The presence of Alexander in Byzantine times

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

[Picture from the Archaeology News Network (Credit: Cyprus Dept. of Antiquities)]

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 7^th 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!

[Picture from the Archaeology News Network (Credit: Cyprus Dept. of Antiquities)]

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.