THE MYTH OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT IN MEDIEVAL GEORGIAN CHRONICLES
Andro Gogoladze
University of Georgia, Tbilisi
Abstract: Pseudo-Callisthenes’ Alexander Romance has played an important role in the development of the historical and literary legacy of the antique Hellenistic peoples as well as on the medieval Europe and Asia. In this respect neither the medieval Georgian chronicles and literature were an exception. The Alexander Romance served as the basis for the description of historical and literary adventures of the king of the Georgians, Vakhtang Gorgasali (fifth-sixth century). His chronicler Juansher, under the influence of the hero of Alexander Romance, created a mystic image of a ‘great king’ Vakhtang, a victorious knight and a Christian ruler. For the Georgian medieval chroniclers, editors and rewriters, Alexander of Macedon remained the ideal of a powerful, yet righteous ruler and a model of a hero, and this attitude has been reflected in the compositions and literary legacy of the chroniclers of this or later epochs.
Keywords: Georgia, King Vakhtang Gorgasali, Medieval Chronicles, Myth, Literary Tradition