Alexander the Great, setting out to conquer the Persian Empire in 334 BC, lamented over Achilles’ tomb at Troy that he enjoyed no Homer to sing his exploits. In fact, Alexander or “Iskandar” found his Homer, and Virgil too, more than a thousand years later in the Persianate world’s two greatest epic poets, Firdawsî and Nizâmî – illustrated by the finest miniaturists throughout the lands that are today Iran, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and India – in an extraordinary mythical transformation of sober history into a tale of unwitting fratricide and then divine redemption through universal empire: with Alexander learning that he is the secret half-brother to Darius, whose daughter he weds to reconcile all kingdoms, all peoples.

“The Persian and Afghan Romance of Alexander the Great, Part I: The Conqueror”

Dr. Michael Barry

Princeton University

Monday, March 21, 2016 at 6:00 PM

Boston University, Trustee Ballroom, 1 Silber Way, 9th Floor

Open to the public. Free with registration: https://goo.gl/yfpGfZ

Sponsored by the Association for Central Asian Civilizations & Silk Road (ACANSRS), the American Institute of Afghanistan Studies (AIAS), the Institute for the Study of Muslim Societies & Civilizations (SMSC) and Mizan Project.
*”The Persian and Afghan Romance of Alexander the Great, Part II: The Seeker” will take place at Harvard University on March 22 at 6 pm in the Belfer Case Study Room located at 1730 Cambridge St.

Alexander the Great, setting out to conquer the Persian Empire in 334 BC, lamented over Achilles’ tomb at Troy that he enjoyed no Homer to sing his exploits. In fact, Alexander or “Iskandar” found his Homer, and Virgil too, more than a thousand years later in the Persianate world’s two greatest epic poets, Firdawsî and Nizâmî – illustrated by the finest miniaturists throughout the lands that are today Iran, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and India – in an extraordinary mythical transformation of sober history into a tale of unwitting fratricide and then divine redemption through universal empire: with Alexander learning that he is the secret half-brother to Darius, whose daughter he weds to reconcile all kingdoms, all peoples.

“The Persian and Afghan Romance of Alexander the Great, Part I: The Conqueror”

Dr. Michael Barry

Princeton University

Monday, March 21, 2016 at 6:00 PM

Boston University, Trustee Ballroom, 1 Silber Way, 9th Floor

Open to the public. Free with registration: https://goo.gl/yfpGfZ

Sponsored by the Association for Central Asian Civilizations & Silk Road (ACANSRS), the American Institute of Afghanistan Studies (AIAS), the Institute for the Study of Muslim Societies & Civilizations (SMSC) and Mizan Project.
*”The Persian and Afghan Romance of Alexander the Great, Part II: The Seeker” will take place at Harvard University on March 22 at 6 pm in the Belfer Case Study Room located at 1730 Cambridge St.