# Alexandreis

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{{Short description|Medieval Latin poem by Walter of Châtillon}}
thumb|Alexandreis
{{for|the 13th-century poem|Quilichinus of Spoleto}}
The '''''Alexandreis''''' (or '''''Alexandreid''''') is a medieval [Latin](/source/Latin_language) [epic poem](/source/epic_poetry) by [Walter of Châtillon](/source/Walter_of_Ch%C3%A2tillon), a 12th-century [French](/source/France) writer and [theologian](/source/theology). It gives an account of the life of [Alexander the Great](/source/Alexander_the_Great), based on [Quintus Curtius Rufus](/source/Quintus_Curtius_Rufus)' ''Historia Alexandri Magni''. The poem was popular and influential in Walter's own times: according to [Henry of Ghent](/source/Henry_of_Ghent), it was more popular than [Virgil](/source/Virgil)'s ''[Aeneid](/source/Aeneid)'' in thirteenth-century schools. [Matthew of Vendôme](/source/Matthew_of_Vend%C3%B4me) and [Alan of Lille](/source/Alan_of_Lille) borrowed from it and [Henry of Settimello](/source/Henry_of_Settimello) imitated it, but it is now seldom read. One line is sometimes quoted:

:''Incidis in Scyllam cupiens vitare Charybdim'' (You run into [Scylla](/source/Scylla), desiring to avoid [Charybdis](/source/Charybdis)) (V.301).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Gualterus de Castiglione |title=Alexandreis: Liber V |url=https://www.hs-augsburg.de/~harsch/Chronologia/Lspost12/Gualterus/gua_al05.html |website=Bibliotheca Augustana |publisher=Hochschule Ausburg |accessdate=3 June 2019}}</ref><ref>Some versions have ''qui vult vitare....'' ("who wishes to avoid...") instead</ref>{{Relevance inline|date=August 2019}}

== Translations ==
{{Wikisource|Alexandreida}}
Translations were made into Old Spanish (''[Libro de Alexandre](/source/Libro_de_Alexandre)''), Middle Dutch ([Jacob van Maerlant](/source/Jacob_van_Maerlant)'s ''Alexanders Geesten''), Old Norse (''[Alexanders saga](/source/Alexanders_saga)'') and Old Czech (''Alexandreida'').

In 1996, David Townsend published an English translation of the ''Alexandreis''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Townsend |first=David |title=The Alexandreis of Walter of Châtillon: a twelfth-century epic: a verse translation |date=1996 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-3347-6 |series=The Middle Ages series |location=Philadelphia, Pa}}</ref>

==Contents==
# [Aristotle](/source/Aristotle) warned by Alexander his pupil; destruction of [Thebes](/source/Ancient_Thebes_(Boeotia)); description of Asia; Alexander journeys to [Ilium](/source/Troy); account of the dream of Alexander
# Alexander solves the [Gordian knot](/source/Gordian_knot); illness of Alexander; the Persian army; the shield of king [Darius](/source/Darius_III_of_Persia)
# Battle of the Issus; [Tyre](/source/Tyre%2C_Lebanon) and [Egypt](/source/Egypt) are taken; Alexander's journey to the [oracle of Ammon](/source/oracle_of_Ammon); death of the queen of Persia in captivity; message from the sarcophagus of the queen
# Alexander's dream of the goddess [Victoria](/source/Victoria_(mythology))
# [Battle of Arbela](/source/Battle_of_Arbela); Alexander is victorious and enters [Babylon](/source/Babylon)
# [Susa](/source/Susa) and [Persepolis](/source/Persepolis) are taken; the doubts of Darius
# Darius flees and is slain at Bessus; message from the tomb of Darius
# War against the Hyrcani and [Scythians](/source/Scythians); meeting of [Thalestris](/source/Thalestris) queen of the [Amazons](/source/Amazons) with Alexander
# Journey of the army to [India](/source/India); king Porus subdued by Alexander; description of India; weariness of the soldiers
# Journey to the underworld; the oath; granting of the world; death of Alexander

==Bibliography==
*F. J. E. Raby, ''A History of Secular Latin Poetry in the Middle Ages'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1934. {{ISBN|0-19-814325-7}}) vol. 2 pp.&nbsp;72–80.
*J. Blänsdorf, ''Einführung in Walther von Châtillon, Alexandreis'' ( https://web.archive.org/web/20070911073305/http://www.jblaensdorf-mainz.homepage.t-online.de/Walther__Alexandr_/walther__alexandr_.html )
*M. Colker, "Galteri de Castellione Alexandreis" (Padua: In aedibus Antenoreis, 1978.)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*Latin text of the ''Alexandreis'' at the [http://www.fh-augsburg.de/~harsch/Chronologia/Lspost12/Gualterus/gua_al00.html Bibliotheca Augustana]

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Category:12th-century books in Latin
Category:Epic poems in Latin
Category:Medieval Latin poetry
Category:Alexander Romance
Category:Historical poems

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Alexandreis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandreis) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandreis?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.