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2 - Alexander and Alexandria in Life and Legend

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 January 2022

By
Dorothy J. Thompson
Edited by
Richard Stoneman
Richard Stoneman
Affiliation:
University of Exeter
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Summary

This chapter is concerned with Alexander in Egypt in both life and legend. Subjects discussed include his foundation of Alexandria, which became a new capital for Egypt on the Mediterranean coast, his expedition through the Libyan desert to Siwah, where the oracle’s recognition of the conqueror as son of Zeus-Ammon resonated in both Greek and Egyptian cultic terms, his acceptance as the pharaoh of Egypt, and finally, after his death in Babylon, his return for burial to Egypt, where his embalmed corpse and tomb in Alexandria became the centre of Ptolemaic ruler cult, a focal point for later visits of Roman emperors, and where the question of its actual location remains a source of continuing fascination and debate. In the accounts of classical historians, Alexander in Egypt is already variously presented; the historiography is as important as the history. From the start some specifically local legendary elements may be seen and over time the Romance or Legend of Alexander in its many different forms overshadows and surpasses any strictly historical account.

Keywords

AlexandriaEgypthistoriographyNectaneboOlympiaspharaohruler cultSiwahsnakestomb
Type
Chapter
Information
A History of Alexander the Great in World Culture , pp. 14 - 41
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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