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
Brian Davies (philosopher) Brian Davies (philosopher) Brian Evan Anthony Davies (born 1951) is a British philosopher. He is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Fordham University (since 1995), and author of "An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion", now in its third English edition, which has been translated into five languages. Brian Davies studied theology at the University of Bristol (BA 1972) and undertook graduate studies at King's College London (MTh, 1973; Tutorial Assistant, 1974–6; PhD, 1976). He spent the period 1982–95 at the University of Oxford. Throughout those years he was lecturer in Theology and Philosophy at Blackfriars, Oxford. Davies was also Tutor in