İskender’i Kandıran Şeytan Hikâyeleri ve İskendernâme Literatürü

Abstract

The Alexander Legends in their various versions were among the most popular tales of the Middle Ages and early modern period. The legends had a wide circulation in different regions and languages through oral and written transmission, translations, and also re-writing. This paper focuses on the voluminous İskendernāme (Book of Alexander) by the Ottoman writer Hamzavī (d. 1415?). This is a mixed work in prose and verse since the narrative is mostly in prose accompanied by a large number of verses. The paper examines one of the manuscript copies of this work which is held by the British Library. The date of the manuscript is 1435/36 (AH 839) and its catalogue number is Or 11056. This study explores the episodes recounting İskender's encounters with Satan, which are narrated many times in the British Library manuscript. These episodes are striking for two main reasons: first, the better known Turkish İskendernāmes do not include these episodes, and, second, they have an important function in the portrayal of İskender in Hamzavī's work. Besides, there are similar episodes in two different İskender narratives written in Arabic and Malay in the fifteenth century. Hence, these similar episodes which are included in three different manuscript works written in three different languages in the fifteenth century point to the textual connections between these manuscripts. Therefore, the portrayal of İskender by Hamzavī, which differs from his portrayals by Firdevsī (d. 1020), Nizāmī (d. 1222) and Ahmedī (d. 1413), includes significant clues for tracing the İskendernāme tradition in Anatolia and the textual links between the biographies of Alexander the Great composed in different languages.