Alexandreis

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Alexander fights against the Indian king Porus (illustration around 1420)

The Alexandreis (or The Song of Alexander the Great ) is an epic poem in Latin that addresses the story of Alexander the Great . It comes from the pen of the poet Walter von Châtillon , who wrote it down around 1180. The epic, written in hexameters , is divided into ten books and is dedicated to Wilhelm , the Archbishop of Reims .

meaning

The deeds of Alexander the Great were a very popular narrative in medieval royal courts. The reason for this lay in the great variety of possible interpretations, because the material could be assigned a salvation-historical dimension as well as an entertaining or even an idealistic dimension - in the manner of a prince's mirror .

Although popular Alexander novels were already available with the Franco-Provençal L'Alexandréïde des Albéric de Pisançon and the Middle High German Alexanderlied by Pfaffen Lamprecht , Walter von Châtillon tackled an epic in Latin. It is based on the oldest Latin source, on the Historiae Alexandri Magni Macedonis by Quintus Curtius Rufus , instead of on the Greek Alexander novel by Pseudo-Callisthenes . With this, Walter relied on the writing of history, which differentiates his work from the vernacular competition. Nevertheless, he also let his imagination run wild, which led to some anachronisms .

Walter's Latin readers, however, had to forego the fantastic elements of the Alexander novel, such as the trip to the sea floor by means of a diving bell or Alexander's ascension with an eagle frame. They also had to do without pictures, because the Alexandreis came without any splendid illuminations.

content

Alexander in the Spanish Libro de Alexandre , which is based on the Alexandreis .

The Alexandreis begins with the words of the Iliad : "Sing, o Muse, the deeds ..."

  1. Book: Education of Alexander by Aristotle ; Reconciliation with Athens and destruction of Thebes; Conquest by ship to Asia; Visit of Troy
  2. Book: Alexander unties the Gordian knot on the yoke wood with the sword; Troops prepare for battle against the Persian king Darius
  3. Book: the army of the Persians is defeated, King Darius flees; Alexander storms Sidon, devastates Tire from the ground up and conquers Gaza; Visit to the Ammon sanctuary in the Libyan desert; a lunar eclipse causes turmoil in the Greek camp
  4. Book: Alexander and Darius prepare again to fight against each other
  5. Book: the battle of Arbela; Alexander is victorious and enters Babylon
  6. Book: Alexander conquers Susa and burns Persepolis down
  7. Book: Darius escapes and is assassinated; Alexander mourns his death and erects a grave for them
  8. Book: Alexander conquers Hyrcania and Scythia ; the conspiracy of Philotas
  9. Book: Train to India ; King Porus submits to all the tyrants of the east
  10. Book: Alexander's plan to conquer the west and thus Rome after the east; the poisoning and death of Alexander; the soul escapes into heavenly realms.

The song of Alexander the Great closes with the admonishing words: "O, human race, how happy you would be down here, / If you always thought of your eternal salvation, full of fear of the end, / what noble ones come as suddenly as the low-born!"

reception

Between 1178 and 1250, the epic poem El libro de Alexandre was written in Spain , which is largely based on the Alexandreis by Walter von Châtillon. The Libro de Alexandre also contains fantastic elements of the Li romans d'Alixandre penned by Lambert de Tort (old French: Lamberz li Tors) and Alexandre de Bernay as well as the Historia de preliis Alexandri Magni by Archpriest Leo of Naples . The book has survived in only two manuscripts.

The Alexandreis established the fame of the poet and cleric Walter von Châtillon during his lifetime. What the Aeneid of Virgil was to the Romans, Walters Alexandreis was to the readers of the 13th and 14th centuries. At times, the Alexandreis even supplanted the Aeneid as a textbook in medieval Latin lessons.

The German-Bohemian court poet Ulrich von Etzenbach was inspired by Walters Alexandreis to write the Middle High German verse epic Alexandreis (also titled Alexander ) around 1270 . Building on this, another Bohemian Alexander novel was created. The old Czech Alexandreis from 1300 is considered to be the first significant work in the Czech language.

See also

expenditure

literature

  • Hartmut Wulfram: Explicit self-constitution in the Alexandreis Walters von Châtillon. In: Jan Cölln, Susanne Friede, Hartmut Wulfram (eds.): Alexander seals in the Middle Ages. Cultural self-determination in the context of literary relationships. Collaborative Research Center “Internationality of National Literatures”. Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2000, ISBN 978-3-89244-199-1 , pp. 270-298.
  • Andreas Glock: Alexander Gallicus? The Alexandreis Walters von Châtillon as a case of implicit ancient-medieval dependence and self-constitution. In: Jan Cölln, Susanne Friede, Hartmut Wulfram (eds.): Alexander seals in the Middle Ages. Cultural self-determination in the context of literary relationships. Collaborative Research Center “Internationality of National Literatures”. Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2000, ISBN 978-3-89244-199-1 , pp. 222-269.
  • Corinna Killermann: The medieval commentary by Alexandreis Walters von Châtillon as a case of interdependence and self-constitution. In: Jan Cölln, Susanne Friede, Hartmut Wulfram (eds.): Alexander seals in the Middle Ages. Cultural self-determination in the context of literary relationships. Collaborative Research Center “Internationality of National Literatures”. Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2000, ISBN 978-3-89244-199-1 , pp. 299–331.
  • Martin Lehmann (Ed.): Alexander Ethicus? On the moral dimension of the Alexander picture in the Alexandreis of Walter von Châtillon. Rombach Verlag, Freiburg 2018, ISBN 978-3-7930-9930-7 .

Web links

Commons : Alexander romance  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Walter Berschin : Introduction, in: Walter von Châtillon: Alexandreis , Heidelberg 1990, p. 18f.
  2. ^ Walter Berschin : Introduction, in: Walter von Châtillon: Alexandreis , Heidelberg 1990, p. 29.
  3. ^ Walter von Châtillon: Alexandreis, Heidelberg 1990, p. 185.
  4. ^ Dizionario Bompiani delle opere e dei personaggi: di tutti i tempi e di tutte le letterature . Volume Primo A-CAM, Milano 2006, ISBN 8845232468 , pp. 144-145.
  5. ^ Walter von Châtillon: Alexandreis, Heidelberg 1990, p. 193.
  6. ↑ Ruth Finckh: Ulrichs von Etzenbach Alexander: a bohemian teaching piece , p. 365