Alexandria's founded by Alexander

Alexandria's founded by Alexander the Great (by year BC): 334 Alexandria in Troia (Turkey) - 333 Alexandria at Issus/Alexandrette (Iskenderun, Turkey) - 332 Alexandria of Caria/by the Latmos (Alinda, Turkey) - 331 Alexandria Mygdoniae - 331 Alexandria (Egypt) - 330 Alexandria Ariana (Herat, Afghanistan) - 330 Alexandria of the Prophthasia/in Dragiana/Phrada (Farah, Afghanistan) - 330 Alexandria in Arachosia (Kandahar, Afghanistan) - 330 Alexandria in the Caucasus (Begram, Afghanistan) - 329 Alexandria of the Paropanisades (Ghazni, Afghanistan) - 329 Alexandria Eschate or Ultima (Khodjend, Tajikistan) - 329 Alexandria on the Oxus (Termez, Afghanistan) - 328 Alexandria in Margiana (Merv, Turkmenistan) - 326 Alexandria Nicaea (on the Hydaspes, India) - 326 Alexandria Bucephala (on the Hydaspes, India) - 325 Alexandria Sogdia - 325 Alexandria Oreitide - 325 Alexandria in Opiene / Alexandria on the Indus (confluence of Indus & Acesines, India) - 325 Alexandria Rambacia (Bela, Pakistan) - 325 Alexandria Xylinepolis (Patala, India) - 325 Alexandria in Carminia (Gulashkird, Iran) - 324 Alexandria-on-the-Tigris/Antiochia-in-Susiana/Charax (Spasinou Charax on the Tigris, Iraq) - ?Alexandria of Carmahle? (Kahnu)

Monday, February 8, 2021

The presence of Alexander in Byzantine times

It amazes me how time and again Alexander appears or reappears throughout history.


Take for instance the latest excavations carried out on the site of Katalymmata ton Plakoton on the island of Cyprus, where a monumental ecclesiastical complex has been excavated. It has been established that this place is related to St John the Merciful, Patriarch of Alexandria, who also is the patron saint of Limassol, Cyprus.

Archaeologists have been working here since 2007 when a first basilica was unearthed. This turned out to be a burial monument measuring 36 meters in width by 29 meters in length. More recently, a second basilica was uncovered which was 47 meters long and 20 meters wide. Both sites have been dated to the second half of the 7th century AD, probably around 616-617 AD.

The most important find at this second basilica is, as far as I’m concerned, a marble stele that shows a bust of the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius – yet personified as Alexander the Great!

It is noteworthy that this Heraclius became emperor in 610 AD and spent most of his life fighting the Persian Sassanids and the thread of the rising Muslim Empire.

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