The mystery about Alexander’s Wall

What is known as Alexander’s Wall is a section of the Elburz Mountains located about five kilometers east of the Caspian Sea. From what Michael Wood showed us is his documentary In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great, it looked like a straight dike in the landscape. 

Although Alexander may have passed the Caspian Gates, the obvious opening in this wall during his pursuit of Bessus in 329 BC, there is no indication why this wall was named after him. He most probably had nothing to do with its construction, even if he is known for having built comparable defenses in Margiana. 

From the geographical and historical point of view, this wall separates the arid lands in the north where the Scythians used to live from the fertile lands to the south, which were overall in Persian hands. 

Recently, archaeologists established that at least a part of the wall can be dated back to the Achaemenid Empire (6^th-4^th century BC). Later research revealed baked bricks, which were carbon dated to 47-570 AD. This may well fit the theory that the construction of this wall took place under Khusrau I who ruled from 531 to 579 AD. This Sassanid King is known for having defended Hyrcania against the Huns of Central Asia. 

Research in the area is very difficult because over the centuries much of the stones and bricks have been removed to serve as construction material elsewhere. 

The link to Alexander, however, has been kept alive mainly through the Quran. Here it is said that Dhûl-Qarnayn (The Horned One) erected a large wall to keep out the Barbarians, which the Quran calls Gog and Magog. As we know, The Horned One is a name attributed to Alexander as son of the Egyptian god Ammon depicted with ram’s horns. 

If we follow what the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus wrote in the 1^st century AD, the Scythians crossed the passage in the wall which was used previously by Alexander, and shut the opening with iron gates. Also the Syrian Christians mention the story of Dhûl-Qarnayn shortly before it appeared in the Quran. It is reportedly based on a letter which Alexander wrote to his mother. This is not unlike what is mentioned in the Alexander Romance back in the original version from Alexandria of the 4^th century AD. This means that the story, true or false, existed already before it was included into the Quran.

However, history and legend once more go hand in hand when talking about this Alexander Wall because two more sites have been identified by that name. They are situated on the western side of the Caspian Sea as they blocked the passage across the Caucasus Mountains. The most favorite version is the one mentioned by Marco Polo as the Caspian Gates of Derbent. This wall stretches over a distance of 40 kilometers and is marked by 30 fortification towers. True or not, it is up to us to make up our own mind! 

Alexander still triggers our imagination

Alexander keeps surfacing from the strangest of places, proof, if needed, that the world has not forgotten him.

This thought came to me while reading an article about the latest excavations carried out in an ancient Jewish village of Galilee, i.e., in Israel, despite the ongoing conflicts in the region. Archaeologists are in the process of uncovering a stunning mosaic floor that belonged to a synagogue at Huqoq dating from the fifth century.

After previously uncovered mosaics with biblical scenes, archaeologists have now come across images that do not fit that pattern. There is, for instance, a bull pierced by spears with next to him a dead soldier holding a shield, and another scene showing young men seated around an elderly man holding a scroll seen through an arcade topped with burning oil lamps. And then there is this mosaic depicting two bearded men. One wears a diadem and is clad in an elaborate battledress and a purple cloak while leading a large bull by the horns. He is accompanied by a phalanx of soldiers and a group of elephants with shields tied to their sides. This description alone triggers my imagination, and I immediately think of Alexander, of course, for who else would be surrounded by a phalanx and elephants? In the mosaic, he is met by a grey-haired elderly man in a white ceremonial tunic and mantle, followed by young men with sheathed swords wearing the same outfit.

It is evident that no elephants are involved in any of the bible stories. Archaeologists confirm that battle elephants have been automatically associated with Greek armies ever since Alexander the Great. They now concluded that this might be a scene from a Jewish legend in which Alexander is meeting a Jewish high priest. It may be tied to Alexander’s speculative visit to Jerusalem, which is mentioned by Flavius Josephus and apparently also in some rabbinic literature. Something worth investigating!

The article, unfortunately, does not show any picture of this stunning mosaic floor (luckily moved from the site for conservation) except for the head of what could be Alexander.

[Picture from The University of North Carolina News]