03-19 to 20-2026 Alexander the Great and Iskandar: Dialogues on Medieval Reception
March 19-20, 2026
Free and open to the public
Dates & Location
March 19th, 2026 – Keynote
745 Commonwealth Ave, Room 625
March 20th, 2026 – All-Day Symposium
745 Commonwealth Ave, Room B23-24
Preliminary Program
DAY 14-4:30 Opening Remarks4:30-5:30 Keynote:
David ZuwiyyaFilling an Imperfect Form: The Hero’s Birth, Destiny, and Death in the Spanish Alexander Romances5:30-7 Reception
DAY 2
9:15 Coffee, introductory remarks
9:30-10:45 Dialogue 1: Authority and Alexander
Conquest and Consort: The Politics of Alexander’s Marriages in Medieval Islamic Writings / Blain Auer
Candace and Other Women in the Malay Alexander Romance / Su Fang Ng
11-12:15 Dialogue 2: Alexander in India
When Kṛṣṇa Faced a Greek Hero: Alexander and His Legacy in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa? / Steven Smith
‘Our souls are brighter than your own’: Cleophis Candace and India in the Historia de preliis / Russell Stone
12:15-1:30 LUNCH BREAK
1:30-2:45 Dialogue 3: Alexander and the Narrative of Imagery
Miniatures in the French-Prose Alexander tradition: from narrative to narrator / Maud Simon
Seafaring in Illustrated Manuscripts of the Iskandarnamahs / Sunil Sharma
2:45-3 COFFEE BREAK
3-4:15 Dialogue 4: Re-writing Alexander
Whose Authority Is It Anyway? Alexander in the Twelfth Century / Venetia Bridges
Alexander and Persianate Humanism in the Shahnameh / Owen Cornwall
4:15-5:30 Student panel
Chair: Sunil Sharma