Alexander the Great in the Quran into Arabic. The Greek work "Thesaurus Alexandri" was attributed to Hermes (the great messenger of the gods in Greek mythology) and similarly contained supposed letters from Aristotle addressed to Alexander. A more direct Arabic translation of the "Alexander romance," called "Sirat Al-Iskandar", was discovered in Constantinople, at the Hagia Sophia, and is dated to the 13th century. This version includes the letter from Alexander to his mother about his travels in India and at the end of the World. It also includes features which occur exclusively in the Syriac version. The Arabic legend also retains certain pagan elements of the
Alexander the Great in the Quran evidence, in the form of ancient coins, to identify the Arabic epithet "Dhul-Qarnayn" with Alexander the Great. Finally, ancient Christian Syriac and Ethiopic manuscripts of the "Alexander romance" from the Middle East have been found which closely resemble the story in the Quran. This leads to the theologically controversial conclusion that Quran refers to Alexander in the mention of Dhul-Qarnayn. The literal translation of the Arabic phrase ""Dhul-Qarnayn,"" as written in the Quran, is "the Two-Horned." Alexander the Great was portrayed with two horns in ancient Greek depictions of Alexander: It is well known that already in his own time