Transcript
Book 1, Chapter One: Longing, Pages 19 and 20
The chapter opens with a quote from the medieval Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi, taken from his version of the Alexander Romance. It reads as follows,
“O he, Sikandar –
pilgrim on the path of Truth
once sought out
the fountain of immortality.
And so wandered
trusting that
by good fortune
he may find by its water,
life everlasting,
arriving at last
on my doorstep.
O he, Sikandar –
whose life
and its many events
have long ago passed –
is made living once more
by my own lustrous verse.
Finding now in me
the very water
he had vainly sought
long ago.”
End quote.
Hello again, my friends. Here we are,
at the place where our story begins:
an early summer’s night in 323 BCE,
in the grand old city of Babylon.
Come, follow me as I take you to the lit hallways of Nebuchadnezzar’s palace, where inside,
there’s a banquet, and a feast,
and a sizeable party of men, drunk
with joy and wine and reverie.
Chapter One 019-020
Heylo! Chapter One is finally here – in honour of Alexander’s birthday. Happy being 2377 years old, you skeleton.
Caption: a drawing of me and Alexander’s friends reenacting that Happy Birthday Yzma bit from the Emperor’s New Groove.
Footnotes:
Nizami Ganjavi, Sikandar Nama – Canto XIV, Lines 40 to 51, reinterpreted in my own words (with consultant’s aid) from the English translation by H. Wilberforce Clarke.
The backdrop is my take on the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, which would have been a tourist attraction located near the palace compound… if it was actually in Babylon. I like to believe that at least a less impressive, less ‘hanging’ version of it may have existed in the palace or elsewhere in the capital, since Mesopotamian kings had been known to keep palace gardens (in other residences, including the most likely location of the Hanging Gardens). Anyway, the garden in Babylon is another one of those ambiguous things, like a few details in Alexander’s history, that are neither confirmed or disputed. And whew, this comic is going to feature a lot of ambiguity.
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