Medieval Alexander

[amyntoros]

Did the legand of Alexanders flying machine originate in medieval times? I thought it was older than that for some reason. And although I knew it was a fairly common image, I had no idea it was used as widely as it was until seeing Amyntoros' post. Thanks Amyntoros!

Glad you like it, although I like to personally thank Julianna Lees who wrote the paper. It's impossible to tell from the PDF whether this was a paper for a conference, a university final, or just for personal interest. Whatever the reason, I am greatly impressed by the scope of her research, and I'm always appreciative of someone who delves so deeply into the subject matter. If I had looked for the same information just eight months ago (before Lees "published" the paper on the web) I would have found little of interest. And Marcus wouldn't have another project to fill his free time.

Best regards,

[Taphoi]

Did the legand of Alexanders flying machine originate in medieval times? I thought it was older than that for some reason. And although I knew it was a fairly common image, I had no idea it was used as widely as it was until seeing Amyntoros' post. Thanks Amyntoros!

According to Stoneman, Alexander's celestial journey (aka Alexander and the flying machine) was first accreted in the eighth century AD in the L manuscript of the beta recension of the Alexander Romance. It was an elaboration of a similar story that originated in the Talmud in the 4th century AD. Hence it is essentially of Jewish inspiration. Stoneman even fingers a named 8th century writer, Wahb ibn Munabbih, who is implicated in some of the accretions from the Talmud, but there is no certainty regarding precisely how this came about.

Alexander the Great: A Life in Legend by Richard Stoneman is a very detailed and authoritative account of the history of the Alexander Romance, which will answer most questions that can be answered on the subject.

There is an exhaustive book on medieval representations of Alexander's celestial journey with nearly 100 cases by Victor Schmidt, A Legend and Its Image (1995).

Below is a nice version done in 1894 from my collection.

Best wishes,

Andrew

[marcus]

Alexander the Great: A Life in Legend by Richard Stoneman is a very detailed and authoritative account of the history of the Alexander Romance, which will answer most questions that can be answered on the subject.

There is an exhaustive book on medieval representations of Alexander's celestial journey with nearly 100 cases by Victor Schmidt, A Legend and Its Image (1995).

I agree, the Stoneman book is excellent. I believe it's now in paperback, if people are interested.

On Amazon UK
or
on Amazon US

And, as one will notice, the cover picture shows Alexander being taken up to heaven by the griffins!

Thanks also for mentioning the Schmidt book, Andrew. I was not aware of that before, but will add it to my list!

ATB