Overview

The Syriac text entitled Neshana d-Aleksandros (also known as Syriac Alexander Legend) is a seminal text for late Christian and Muslim apocalyptic traditions. Containing the earliest recorded versions of literary motifs that would become central to the medieval apocalyptic tradition, it represents an early witness to an influential political ideology that guided both Byzantine and early Islamic imperial policies. While the scholarly consensus commonly dates the Neshana to the time of Heraclius (r. 610-641 CE), in this book author Tommaso Tesei argues that an earlier version of the text was produced during the reign of Justinian I (r. 527-565). This new historical contextualization of the text enables us to better delineate the role of the Neshana in the development of late antique, politicized, forms of apocalypticism, which assign to the Christian Roman Empire the task of establishing a cosmocratic rule in view of Jesus' Second Coming. In analyzing the contents and the ideology of this seminal text, this volume contributes to our understanding of the origins and developments of important literary motifs of Medieval literature worldwide, such as the characterization of Alexander as a pious prophet-king and the story of the gate that he erected to confine the eschatological nations of Gog and Magog. The Syriac Legend of Alexander's Gate sheds light on lesser-known aspects of political debates in the sixth-century Near East and offers historians a valuable insight into important aspects of Justinian's reign.

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9780197646878

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Reviews

"""""This book sheds new light on the origin of a long-forgotten apocalyptic Syriac text of enormous influence. By arguing for its composition in the time of Justinian rather than Heraclius-a hundred years earlier than has been widely accepted-Tesei forces us to reconsider the meaning of the whole work as well as its relationship the apocalyptic genre and to the Qur'an. The first new English translation of the Syriac text since 1889 is a most welcome additional contribution."""" -- Kevin von Bladel, Yale University """"In this new book, Tommaso Tesei provides the most definitive study of the Syriac Alexander Legend to date. Although this text may possibly be unfamiliar to some scholars of late antiquity, it is highly important for its direct influence on the Qur'an (Q 18.83-101). Yet the significance of this sixth-century apocalypse greatly exceeds its appropriation in Qur'an, and Tesei's study introduces significant new perspectives on the development of late ancient apocalypticism, relations between Persian and Roman Christians, and the rise of imperial eschatology. Brimming with insights and highly recommended!"""" -- Stephen J. Shoemaker, University of Oregon"

Author Information

Tommaso Tesei is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Duke Kunshan University.

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