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Alexander's legend
Alexander was a legend in his own time. His court historian Callisthenes portrayed the sea in Cilicia as drawing back from him in proskynesis. Writing after Alexander's death, another participant, Onesicritus, went so far as to invent a tryst between Alexander and Thalestris, queen of the mythical Amazons. When Onesicritus read this passage to his patron, Alexander's general and later King Lysimachus reportedly quipped, "I wonder where I was at the time."
In the first centuries after Alexander's death, probably in Alexandria, a quantity of the more legendary material coalesced into a text known as the Alexander Romance, later falsely ascribed to the historian Callisthenes and therefore known as Pseudo-Callisthenes. This text underwent numerous expansions and revisions throughout Antiquity and the Middle Ages, exhibiting a plasticity unseen in "higher" literary forms. Latin and Syriac translations were made in Late Antiquity. From these, versions were developed in all the major languages of Europe and the Middle East, including Armenian, Georgian, Persian, Arabic, Turkish, Hebrew, Serbian, Slavonic, Romanian, Hungarian, German, English, Italian, and French. The "Romance" is regarded by many Western scholars as the source of the account of Alexander given in the Qur'an (Sura The Cave). It is the source of many incidents in Ferdowsi's "Shahnama". A Mongolian version is also extant.
Alexander is also a character of Greek folklore (and other regions), as the protagonist of 'apocryphal' tales of bravery. A maritime legend says that his sister is a mermaid and asks the sailors if her brother is still alive. The unsuspecting sailor who answers truthfully arises the mermaid's wrath and his boat perishes in the waves; a sailor mindful of the circumstances will answer "He lives and reigns, and conquers the world", and the sea about his boat will immediately calm. Alexander is also a character of a standard play in the Karagiozis repertory, "Alexander the Great and the Accursed Serpent".
Some believe that, excepting certain religious texts, it is the most widely-read work of pre-modern times.
Alexander in the Qur'an
Alexander the Great sometimes is identified in Persian and Arabic traditions sources as Dhul-Qarnayn, Arabic for the "Two-Horned One", possibly a reference to the appearance of a horn-headed figure that appears on coins minted during his rule and later imitated in ancient Middle Eastern coinage. If this theory is followed, accounts of the Alexander legend, can be found in Qur'an if Alexander is the Dhul-Qarnayn mentioned in the Quran.
It can be found in the Persian tradition too if the theory is accurate. The same traditions from the Pseudo-Callisthenes were combined in Persia with Sassanid Persian ideas about Alexander in the Iskandarnamah. In this tradition, Alexander built a wall of iron and melted copper in which Gog and Magog are confined.
Some Muslim scholars disagree that Alexander was Dhul-Qarnayn. There are actually some theories that Dhul-Qarnayn was a Persian King with a vast Empire as well, possibly King Cyrus the Great. The reason being is Dhul-Qarnayn is described in the Holy Quran as a monotheist believer who worshipped Allah (God). This, it is claimed, removes Alexander as a candidate for Dhul-Qarnayn as Alexander was a polytheist. Yet contemporaneous Persian nobles would have practiced Zurvanism, thus disqualifying them on the same basis. It is more likely that the core story is a composite taken from accounts of Alexander and validated with Abrahamic embellishments.
Alexander in the Bible
Alexander was briefly mentioned in the first Book of the Maccabees Chapter 1, verses 1-7. The following is a brief summary on how Alexander was portrayed in the Bible (RSV-CE version).
He was described as Alexander son of Philip the Macedonian. Defeated Darius, king of the Persians and succeeded him as king (Alexander previously became king of Greece). Fought many battles and advanced to the ends of the earth. He gathered a strong army and ruled over countries and nations. He fell sick and perceived that he was dying so he summoned his officers and divided his kingdom among them. After Alexander reigned for twelve years, he died.
Alexander in Shahnameh
Shahnameh of Ferdowsi, one of the oldest books written in Modern Persian, has a chapter about Alexander. It is an epic style poetry book written around 1000 AD and is believed to be the reason Persian language exists today. It starts with mystical history of Iran until mention of Alexander and a brief mention of Arsacids. The accounts after that, still in poetry and epic style, mentions real names. The book writes about Alexander as a child a Persian King, Daraaye Darab and the last in the list Kings in the book whose name does not match the real kings, and a daughter of Philip,a Roman King. However, due to a problems in the relationship between the king and Philip's daughter, she was sent back to Rome. Alexander was born afterwards but Philip claims him his own and keeps the identity of the son secret.
Names of Alexander
Alexander is also known in the Zoroastrian Middle Persian work Arda Wiraz Nāmag as "the accursed Alexander" due to his conquest of the Persian Empire and the destruction of its capital Persepolis. He is known as Eskandar-e Maqduni (Alexander of Macedonia) in Persian, Al-Iskander Al-Makadoni (Alexander of Macedonia) in Arabic, Alexander Mokdon in Hebrew, and Tre-Qarnayia in Aramaic (the two-horned one, apparently due to an image on coins minted during his rule that seemingly depicted him with the two ram's horns of the Egyptian god Ammon), al-Iskandar al-Akbar الاسكندر الاكبر (Alexander the Great) in Arabic, Sikandar-e-azam (سکندر اعظم) in Urdu and Skandar in Pashto. Sikandar, his name in Urdu and Hindi, is also a term used as a synonym for "expert" or "extremely skilled".
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