Alexander the Great and the East : history, art, tradition / edited by Krzysztof Nawotka and Agnieszka Wojciechowska

Bibliogr. p. 363-405

Alexander the Great and the east : history, art, tradition: an introduction / Krzysztof Nawotka and Agnieszka Wojciechowska -- An Egyptian prince at Alexander's court at Asia? : a new interpretation for the evidence of the statuette of the son of Nectanebo II / Ivan A. Ladynin -- Nectanebo II and Alexander the great / Krzysztof Nawotka and Agnieszka Wojciechowska -- Alexander and the Island of Pharos / Adam Łukaszewicz -- Hunters on horseback : new version of the Macedonian iconography in Ptolemaic Egypt / Giulia Cesarin -- Athens, Alexander and the family of Memnon of Rhodes : some notes on a new interpretation of so-called "Memnon's decree" -- The methods of divination used in the campaigns of the Assyrian kings and Alexander the Great / Krzysztof Ulanowski -- Belephantes to Alexander : an astrological report to a Macedonian king? / Micah T. Ross -- Alexander and Babylon : a substitute king? / Robin Lane Fox -- Which way north? " retracing Alexander's route to Marakanda in the Spring of 328 B.C.E. / Jeffrey Lerner -- The massacre of the Branchidae : a reassessment. The post-mortem case in defence of the Branchidae / Olga Kubica -- Alexander the Great and China / Gościwit Malinowski -- Alexander the Great as a Herodotean Persian king / Guendalina D. M. Taietti -- Poseidippos, Ptolemy and Alexander / Sabine Müller -- "The East in Curtius Rufus; historiae Alexandri Magni : a paradoxical reversion of standards" / Igor Yakubovitch -- The figure of Alexander the Great and Nonnus' Dionysiaca / Christian Thrue Djurslev -- The great, son of the Great : Alexander - son of Darius? / Agnieszka Fulińska -- The king and his personal historian : the relationship between Alexander of Macedon and Callisthenes in Bactria and Sogdiana / Dan-Tudor Ionescu -- Another note on deification of Alexander in Athens / Przemyslaw Siekierka -- On his majesty's secret service : actors at the court of Alexander the Great / Agnieszka Kotlińska-Toma -- The metamorphoses of pseudo-callisthenes' motifs concerning India in the Persian Alexander romances / Aleksandra Szalc -- An early mirror for princes and manual for secretaries : the epistolary novel of Aristotle and Alexander / Emily Cottrell -- Alexander's mirror / Richard Stoneman -- Wise and the wiser : the narratives on Alexander's wisdom defeated in two versions of Hebrew Alexander romance (MS London Jews' College no 145 and MS Héb. 671.5 Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale) / Aleksandra Klęczar -- Alexander's "policy of fusion" and German ancient history between 1933 and 1945 / Josef Wiesehöfer

Many papers in this volume focus on Egypt, from the XXX dynasty to the Ptolemaic age. A lasting achievement of the early Macedonian age in Egypt is the lighthouse of Pharos, probably devised under Alexander to serve both as a watchtower of Alexandria and the focal point of the fire telegraph. Another focus of the volume is on Babylonia, with caveats against the over-enthusiastic usage of cuneiform sources for Alexander. The focus then moves further east, showing how much caution is necessary in studying the topography of Alexander's campaigns in Baktria, the land often misrepresented by ancient and medieval authors. It also deals with representation and literary topoi, having in mind that Alexander was as much a historical as a literary figure. In many respects ancient Alexander historians handled his persona in strong connection with Herodotean topics, while the idealized portrait of Alexander translated, through court poetry, into the language of power of Ptolemy of Egypt. Alexander was adopted to cultural traditions of the East, both through the medium of the Alexander Romance and through his fictitious correspondence with Aristotle, sometimes becoming a figure of a (Muslim) mystic or a chosen (Jewish) king.--Publisher description