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The Alexander Legend in Byzantium: Some Literary GleaningsAuthor(s): Stephen GeroSource: Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 46, Homo Byzantinus: Papers in Honor of AlexanderKazhdan (1992), pp. 83-87Published by: Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard UniversityStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1291641 .

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The Alexander Legend in Byzantium: Some Literary GleaningsSTEPHEN GERO

he enduring popularityin Byzantiumof thelate antique Alexander romance is impres-sively demonstrated by the richness and diversityof its textual tradition. The oldest, so-called oa-recension of the Greek text is preserved in a well-known eleventh-century Byzantine manuscript;'several later recensions date clearly from the By-zantine period proper, and there are demotic ver-sions in prose and verse from medieval and earlymodern times.2 The numerous allusions to andquotations from the Alexander romance in By-zantine literature have not yet been systematicallycollected and analyzed;3 this paper is offered toshow the inherent interest of this indirect traditionand its value in reconstructing the multifacetedByzantine image of Alexander.The first example comes from the apocryphalversion4 of the letter of the three Oriental patri-

archs to Emperor Theophilus;5 like the original adTheophilum tself,6 this version (henceforth desig-nated "pseudo-ad Theophilum")s most probably aByzantine product, though it is (anachronistically)attributed to John of Damascus.7 It may date fromthe years immediately following the restoration ofimage worship,s and in any case is prior to and infact one of the sources of the chronicle of GeorgiusMonachus9. As has already been discovered by FPfister and U. Riedinger, the pseudo-ad Theophilumat one point quotes (firsthand?) from the Alexan-der romance.1' The nocturnal meeting of Em-

'Par. gr. 1711 (siglum A); this ms. is, inter alia, also the uniquewitness for the chronicle of the Scriptor ncertusdeLeoneArmenio;for a new description, see A. A. Mosshammer, Georgii SyncelliEcloga Chronographica Leipzig, 1984), viii-Ix. The attribution ofthe Alexander romance to Callisthenes (still absent in A) is oflate Byzantine origin; it is attested first in the 12th-century au-thor Johannes Tzetzes (Chil. I, Hist. 13, ed. P. A. M. Leone,Joannis TzetzaeHistoriae[Naples, 1968], 15, line 331) and in sev-eral 14th-15th century mss. of the r3-recension.2For a quick orientation, see H.-G. Beck, Geschichte erbyzan-tinischen VolksliteraturMunich, 1971), 31 ff, 133 ff, and morespecifically R. Merkelbach and J. Trumpf, Die Quellen des grie-chischen Alexanderromans,2nd ed (Munich, 1977), 93 ff; J.Trumpf, "Zur Uberlieferung des mittelgriechischen Prosa-Alexander und der ItiXXd6a to10 MEyaXhtavTgot," BZ 60(1967), 3 ff; K. Mitsakis, "The Tradition of the Alexander Ro-mance in Modern Greek Literature," in AncientMacedonia, ed.B. Laourdas and Ch. Makaronas (Thessaloniki, 1970), 376 if;D. Holton, The Taleof Alexander:TheRhymedVersion Thessalon-iki, 1974), 3 ff and more generally G. Veloudis, AlexanderderGrofe: Ein alterNeugrieche(Munich, 1969), esp. 16 ff.3But see F. Pfister, "Alexander der GroBe in der byzantin-ischen Literatur und in neugriechischen Volksbiichern," inProblemederneugriechischenLiteratur, II, BBA 16 (Berlin, 1960),112 ff, and H. J. Gleixner, Das AlexanderbildderByzantiner,diss.(Munich, 1961), esp. 32 ff and 100 ff ("Nachwirkungen des Al-exanderromans").

4PG 95, cols. 345 ff.

5The original version was edited from two mss. by J.Sakellion, 'Ex tcv AvvEx86t0v tTIg natataxCrg tLphoXLOixrg,Eia7yyeXLbgfogu~ (1864), 97 ff, repr. by L. Duchesne,"L'i-conographie byzantinedans un documentgrec du IXe sikcle,"Roma l'Oriente (1912-13), 222 ff, 273 ff, 349 ff. The ms. tra-dition goes backin part to the 9th century;see F. Halkin,"Lesdiff6renteseditions de la synodiquea l'empereurTh6ophile,"AnalBoll 76 (1958), 64; W. Lackner, "Ein Nachtragzum Katalogder griechischenHandschriftenzu Tirana,"OB20 (1971), 246-47; and M. Aubineau,"Le cod. Dublin,TrinityColl. 185: Textesde Christophed'Alexandrie,d'1phrem et deChrysostome," eMuseon 8 (1976), 114ff.6See I. ?ev'enko, "ConstantinopleViewedfrom the EasternProvinces n the MiddleByzantinePeriod,"HarvardUkrainianStudies -4 (1979-80), 375 note 36, and R. Cormack,WritingnGold:ByzantineocietyndIcons London,1985),261.7In Par.gr. 1335, fol. 203v, lines 4 ff, the title is to1060oonaTObgjticv 'IRdvvo'Uo01AaaomxvoL 63ntoT6Xg~ Qbg bvpaaoILa Oe60Lov.8Onecommonsourceof the pseudo-adTheophilumnd of itsmodel is the xactalgEOL xa&&va0eitaTLORIbgCOVoLOJLdQXo0VleJa(v46D(0vovTaTgtL6Xov,eo86to, 'AvtWv(olo,'I6vvoU(unedited;Patmiensis48, fols. 411r-413v).See J. A. Munitiz,"An AlternativeEnding to the Letterof the Three Patriarchs(BHG 1386),"OCP55 (1989),416, andB. Hemmerdinger,"Lessourcesde BHG 1387(PG95, 345-85)," OCP34 (1968), 146.9See S. Gero,Byzantineconoclasmduring heReignof Leo II,withParticularAttention.o the Oriental ourcesLouvain,1973),71-72. A recent studyof A. MarkopoulosXuhLpok4at xgov-ok6yclOloi0 FeyCot, MovaXoo0,44O6LeXTa6 [1985], 223 ff)concludesthat the chroniclewas writtensometime(soon?)after871.

0F. Pfisterand U. Riedinger,"EinZitatausdem Alexander-roman des Ps.-Kallisthenes n einer untergeschobenenSchriftdesJohannes von Damaskos," Z 48 (1955),86-88.

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84 STEPHEN GERO

peror Leo V and the iconoclastic hermit Sabbatiusis explicitly compared to Alexander's encounter inEthiopia with the god Serapis and the deifiedpharaoh Sesonchosis; the verbatim citation be-longs to the oa-recension of Pseudo-Callisthenesand in fact supplies, in several instances, welcomeemendations to the defective text of the one extantGreek manuscript."I But does the comparison withAlexander serve any purpose other than to dem-onstrate the author's admirable classical learning?One can, of course, hardly suppose that he wouldwant to depict Leo, the iconoclastic heretic, as akind of Alexander redivivus, a new savior of Hel-las; unlike Sabbatius, who predicted to Leo and hisson Constantine a reign of some thirty-two years,12Serapis warns the inquisitive Alexander that amortal should not be curious about his appointedterm of life. The intended implication is that thebarbarous Iconoclasts were woefully ignorant ofthe moral lessons inculcated by the wisdom of an-tiquity.

One should note another related use of materialfrom the Alexander romance at an earlier point inthe pseudo-ad Theophilum.This was overlooked byPfister and Riedinger, presumably because Alex-ander is not mentioned by name in the passage.The end of the peaceful reign of the pious emper-ors Michael I and his son Theophylact is heraldedby an ill omen: the birth of a truly monstrous child,human in shape to the navel, but with lower ex-tremities in the shape of wild animals:Tt0ag?evoav4ag et66u i g Tv navev6a(Lovan6kLw-yuvatx6g TLvog toyVYX0Q(Cyv rTtoxv(ag; PQgog, Td[i&vavwjo)[t1 too o6t[atog O0g oo 6i4Lako0 elXEndvta naL66g,t&SU6inoxdfto, rlQdYv.yQ(wv,ke6vtrwvxact naQ6bd~hvyat ikxwov.xa toOtOWrvV loav attOQ4oat xtvoOLEtvat, oTe yLv6oxetyV xdorov ty6OXl9ltat o!t6v.'3

This is again, as a quick comparison shows, a some-what shortened but nonetheless direct citationfrom the a-recension of the Alexander romance.At the time of his final sojourn in Babylon, Alex-ander is confronted with this ominous child, de-scribed as a Scylla-like monster:TOV Y7QQ ~YXmQ(VY UvatcLXv tEXEQ 4o9og,Td ry jv vwtal To o0006)atogEog to0 6i4akho08XE8ndvta nXaL6g6,T& 6i x6otoxdr 0lQC(v c'yQ(ovnQotoCLalg Ot'ecLavoptva, (oThe ELvaL6kov t6v tnfovT yQaOCvl ExiUsp naQankcx otov, et'n 1t1 v 011-Q(lVyOhXotXoetatt4Tnk?0Lt 6tLkaTTev.(Yoav~daat gotoojta> kX6vTywvatnaQ6kdhovxat idxwv. aLtobUTv &VV 1J(oavOQClatXtvoO4EtvacLaLE~l6XotnTWLV.4

Alexander then summons Chaldaean soothsayers,who interpret the monstrous birth as a portent ofthe anarchy that will prevail after his death.'5 Inthe pseudo-ad Theophilum this kind of politicalprophecy ex eventu is not made, though it could

"The quotation in question (PG 95, cols. 369A-C) corre-sponds to Pseudo-Callisthenes, 111.24, ed. G. Kroll, HistoriaAl-exandri Magni (Pseudo-Callisthenes),I, Recensio vetusta (Berlin,1926), 123, lines 9 ff. The evidence from the pseudo-ad Theo-philumwas utilized in the new edition of the Pseudo-Callisthenestext of the episode by Merkelbach and Trumpf, Quellen, 215-18 ("Alexanders Besuch in der Athiopischen G6tterh6hle"): thislatter is based, however, only on the occasionally inaccurate edi-tion from Par. gr. 1335 in PG 95; my own collation of the textin the Parisinus reinforces its clear affinity to the a-type Pseudo-Callisthenes text in A (Par. gr. 1711). Thus Par. gr. 1335throughout has the spelling IdangL (ItganLg in PG 95) andthe first question of Alexander to Sesonchosis is n) xuotL, s isthe case in A (ed. Kroll, p. 123, line 11 note; corrected (recte ?)by Kroll to ob, xlgOLe). Furthermore, all of the noted variantsfrom Marc. gr. 575 (as communicated by B. Kotter apud Pfisterand Riedinger, "Ein Zitat aus dem Alexanderroman," 87) arefound in Par. gr. 1335; the Marcianus, in fact, may be derivedfrom the Paris ms. See W. Lackner, "Ein byzantinisches Marien-mirakel," BucavtLvd 13.2 (1985), 836-37.2The account of Sabbatius in this text differs from that givenin the 10th-century chronicles; thus, according to the chronicleof Genesius, the hermit Sabbatius resided in Philomelium inAsia Minor, not in Thracian Selymbria, as in our text, and hesent his message in the form of a letter to the emperor; thenLeo had a secret rendezvous in the capital with a second, un-named monk, who, suborned by the future patriarch Theodo-tus Melissenus (an individual not even mentioned in thepseudo-ad Theophilum), fraudulently promised Leo that hewould reign until his 72nd year (Regumlibriquattuor, d. A. Les-muller-Werner and H. Thurn [Berlin-New York, 1978] 10, lines20 ff). Basil, an official in charge of naval supplies(xaTgroXkdQLtogrig yo&vTlgg F_'QToEWg),ho, according tothe pseudo-ad Theophilum,was Leo's emissary to Sabbatius (PG95, col. 368D), is not noted in Genesius. The account in The-ophanes Continuatus (Bonn ed. [1838], 26, lines 9 ff) is substan-tially the same as that of Genesius. This version, given by thesechronicles, may also go back to the early 9th century; at anyrate, in conclusion the remark is made that Theophanes Con-fesstr supposedly wrote a polemical account in verse of theseevents (Genesius, 11, lines 58-59).

"Par. gr. 1335, fol. 208v= PG 95, col. 365D.14Ps.-Callisthenes, III. 30, 2-3, ed. Kroll, 131, lines 9-14. InPar. gr. 1711 there is clearly a gap after EiOjkmoLn the closingphrase; the correct reading is preserved in the p-recension(adOLV806glXOLoTOGmLv(i)XELv6v ?xdoroT10nov, d. L. Berg-

son, Der griechische Alexanderroman,Rezension 3 [Stockholm,1965], 180, line 8); this is also the wording in the pseudo-adTheophilum,with the secondary substitution of oaXrlaLo6v forttnov and the excision of the pleonastic Ei)6jkOLndOLV.15Ed.Kroll, 132, lines 190 ff. The episode is also found in ashort Latin text called De morte testamentoqueAlexandri Magniliber,part of the no longer extant Metz codex, Mettens. 500 (ed.P. H. Thomas, Incerti auctoris epitomarerum gestarumAlexandriMagni cum libro de mortetestamentoqueAlexandri[Leipzig, 1960],32, lines 3 ff and ed. Merkelbach and Trumpf, Quellen, p. 254,lines 6 ff). The narrative has been interpreted as reflecting apamphlet of the early 4th century B.C.: Merkelbach andTrumpf, Quellen, 161 ff, but see now J. Seibert, "Das TestamentAlexanders, ein Pamphlet aus der Fruihzeit der Diadochen-kimpfe?" in Land und Reich. Stammund Nation ... FestgabeiirMax Spindlerzum 90. Geburtstag,ed. A. Kraus, vol. I (Munich,

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THE ALEXANDER LEGEND IN BYZANTIUM 85

easily have been put on the lips of someone likePatriarch Nicephorus, who had been credited withclairvoyance.'6 In a general way, to be sure, theomen of the monstrous birth, transposed in a boldfashion from Alexander's times to medieval Con-stantinople, is presented as a premonition of thebestial Leo V's reign of terror.'7 But then, in asomewhat abrupt manner and with no link to themonster child and its rustic mother from the Al-exander legend, the figure of another prophetessis introduced; possessed by the mantic spirit, shepredicts to the pious Michael the impendingchange of rulers.'" The emperor attempts to keepthe matter quiet, but the dangerous secret of theidentity of his successor (Leo)19 leaks out and isused by the future heresiarch John the Grammar-ian for his own advancement. (This part of thestory, with some significant differences, is alsoknown from later chronicles.)20 Leo, while stillstrategos of the Anatolic theme, learns through anotherwise unknown courtier, Nicephorus,21 aboutthe utterances of the prophetess and the similar

predictions of a wandering monk.22 This monk isto be distinguished from the hermit Sabbatius withwhom, according to this text, Leo comes into con-tact only after his accession to the throne.A different example of the creative appropria-tion of material from the Alexander romance isfound in an earlier hagiographical narrative, theVita of Macarius Romanus.23 The work, on the ba-sis of some admittedly slender indices, can bedated approximately to the sixth or early seventhcentury.24 The designation 3(log xat nOXLTE(assomewhat misleading;25 though the text does in-

1984), 247 ff. Merkelbach's suggestion that in the famous I Ith-century Otranto mosaic the monster birth is shown as a pendantto Alexander's ascension (Quellen, 170 note 19) lacks cogency;the mosaic depicts an (admittedly very puzzling) monster withfour leonine bodies and one (leonine?) head, resting on a wolf,which in turn is in the process of devouring a serpent-all de-tails hardly congruent with the description of the half-humanmonster of the Alexander legend. Merkelbach discusses theproblem again at some length in a more recent article ("Alex-ander und der vierleibige Lowe im Dom zu Otranto," ZPapEpig38 [1980], 255-58), but his rather cavalier dismissal of the im-portance of precise iconographic details (p. 257) does not re-solve the matter. For reproductions of the pertinent part of themosaic and a very tentative discussion of some iconographicparallels, see C. Settis-Frugoni, "Per una lettura del mosaicopavimentale della cattedrale di Otranto," BISI 80 (1968), 226and fig. 2, and idem, "IImosaico di Otranto: Modelli culturali escelte iconografiche," BISI 82 (1970), 267-68 and fig. 6.16See, e.g., Genesius, 12, lines 62 ff.7 ... . XLVJLy ( wEQbVU[IOgig buooGESoCagOJ , b)gXtava&d6ov xat dQov6itEvogVO(jxEVEvPG 95, col. 365c).S... kd yE itrU q FyyaotQg(Cvuogb Trot &v tiitQoo~o0vooivtog uvEOLaTOgiu00O0g vaCEgQ(ov,n'VToV paITL-X~ov TaXE~av vaGoOXYlVEQaTEETaL(PG 95, cols. 365D-368A).The word vtvaboxjl, n the sense of "succession," seems to bepeculiar to this text; it should perhaps be corrected to &a8ox?oI.'9Av &6 Ea(rTLrT 6yvoya acTroi, 'AQgtEvvCOvayXLOTeCagxaTay6[Evog (PG 95, col. 368B).20Theophanes Cont., Bonn ed., 22, lines 2 ff; Genesius, ed.

Lesmuiller-Wiener and Thurn, 8, lines 59 ff; Pseudo-Symeon,Bonn ed., 605, lines 7 if; the courtier who manipulated theknowledge to his advantage in this tradition is Theodotus Mel-issenus, alias Cassiteras, not John the Grammarian.21NLxirq6Qog TUg nacaQov1togKWLvdQLogEy6[tEvogPG 95,col. 368B). The non-iconic seal of this individual is extant; seeW. Seibt, "Uber das Verhiltnis von xrlyd~Qogbzw. 80[totoLXogrig TQantulg zu den anderen Funktionaren der aoGLXLXtTd-nEUa in mittelbyzantinischer Zeit,"BZ 72 (1959), 36. Seibt notes

the Nicephorus of the pseudo-ad Theophilum,but erroneouslymakes him a century older and an associate of Leo III; so alsoin his later article "KrvdLog;-ein 'neuer' Wirdentraiger amHof des byzantinischen Kaisers,"HandesAmsorya88 (1974), col.371.22 ... &hkog &UTg rVxuxTkaglwiEu68r Tr v (col. 368BC). The designation xvxkdXlog ("vagabond") is again peculiarto this text; it is clearly synonymous with the better attestedxvxhUvEUTg.23BHG 1004-S; Athanasius Vassiliev, ed., Anecdota graeco-byzantina,pars prior (Moscow, 1893), 135 ff from two mss: Mosq.3 (saec. XIII/XIV) and Mosq. 351 (saec. XV) in two parallel col-umns. Unless otherwise indicated, reference is to the wordingof the older ms. Alexander Kazhdan has adduced this text toillustrate the sort of fantastic notions many Byzantines enter-tained about India ("Where, When and by Whom Was theGreek Barlaam and Joasaph Not Written, " in Zu Alexanderd.Gr.FestschriftG. Wirthzum 60. Geburtstag m9.12.86, ed. W Will andJ. Heinrichs, vol. II [Amsterdam, 1988], 1187).24They visit a Persian locality called 'Aola, where St. Mercu-rius miraculously slew Julian the Apostate (ed. Vassiliev, 137,lines 9 ff); the name of Mercurius only appears in the secondversion (ed. Vassiliev, 137, line 10). Is the first version of thetext earlier than the eventual identification of Julian's supernat-ural murderer as Mercurius of Caesarea? The topographicaldetail in question is first attested in the 6th-century chronicle ofMalalas (Bonn ed., 327, line 21), though there it professedlydepends on the testimony of Eutychianus, a 4th-century eyewit-ness historian of Julian's last campaign; in fact, the account ismost probably of later, Syrian origin (see Th. Btittner-Wobst,"Der Tod des Kaisers Julians,"Philologus51 [1892], 564 note 8).Only the Sasanian capital Ctesiphon is noted in the Vita, andthere is no sign of any knowledge of the Muslim dominion inthe East. As Vassiliev already noted (Anecdota,xxxviii), it is tell-ing that only in the later Latin translation is the mention ofSaracens to be found; Macarius' simple question in the Greekabout the origin of his guests is expanded, inter alia, with thepathetic query "si Sarraceni vel ethnici hactenus Christi populopersecutionem ingerunt" (PL 73, col. 421B). The Vita dates atthe very latest from the 10th century; the oldest ms. (Vat. gr.824) dates from the 1Ith century, and the Georgian version be-longs to the pre-Metaphrastic keimena-redaction (see M. Tar-chnivili, Geschichteder kirchlichengeorgischenLiteratur[VaticanCity, 1955], 484). The Armenian version (see BHO 580; text notavailable to me) may throw further light on the question of dat-ing.25In the usual printed synaxarium entry the first part of thenarrative is indeed abbreviated drastically, and Macarius' ownaccount of his life has pride of place (see, e.g., Nicodemus theHagiorite, lvvaapQLOTig iT6v8~&xa8X IVV60VoOOvaCvro, 5thed., I [Thessaloniki, 1981], 409 ff; cf. SynaxariumCP, 160, lines36 ff.

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86 STEPHEN GERO

clude an autobiographical account of the hermitMacarius, it is, for the most part, a description ofthe travels of three monks from Mesopotamia.These monks, the narrator Theophilus and hiscompanions Sergius and Hyginus, are obsessedwith the rather profane desire to explore the limitsof the earth, to see whether the sky is indeed sup-ported on an iron pillar.26They unceremoniouslyleave their monastery without the permission oftheir superior, Asclepius.27 The first stage of theirtravels is a rather banal pilgrimage to the HolyLand, but then they continue their journey to Per-sia, India, and points even farther east. In thecourse of their adventures, they encounter all sortsof exotic beasts and monstrous half-human beings,but manage to escape unscathed. Then our trav-elers, guided by a dove, come upon an arch thathad been built by Alexander. The inscription onits vault tells them that it was erected when Alex-ander was pursuing his Persian foe.28 Further-more, the inscription continues, he who would en-ter the land of darkness must keep to the left; thewaters have their origin on the left, and, followingthe sound of the waters, one will finally emergeinto daylight.29 By contrast, if one keeps to theright, one will find only mountains, cliffs, and asnake-filled lake.30 The monks, of course, followthese directions and then encounter the hermitMacarius and two lions, his constant companions.Macarius welcomes them as fellow Christians, tellsthem his life story, and convinces them to turnback; he, Macarius, had attempted the same jour-ney, but it was revealed to him that the way isbarred to mortals by walls of iron and brass and byangels who guard the earthly paradise; the sky in-deed comes to an end east of this paradise.3' Our

travelers take leave of Macarius, retrace their stepsthrough the land of darkness, accompanied by thetwo lions until they reach the arch of Alexander;they eventually return to their monastery andtheir long-suffering abbot, Asclepius.The episode regarding Alexander's arch is partof the Alexander romance tradition, though it isfound neither in the a-recension nor in the vulgateform of the p-recension. It appears in the e-recension, which dates at the earliest from the lateseventh century;32 the inscription (in dodecasylla-bic verse) is of a more general nature and does notspecify the direction the traveler should take.33Anaccount of Alexander's arch is also part of a later,expanded form of the p-recension, henceforthdesignated as the "L-version," represented in par-ticular by Leidensis Vulc. 93 (siglum L),34 Bodl.misc. 283 (siglum P),35 as well as several manu-scripts of the related recension X,36 and one aber-

26"O6Xov. . rdTrig arg [tov UEQL7taTEGyVgoi &I0Noto&vantMavTL 6 oiQav6g, bUELt XyovoLY6iL MtcaTiXrovotL-8g?ov ?avaLntacraM ed. Vassiliev, 135, lines 28 ff).27One ms. (Vat. gr. 2606) makes the precise identification asRovaotilQov toT dyCovUAv8ytov (see J. Trumpf, "Zwei Hand-schriften einer Kurzfassung der griechischen Vita Macarii Ro-mani,"Anal Boll 88 [1970], 25).28 ... E QoiEvct ta xac EyQa)Ev EiLg6 xibxhogaui'Tg onoag*TaOTrlyvjGVVa tfyrELQEV'AX.avyQog6 TovyMaxEF6vwv3acoLXFEgatrc6t6xuvCtu6KaQXi986vogg Orlg(ovvariantAaQFCov]6vIIQOvlEog vraDc0aed.Vassiliev,42, ines7ff).29 ... TardA GoLYl oXOTELvAL&fXOEv.XOtXvvb6TEQovEiaohXOEvdVta CaQLOTEQ&EEQLotaT ~Co, 3ndvtayyQ&E6aa ioIDx6olovu Ex Toi &QLgoTFQoDovUg ?nOEiOVTL. 6 G&0EQX6Evog"rnoy)Vfl v 66'rod)vxokovOuEtxoat SEXie0rTaJtL bg ed.Vassiliev,42, ines12 f).30 ... .ht T GESL& C OQAU ncdvrTa xat xtl[tvot xat XCtvqTxauatEyOOlg4Oov L EFOCLVar (ed. Vassiliev, 142, lines 20 ff).The second version adds scorpions for good measure.S... g ubg6 thlyVE'XOOLM idV E&OTLYVO -EXOgL8QogoVxat iFTEovXaXxofvat EoEVTOIOT~vOTLV0'aQd6ELOog6ov

UIv nori 'A6dLxat qEu'a,at &vuOEv"TOI

aQca6Coovu

xacT&vaToX&g 6o'0iavbg dvantavMaL (ed. Vassiliev, 152, lines18 ff). The original query of the monks (see above, note 26) ishereby answered.32SeeMerkelbach and Trumpf, Quellen,96, 206. The connec-tion of this detail of the Vita with the Alexander romance wasnoted, in a general way,by F. Pfister ("Episoden des Alexander-romans in christlichen Texten," ThLz 37 [1912], 572; "Studienzur Sagengeographie," SOsl 35 [1959], 20-21); see also Merkel-bach and Trumpf, Quellen, 135.

s ... EXECoU 'AktavQog fye~LQEn Cat, yE~4vuQ6ag aCtV[sc."rtv dqayya].

v 6 rtfi VOC yQdgttara 'EXXhavtLxd,IEQ0oLxAxat ALyvuiLaxd. q 6U ycat iT6iE rly6QEuvov. 'EvOa8''AktavOQog qyELQEt& lCat, &vJ navotQatada gU6n EvQv /"Tv" UXNE~adp6Qayya,&x~ov Oowv yaC(ag xactapd3v, og"finoovoC( 66/ELEv(ed. J. Trumpf, AnonymiByzantiniVitaAlexandriRegisMacedonum[Stuttgart, 1974], p. 113, line 11 - p. 114, line6). That one desirous to behold wonders should travel to the

right is, however, the advice to Alexander of the birds with hu-man form and voice: 6g rtyvn 6E5CavhvOUvooTQ~~~ELEv66v,OavBrtdta6VETraLed. Trumpf, 117, lines 8-9). According to alater medieval reworking of the E-recension Alexander wroteon the arch with y64dtLatao cztxai xat ~Q6dnLxahe following:'AX.avQOog

6 [3aceo' gEig"FlT xvxfgtV AyX g yi~g vxcttx&n6tyv xaL6tgdavfroO'TvrlY6'3drlxa le i ovUcta tovutka (ed.V. L. Konstantinopulos, Ps.-Kallisthenes: Zwei mittelgriechischeProsa-Fassungen des Alexanderromans,Teil II [K6nigstein/Ts.,1983], 50, lines 10 ff).S4H. Meusel, ed., "Pseudo-Callisthenes nach der LeidenerHandschrift herausgegeben," Jahrbiicher iir classischePhilologie5th suppl. (Leipzig, 1864-72), 701 ff and H. van Thiel, ed. andtrans., Leben und TatenAlexandersvon Makedonien:Der griechischeAlexanderroman ach derHandschriftL (Darmstadt, 1974), 2 ff. Itshould be noted that the latter editor somewhat arbitrarily re-

placed the a-type text of I, 1-10 in L with the I3-textfrom an-other ms. (Vat. gr. 1556, siglum V); for details, see xlii. Thisunusual piece of philological restoration work was overlookedby K. Dowden in his English translation of van Thiel's editionof L apud B. P. Reardon, ed., CollectedAncient GreekNovels(Berkeley, 1989), 650 ff. The portion of the text that is of inter-est is also re-edited by Bergson, Rezension 3, 193 ff.5See Bergson, Rezension 3, xix-xx.3S6ee Merkelbach and Trumpf, Quellen, 203 ff and H. vanThiel, Die RezensionA des Pseudo-KallisthenesBonn, 1959), esp.

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THE ALEXANDER LEGEND IN BYZANTIUM 87rant manuscript of recension y (Par. gr. suppl. gr.113, siglum C).37 This L-version provides a for-mulation closely related to our hagiographicaltext; however, the connection does not take theform of simple borrowing. According to this ver-sion, after the famous episode concerning the cookAndreas and the fountain of life, Alexandererected an arch on which was engraved a short in-scription to the effect that those who would enterthe land of the blessed should go to the right, lestthey perish."3To my mind, the wording in the Vitaof Macarius represents a conscious correction ofthe L-version. The Vita rejects the alternative ofgoing to the right by providing a detailed expla-nation of the route on the left, coupled with a de-scription of the dangers of the path to the right.The contrary explanation of the literary connec-tion, namely, that the formulation of this group ofAlexander romance manuscripts represents a ri-poste to the Vita, is in itself not impossible if oneaccepts the relatively early dating of the. Vita andrealizes that the dating of the p-recension is stillvery much sub judice.39 Nevertheless, on a closerlook this alternative must be dismissed. As hasbeen noted repeatedly, the Vita in its descriptionof fabulous beings and places draws upon materialfrom, and is in a more general sense inspiredby, the Alexander romance.40 The original P3-

recension is still free from the influence of Chris-tian apocalyptic and hagiography,41 and, crucially,nowhere does the L-version show an awareness ofthe central geographic argument of the Vita,namely, that the spring of water is on the left, whilethe right is but a barren desert with no potablewater. The Vita thus provides a terminus antequem of the sixth-seventh centuries for the exis-tence of the special material in the L-version and,indirectly, for the p-recension as a whole.42The presence of the Alexander tradition in theVita of Macarius Romanus is of more than narrowphilological value. To be sure, in the Vita there isno direct reference to the Alexander romance as aliterary work, as is the case in another hagiograph-ical text, an Ethiopic reworking of the famousapocryphon called the History of the Rechabites.43There a Palestinian hermit, Gerasimus, is inspiredto seek the land of the blessed through his readingof "the book of King Alexander."44 But the Vitaprovides a powerful demonstration of the undi-minished vitality, not to say relevance, of the imageof Alexander as first created by the author of theromance, when it describes how the monks imi-tated and relived Alexander's adventures in aChristian key. They followed in his footsteps, andhad, in a richly symbolic fashion, the arch of Al-exander as a guidepost in their piously intrepid,though ultimately unsuccessful, quest to reach theends of the earth and the terrestrial paradise.

University of Tiibingenpp. 30 ff. Unfortunately, in this last publication only the text ofa portion of book III is edited; Bergson, Rezension6, gives asummary collation of the X-readings in his apparatus.

37H. Engelmann, ed., Der griechischeAlexanderroman,RezensionF, Buch II (Meisenheim am Glan, 1963); for a characterizationof its text-type, see Merkelbach and Trumpf, Quellen, 210.38 ... nQoatfoa 6t XTOOvaLVL(8Cla tp 60T) XEC(vyEy--(oTlyv xctt yQdlct && yXUv4(6ogrT(Og. "ol P3ovk6[tEvoLiLOEEXOlVv TiCtaxdQ ov XQI, 6eLqL 7oQEiEGoE, ClOTE &u6Xrl0e'" ed.Bergson, 201, lines 20-22 = ed. Meusel, 767, lines 21-24 =ed. van Thiel, 118, lines 36 ff). Manuscript C has the followingderivative text: 6 U 'AX~ktavQog ? .Xac3E&L&6v otEle(vTrofrTv xEaoEElvac - &xQa 'igyg. Wg &UBaEv ivgTv&aCla,iv ENTLOEVAXkavyQog,yga E3dLV ?V iiT ouTW L&ykv4CGg-ot ovk6[tivOLiWENEl ivt0 fiT6)v Maxd(Q w(bc,8ESL UoQEV00Cuo0aved. Engelmann,15, lines 16 ff). ThewordUdklvsclearly n allusiono the fact he thebuilding fthe arch hasalreadybeenmentioned nce(11:39)n a formtakendirectly romthe E-recension:oCauo0v 'AX?.avOQog.. IyELQEV (aiqt V -avOTQGTEtapdg, ZxQyOtkhvycalcagxaTa.kaCvE g TjQovoC( 66?ELE ed. Engelmann, 304, lines 3ff).39The usual 5th-6th century date (see Bergson, Rezension 3,x) hinges on an incorrect dating of both the Armenian transla-tion of Pseudo-Callisthenes and of the chronicle of Moses Khor-enaci, which quotes from it; on this point, see my article "TheLegend of Alexander the Great in Christian Oriental Litera-ture,"Bulletin of theJohn RylandsLibrary, orthcoming.40That the travelers' encounter with Macarius has a specificconnection ithAlexander'suestof?iXc)a Ty6)Vacxdyvcanhardly edenied.Cf.F.Pfister,KleinechriftenumAlexanderro-man MeisenheimmGlan,1976),139 and A.N. Veselovskij,

"Iz istorii romana i povesti," Sbornikotdelenija russkago azyka islovesnostiimperatorskojkademiinauk 40, no. 2 (1886), 305 ff.41 In two P-manuscripts, the story of Alexander's gate is inter-polated from the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius. Thoughthe interpolation is also attested for the X-manuscripts and ms.C of the y-recension (see Bergson, Rezension 3, 205 ff), this isnot the case for manuscript L itself.42 In one instance at least the Vita did influence the Alexander

tradition; in a late Latin version, the so-called JS recension ofthe Historia depreliis(11th-12th cent.?), the interpolated accountof Alexander's arch (ed. K. Steffens, Die Historia de preliisAlex-andri Magni RezensionJ3 [Meisenheim am Glan, 1975], chap.107a, p. 160, lines 2 ff) clearly depends on the wording of theLatin translation of the Vita (PL 73, col. 418B).4*See J. H. Charlesworth, ed., The Old TestamentPseudepigra-pha, II (London, 1985), 443 ff.44E. A. Wallis Budge, ed., TheLife and Exploitsof Alexander heGreat, I (London, 1896), 360, line 14; for a translation, see vol.II, 562. Very interestingly, according to the narrative, Gerasi-mus passed on the book, which he got from his cellmate, toanother monk (ed. Budge, 363, line 25). The Alexander bookin question, however, may well have been the so-called Christianromance of Alexander (an original Ethiopic composition),which does provide an idyllic picture of life in the City of theSaints (ed. Budge, I, 289, lines 1 ff) rather than the Ethiopicversion of Pseudo-Callisthenes itself.