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's outpost in the Gulf

Honestly, I raised my eyebrows when I first heard how the Asian conquests of Alexander the Great had left its traces on a rather desert island in the Persian Gulf off the coast of today’s Kuwait.

With the occupation of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein the island of Failaka had not escaped to modern warfare, but maybe this is what made archaeologists aware of an earlier conquest of this sun-baked island by Nearchus, one of Alexander’s generals, in the 4th century BC. Luckily, joint excavations with the Greeks are now on their way, focussing on the remains of a citadel and a cemetery. Before that, the French had discovered the remnants of a Temple of Artemis, together with several Greek coins and statuettes. Well, well, …

In an interview, Michael Wood (In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great) reminds us how after the death of Alexander Hellenistic culture spread from India to Egypt. As an example, he mentions Uruk, near today’s Basra in southern Iraq where, even several hundreds of years after Alexander’s death, inscriptions show the names of local rulers in a mixture of ancient Babylonian and Greek. Alexander’s conquests of Asia have accelerated commerce in this part of the world, “the first globalisation” according to Michael Wood.

Failaka occupied a strategic position at the point where Tigris and Euphrates empty their waters in the Gulf. Michael Wood even expects to find traces of more ancient civilizations that thrived in the Gulf doing business with Mesopotamia as well as with the Indus Valley. It is generally accepted that the name Failaka comes from the Greek “fylaikio”, meaning outpost. We will remember that Alexander in 324 BC while building the Pallacopas canal spotted a good site for a new fortified town to settle some of his Greek mercenaries and old veterans no longer fit for service.

Further excavation work will centre around the ancient city of Icarea and the Greek team will also work on restoring what has already been uncovered earlier. Very promising indeed!

[pictures from news.bbc.co.uk]

Alexander the Great. The Brief Life and Towering Exploits …

Alexander the Great. The Brief Life and Towering Exploits of History’s Greatest Conqueror as told by his Original Biographers. By Brenda Jackson and Ronald L. McDonald. Edited by Tania Gergel. Introduction by Michael Wood. ISBN 0 14 20.0140 6

Just what I wanted, Alexander’s life story “as told by his original biographers” and since it included a foreword by Michael Wood, whom I hold in high esteem, I thought this would be the purchase of my life!

Although it is a noteworthy book where classic authors like Arrian, Plutarch and Curtius Rufus, are skillfully tied together in a pleasant narrative, I ended up feeling that the most interesting section was actually Michael Wood’s introduction. He at least knows how to kindle that sparkle that makes a book interesting and fascinating to read. Brenda Jackson and Ronald L. McDonald's story is more a flat statement of facts and figures from a past that seems even more remote than it already is.

I’ll hang on to Michael Wood’s last introductory sentence where he is quoting Arrian “… It is my belief that … never in the world was there another like him [Alexander]”.