An Early Ottoman Interpretation of the Alexander Romance
Ahmedî’s İskendernâme
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20205899 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Furkan Öztürk (0000-0001-9621-9063, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 93-114 |
| Publication date | 2026-05-18 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Trames Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1406-0922 • E-ISSN: 1736-7514 |
| Publisher | Estonian Academy Publishers (PUBLISHER • EE) |
| DOI | 10.3176/tr.2026.1.05 |
| OpenAlex | W7161555189 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 5 |
This article examines Ahmedîâ s early fifteenth-century İskendernâme, the most influential Ottoman reworking of the Alexander Romance. After tracing the multilingual transmission of Pseudo-Callisthenes through Byzantine, Islamic, and Iranian routes, it analyzes Ahmedîâ s innovations, drawing chiefly on Ferdowsî and Nizâmî. The poem systematizes ideal kingship through advisory epistles attributed to Plato, Aristotle, Hippocrates, and Socrates, and recasts Indo-Iranian political theory (justice, liberality, consultation) into an Ottoman adab idiom. It also reshapes the Alexanderâ GÃ1⁄4lÅ ah episode as a mystical interlude, builds an encyclopedic cosmos spanning cosmology, astronomy/astrology, psychology, and medicine, and organizes wonder narratives (ajâib wa gharâib) thematically. The workâ s epistemology pivots between Aristotleâ s worldly knowledge and Khidrâ s inspired lore and culminates in the Tevârîh-i MÃ1⁄4lûk-i à l-i Osmân section, which fuses epic, mirror-for-princes literature, encyclopedia, and dynastic historiography. Seasonal descriptions track Alexanderâ s life, reinforcing cyclical time
Monarchy · Mysticism · Narrative · Poetry · Wonder · Byzantine Studies and History · Eurasian Exchange Networks · Islamic Studies and History
| Highly cited | No |
|---|