The ''Alexandreis'' (or ''Alexandreid'') is a medieval
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
epic poem
In poetry, an epic is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. With regard to ...
by
Walter of Châtillon
Walter of Châtillon ( Latinized as Gualterus de Castellione) was a 12th-century French writer and theologian who wrote in the Latin language. He studied under Stephen of Beauvais and at the University of Paris. It was probably during his studen ...
, a 12th-century
French writer and
theologian
Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...
. It gives an account of the life of
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...
, based on
Quintus Curtius Rufus
Quintus Curtius Rufus (; ) was a Ancient Rome, Roman historian, probably of the 1st century, author of his only known and only surviving work, ''Historiae Alexandri Magni'', "Histories of Alexander the Great", or more fully ''Historiarum Alex ...
' ''Historia Alexandri Magni''. The poem was popular and influential in Walter's own times: according to
Henry of Ghent
Henry of Ghent ( 1217 – 29 June 1293), also known as Henricus de Gandavo and Henricus Gandavensis, was a scholastic philosopher who acquired the nickname of '' Doctor Solemnis'' (the "Solemn Doctor").
Life
Henry was born in the district of ...
, it was more popular than
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...
's ''
Aeneid
The ''Aeneid'' ( ; or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan War#Sack of Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Ancient Rome ...
'' in thirteenth-century schools.
Matthew of Vendôme and
Alan of Lille
Alain de Lille (Alan of Lille; Latin: ''Alanus ab Insulis''; 11281202/1203) was a French theologian and poet. He was born in Lille some time before 1128. His exact date of death remains unclear as well, with most research pointing toward it bein ...
borrowed from it and
Henry of Settimello imitated it, but it is now seldom read. One line is sometimes quoted:
:''Incidis in Scyllam cupiens vitare Charybdim'' (You run into
Scylla
In Greek mythology, Scylla ( ; , ) is a legendary, man-eating monster that lives on one side of a narrow channel of water, opposite her counterpart, the sea-swallowing monster Charybdis. The two sides of the strait are within an arrow's range o ...
, desiring to avoid
Charybdis
Charybdis (; , ; , ) is a sea monster in Greek mythology. Charybdis, along with the sea monster Scylla, appears as a challenge to epic characters such as Odysseus, Jason, and Aeneas. Scholarship locates her in the Strait of Messina.
The idiom " ...
) (V.301).
Translations
Translations were made into Old Spanish (''
Libro de Alexandre
The ''Libro de Alexandre'' is a medieval Spanish epic poem about Alexander the Great written between 1178 and c. 1250 in the '' mester de clerecía''.Colbert Nepaulsingh, "''Libro de Alexandre''", in Germán Bleiberg, Maureen Ihrie, and Janet Pé ...
''), Middle Dutch (
Jacob van Maerlant
Jacob van Maerlant (c. 1230–40 – c. 1288–1300) was a Flemings, Flemish poet of the 13th century and one of the most important Middle Dutch authors during the Middle Ages.
Biography
Jacob van Maerlant was born near Bruge ...
's ''Alexanders Geesten'') into Old Norse (''
Alexanderssaga'').
In 1996, David Townsend published an English translation of the ''Alexandreis''.
Contents
#
Aristotle
Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...
warned by Alexander his pupil; destruction of
Thebes; description of Asia; Alexander journeys to
Ilium; account of the dream of Alexander
# Alexander solves the
Gordian knot
The cutting of the Gordian Knot is an Ancient Greek legend associated with Alexander the Great in Gordium in Phrygia, regarding a complex knot that tied an oxcart. Reputedly, whoever could untie it would be destined to rule all of Asia. In 33 ...
; illness of Alexander; the Persian army; the shield of king
Darius
# Battle of the Issus;
Tyre and
Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
are taken; Alexander's journey to the
oracle of Ammon
The Siwa Oasis ( ) is an urban oasis in Egypt. It is situated between the Qattara Depression and the Great Sand Sea in the Western Desert, east of the Egypt–Libya border and from the Egyptian capital city of Cairo. It is famed from its r ...
; death of the queen of Persia in captivity; message from the sarcophagus of the queen
# Alexander's dream of the goddess
Victoria
#
Battle of Arbela
The Battle of Gaugamela ( ; ), also called the Battle of Arbela (), took place in 331 BC between the forces of the Army of Macedon under Alexander the Great and the Persian Army under King Darius III. It was the second and final battle ...
; Alexander is victorious and enters
Babylon
Babylon ( ) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-s ...
#
Susa
Susa ( ) was an ancient city in the lower Zagros Mountains about east of the Tigris, between the Karkheh River, Karkheh and Dez River, Dez Rivers in Iran. One of the most important cities of the Ancient Near East, Susa served as the capital o ...
and
Persepolis
Persepolis (; ; ) was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire (). It is situated in the plains of Marvdasht, encircled by the southern Zagros mountains, Fars province of Iran. It is one of the key Iranian cultural heritage sites and ...
are taken; the doubts of Darius
# Darius flees and is slain at Bessus; message from the tomb of Darius
# War against the Hyrcani and
Scythians
The Scythians ( or ) or Scyths (, but note Scytho- () in composition) and sometimes also referred to as the Pontic Scythians, were an Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern Iranian peoples, Iranian Eurasian noma ...
; meeting of
Thalestris queen of the
Amazons
The Amazons (Ancient Greek: ', singular '; in Latin ', ') were a people in Greek mythology, portrayed in a number of ancient epic poems and legends, such as the Labours of Hercules, Labours of Heracles, the ''Argonautica'' and the ''Iliad''. ...
with Alexander
# Journey of the army to
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
; king Porus subdued by Alexander; description of India; weariness of the soldiers
# Journey to the underworld; the oath; granting of the world; death of Alexander
Bibliography
*F. J. E. Raby, ''A History of Secular Latin Poetry in the Middle Ages'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1934. ) vol. 2 pp. 72–80.
*J. Blänsdorf, ''Einführung in Walther von Châtillon, Alexandreis'' ( https://web.archive.org/web/20070911073305/http://www.jblaensdorf-mainz.homepage.t-online.de/Walther__Alexandr_/walther__alexandr_.html )
*M. Colker, "Galteri de Castellione Alexandreis" (Padua: In aedibus Antenoreis, 1978.)
References
External links
*Latin text of the ''Alexandreis'' at th
Bibliotheca Augustana
12th-century books in Latin
Epic poems in Latin
Medieval Latin poetry
Alexander Romance
Historical poems
{{latin-stub