. (1838) Chronicle, ed. Bekker, I.. Bonn.Google Scholar
Komnene, A. (2001) Alexiad, ed. Reinsch, D. R. and Kambylis, A.. Annae Comnenae Alexias. Berlin.Google Scholar
Kydones, D. (1956) Letters, ed. Leonertz, R.-J.. Démetrius Cydonès: Correspondance. 2 vols. Vatican City.Google Scholar
Libanios, (2008) Progymnasmata, ed. and tr. Gibson, C. A.. Libanius’s Progymnasmata: Model Exercises in Greek Prose Composition and Rhetoric. Atlanta.Google Scholar
Malalas, I. (2000) Chronicle, ed. Thurn, I.. Ioannes Malalae Chronographia. Berlin and New York.Google Scholar
Manasses, K. (1996) Short Chronicle, ed. Lampsides, O.. Constantini Manassis Breviarium Chronicum. 2 vols. Athens.Google Scholar
Manuel II Palaiologos (1953–5) ‘Speech of Advice to the Thessalonians, ed. B. Laoudras, Ὁ Συμβουλευτικὸς πρὸς τοὺς Θεσσαλονικεῖς τοῦ Μανουῆλ Παλαιολόγου’, Makedonika 3: 295302.Google Scholar
ho tou Anchialou, Michael (1961) ‘Oration to Emperor Manuel I, Written when He Was Consul of Philosophers, ed. R. Browning, A New Source on Byzantine-Hungarian Relations in the Twelfth Century: The Inaugural Lecture of Michael ὁ τοῦ Ἀγχιάλου ὡς ὕπατος τῶν φιλοσόφων’, Balkan Studies 2: 173214.Google Scholar
Niketas of Byzantium (2000) ‘Refutation of Islam, ed. K. Förstel, “Schriften zum Islam”’, Corpus Islamo-Christianum: Series Graeca 5: 2198.Google Scholar
Niketas the Paphlagonian (2013) The Life of Ignatios, ed. and tr. Smithies, A.. Nicetas David: The Life of Patriarch Ignatios. Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Parastaseis Syntomai Chronikai (1901–7) Ed. Preger, T.. Scriptores originum Constantinopolitanarum. Leipzig: 1973.Google Scholar
Paschal Chronicle (1832) Ed. Dindorf, L.. Chronicon Paschale. 2 vols. Bonn.Google Scholar
Patria of Constantinople (1901–7) Ed. Preger, T.. Scriptores originum Constantinopolitanarum. Leipzig: 135289.Google Scholar
Philostorgios, (1981) Ecclesiastical History, ed. Bidez, J.. Philostorgius: Kirchengeschichte, 3rd ed. rev. Winkelmann, F.. Berlin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Praecepta Militaria, ed. and tr. in McGeer, 1995: 1259.Google Scholar
Prodromos, T. (1907) ‘Oration for Isaakios Komnenos, ed. E. Kurtz, “Unedierte Texte aus der Zeit des Kaisers Johannes Komnenos”’, BZ 16: 69119 at 112–17.Google Scholar
Prokopios of Gaza(2005) Panegyric for Anastasios, ed. Matino, G. Procopio di Gaza: Panegirico per l’imperatore Anastasio. Naples.Google Scholar
Pseudo-Callisthenes(1965) Version β, ed. Bergson, L.. Der griechische Alexanderroman: Rezension β. Stockholm.Google Scholar
Pseudo-Callisthenes, (1959) Version λ, ed. van Thiel, H.. Die Rezension λ des Pseudo-Kallisthenes. Bonn.Google Scholar
Pseudo-Methodios (1998) Apocalypse, ed. Aerts, W. J. and Kortekaas, G. A. A.. Die Apokalypse des Pseudo-Methodius: Die ältesten griechischen und lateinischen Übersetzungen. 2 vols. Leuvain.Google Scholar
Russell, D. A., and Wilson, N. G., ed. and trans. (1981) Menander Rhetor: A Commentary. Oxford.Google Scholar
Sopatros, (1835) Classification of Topics, ed. Walz, C.. Rhetores Graeci. Vol. 8. Stuttgart.Google Scholar
Synkellos, G. (1984) Chronicle, ed. Mosshammer, A. A.. Georgii Syncelli Ecloga Chronographica. Leipzig.Google Scholar
Tiburtine Sibylline Oracle (1898) ed. Sackur, E.. Sibyllinische Texte und Forschungen: Pseudomethodius, Adso und tiburtinische Sibylle. Halle.Google Scholar
Tzetzes, I. (1968) Chiliades (Histories), ed. Leone, P. A. M.. Ioannis Tzetzae Historiae. Naples.Google Scholar
Vita Basilii (2011) ed. and tr. Ševčenko, I.. Chronographiae quae Theophanis Continuati nomine fertur liber quo Vita Basilii imperatoris amplectitur. Berlin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zonaras, I. (1841–97) Chronicle, ed. Pinder, M. and Büttner-Wobst, T.. Ioannis Zonarae Annales. 3 vols. Bonn.Google Scholar
Aerts, W. J. (1988) ‘Alexander the Great in Exempla and Similitudines in Byzantine Literature’, in Exemplum et similitudo: Alexander the Great and Other Heroes As Points of Reference in Medieval Literature, ed. Aerts, W. J. and Gosman, M.. Groningen: 118.Google Scholar
Alexander, P. (1967) The Oracle of Baalbek: The Tiburtine Sibyl in Greek Dress. Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Alexander, P. (1985) The Byzantine Apocalyptic Tradition, ed. Abrahamse, D. de F.. Berkeley.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anagnostakis, I., and Kaldellis, A. (2014) ‘The Textual Sources for the Peloponnese, A.D. 582–959: Their Creative Engagement with Ancient Literature’, Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 54: 105–35.Google Scholar
Angelov, D. (2007) Imperial Ideology and Political Thought in Byzantium, 1204–1330. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Bardill, J. (2012) Constantine, Divine Emperor of the Christian Golden Age. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Bassett, S. (2004) The Urban Topography of Late Antique Constantinople. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Beaton, R. (1996) The Medieval Greek Romance. 2nd ed. London and New York.Google Scholar
Berger, A. (2001) ‘Alexander der Grosse am Bosporus’, in Novum Millennium: Studies on Byzantine History and Culture Dedicated to Paul Speck, ed. Sode, C. and Takács, S.. Aldershot: 1320.Google Scholar
Cameron, A., and Hall, S. G. (1999) Eusebius: Life of Constantine. Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collins, J. J. (1984). Daniel, with an Introduction to Apocalyptic Literature. Grand Rapids, MI.Google Scholar
Dagron, G. (2003) Emperor and Priest: The Imperial Office in Byzantium, tr. J. Birrell. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Drandaki, A., Papanikola-Bakirtzi, D and Tourta, A (2013) Heaven & Earth: Art of Byzantium from Greek Collections. Athens.Google Scholar
Garstad, B. (2016) ‘Euhemerus and the Chronicle of John Malalas’, The International History Review 38( 5): 900–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gero, S. (1992) ‘The Alexander Legend in Byzantium: Some Literary Gleanings’, Dumbarton Oaks Papers 46: 8397.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gleixner, H. J. (1961) Das Alexanderbild der Byzantiner. Munich.Google Scholar
Holdenried, A. (2016) ‘Christian Moral Decline: A New Context for the Sibylla Tiburtina (Ms Escorial &.I.3)’, in Peoples of the Apocalypse: Eschatological Beliefs and Political Scenarios, ed. Brandes, W., Schmieder, F and Voß, R. Berlin: 321–36.Google Scholar
Jeffreys, E. (1979) ‘The Attitudes of Byzantine Chronicles towards Ancient History’, Byzantion 49: 199238.Google Scholar
Jeffreys, E. (1990) ‘Malalas’ Sources’, in Studies in John Malalas, ed. Jeffreys, E, with B. Croke and R. Scott. Sydney: 167216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jeffreys, E. (2010) ‘Old Testament “History” and the Byzantine Chronicle’, in The Old Testament in Byzantium, ed. Magdalino, P. and Nelson, R.. Washington, DC: 153–73.Google Scholar
Jouanno, C. (2001) ‘L’image d’Alexandre le Conquérant chez les chroniqueurs byzantins (Vie–XIIe siècles)’, Kentron 17: 93106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jouanno, C. (2002) Naissance et métamorphoses du Roman d’Alexandre: Domaine grec. Paris.Google Scholar
Kalavrezou, I. (2014) ‘The Marvelous Flight of Alexander’, in Medieval Greek Storytelling: Fictionality and Narrative in Byzantium, ed. Roilos, P.. Wiesbaden: 103–9.Google Scholar
Kaldellis, A. (2007) Hellenism in Byzantium: The Transformations of Greek Identity and the Reception of the Classical Tradition. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Kaldellis, A. (2010) ‘Prokopios’ Persian War: A Thematic and Literary Analysis’, in History As Literature in Byzantium, ed. Macrides, R.. Aldershot: 253–73.Google Scholar
Kaldellis, A. (2012) ‘The Byzantine Role in the Making of the Corpus of Classical Greek Historiography: A Preliminary Investigation’, Journal of Hellenic Studies 132: 7185.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaldellis, A. (2013) Ethnography after Antiquity: Foreign Lands and People in Byzantine Literature. Philadelphia.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaldellis, A. (2015) The Byzantine Republic: People and Power in New Rome. Cambridge, MA.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klein, R. (1987) ‘Zur Beurteilung Alexanders des Grossen in der patristischen Literatur’, in Zu Alexander dem Grossen: Festschrift für G. Wirth, ed. Will, W. and Heinrichs, J.. 2 vols. Amsterdam: 460517.Google Scholar
Kohl, R. (1915) De scholasticarum declamationum argumentis ex historia petitis. Paderborn.Google Scholar
Macrides, R., Munitiz, J. A. and Angelov, D. (2013) Pseudo-Kodinos and the Constantinopolitan Court: Offices and Ceremonies. Farnham, UK, and Burlington, VT.Google Scholar
Magdalino, P., ed. (1994) New Constantines: The Rhythm of Imperial Renewal in Byzantium, 4th–13th Centuries. Aldershot.Google Scholar
Maguire, E. D., and Maguire, H. (2007) Other Icons: Art and Power in Byzantine Secular Culture. Princeton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Markopoulos, A. (2014) ‘In Search of the Historical Novel in Byzantine Literature’, in Aureus: τόμος αφιερωμένος στον καθηγητή Ευάγγελο Κ. Χρυσό. Athens: 562–76.Google Scholar
McGeer, E. (1995) Sowing the Dragon’s Teeth: Byzantine Warfare in the Tenth Century. Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Miller, E. (1881) Recueil des historiens des croisades: Historiens grecs, v. 2. Paris.Google Scholar
Németh, A. (2018) The Excerpta Constantiniana and the Byzantine Appropriation of the Past. Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Odorico, P. (2014) ‘Du recueil à l’invention du texte: le cas des Parastaseis Syntomoi Chronikai’, Byzantinische Zeitschrift 107: 97126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paraskevopoulou, I. (2013) Τὸ ἁγιολογικὸ καὶ ὁμιλητικὸ ἔργο τοῦ Νικηφόρου Γρηγορᾶ. Thessaloniki.Google Scholar
Pfister, F. (1960) ‘Alexander der Grosse in der byzantinischen Literatur und in neugriechischen Volksbüchern’, Probleme der neugriechischen Literatur 3 = Berliner byzantinische Arbeiten 16: 112–30.Google Scholar
Reinink, G. J. (1992) ‘Ps.-Methodius: A Concept of History in Response to the Rise of Islam’, The Byzantine and Early Islamic Near East, v. 1: Problems in the Literary Source Material, ed. Cameron, A. and Conrad, L. I.. Princeton: 149–87.Google Scholar
Reinink, G. J. (2002) ‘Heraclius, The New Alexander: Apocalyptic Prophesies during the Reign of Heraclius’, in The Reign of Heraclius (610–641): Crisis and Confrontation, ed. Reinink, G. J. and Stolte, B. H.. Leuven: 8194.Google Scholar
Roilos, P. (2014) ‘Phantasia and the Ethics of Fictionality in Byzantium: A Cognitive Anthropological Perspective’, in Medieval Greek Storytelling: Fictionality and Narrative in Byzantium, ed. Roilos, P.. Wiesbaden: 930.Google Scholar
Shepherd, D. (1971) ‘Alexander: The Victorious Emperor’, Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 58: 244–50.Google Scholar
Smith, R. (2011) ‘The Casting of Julian the Apostate “in the Likeness” of Alexander the Great: A Topos in Antique Historiography and Its Modern Echoes’, Histos 5: 44106.Google Scholar
Trahoulias, N. S. (2010) ‘The Venice Alexander Romance: Pictorial Narrative and the Art of Telling Stories’, in History As Literature in Byzantium, ed. Macrides, R.. Aldershot: 145–65.Google Scholar
Van Donzel, E., and Schmidt, A. (2009) Gog and Magog in Early Syriac and Islamic Sources: Sallam’s Quest for Alexander’s Wall. Leiden and Boston.Google Scholar
Van Hoof, L. (2002) ‘Among Christian Emperors: The Vita Basilii by Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus’, Journal of Eastern Christian Studies 54: 163–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Nuffelen, P. 2012John of Antioch, Inflated and Deflated. Or: How (Not) to Collect Fragments of Early Byzantine Historians’, Byzantion 82: 437–50.Google Scholar
Walker, A. (2012) The Emperor and the World: Exotic Elements and the Imaging of Middle Byzantine Imperial Power, Ninth to Thirteenth Centuries C.E. Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitby, M. (2002) ‘George of Pisidia’s Presentation of the Emperor Heraclius and His Campaigns’, in The Reign of Heraclius (610–641): Crisis and Confrontation, ed. Reinink, G. J. and Stolte, B. H.. Leuven: 157–73.Google Scholar
Zanker, P. (1988) The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus, tr. A. Shapiro. Ann Arbor, MI.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@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.

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.

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.

Available formats
×