Alexander the Great in the Quran rhetorical type depending on the Cleitarchus tradition, and with this he amalgamated a collection of imaginary letters derived from an "Epistolary Romance of Alexander" written in the first century B.C. He also included two long letters from Alexander to his mother Olympias and his tutor Aristotle describing his marvellous adventures in India and at the end of the World. These are the literary expression of a living popular tradition and as such are the most remarkable and interesting part of the work. The Greek variants of the "Alexander romance" continued to evolve until, in the 4th century, the Greek legend
Kalanos Kalanos Kalanos, also spelled Calanus ( – 323 BCE) was a gymnosophist (literally "naked philosopher"), a philosopher from Taxila who accompanied Alexander the Great to Persis and later committed suicide by self-immolation. It was from Kalanos that Alexander came to know of Dandamis, the leader of their group, whom Alexander later went to meet in the forest. Plutarch indicates his real name was Sphínēs and that he was from Taxila, but since he greeted people with the word "Kalē!" - perhaps "kallāṇa (mitta)" "Greetings (friend)" - the Greeks called him Kalanos. Kalanos lived at Taxila and led an austere life.