Summary
The Metrical Discourse on Alexander the Great, attributed to Jacob of Serugh, shows many affinities with the Akkadian Gilgameš Epic.
Text
Jacob of Serugh, The Metrical Discourse on Alexander the Great:
Address to the Deity by the writer. Alexander gathers together the chief men of his kingdom, and tells them that he wishes to go and see the various countries of the world, especially the Land of Darkness. Having taken possession of Macedonia he goes to Egypt. His nobles point out the difficulties of the road which he proposes to travel, and the impossibility of crossing the foetid sea; nevertheless he determines to go. Ships are prepared for his army, he sets out, and after a voyage of four months arrives in India, where he begins to march in a northerly direction. After his proclamation of peace three hundred old men come to him and salute him as king. He asks them to show him the way to the Land of Darkness. They tell him of the difficulties of the way, but as he persists in his intention to go there they promise to go with him. He sets out, and being questioned by the old men about his object in coming there, tells them that he is searching for the fountain of life. They advise him to go forward, and to take with him she-asses which are suckling young ones - these they propose to leave behind - so that if he loses the way, the maternal instinct of the she-asses will lead them back to the young ones. They also advise him to cause his cook to take with him a dried salt fish, and to command him to wash it wherever he sees a stream or fountain of water. The stream or fountain which causes the fish to come to life will contain the water of life.
The king and his company set out, and when the cook washes the fish in a fountain of water, which he sees by the road, it comes to life, and swims away and escapes. Alexander wishes to bathe in it and to live for ever; but he is not allowed to do so. He asks the old men whose territory is that which he sees beyond them. They tell him that it belongs to Tūbarlīqī and that it is inhabited by the nations of Gog and Magog. Here follows a desciption of the peoples of Gog and Magog. Tūbarlīqī is told of the arrival of Alexander, and he hires sixty-two kings to come and help him to fight him. Before the battle an angel appears to Alexander in a dream, and promises victory to him. Alexander encourages his troops to fight, a battle takes place, Tūbarlīqī is defeated and taken prisoner. Alexander builds a brass and iron door, to shut in the nations of Gog and Magog, which was finished in the sixth month. A fiery watcher appears to Alexander in a dream and brings to him the commands of the Lord concerning the treatment of Tūbarlīqī, and instructions concerning the division of his lands. Description of the evils which shall happen in the seven thousandth year, when the gate which Alexander has made shall be opened. Alexander, like Daniel, prophesies concerning the end of times. The woes which shall come upon the earth when the children of Gog and Magog break loose and overrun the earth. Hymn of praise to God and to our Lord Jesus Christ.
Source (list of abbreviations)
Jacob of Serugh, The Metrical Discourse on Alexander the Great
Bibliography
| Budge 1889, lxxxi-lxxxiii | Budge, E. A. Wallis. The History of Alexander the Great, being the Syriac Version. Edited from five manuscripts of the Pseudo-Callisthenes with an English Translation. London: Cambridge University Press 1889 (reprint: Amsterdan: APA-Philo Press 1976, esp. pp. cv-cvi, lxxxi-lxxxiii, 5-6, 11-12, 15). |
Amar Annus
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