Traces of Alexander are found not only in the names associated with the many places he claimed for himself. From the mountains of the Hindu Kush to the capital of Egypt to the eastern shores of the Mediterranean and even beyond, reminders of Alexander’s existence can still be detected. He is found in preserved art and crumbling architecture, and in old coins exchanged in rural markets that seem straight out of the 2,000-year-old past. And of course, he is enshrined as the central figure in hundreds of stories.
Just inland from the eastern Mediterranean coast stand the massive ruins of Apollo’s temple of Didyma, where Alexander stopped early in his eastward campaign. Legend has it that the sacred spring there had dried up since the Persians looted and desecrated the temple in 494 b. c.e. But upon Alexander’s arrival to pay homage to Apollo, they say, the spring suddenly began to flow again. Soon after, according to the ancient writings, the new priestess of the temple foretold King Darius’s death and Alexander’s triumph in the East.
The whole of Alexander’s journey is marked with spots like this. The so-called Wall of Alexander, a fortress wall built at the northern edge of today’s Iran by Parthian kings after Alexander’s death, stretches east from the Caspian Sea for 124 miles. In Herat, Afghanistan, the rough-looking mud brick remains of an old fort mark the area where he founded his city of Alexandria in Areia. In Kandahar, Afghanistan, archaeologists discovered a temple portraying Alexander as a god, with inscriptions in Greek and the biblical language of Aramaic. In 1939, a huge treasure was found north of Kabul, at the foot of the Hindu Kush Mountains where Alexander had a base. When the remains of this Hellenistic city were unearthed, among other riches archaeologists retrieved Alexandrian glass, ivory sculptures from India, and lacquered objects from China, all testifying to the trade that began blossoming under Alexander’s rule.
All this is just a small fraction of the physical evidence that remains in the 21st century, and on four continents, of a ruthlessly ambitious conqueror. But Alexander’s life, and his powerful and contradictory personality, comes most alive in the hundreds of stories that have been preserved and passed down-and probably fantastically elaborated upon over the centuries as well.
In particular, the stories, plays, and songs that portray him in his most demonic persona-that of the Great Iskander, the destroying, twohorned beast-seem to be most vividly expressed. The tales of Alexander’s evil exploits are gleefully relayed in dusty roadside caravanserai, or inns. They are danced to by campfires in ancient mountains and listened to wide-eyed in the darkened bedrooms of modern-day Middle Eastern children. He even shows up in Muslim Shiite folk plays, where his attire often includes jodhpurs (English-style riding breeches) and a pith helmet.
The tales of Alexander’s life and deeds, which range from reasonably believable to laughably impossible, are not confined to the lands that he conquered, either. He stars in legends and romances originating in places as far away as Western Europe, China, and Ethiopia, where, in some works,
Alexander’s father, King Philip, is portrayed as a Christian martyr and Alexander himself as a holy religious saint.
He has also made a name for himself in Hollywood. In 1955, actor Richard Burton starred in the film Alexander the Great, and in the fall of 2004 he was reincarnated again. This time audiences saw him do heroic battle in the Oliver Stone movie Alexander.
The Last Greek
In the 1930s archaeologists excavated a huge tower close to Persepolis and facing the Naqsh-e Rustam tombs of the Achaemenian kings. On the tower were writings in Greek, Parthian, and Middle Persian, which described the successful wars against Rome waged by Persian king Shapur I (d. 272 c. e.) in the third century. Historians consider this a significant record because it was the last time the Greek language appeared in any Iranian inscription.
One common story told throughout Asia even today is also depicted on old sculptures in some European cathedrals. It tells of Alexander as the two-horned monster who takes over the entire world. Then, still seething with ambition, he plots a god-like chariot ride into the heavens. His destruction comes when God casts him down for being consumed by hubris, or hugely self-satisfied pride.
In the telling of these tales over time, Alexander has taken on mythical proportions in the imaginations of so many who have heard them. Like any hero or monster worth remembering, he is larger than life, coming through the centuries to us as indelibly furious, ferocious, and wondrous.
World History
