Alexander the Great in the Quran called them the Caspian Gates. Twenty and two Kings did I shut up therein. These pseudepigraphic letters from Alexander to his mother Olympias and his tutor Aristotle, describing his marvellous adventures at the end of the World, date back to the original Greek recension α written in the 4th century in Alexandria. The letters are "the literary expression of a living popular tradition" that had been evolving for at least three centuries before the Quran was written. Several historical figures, both Muslim and Christian, searched for Alexander's Gate and several different identifications were made with actual walls. During the Middle
The Nature of Alexander The Nature of Alexander The Nature of Alexander (1975) is the only nonfiction work by novelist Mary Renault (1905–1983). The book is a biography of King Alexander the Great, (356-323 BCE/BC), ruler of Macedon, Egypt and Persia. Renault wrote several historical novels in which Alexander appears: "The Mask of Apollo" (1966), "Fire from Heaven" (1969), "The Persian Boy" (1972) and "Funeral Games" (1981). She felt these were not enough to tell the whole story of Alexander, and so she completed her nonfiction biography. The book makes no attempt to be impartial or neutral, but rather unabashedly advocates Alexander as a