Alexander, from hero to saint

Alexander was never forgotten in history. After his death, many tales and legends started to circulate. Many of those found their way to the widespread versions of the Alexander Romance.

His pictures, statues, paintings, and mosaics circulated in the countries he had conquered and beyond. A great deal of the artwork we know today are copies made in the Roman era. During Hellenistic times, we can find his pictures from Italy, Egypt, the Near East, to Central Asia, and India. Every ruler liked to present himself with a certain likeness to Alexander. This makes it often difficult to distinguish Alexander from later kings.

When the Byzantine Empire and early Christianity spread throughout the eastern part of the world, Alexander was no longer seen as a Greek hero and made his entry into the Orthodox church. His ascension into Heaven became a recurrent theme. Although he clearly remained a mortal, the great conqueror extended his empire to the heavens.

By the 12^th century, the clergy often depicted Alexander as he rose into Paradise rather than being left among the dead. The best-known such picture is found on the floor mosaic in the church of Otranto in Southern Italy (see: Alexander's presence in Magna Graecia). Recently, one of my friends located a similar relief showing Alexander in precisely the same position in the Church of S. Demetrius in Vladimir, Russian Kiev. In fact, some 2,000 km further east! Alexander is depicted sitting on a throne, holding a bait of meat in each hand. Hungry griffons pick on the flesh, and by doing so, they are pulling him up into Heaven.

Around the 15^th and 16^th centuries, Alexander became a symbol of vanity. Several churches in Greece contain frescoes depicting monks who meditate on vanity while gazing down on Alexander's body at their feet. If we pay close attention, we find several such examples, for instance, in the church of St John the Baptist in the Peloponnese or at the Monastery of the Holy Trinity at the Meteora.