A CRITICAL INDEX TO REFERENCES TO ALEXANDER THE GREAT IN ROMAN LITERATURE

Our knowledge of the history of Alexander depends upon the quality of preservation of the ancient sources. The literary sources comprise: book 17 of Diodorus (30 B.C.), books 11 and 12 of the epitome of Pompeius Trogus by Justin (150 A.D.), the History of Alexander by Quintus Curtius (50 A.D.), the Anabasis and the Indica by Flavius Arrianus (150 A.D.), and the Life of Alexander, as well as two essays, by Plutarch (120 A.D.).;In addition to the fragments of the lost historians and the five preserved authors, there are scattered over the whole range of Greek and Roman literature numerous incidental discussions and references to Alexander which are of potential value for the historian. But they have not yet been identified, collected, and sifted critically. This undertaking constitutes perhaps the greatest single desideratum in Alexander studies at present.;In 1954 C. Robinson published an index to the five extant authors, whose accounts Alexander scholars already know well enough. In a critical review H. Strasburger declared that Robinson should have undertaken a more valuable and useful subject, namely, to identify, collect, and publish the incidental references to Alexander in Greek and Roman literature.;The purpose of this dissertation is to supply this need. The present collection is confined to Roman literature. The search yielded 295 passages which comprise the General Index (Chapter II). The General Index represents, I believe, the most comprehensive collection of Latin sources for Alexander in Roman literature in existence.;These five preserved authors based their accounts on works which are lost, but were composed during Alexander's lifetime or shortly thereafter. The fragments of these lost historians are available in Felix Jacoby's Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker, IIB and IID (Berlin, 1927-1930).;Also, I provide an Index of all proper names and places found in the sources (Chapter III), and the sixteen categories (arranged by frequency of reference) which I established to classify the information provided by the 295 passages (Chapter IV). Finally, I sketch the portrait of Alexander which emerges from the sixteen categories (Chapter V).