Transcript
Book 1, Chapter Five: Spear-won Land, Pages 109 and 110
he begins to recount
the life and deeds of Alexander the Great.
I am sure you know the stories,
of the spear-won land as Alexander first crosses the Hellespont,
or maybe the one about his battles in Persia against Darius,
immortalised in mosaic,
or the wars in India against Porus,
when the Greeks saw the mighty elephant for the first time.
And I am certain you have seen Alexander too in many guises,
of the elephant skin
the lion’s head
the ram horns
shining, brilliant, noble conqueror.
(The spread is an elaborate illustration evoking more or less the sense of sycophantic amazingness from what is said above. Alexander and Bucephalus are portrayed a la the style of the famous mosaic, framed by four animals (lion, ram, elephant, auroch), four soldiers (each representing the main cultures in Alexander’s army), a dense row of sarissas and a large halo. The Servant’s dialogue is scattered across the spread, as below.)
“Venturing into lands unknown to Greece,”
expounds the Servant.
“never once defeated in battle despite the odds,
you’ve expanded your wealth, wisdom and power beyond the limits of anyone’s imagination.
Greece, Asia, Egypt and India almost!
Future kings will recall your name in their dreams
and weep in longing
for your gift
to achieve the impossible.
There truly is no other who lives as legend embodied.”
Chapter Five 109-110
To be clear I don’t plan to be ‘uwahh conquerer desu’ to Alexander ever. So see this illustration the same way you’d see a Cold War propanganda poster.
Footnotes:
Alexander and Buchephalus are drawn a la the famous Alexander Mosaic in Pompeii that almost every visual adaptation of this man’s life has to pay homage to.
The animals at the corners are each relevant symbols of Alexander’s kingship. He was often portrayed in coins wearing a lion or elephant’s head (the former referring to his ancestry to Heracles and the latter to his temporary conquest of India), or with ram’s horns (as the son of god). The auroch is a feature of Babylonian art.
The soldiers at the bottom pretty much express the same thing as the animals, just more blatant.
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