The Greek Alexander Romance (Epsilon)

Abstract

Abstract Chapter 1 uncovers the earliest surviving version of the Alexander in Jerusalem tradition. The story derives from the era of Antiochos III “the Great” and his conquest of Koile Syria from Ptolemaic Egypt, and survives in the epsilon recension of the Alexander Romance. The Seleukid original is evident through epsilon’s engagement with Seleukos and Antiochos, completely absent from the mainstream Romance and from Alexander’s histories, as well as from epsilon’s unique campaign geography. The two Seleukid characters serve as ciphers for Alexander, mediating the reality of a new foreign regime in Judea. The story proposes a sacred bond between the Judean priesthood and Makedonian-Seleukid monarchy, even suggesting that the foreign ruler might embrace the monotheistic principle. An appendix postulates that the ninth-century Byzantine reworking of the Seleukid Romance (epsilon) derives from ninth-century ce Byzantium, and can be understood in part as polemic against the Judaization of the Khazars.