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
Shooting the messenger him". A related sentiment was expressed in "Antigone" by Sophocles as "no one loves the messenger who brings bad news" or "no man delights in the bearer of bad news" (). The sentiment that one should not shoot the messenger was expressed by Shakespeare in "Henry IV, Part 2" (1598) and in "Antony and Cleopatra": Cleopatra threatens to treat the messenger's eyes as balls when told Antony has married another, eliciting the response "Gracious madam, I that do bring the news made not the match." The term also applied to a town crier, an officer of the court who made