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GREEK AND THE OTHER: NARRATIVE ANALYSIS ON PSEUDO
CALLISTHENES’ ALEXANDER ROMANCE AND ANNA COMNENA’S
ALEXIAD
A THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement to Obtain the Magister
Humaniora (M. Hum.) in English Language Studies
by
Kristiawan Indriyanto
Student Number: 146332017
THE GRADUATE PROGRAM OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2016
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i
GREEK AND THE OTHER: NARRATIVE ANALYSIS ON PSEUDO
CALLISTHENES’ ALEXANDER ROMANCE AND ANNA COMNENA’S
ALEXIAD
A THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Magister
Humaniora (M.Hum) in English Language Studies
by
Kristiawan Indriyanto
Student Number: 146332017
THE GRADUATE PROGRAM OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2016
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
Yogyakarta, September 5,2016
ffi
by
A TMSIS
GREEKAND THE OTHf,R: NARRATIVIE ANALYSIS oN PSETIDOCALLISTHENES' ALEXANDER ROMANCE AI\TD ANNA COMNENA'S
ALEXIAD
Kristiawan Indriyanto
Student Number: 146332017
Approved by
Paulus Sarwotoo Ph.D.Thesis Advisor
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A TEE,SIS
GREEKAI{D THE OTHER: NARRATTVE ANALY$S ON PSETIIX}CALI.TSTHENES' ALET(AIYDER ROMANCE AND A}INA COMNENA'S
ALEXAD
Prwsted by.
Kristiawea Indriyanto
Student Number: 116132017
Chairperson
Secrekry
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The Grduate Program Ilirector
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MOTTO
GOTT MIT UNS
GOD WITH US
Fur Gott Ums Vaterland Ums Prinzessin
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it;
$TATEMENT OT W$RI( ORIGINALITY
This is to certiS that all ideas, phraBss, senteflces, ualess otherwise stated, arethe ideas, and sentences of the thesis writer. The writer undcrstands the fullconsequences including degree eenoellation if he took sornebody elseis ideas,phrases, or sentsrces without proper references
ogyakarta, Srytember 5, 2016
,W.Kristiawan In&iyanto
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LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJAAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAHANTAK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
I/ang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma:
Nama : Kristiawan Indriyanto
NIM z 146332017
Derni pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan
Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:
GREEK AND TIIE OTHER: NARRATIVE ANALYSIS ON PSEUDOCALLISTHENES' ALEXANDER ROMANCE AND ANNA COMNENA'S
LEXIAD
beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan
kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan
dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data,
mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di intemet atau media lain
untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu maninta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan
royalty kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
Demikian pernyataan.ini yang saya buat dengan sebenarnya.
Dibuat di Yogyakarta
Pada tanggal: 5 September 2016
Kristiawan Indriyanto
ang menyatakan
@
Y
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I thank Jesus Christ for His blessing and guidance for the
accomplishment of my thesis. I give my gratitude toward my thesis advisor, Paulus
Sarwoto, Ph.D for his insight, help, and correction during the writing of this thesis. I
also thank my lecturers in English Language Studies especially Patrisius Mutiara
Andalas, SJ., S.S., S.T.D. Dra. Novita Dewi, M.S., M.A. (Hons), Ph.D and the late
Prof. Dr. Bakdi Soemanto, S.U. Through their classes and discussions, I learn a lot.
Furthermore, I thank my examiner, Arti Wulandari, Ph.D.
I would also thank both my parents, Prof. Dr. Teguh Prasetyo, S.H., M,Si. and
Sri Indarti, S.H., for their kindness and support during my study. Many thanks are
also attributed toward my friends in English Language Studies, especially from the B
Class of 2014 and Literature Batch. I would like to thank my friends in Literature
Batch, mas Adit, Pras, Ruly, Anggi, mas Tama, mbak Anis, mbak Rini, mbak Dian,
mbak Melania, mbak Teti. During our class we all learn a lot. I also give my gratitude
to my other friends who worked together to finish our thesis, Martha, Sari, Dangin,
mbak Vita, mas Bayu and mas Ajay from IRB. I am also thankful toward the senior
members of 2014 Batch, Pak Marwan, Pak Kosmas, and Pak Firmus for their
wisdom. I also thank my friends in DOTA 2 Dictator Team, Pandu, Uya, Bryan,
Richard, Li, We, Theo, Bli Putu, Anto. Lastly, I also thank the academic staff of ELS,
Mbak Marni and Mas Mul for their helping hands.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE ............................................................................................................... i
APPROVAL PAGE .................................................................................................... ii
DEFENCE APPROVAL PAGE ............................................................................... iii
MOTTO ...................................................................................................................... iv
STATEMENT OF WORK ORIGINALITY ............................................................ v
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH
UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS .................................................................... vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................... vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................................................... viii
ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................ xi
ABSTRAK ................................................................................................................... xii
CHAPTER I : INTRODUCTION ............................................................................. 1
A. Background of the Study .................................................................................... 1
1. Justification of the Study ................................................................................ 1
2. Historical Background .................................................................................... 7
3. Objects of Study ........................................................................................... 10
B. Problem Formulation ....................................................................................... 16
C. Benefit of the Study ......................................................................................... 16
D. Thesis Outline .................................................................................................. 17
CHAPTER II : LITERATURE REVIEW .............................................................. 18
A. Review of Related Studies ............................................................................... 18
B. Review of Related Theories ............................................................................. 27
1. Narratology ................................................................................................... 28
a. Classical and Postclassical Narratology ................................................... 28
b. Ideology in Narrative Devices .................................................................. 30
b.1 Ideology and Ideology in Narration .................................................. 30
b.2 Ideology in Focalization .................................................................... 32
b.3 Ideology in Narrative Form ............................................................... 35
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c. Narratology in Non-Fictional Text ........................................................... 37
2. Postcolonial Theories ................................................................................... 39
a. Colonialism, Colonial Complicity, and Imperialism ................................ 40
b. The Other and the Greek’s Barbarian Other ............................................. 44
b.1 Said’s Analysis on European Concept of the Other .......................... 44
b.2 The Greek’s Concept of the Barbarian .............................................. 46
CHAPTER III : IDEOLOGICAL SIMILARITIES BETWEEN ALEXANDER
ROMANCE AND ALEXIAD .................................................................................... 50
A. Comparison between Alexander and Alexius through the Narrators’
Focalization ............................................................................................................. 51
1. Glorification of Alexander and Alexius as Noble Greek (Agathos) ............ 51
2. Alexander and Alexius’ Hellenic Virtues..................................................... 54
a. Intelligence (xunesis) ................................................................................ 55
b. Bravery (andreia) ..................................................................................... 59
c. Self-restrain (sophrosune)......................................................................... 62
B. Comparison between Barbarian Kings through the Narrators’ Focalization ... 66
1. Depiction of Darius as Stereotypical Barbarian King .................................. 67
2. Depiction of Apelchasem as Stereotypical Barbarian King. ........................ 75
CHAPTER IV : IDEOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ALEXANDER
ROMANCE AND ALEXIAD .................................................................................... 79
A. The Presence and Absence of Prolepsis .......................................................... 79
1. The Presence of Prolepsis and the Myth of Colonial Complicity in
Alexander Romance ............................................................................................. 80
a. Prolepsis in Sarepeum Prophecy .............................................................. 81
b. Prolepsis in Ammonian Prophecy ............................................................ 86
2. The Absence of Prolepsis in Alexiad ........................................................... 90
B. Different Barbarians by Different Narrators’ Focalization .............................. 95
1. Alexander Romance’s Depiction of Mythical Barbarians ............................ 96
2. Alexiad’s Depiction of Semi-Barbarians .................................................... 101
a. Depiction of the Varangians ................................................................... 102
b. Depiction of Italus .................................................................................. 105
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CHAPTER V : CONCLUSION ............................................................................. 109
BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................... 115
APPENDICES ......................................................................................................... 121
APPENDIX 1: SUMMARY OF ALEXANDER ROMANCE ............................... 121
APPENDIX 2: SUMMARY OF ALEXIAD ......................................................... 122
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ABSTRACT
Indriyanto, Kristiawan, 2016, Greek and the Other: Narrative Analysis of Pseudo-
Callisthenes’ Alexander Romance and Anna Comnena’s Alexiad. Yogyakarta: The
Graduate Program in English Language Studies, Sanata Dharma University.
This thesis explores how colonial ideology is reflected in Pseudo-
Callisthenes’ Alexander Romance and Anna Comnena’s Alexiad. Greek colonialism
which took place during antiquity until medieval era had certain parallel with modern
colonialism of the European powers. As Alexander Romance and Alexiad were
written during different time periods the focus is to compare and contrast the
similarities and differences in ideological paradigm.
This thesis uses two main theories to analyze these two texts, narratology and
postcolonialism. Narratology is used to probe the ideological position of both the
narrator of Alexander Romance and Anna as the Greek through textual analysis.
Several narratological concepts used are focalization, prolepsis, and pause. The use of
these devices reflect the ideological position of the narrators. Secondly, several
postcolonial concepts theorized by Said related with colonialism, imperialism, and
the Other are used. As this thesis analyzes selected Greek texts, several concepts
related more with the Greeks are also used, mainly the Greeks’ conceptualization of
the barbarian. Based on these two theories, this thesis concludes that the narrators
narrate Alexander Romance and Alexiad from the perspective of the Greek as
colonizer.
The primary similarities between Alexander Romance and Alexiad are mainly
linked with how the narrators proclaim the superiority of the Greeks through the
deeds of Alexander and Alexius which are contrasted with the inferiority of the
barbarian kings. While Alexander and Alexius are depicted as a model example of a
Greek, their enemies are depicted stereotypically as ignorant and cowardly barbarian
kings. The narrators claim that as Greeks, Alexander and Alexius is more intelligent
and braver than their opponents, which become the reason for their victory. As both
texts are separated by different time periods, there are also differences in ideological
perspectives. Firstly, Greek colonialism during antiquity is fueled by religious drive
in form of prophecies, on the contrary prophecies is discontinued during Byzantine
period. Secondly, Alexander Romance emphasizes more on the conquest of
Alexander, not only towards the real barbarians of Persia and India but also towards
the mythical barbarians, such as the centaurs. On the contrary, Alexiad gives more
emphasizes on how the barbarians are Hellenized in the depiction of semi-barbarians.
Keywords: Greek colonialism, narratology, barbarian.
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ABSTRAK
Indriyanto, Kristiawan, 2016, Greek and the Other: Narrative Analysis of Pseudo-
Callisthenes’ Alexander Romance and Anna Comnena’s Alexiad. Yogyakarta:
Program Pasca Sarjana Kajian Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma
Tesis ini membahas bagaimana ideologi kolonial tercermin dalam Alexander
Romance yang ditulis Pseudo-Callisthenes and Alexiad karangan Anna Comnena.
Kolonialisme Yunani yang berlangung selama zaman kuno hingga zaman
pertengahan memiliki beberapa persamaan dengan kolonialisme Eropa modern.
Karena kedua teks tersebut ditulis pada zaman yang berbeda, fokus tesis ini adalah
membandingkan persamaan dan perbedaan dalam paradigma ideologis.
Tesis ini menggunakan dua teori inti untuk menganalisa kedua teks tersebut,
narratologi dan poskolonialisme. Teori pertama, narratologi digunakan untuk
menyelidiki posisi ideologis pengisah dari Alexander Romance dan Anna sebagai
orang Yunani melalui analisa tekstual. Beberapa konsep narratologi yang digunakan
adalah fokalisasi, prolepsis, dan jeda (pause). Penggunaan beberapa konsep
narratologi ini merefleksikan posisi ideologis kedua pengisah. Teori kedua, beberapa
konsep poskolonialisme yang diteorikan oleh Edward Said terkait dengan
kolonialisme, imperialism dan liyan. Karena tesis ini menganalisa beberapa teks
Yunani, tesis ini juga menggunakan beberapa konsep bagaimana orang Yunani
mengkonseptualisasi orang barbar. Berdasarkan kedua teori pokok ini, tesis ini
berkesimpulan bahwa kedua pengisah menceritakan Alexander Romance dan Alexiad
dari sudut pandang Yunani sebagai penjajah.
Persamaan paling pokok antara Alexander Romance dan Alexiad adalah
bagaimana kedua pengisah menyatakan keunggulan orang Yunani melalui perbuatan
Alexander dan Alexius yang dibandingkan dengan inferioritas raja barbar. Alexander
dan Alexius digambarkan sebagai sosok-sosok ideal orang Yunani, sedangkan lawan-
lawan mereka digambarkan secara stereotipikal, sebagai raja barbar yang bodoh dan
penakut. Pengisah-pengisah di kedua teks itu beranggapan bahwa Alexander and
Alexius lebih pintar dan lebih berani dari lawan-lawan mereka sehingga mereka dapat
menaklukkan raja-raja barbar. Karena kedua teks ini dipisahkan oleh perbedaan
zaman, juga terdapat perbedaan dalam sudut pandang ideologis. Pertama,
kolonialisme Yunani di zaman kuno dilandaskan oleh ramalan dewa-dewi, sebaliknya
ramalan tidak lagi dipergunakan pada zaman Byzantium. Kedua, Alexander Romance
lebih memberikan fokus bagaimana Alexander menaklukan kaum barbar, bukan
hanya terhadap kaum barbar sebenarnya seperti orang Persia dan orang India tetapi
juga kaum barbar mistis, seperti Kentaur. Sebaliknya, Alexiad lebih berfokus kepada
kaum barbar mengadopsi gaya hidup Hellenisme.
Kata kunci: Greek colonialism, narratology, barbarian.
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
1. Justification of the Study
Colonialism and imperialism begins even further than the modern Western
imperialism. Irwin St. John Tucker in his A History of Imperialism (1920)
proclaims that,” empire is as old as history itself.”1 A less hyperbolic view is
addressed by Michael W Doyle in Empires (1986). In Doyle’s view,
empires have been key actors in world politics for millennia. They helped
create the interdependent civilizations of Europe, India, the Americas,
Africa, and East Asia which form much of our cultural heritage. They
shaped the political development of practically all the states of the modern
world.2
Both theorists recognize the fact that imperialism has started since the dawn of
human civilization. Imperialism is associated with a sense of superiority by the
imperial powers which become their justification to conquer and control the so
called “weaker” civilization. The imperial subjugation causes the loss of
independence in the occupied nation, as the colonizer has total control and
authority in ruling their colonized. Doyle states that
empire, I shall argue, is a system of interaction between two political
entities, one of which, the dominant metro pole, exerts political control
over the internal and external policy-the effective sovereignty- of the
other, the subordinate periphery.3
This thesis seeks to explore the reflection of colonial ideology in selected
Greek texts. Although Greek was not a major power in modern European 1 Tucker, Irwin St. John. A History of Imperialism. (New York: Rand School of Social Science,
1920) p. 134. PDF 2 Doyle. Michael W. Empires. (New York: Cornell University Press, 1986) p. 12. PDF 3 Doyle. Michael W. p 12.
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imperialism, Greek colonialism during antiquity until medieval era can also show
the embodiment of colonial ideology in their literary texts. While the modern
colonialism is marked more by the colonial empires of Britain, French, Dutch and
also Germany, Greek colonialism occurs during the antiquity until the medieval
era. The primary objects of study are two Greek texts, Pseudo-Callisthenes4’
Alexander Romance and Anna Comnena5’s Alexiad. Pepertua Nkamanyang
addresses how literature, especially narrative is loaded with the cultural
background of its production, he said that
narrative itself functions as a tool for constructing specific cultural
contexts (including history/ideology of a given period) since it provides
formal structures for reproducing specific cultures from which it
emanates.6
Similar with the way modern colonizer proclaim their superiority compared to the
colonized, the Greeks also conceptualized the view of the superiority of Hellenic
culture compared to the barbarian Other through literature.
Even though there are parallels between Greek colonialism and modern
colonialism as literature is used to strengthen the propagation of the superiority of
the colonizer, there exists a major difference. Orientalism, as stated by Edward
Said in his Orientalism (1978) is the main ideological conception behind modern
4 Even though Callisthenes, Alexander’s court historian writes Alexander’s history, Callisthenes is
executed before the end of the Indian Campaign. The person who continues Callisthenes’ work
remains unknown, hence the authorship of Alexander Romance is attributed to Pseudo-
Callisthenes. In Indian Campaign Alexander led his army into India in 326 BC and defeated King
Porus of the Paurava Kingdom. Alexander did not conquer the whole of India, at the River
Hyphasis he turned back (mid-326), sailed down the Indus and marched through the Gedrosian
desert to the Persian heartland. 5 There is no standardized version of her name, it can be spelled either Anna Comnena (Latinized)
or Anna Komnene (original Greek). This thesis uses Anna Comnena as Dawes’ version as the
object of study uses the Latin version. 6 Nkamanyang, Pepertua. Forms and Function of Narration and Focalization in some Selected
Poems of Lord Bryon: A Narratological Analysis. Diss. University of Giessen, 2008. Web. 17
December 2015.
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imperialism. Said defines Orientalism as the idea of the West for dominating,
restructuring, and having authority over the Orient7, the place of Europe’s greatest
and richest colonies8 in Asia and Africa. On the contrary, the Greeks denoted their
antithesis, whom they considered as barbarian was not merely limited to the East.
The word barbarians denote person or people who have different culture,
language, and custom to what the Greek had. Hence, the anti-Greeks in the
Greek’s perception cover all the non-Greek ethnicity which do not have the same
culture and custom (paideia) to the Greeks.
As a comparative analysis, this thesis focuses on comparing and
contrasting two Greek texts which come from different time period. The first text
is Alexander Romance, depicting the legend of Alexander the Great (356-323
BCE) by Pseudo-Callisthenes. The second text is Alexiad, written by Anna
Comnena. Alexiad tells a story of the life of Anna’s father, Emperor Alexius of
the Byzantine Empire (1057-1118 AD). Both texts portray the Greeks’ conquest
of the non-Greeks through the campaigns of Alexander the Great and Alexius of
Byzantine Empire. As both texts were written by Greeks, the narrators narrate
their story from the perspective of a Greek or through what Marie Louise Pratt
states as “imperial eyes9”. Through postclassical narratology as the main
framework for the analysis, this thesis focuses on how textual features of the text
actually reflect the ideological positioning of the narrator as Greeks. Furthermore,
as both texts were written during the different time periods, the emphasis is on the
comparison between two Greek texts.
7 Said, Edward. Orientalism. (London: Penguins Book, 1978, Reprint.1995) p. 3. Print. 8 Said, Edward. p. 1. 9 Pratt, Marie Louise. Travel Writing and Transculturation. (London: Routledge, 1992) p. 7. PDF.
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This thesis briefly explores the status of Alexiad as one of the object of
study. There are two main reasons why this thesis asserts that Alexiad is
comparable with Alexander Romance, although their genre is different. Firstly,
Marjorie Perloff acknowledges how the term literature may not adequately
describe the object of comparative literature, as literary phenomena are no longer
the exclusive focus of comparative literature.10 Furthermore, literary texts are one
discursive practice among many, and that the space of comparison today involves
comparisons between various cultural constructions.11 It shows how in the
contemporary comparative analysis, the comparable materials are expanded.
According to Perloff’s understanding, literature is comparable with historical texts
as both are “cultural constructions”.
Secondly, although Alexiad is categorized as historical narrative or
historiography, it differs from conventional Byzantine histories. John Davis
analyzes how
Alexiad is notable due for its intricate blend of historical and linguistic
awareness. On one hand it follows the pattern of serious historical
composition, including research, considered assessment of the data and
careful arrangement and exposition of the material; on the other, Alexiad
also shows a rich mantle of rhetorical and literary artifice…. This work
embodied the cultural spirit of the ancient Greco-Roman intellectual
tradition.12
10 Perloff, Marjorie. “Literature in the Expanded Field”. Comparative Literature in the Age of
Multiculturalism. (Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 1995) Ed. Charles Bernheimer.
p.176. Print. 11 Perloff, Marjorie. p. 180. 12 Davis, John. “Anna Komnene and Niketas Choniates ‘translated’ “the fourteenth-century
Byzantine metaphrases.” History as Literature in Byzantium: Papers from the Fortieth Spring
Symposium of Byzantine Studies, University of Birmingham, April 2007. Ed. R.J. Macrides.
(Surrey: University of Birmingham, 2007) p. 57. PDF
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Neville argues also that Alexiad is “an unusual history”, Anna often makes
allusion to the Greek epic Iliad, and Alexiad is also epic in scale.13 Similar with
Neville, Mesko states also that Anna intends more on praising Alexius’ deeds and
the precise narration of the historical events is only secondary.14 Summarizing
several aforementioned opinions, this thesis concludes that Alexiad should not be
classified as historiography, but as a “historical epic15”.
As a basis for the comparison, this thesis uses Siegbert Prawer’s
understanding of comparative literature, quoted in Susan Bassnett’s Comparative
Literature (1993). She states that two subjects of comparative analysis are the
literary representation of that literary representation of named personages and
recurring motifs are subjects of comparative analysis.16 Relating with the
postclassical model of narratology used as the theory of analysis, it can be seen
that narrative devices such as focalization reflected both narrators’ ideological
positioning in how they portray Alexander and Alexius in their narration. In
representing Alexander and Alexius as real persons in literary works, both
narrators emphasize the superiority of Greek compared to barbarian through the
achievements of both Alexander and Alexius.
Furthermore, both Alexander Romance and Alexiad have similarity in
recurring motifs; both texts glorify the legend of two great man in Greek history
13 Neville, Leonora. “Lamentation, History, and Female Authorship in Anna Komnene’s Alexiad”
Greek Roman and Byzantine Studies 53 (2013) p.193. PDF. 14 Mesko, Marek. “Anna Komnene’s Narrative of the War against the Scythians.” Graeco-Latina
Brunensia 19 (2014) p. 54. PDF. 15 Herman, David. Jahn, Manfred and Marie-Laure Ryan. Routledge Encyclopedia of Narrative
Theory. (London: Routledge, 2005) p. 214. PDF. 16 Prawer, Siegbert. Quoted in Basnett, Susan. Comparative Literature. (Oxford: Blackwell
Publisher Ltd. 1993) p.116. Print.
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by their martial prowess. Alexander and Alexius are portrayed as agathos (noble
man) and possess arête (heroic excellence). Arthur W.H Adkins in his book Merit
and Responsibility: A Study in Greek Values (1975) elaborates more about
agathos and arête. Firstly, agathos is “the most powerful words of commendation
used of a man”17, an agathos is in possession of arête, the qualities most highly
valued at any time by Greek society.18 Agathos is the most admired type of man;
the man who possesses the skills and qualities of the warrior-chieftain in war….be
brave, skillful, and successful in war.19 A successful conqueror is considered to
achieve glory (kleos) by their prowess in war.20 Through the narrators’ voice in
their focalization, both narrators emphasize Alexander and Alexius’ status as
agathos due to their success in war and their various Hellenic virtues. On the
other hand, Alexander and Alexius’ enemies are denigrated as barbarian kings,
tainted by various barbaric flaws.
Even though both texts are similar in several aspects, these two texts also
differ due to the different circumstances and historical background. Alexander
Romance focuses on the conquest of Alexander in the beginning of Hellenistic
Age. Hellenistic Age refer to the era of the enlarged, cosmopolitan Greek world of
appropriately 330 -31 BCE.21. Hellenistic Age22 can therefore be considered as the
17 Adkins, Arthur W.H. Merit and Responsibility: A Study in Greek Values. (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1960) Reprinted.1975. p. 30-31. PDF 18 Adkins, Arthur W.H. p. 31 19 Adkins, Arthur W.H. p. 31 20 Adkins, Arthur W.H. p. 32. 21 Sacks, David. Murray, Oswyn, and Margaret Bunson. Encyclopedia of the Ancient Greek World
(New York: Facts on File, 1995) p. 169. PDF 22The differentiation of the term Hellenic and Hellenistic according to the Encyclopedia of Ancient
Greek World is that while Hellenic refers to the Greeks itself, the word Hellenistic come from the
verb Hellazin –to speak Greek or identify with the Greeks. This thesis uses the term Hellenic to
refer to the virtues, values, culture and heritage of ethnic Greeks, whereas the term Hellenistic is
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glory days of Greek civilization, where they ruled a large empire populated by
non-Greek ethnicities.
Compared to Alexander Romance, the situation of Byzantium depicted in
Alexiad is marked with discord and turmoil. Before Alexius usurped the throne
during a coup in 1081, the reign of previous emperor Nikophoros III Botaneiates
corresponded with a sharp downturn in Byzantium’s economic and military
fortunes.23 Around 1081, several outside enemies such as the Normans in Italy,
Seljuk Turks in Asia Minor and also internal threat by pretender such as
Nicephorus Bryennius endangered the security of the empire. As stated by
Frankopan,” Byzantium is in a state of effective paralysis at the time of Alexius’
seizure of the throne.”24 To summarize, while both Pseudo-Callisthenes and Anna
emphasize the superiority of Hellenic culture through the achievement of
Alexander and Alexius, there are also differences in the ideological perspectives
due to the different time period, which will be further explored in the analysis.
2. Historical Background
Before moving into further explanation of the figure of Pseudo-
Callisthenes and Anna and their works, there are some information regarding
Greek colonialism. These aspects mainly cover the beginning of Greek
colonialism, colonialism by conquest in the era of Alexander the Great, and about
the interconnection between Greek and Roman culture after Greece was
used to refer to the era and the time period, especially as after Alexander’s conquest Hellenic
culture is not only confined to Greece but spread to the East. 23 Frankopan, Peter. “Kinship and the Distribution of Power in Komnenian Byzantium.” The
English Historical Review. 122. (2007) Web, 7 September 2015. PDF
< http://www.jstor.org/stable/20108202> p. 1 24 Frankopan, Peter. p.2
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conquered by Rome. Even though the Greeks were subjugated by the Romans,
their Hellenic identity did not perish and it fact it continued to flourish until their
Hellenic heritage eventually replaced the Roman aspect during Byzantine period.
In many ways, Greek colonialism in antiquity and medieval era is more
long-lasting than the modern colonial power. Greek colonists traveled all along
the Mediterranean and established many cities which remained until the present
era. Marseille in France, Taranto (Taras) in Italy, and Alexandria in Egypt is a
small example of cities founded by Greek colonists before Common Era. M.H
Hansen in his book Polis: An Introduction to the Ancient Greek City-State (2006)
states that Greek colonies constitute around half of ancient Greek poleis or at least
500 cities in the archaic and classical periods.25 Furthermore, Scheidel estimates
that 40 percent of all ancient Greek resides in colonial city-states.26 This
illustration shows that colonialism is an essential part of Greek ideology to expand
the boundaries outside Greece itself.
At first, Greek colonialism consists of peaceful contact and co-existence
between Greek settlers and traders with the natives. Parmenter makes comparison
between the early Greek colonialism and the early European colonialism of North
America.27 He believes that both is disorganized, involves migrations, and has no
state sponsorship. Greek colonialism began to change during the reign of
Alexander the Great (330 BCE). Peter Green in his book Alexander the Great and
25 Hansen, M.H. Polis: An Introduction to the Ancient Greek City-State. (Oxford, Oxford
University Press, 2006) p. 84. PDF 26 Scheidel, W. “The Greek Demographic Expansion: Models and Comparison.” Journal of
Hellenic Studies 123 (2003) Web, 29 February 2016. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3246263 p. 120-
140. PDF 27 Parmenter, Christoper S. Ethnography and the Colonial World in Theocritus and Lucian. MA
Thesis. University of Oregon, 2013. Web, 30 November 2016. PDF
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the Hellenistic Age (2007) states that Alexander’s conquest of the Persian
Achaemenid Empire defines the start of the Hellenistic Age.28 In this era, Greek
colonialism began to be identified by territorial conquest through warfare instead
of following the early model of colonialism.
After reviewing the beginning of Greek colonialism and colonialism by
conquest during the Hellenistic Age, this thesis explores the Greek identity in the
Byzantine Empire, as Alexiad was written in this period. Modern historians coined
the term Byzantine Empire to refer to the Eastern Roman Empire. The earliest use
is from Hieronymous Wolf, who uses the word Byzantine in his book Corpus
Historiae Byzantinae (1557) to characterize the culture of the Eastern Roman
Empire.29 The name Byzantine derives from the original settlement before
Constantinople, the capital was established which was named Byzantium. The
Eastern Roman Empire, as their territory encompassed the former territorial
conquest of Alexander and hence the Hellenistic world was especially influenced
by their Greek paideia (education, culture, and custom). Vyrnois addresses the
Hellenism of Byzantium, he states:
There are three fundamental aspects of Byzantine identity: (a) language,
(b) education, and (c) monarchial institutions. The first two of these are
clearly Greek, and directly descended from classical Greece through their
Hellenistic forms. The third, the Roman imperial institution, is also in part
descended from its Hellenistic precedents.30
Vyronis states that language and education –paideia- of the Byzantines are
derived from classical Greece. He also offers some insight towards the Roman
28 Green, Peter. Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age. (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson,
2007) p. xvi. PDF 29 Stathakopoulos, Dionysios. A Short History of the Byzantine Empire. (London, I.B.Tauris & Co.
Ltd, 2014) p. 204. PDF 30 Vyronis, Speros. “Greek Identity in the Middle Ages” EB 6. (1999) p. 31. PDF
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imperial tradition, such as the monarchial institutions which are still used by the
Byzantines. In his opinion, the “Roman imperial institution”31 are actually partly
“descended from its Hellenistic precedent”32, mainly related with the
establishment of Hellenistic kingdoms in the aftermath of the conquest of
Alexander. It implies that the establishment of Roman imperial institution,
Imperium Romanum is actually based on the previous model of Greek imperium
of the East in the Hellenistic Age. It indicates that there was continuity between
ancient Greeks during antiquity and Byzantine Greeks. Vyronis concludes:
There was indeed a Greek identity in Byzantium as witnessed by the
identification with the Greek language and Greek education on the formal
cultural level, but one which the Hellenistic absolutist political tradition in
its Roman political form was the characteristic political features.33
3. Objects of Study
In this section, this thesis explores more about the objects of study used,
Alexander Romance and Alexiad. Alexander Romance is a historical fiction about
the legend of Alexander the Great during the 4th century BC. This story depicts
the conquests of Alexander, not only towards the real barbarians such as the
Persians and the Indians but also against mythical barbarians such as the centaurs.
As the story is told from the perspective of a Greek narrator, the narrator glorifies
the successful conquest of Alexander as the proof for the superiority of the
Greeks. This work is considered as one of the most long-lived and influential
work of Greek literature.34 Alexander’s fame and popularity persists until the
31 Vyronis, Speros. p. 31 32 Vyronis, Speros. p. 31 33 Vyronis, Speros. p. 36 34 Callisthenes, Pseudo. The Greek Alexander Romance. (London: Penguins Books, 1991) p. 5.
Trans. Richard Stonemann. PDF
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modern era. In 2009, Alexander was voted as the greatest Greek of all time.35 This
fact illustrates the modern Greeks still consider Alexander as their hero, an
example of model Greek agathos which influenced how they vote Alexander as
the greatest Greek of all time.
The authorship of Alexander Romance is usually attributed to Callisthenes,
a contemporary historian of Alexander. Callisthenes served as Alexander’s court
historian; he annotated Homer’s Illiad that Alexander always reads before he
sleeps.36 Callisthenes followed Alexander’s expedition to Egypt, Persia, but he
was executed before the end of Alexander’s expedition into India. For that reason,
the authorship of Alexander Romance in modern English translation is attributed
to Pseudo Callisthenes, as the person who complete Callisthenes’ work is still
unrecognized.37
The thesis uses the Greek version translated by Richard Stoneman. Greek
Alexander Romance emphasizes Alexander’s divinity by his descend from Greek
gods. He is believed as the son of Ammon and descends from Heracles and Zeus.
The narrator of Alexander Romance uses Alexander’s divine parentage to help
legitimize Alexander’s territorial conquests. This thesis especially focuses on the
use of prophecies or in narratological term prolepsis to argue that this device
reflects the colonial ideology of the narrator through the justification for
Alexander’s conquest.
35 “Alexander the Great was voted as the Greatest Greek of All Time.” Web, 17 December 2015. <
http://history-of-macedonia.com/2009/05/19/alexander-the-great-was-voted-as-the-greatest-greek-
all-time> PDF 36 Stoneman, Richard. “Primary Sources from the Classical and Early Medieval Periods” A
Companion to Alexander Literature in the Middle Ages. Ed. David Zuwiyya. (Leiden: Brill
Academic Pub, 2011) p. 12. PDF 37 Callisthenes, Pseudo. p. 19-20.
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The second text used is Anna Comnena’s Alexiad which was written
during medieval era (around 1148 AD), more than one millennium after
Alexander Romance. Similar with the narrator of Alexander Romance, Anna also
emphasizes the superiority of the Greeks through her depiction of her father as a
model Greek (agathos). Her father’s success in war is considered by Anna to be
caused by her father’s status as a Greek; Greeks are considered to be more
intelligent than barbarians.
This thesis briefly explores Anna as a historical figure. Anna was born at
dawn of Saturday, 1st December 1083.38 She was educated by her father Alexius
Comnenus -Emperor of Byzantine Empire - in Greek literacy, rhetoric, and also
philosophy.39 Shaffer and Marcopoulos compares Anna with Murasaki Shikibu,
the author of The Tale of Genji, they state that both were highly educated persons
in a day when most people were illiterate.40 As a first born child and
Porphyrogénnētos -born in the purple- an honorary rank for Byzantine
prince/princess born in the purple chamber of the Imperial Palace, she expected
herself to ascend the throne as Empress. Unfortunately for her, the birth of John,
her younger brother placed her below John in the succession. After her father’s
death, she tried to place her husband, Nicephorus Bryennius as Emperor and she
as the Empress but her coup attempt was thwarted. Unwilling to execute his elder
38Comnena, Anna. The Alexiad. (London: Routledge, 1928) Reprinted. (Ontario: In Parentheses
Publication, 2000) Trans. Elizabeth A.S Dawes. p. 15. PDF 39 Comnena, Anna. The Alexiad. (London: Penguin Books, 1969) Reprint. Penguin Classics, 2003.
Trans. E.R.A Sewter. p. 5. PDF 40 Shaffer, Lynda N and George J. Marcopouolos. “Murasaki and Comnena : Two Women and
Two Themes in World History.” The History Teacher. 19.4 (1986) Web. 23 May 2016. <
http://www.jstor.org/stable/493874> p. 489. PDF
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sister, Emperor John ordered Anna to be banished at a monastery. It was the time
where she wrote an account of her father’s reign as emperor.
Lastly, this thesis explores how the Greek texts are translated. As this
thesis analyzes the Greek’s colonial ideology through the medium of translation
from Greek into English, it cannot be denied that the message transferred might
change in the process of translation. Hence, certain consideration is needed to
make sure that the translated texts used do not differ too much with the narrator’s
original ideological position. In other words, more literal translation or word-by-
word translation is preferred. In their book The Theory and Practice of
Translation (1969) [1982] Eugene Nida and Charles R. Taber elaborates two
types of translation, formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence. Nida and Taber
define the characteristics of formal equivalence as
F-E translation attempts to reproduce several formal elements, including:
(1) grammatical units, (2) consistency in word use, and (3) meaning in
terms of the source context. The reproduction of grammatical units may
consist in: (a) translating nouns by nouns, verbs by verbs, etc.; (b) keeping
all phrases and sentences intact41
Formal equivalence tries to remain as close to the original text as possible,
without adding the translator’s ideas and thoughts into the translation.42 It can be
seen therefore that translation which employs formal equivalence methods will
have more faithful translation to the original source,
41 Nida, Eugene and Charles R. Taber. The Theory and Practice of Translation. (Leiden: E. J.
Brill, 1969) Reprinted. 1982. p. 165. PDF 42 Shakernia, Shabnam. “Study of Nida’s (formal and dynamic equivalence) and Newmark’s
(semantic and communicative translation) translating theories on two short stories” Merit Research
Journals. 2.1 (2013) Web. 09 March 2016. >http://www.meritresearchjournals.org/er/index.htm>
p. 2. PDF
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In her book, Translation in a Postcolonial Context (1999), Maria
Tymoczko explores postcolonial translation of early Irish literature.43 A key point
she addresses is “signature concepts” of a culture, the cultural elements that are
important to both the social organization and the world view of a particular
culture.44 She further adds:
The translation of early Irish literature into English was not only a matter
of translating specifically literary elements of the texts within a charged
ideological construct; there was also the matter of identifying and
conveying the cultural beliefs, values, ideas, and ideals that make for
distinct Irish views of the world embodied in the texts.45
It can be stated that in translating text, a translator should make careful
observation to make sure that the specific “signature concepts” of the original text
is able to be transmitted to the target audiences. Similar with what Tymoczko has
stated, Lorna Hardwick and Eva Parisinou in their Translating Words, Translating
Cultures (2000) also propose correlated view:
The act of translating also involves translating or transplanting into the
receiving culture the cultural framework within which an ancient text is
embedded. The task facing the translator of ancient texts is to produce
translations that seek to articulate in some way the cultural framework
within which that text is embedded.46
While Tymoczko focuses more on the translation of early Irish literature into
English, Hardwick and Parisinou emphasize more on the translation of ancient
Greek texts. Hardwick and Parisinou state that the “task facing the translator of
ancient texts” is to articulate “the cultural framework” of a text which similar with
43 Tymoczko, Maria. Translation in a Postcolonial Context. (Michigan: University of Michigan St.
Jerome Publishing, 1999) p. 210. PDF 44 Tymoczko, Maria. p. 213. 45 Tymoczko, Maria. p. 211. 46 Hardwock, Lorna and Eva Parisinou. Translating Words, Translating Cultures. (Oakland:
University of California, 2000) p. 22. PDF
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what Tymoczko coins as “signature concepts.” Hence, it is not only the translation
of early Irish text that should translate the “signature concepts” of Irish into
English, but also the translation of classical Greek texts into English.
The debate in choosing which text to use is more particularly shown in the
translation of Alexiad, as there are two different versions. In choosing which
version of Alexiad to analyze here, this thesis prefers the translation which uses
formal equivalence method. The translated version of Alexiad used here is the
1928 version of Alexiad translated by Elisabeth A.S Dawes.47 Dawes’ version is
the first translation of Alexiad into English, and another translator, E.R.A Sewter
published her translation in 1968. Dawes’ version is preferred because in this
thesis’s perspective, Dawes’ Alexiad better captures the original essence of
Anna’s narration, her colonial ideology that is the main aspect of the thesis. One
review by Paul Halsall also emphasizes the closeness of Dawes’ translation to the
original Greek.48 The review says, “Dawes’ translation was a literal one that kept
very closely to the Greek text.” Halsall also reviews Sewter’ version and he states
that Sewter’s translation is a more fluid version than Dawes’”.49 In her preface,
Sewter herself acknowledges that “she tries to express in contemporary Anglo-
American the ideas and language of a Byzantine princess who wrote some eight
47 Dawes’s version is republished by In Parentheses publications in 2000 and available online at
www.yorku.ca/inpar/alexiad_dawes.pdf 48 Hallsall, Paul. <Medieval Sourcebook: Anna Comnena: The Alexiad> Web, 23 May 2016. <
http://legacy.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/AnnaComnena-Alexiad.asp> 49 Hallsall, Paul
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hundred years ago”.50 Hence, this thesis uses the version translated by Dawes
which is closer to the original Greek.
B. Problem Formulation
This thesis compares and contrasts the similarities and differences between
the Greek’s colonial ideology in antiquity and medieval era through the narrators’
use of several narrative devices. Although both texts are separated by different
time periods, the imperial and colonial attitude of the Greek persists from
antiquity until the medieval era. While there are similarities, the different
historical background of Alexander Romance and Alexiad also causes difference
in how the colonial ideology is depicted. There are two questions formulated here.
The first question is intended to highlight the similarities of ideology from
Alexander Romance and Alexiad. Second question is to explore the differences in
ideological positioning. This thesis formulates the questions as:
1. How do Alexander Romance and Alexiad depict the similarities of
ideology between ancient Greek and Byzantine Greek?
2. How do Alexander Romance and Alexiad depict the differences of
ideology between ancient Greek and Byzantine Greek?
C. Benefit of the Study
This thesis aims to have theoretical benefit which is to increase awareness
towards contemporary/postclassical narratology. Contemporary narratology
particularly highlights how the form and contents of literature are socially
constructed, related with the historical contexts concerning literary texts. Through
50 Comnena, Anna. The Alexiad. London: Penguin Books, 1969. Reprint. Penguin Classics, 2003)
Trans. E.R.A Sewter. p. 10-11. PDF
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the analysis of several narrative devices originally coined by structuralist
narratology, contemporary narratology examines how the narrative devices reflect
the ideological positioning of the narrator. Furthermore, as this thesis also uses
several postcolonial concepts to analyze Greek colonialism in Alexander Romance
and Alexiad, this study can also be defined as the application of postcolonial
narratology. As stated by Gerald Prince, postcolonial narratology adopts and rely
on the result of postclassical narratology, but would inflect and perhaps enrich it
by wearing a set of postcolonial lenses to look as narrative.51 It can be said
therefore that the analysis of this thesis is conducted with postclassical
narratology as the main framework, which is enhanced by several postcolonial
terminologies.
D. Thesis Outline
This thesis is arranged thematically. Chapter one consists of background
of the study, problem formulation, and benefits of the study. Chapter two covers
the review of related studies and review of related theories. Chapter three analyzes
the similarities in ideology between Alexander Romance and Alexiad. Chapter
four deals with the differences of ideological perspective between Alexander
Romance and Alexiad. The last chapter presents the conclusion of the analysis in
the third and fourth chapter.
51 Prince, Gerald. “On a Postcolonial Narratology.” A Companion to Narrative Theory. (New
Jersey: Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2005) Ed. James Phelan and Peter J. Rabinowitz. p. 373.
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CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
Previously, this thesis summarizes background of the study which covers
justifications for the study, historical background, and also objects of the study. On
historical backgrounds, this thesis reviews the development of Greek colonialism
from the early period of colonialism until colonialism through conquest which started
during the reign of Alexander the Great. In this section, the focus is more on
reviewing several previous studies on how the Greeks viewed the non-Greeks as
barbarian. This section emphasizes on how the Greeks conceptualized the idea of
barbarian in several Greek texts as few researches on colonialism in both Alexander
Romance and Alexiad have been conducted. Several articles reviewed here argue that
the concept of colonialism can be found in their reading of several Greek texts, either
on historical accounts or literary texts.
Several studies have been conducted on how the Greek perceives the Other.
Van der Vliet presents this issue in his reading of Strabo’s Geography.52 He asserts
that ethnicity is constructed on the basis of dichotomies, by which ‘us’ and ‘not us’
are distinguished.53 There was also dichotomy in how the Greeks viewed the non-
Greeks ethnicities based on Strabo’s account. The dichotomy was on strict opposition
52 Van der Vliet, Edward Ch. L. “The Romans and Us, Strabo’s Geography and the Construction of
Ethnicity.” Mnemosyne. 56. (2003), Web, 7 October 2015. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4433447 p. 257-
272. 53 Van der Vliet, Edward Ch. L. p. 261.
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between hostile and uncivilized native tribes facing Greek colonists. Strabo associates
barbarism (barbaroi) with misery, poverty, a lack of capacity to civilize themselves
and a lack of self-control and moderation.54 Barbarian natives were described to have
a wretched and simple existence. Therefore, uncivilized natives needed the guiding
hand of Greek colonizer in order to improve their living condition. The Greeks
believed that it was their duty to bring Hellenic culture to the untamed ethnicities by
the virtue of being the superior culture. In the Greeks’ perception, barbarian was their
antithesis or the opposite of the Greek.55 Hence, the Greeks considered the non-
Greeks ethnicities as the Other.
Another idea of how barbarian was portrayed in Greek historical account can
also be found in Herodotus’s Histories.56 Van Amsterdam explores how Herotodus’s
Histories presents the imagery of untidy hordes, incomprehensible speech, and the
contrasting values between tyrannical Persians against the democratic Greeks.57
When the Greeks managed to hold the Persian’s expansion at Salamis and Platea it
was the victory of the superiority of the Greeks compared to the barbarian, despotic
slave state.58 Similar with what Van Der Vliet asserted before, the Greek perceived
the non-Greeks as their antithesis. In this case, the Greek’s democratic government
was contrasted with the tyrannical monarchy of the Persians. Greek’s victory in the
54 Van der Vliet, Edward Ch. L. p. 257 55 Van der Vliet, Edward Ch. L. p. 261 56 Van Amsterdam, Katrina. “When in Greece, Do as the Persian Don’t: Defining the Identity of the
Greeks Against the Persian Imperial Order.” Hirundo XIII (2013), Web. 3 November 2015.
https://www.mcgill.ca/classics/files/classics/2013-14-02.pdf p. 1-16. 57 Van Amsterdam, Katrina p.2 58 Van Amsterdam, Katrina. p. 4
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Persian War (480-479 BC) was further used to strengthen the superiority of the
Greeks compared with the Persian Other.
Previous two studies have reviewed the binary opposition between Greeks and
non-Greeks based on the opposition between savagery and civilized and also
democracy against tyranny. Another study explores that the Greeks’ perception
toward the non-Greeks as the Other is not just limited to the East, but to all ethnicities
which do not adopt Greek culture and custom. Holdsworth asserts that Diodorus
Siculus’s Bibliotheca Historia (59 BCE) consists of derogative view toward the
Romans.59 While Siculus acknowledges the achievement of the Romans, he considers
the Romans as barbarian due to the fact that their native language is not Greek but
Latin.60 In the analysis of this thesis, how the Greek considers their Other as all non-
Greek can be found in both Alexander Romance (300 AD) and Alexiad (1148 AD).
The narrator in Alexander Romance and Anna both possess view that not just the
East, but the West is also considered as ruled by barbarian savages.
The idea of barbarism was not only found in Greek historical accounts but
also in Greek literary texts. Edith Hall in her book Inventing the Barbarian: Greek
Self Definition through Tragedy (1986) states that the ideological polarization of
Hellene and barbarian started from the fifth century onwards, and drama is the source
59 Holdsworth, Benjamin, Evans (2009) Reading Romans in Rome: A Reception of Romans in the
Roman Context of Ethnicity and Faith. Doctoral thesis, Durham University. Available at Durham
E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/214/ 60 Holdsworth, Benjamin, Evans. p. 21.
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for the Greeks’ conceptualization of the non-Greeks worlds.61 Based on Hall’s view,
it can be noted that several Greek literary works, especially drama also reflects the
ideological binarism between Greeks and barbarians. Several Greek plays depicted
the dichotomy between civilized Greek and savage barbarian. The opposition
between Greek and barbarian was first found in Aeschylus’s The Persian (472
BCE).62 Written in the aftermath of Persian War, Aeschylus differentiates between
the Hellenes and the Persians. Hellenes live a free and simple life, while the Persian
Barbarians are characterized by oriental despotism and lush opulence.63 Van
Amsterdam states that
Aeschylus’s The Persian and Herodotus’ Histories are written by Greeks for a
Greek audience, and as such there is an undercurrent of the advantages of
Hellenism over barbarism in the texts. Each expresses themes of order over
irrationality, democracy over tyranny, and ultimately Greek over barbarian. It
is these themes that became the focal point for the Greeks in creating a
political and cultural separation on which to build their own identity.64
Both Greek historical accounts and literary works present the idea of the superiority
of Hellenic culture compared to the barbarian. The superiority of the Greeks was used
as a justification toward the condescending colonial attitude the Greeks possessed
toward their Other.
61 Hall, Edith. Inventing the Barbarian: Greek Self Definition through Tragedy. (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1989) p. x. PDF 62 Hall, Edith. p. 73. 63 Heit, Helmut. “Western Identity, Barbarians and the Inheritance of Greek Universalism.” The
European Legacy, 10. 7. (2005), p. 726. Web. 02 September, 2015
<https://www.academia.edu/546983/Western_Identity_Barbarians_and_the_Inheritance_of_Greek_Un
iversalism> 64Van Amsterdam, Katrina. p.14.
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The derogative attitude the Greeks had toward their Other was found also in
Odyssey 9. Rinon’s reading on book 9 of Odyssey epic employs Rimmon-Kenan’s
revised theory on Genette’s concept of focalization.65 Rimmon Kenan asserts that
Genette’s original concept is too narrow, she argues that focalizer is attributed also
with certain ideological facet, i.e. the values and how the focalizer perceives the
world.66 In Rinon’s finding, Odyssey as a focalizer has colonial attitude, hence he
proposes the term “colonial focalization.”67 This facet of focalization can be found in
Odyssey’s attitude towards a recently discovered area as a potential area for
settlement. Odyssey believes himself to be protected by the Gods, and in finding a
new world which nobody lives, except for cyclops -one eyed monster- Odyssey
perceives himself as the bringer of civilization. This way of thinking resembles how
the European people perceived the rest of the world during the colonial era with
jargon like “mission to civilize” or in French mission civilistatrice. One French
politician during the Third Republic Era, Ferry states that:
We must believe that if Providence deigned to confer upon us a mission by
making us master of the earth, this mission consists not of attempting an
impossible fusion of the races but simply by spreading or awakening among
the other races the superior notions of which we are the guardian…The
superior races have the right vis-à-vis the inferior races, they have the right to
civilize them68
65 Rinon, Yoav. “The Pivotal Scene: Narration, Colonial Focalization, and the Transition in Odyssey
9.” The American Journals of Philology. 128.3 (2007), p. 301-334. Web. 31 March 2015.
<http://www.jstor.org/stable/4496968> 66 Rimmon-Kenan, Shlomith. Narrative Fiction, Contemporary Fiction. (London: Routledge Taylor &
Francis Group. 1983. Reprinted. 2005) p. 79-81 67 Rinon, Yoav. p. 303. 68 Ferry, Jules. Qtd in Conklin, Alice L. A Mission to Civilize: The Republican Idea of Empire in
France and West Africa, 1989-1930. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997) p. 13. PDF.
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Lastly, this thesis reviews the prior studies on Alexander Romance and
Alexiad to highlight the missing space as none of the studies attribute the idea of
colonialism in their reading. A study by McInerley applies narratology to compare
Alexander Romance and the historical account of Alexander written by Arrian. The
focus of his analysis is to argue that Alexander’s legend is enhanced by his portrayal
as divinity in both account.69 McInerely believes that Alexander Romance uses the
theme of hieros gamos, in which a God has sex with a mortal woman. In Alexander
Romance, Alexander’s mother Olympias is impregnated by the God Ammon and she
gives birth to Alexander. Similar portrayal can also be found in Arian’s historical
account of Alexander. In The Campaigns of Alexander, Alexander believes himself to
possess “the blood of Heracles and Perseus in his veins, and too had a feeling than in
some way he was descended from Ammon.”70 McInerley therefore concludes that the
boundaries between historical and fictional Alexander is blurry, as both accounts
portray Alexander as descended from divinity.
The previous study by McInerely does not focus on the idea of Greek
colonialism. McInerely focuses more on similarity between historical Alexander
based on Arrian’s account and fictional account of Alexander in Stoneman’s
Alexander Romance. Both texts emphasize Alexander’s divine lineage by his God
parentage. This thesis aims to expand McInerely’s study by arguing that the narrator
69 McInerley, Jeremy. “Arian and The Greek Alexander Romance.” The Classical World. 100.4 (2007).
Web, 2 December 1015. < http://www.jstor.org/stable/25434052> p.424-430 70 Arian. The Campaigns of Alexander. (London: Penguins Book, 1976) Trans. Aubrey De Selincourt.
Ed. J.R. Hamilton. p. 69.
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of Alexander Romance highlights Alexander’s semi divine status to justify the
conquests of Alexander. This is seen mainly by the narrator uses many prophecies; in
narratological perspective, the use of foreshadowing such as prophecies can be
interpreted to hold the narrator’s ideological stance. In this case, the narrator justifies
Alexander’s conquest by using many prophecies to proclaim that Alexander is the
rightful ruler of the world.
The second text, Alexiad has also been analyzed by several scholars. Andrew
R. Dyck focuses on how Anna makes several allusions to Greek antiquity epic Iliad
as can be seen in the similarity of both titles.71 In Dyck’s argument, Anna provides
certain parallel between her father Alexius as the protagonist in Alexiad with certain
hero in Iliad. Alexius is compared to Agamemnon in how Alexius “did not require a
dream to spur him into battle, as Atreus’s son, Agamemnon did.”72 Anna glorifies her
father’s martial prowess in battle by placing him as superior from ancient Greek hero
such as Agamemnon.
While both this thesis and Dyck’s article focus on comparative study between
Alexiad and Greek antiquity text, the focus is different. Dyck emphasizes the
intertextuality between Alexiad and Iliad. The intertextuality is in how Anna alludes
to Greek heroes in Iliad as a comparison for her father’s brilliance. On the other hand,
this thesis compares Alexiad with Alexander Romance to compare the Greeks’
71Dyck. Andrew R. “Iliad and Alexiad: Anna Comnena’s Homeric Reminiscences” Greek, Roman, and
Byzantine Studies 27 (1986). p. 115-116. Web, 28 October 2015. <
http://grbs.library.duke.edu/article/download/5121/5389> 72 Comnena, Anna. The Alexiad. Trans. Elizabeth A.S Dawes. p. 192
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colonial ideology in two eras. Even though the overarching attitude of viewing the
non-Greeks as inferior other remains the same, there are also some ways in which
Hellenism in antiquity differs from medieval. The comparison between antiquity and
medieval colonial ideology will be further explained in the analysis.
Different from Dyck, Vilimonovic uses narrative textual analysis to argue that
Vilimonovic argues that Alexiad actually holds Anna’s resentment of being neglected
in favor of his brother as successor to Emperor Alexius.73 Anna considers herself as
the rightful successor, and her resentment manifests in her narration. Vilimonovic
gives particular emphasis on the passage dealing with the birth of both Anna and
John. In her narration Anna remarks that, “And at dawn on a Saturday a female child
was born to them who were exactly like her father, they said; that child was I.”74
Vilimonovic believes that “who were exactly like her father” is the way Anna rejects
her brother’s claim to the throne, as Anna is more in the image of her father.75 In
Vilimonovic’s finding, Byzantine mosaics commonly depict a chosen imperial heir
who was presented as an inheritor of his/her father’s physical feature.76 Hence Anna
emphasizes her physical appearance which resembles her father, the Emperor.
This study differs from Vilimonovic’s previous study in the focus on the
analysis. Vilimononic asserts that several quotations of Alexiad are a form of
73 Vilimonovic, Larisa. “Observation of the Text and Context of Anna Comnena’s Alexiad” Belgrade
Historical Review. V (2014), p. 43-58. Web, 1 June 2015.
<http://www.academia.edu/10361876/Observations_on_the_text_and_context_of_Anna_Komnenes_A
lexiad> 74 Comnena, Anna. The Alexiad. Trans. Elizabeth A.S Dawes p. 107, 75 Vilimonovic, Larisa. p. 51 76 Vilimonovic, Larisa. p. 52
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resistance Anna has toward the succession of the throne, her focus is more on the
internal court intrigue of the Byzantine Empire. On the other hand, the emphasis of
this thesis is not on the inside politics of Byzantine Empire but how Anna as a
medieval Greek writer still continue the Greek’s worldview which perceives the non-
Greeks as the Other. Anna’s status as the daughter of Byzantine emperor further
enhances the fact that she is speaking from a position of power and authority. Her
ideology can be found not only in her passages and utterances but also in the structure
of her narration. Another difference is that Alexiad is compared with another Greek
text, Alexander Romance to compare the similarities and differences in how the
Greeks’ colonial ideology is depicted.
To summarize, the argument that both Alexander Romance and Alexiad reflect
the Greek’s colonial ideology is still unexplored. Previous studies on Alexiad focus
either on the issue of intertextuality between Alexiad and Iliad or how Alexiad can be
considered as Anna’s resentment toward her younger brother’s succession as
Emperor. Prior study of Alexander Romance focuses on the portrayal of Alexander as
semi-divine based on Pseudo-Callisthenes’ and Arian’s account. Hence, there is still
missing space in how narrative analysis on Alexander Romance and Alexiad can
reflect both narrator’s ideological position as Greek.
While previous studies on Greek colonial perspective do not use narratology
to focus on colonialism, Rinon proves that it is possible to use narratology in arguing
that Odyssey as focalizer reflects the Greek’s colonial ideology. Rinon focuses on the
focalization of Odyssey to argue that Odyssey is the representation of the Greek,
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Odyssey as a focalizer embodies the Greek’s colonial ideology. Starting from Rinon’s
argument, the narrator in Alexander Romance and Anna in Alexiad reflect the colonial
ideology of the Greek as they are both narrator and focalizer.
There are several issues which differentiate this thesis from Rinon’s previous
study. In the object of story, Rinon’s analysis is a re-reading of classical Greek epic,
the Odyssey where he argues that actually Odyssey reflects colonial ideology in how
Odyssey perceives the native, the cyclops. On the other hand, this thesis focuses on
comparing two Greek texts written during different era. The argument is that the
lasting idea of Greek colonialism, how the Greeks were portrayed as superior while
non-Greeks were inferior spans from antiquity until medieval era. Greek’s colonial
ideology also undergoes several changes by the span of centuries. Another difference
is that while Rinon’s study focuses on reflecting the colonial ideology based on
focalization of a particular character, this thesis aims to analyze the Greek’s colonial
ideology through the focalization and also the temporal arrangement of the narrator in
Alexander Romance and Anna’s narrations.
B. Review of Related Theories
In this section, this thesis explores the theories used in analyzing Alexander
Romance and Alexiad as theoretical foundation of the study. The main framework of
this thesis is postcolonial narratology, which is divided into two main theories,
narratology and postcolonialism. These two main theories are further explained in the
next sections.
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1. Narratology
Narrative theory or narratology is used to probe the ideological position of
both the narrator of Alexander Romance and Anna as the Greek through textual
analysis. There are several narratological concepts reviewed here. Firstly, this thesis
explores the shifting paradigm from classical narratology into the postclassical
narratology. Secondly, the thesis focuses on reviewing ideology in narrative devices,
mainly focalization, prolepsis and pause.
a. Classical and Postclassical Narratology
First section in the theoretical framework focuses on the changing perspective
from the structural model of narratology into the contemporary narrative analysis.
Contemporary narratology in the modern era is defined as “postclassical narratology”
by David Herman in David Herman in The Cambridge Companion to Narrative
(2007). Herman uses this term to differentiate from the classical model of narratology
which is criticized for its scientificity and disregard for content.77 Rimmon-Kenan
explores that,
like poetics, narratology saw itself as a theory, conceived at the time as an
attempt to formulate a system of logically interrelated laws, underlying the
regularity of phenomena or of a group of phenomena.78
77 Herman, David. Jahn, Manfred and Marie-Laure Ryan. Routledge Encyclopedia of Narrative
Theory. (London: Routledge, 2005) p. 594. PDF 78 Rimmon-Kenan, Shlomith . “Towards…Afterthoughts, Almost Twenty Years Later,” Narrative
Theory Critical Concepts in Literary and Cultural Studies. Ed. Mieke Bal. (New York: Routledge,
2004) p. 141. Print.
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Classical narratology is criticized for their emphasis on the underlying structure of
literature instead of the content of an individual work. On the contrary, Herman states
that postclassical narratology
encompass framework for narrative research that build on this classical
tradition but supplement in with concepts and methods that were unavailable
to story analysis such as Barthes, Genette, Greimas, and Todorov during the
heyday of structuralism.79
It can be stated therefore that postclassical narratology does not abandon the
structuralist basis all together but they supplement it with other concepts and
methods.
Herman’s view is echoed by Ansgar Nunning in What is Narratology?
Questions and Answers Regarding the Status of a Theory (2003):
The development of narratology has followed a course away from the
identification and systematization of the ‘properties’ of narrative texts in the
direction of a growing awareness of the complex interplay that exists between
both texts and their cultural contexts and between textual features and the
interpretive choices and strategies involved in the reading process….
postclassical narratology tends to focus on issues like context, culture, gender,
history, interpretation, and the reading process, highlighting those aspects of
narrative bracketed by structuralist narratology.80
It can be stated that postclassical narratology focuses on the complexities between
texts and their cultural contexts. In postclassical narratology, not only the narrative
devices are identified, but it is further used to argue that certain narrative devices such
as focalization contribute to strengthen the narrator’s ideological positioning. In next
79 Herman, David. The Cambridge Companion to Narrative. p. 26 80 Nunning, Ansgar. “Narratology of Narratologies? Taking Stock of Recent Developments, Critique
and Modest Proposals for Future Uses of the Term” What is Narratology? Questions and Answers
Regarding the Status of a Theory. (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2003) p. 245-246. PDF
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section this thesis explores more about certain narratological concepts used as the
framework for the analysis.
b. Ideology in Narrative Devices
This section reviews several related theories about ideology and ideology in
narrative text. First, this thesis elaborates the definition of ideology based on Herman
and Vervaeck and also how ideology can be found in narrative devices, such as
focalization and the temporal arrangement. Next, Rimmon-Kenan’s theory of
focalization, on how focalizer is attributed with certain ideological aspect is reviewed.
Lastly, this study explores Nunning, Herman and Vervaeck’s concept of ideology
inside the narrative structure based on Genette’s terminologies.
b.1 Ideology and Ideology in Narration
In this section, this thesis reviews the concept of ideology used based on
Herman and Vervaeck’s definition. In their words, “ideology is a body of norms and
ideas that appear natural as a result of their continuous and mostly tacit promotion
by the dominant forces in society.”81 Herman and Vervaeck state that ideology is
collective norms or idea which seemed natural because the dominant class in society
keeps on promoting them. Their view is influenced by Gramsci’s theory of
hegemony. Gramsci in Selections from the Prison Notebooks (1971) asserts that
hegemony is the absolute and unquestioned dominance of a particular view or
81 Herman, Luc and Vervaeck, Bart. “Ideology” The Cambridge Companion to Narrative. Ed. David
Herman. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007) p. 217. Print.
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group.82 Using Gramsci’s view of hegemony of the particular group, Herman and
Vervaeck claim that the dominant social group promotes their particular ideology as
the norm.
One way of how the ideological paradigm is constructed is through literature.
Regarding the Greeks in particular, the worldview that Greeks were superior towards
barbarians had been propagated in several of their literary works, which have been
reviewed in the previous section. Through continuous promotion in literature, the
view that Greeks was superior compared to barbarian was believed to be natural and
inherent. This view is reflected in the use of certain narrative devices in Greek
literature.
As postclassical narratologists, Herman and Vervaeck further explore the idea
that ideology can be found inside literary works itself. In their words, they “sought
to uncover the values informing a narrative and its interpretation.”83 Based on their
reading on Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (1925) they found out that ideology
resides in certain narrative devices, mainly in focalization and the temporal
arrangement of the story. 84 In the next sections this thesis reviews how focalization
and the narrative structure hold the ideology of the dominant forces in society.
82 Gramsci, Antonio. Selections from the Prison Notebooks. (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1971)
Trans. Carl Marzani p. 328. PDF 83 Herman, Luc and Vervaeck, Bart. “Ideology” The Cambridge Companion to Narrative. Ed. David
Herman. p. 217 84 Herman, Luc and Vervaeck. p. 223-225
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b.2 Ideology in Focalization
Focalization is one narrative device which holds the ideology of a particular
focalizer. Gerald Genette first elaborates the term focalization in his Narrative
Discourse: An Essay in Method (1980). The seminal work by Genette differentiates
mood and voice, between who is the character whose point of view orients the
narrative perspective and who is the narrator (who sees and who speaks)?85 In
Genette’s view, the terminology of point of view focuses only on “who sees”, while
neglecting the issue of voice, hence he theorizes about focalization.
This thesis uses Rimmon-Kenan revised concept of Genette’s focalization, in
her Narrative Fiction, Contemporary Fiction (2005) she criticizes Genette’s view of
focalization. In her view, what Genette coined as focalization to replace the term
“point of view” is actually still limited into visual sense. She proposes that actually
focalization should also include cognitive, emotive, and ideological orientation.86 A
focalizer always has certain attributes which shape his/her way of narrating the story
based on his/her ideological position. Rimmon-Kenan states that
this facet, often referred to as the norms of the text, consist of a general
system of viewing the world conceptually, in accordance with which the
events and characters of the story are evaluated…. A character may represent
an ideological position through his way of seeing the world or his behavior in
it, but also—like Raskolnikov—through explicit discussion of his ideology.87
85 Genette, Gerard. Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method. (New York: Cornell University Press,
1980) Trans. Jane E Lewin. p. 186. Print. 86 Rimmon-Kenan, Shlomith. p.73. 87 Rimmon-Kenan, Shlomith. p.83-84
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Ideology according to Rimmon-Kenan is the general system of viewing the world, or
how certain person perceives the world. Hence this theory is used to argue that the
narrations of both the narrator in Alexander Romance and Anna actually reflect their
ideology as Greek which has colonial and condescending attitude toward the non-
Greek.
The focalizers in both Alexander Romance and Alexiad also function as the
narrators, hence they are considered as narrator-focalizers.88 This thesis explores
several characteristics of narrator-focalizer. Firstly, narrator-focalizer focalize the
story from outside, because they are narrating the story from the exterior position,
they are considered as external focalizer. Rimmon-Kenan states that there are certain
aspects concerning the position of an external focalizer. An external focalizer has
unrestricted knowledge about the represented world in his/her narration89 and having
bird’s eye vision.90 In other words, the external focalizer is both omniscient and
omnipresent. The narrator has access to his/her character’s inner thoughts and
emotions, and able to freely shift the story from one location into another.
In her book, Narrators, Narratees, and Narratives in Ancient Greek
Literature (2004), Irene De Jong further explores how an external focalizer presents
his/her character’s inner perception. She coined this term as embedded/secondary
focalization. Embedded focalization is when the narrator represents in the text a
character’s focalization, i.e., his perceptions, thoughts, emotions, or words (indirect
88 Rimmon-Kenan, Shlomith. p.76. 89 Rimmon-Kenan, Shlomith. p.81-82 90 Rimmon-Kenan, Shlomith. p. 79-80
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speech).91 It can be said therefore that in embedded focalization, the one “who
speaks” is still the narrator instead of the character.
Another theory of focalization used is the “we” narration and “we”
focalization theorized by Brian Richardson. Richardson explores the use of “we”
focalization which in his words is “little studied and poorly known.”92 “We”
focalization, in his view can be used to present the collective consciousness of a
particular group who can be expected to share closely aligned ideas and emotions.93
Furthermore, the use of “We” narration enables the narrator to discloses the inner
thoughts, perceptions, and feeling of a group.94 To sum up, it can be stated that “We”
narration is used to represent the collective voice of a particular group by the singular
voice of the narrator.
Theories of focalization mentioned above are used to analyze the aspect of
voice in both Alexander Romance and Alexiad. Voice as coined by Genette mainly
focuses on the question of “who speaks”, the one speaking in the text. As narrator
focalizer, both focalizers reflect the ideological perspective of the Greeks based on
their subjectivity, as they believe that Greek is superior to barbarian which can be
seen in their narration. The last aspect of “We” narration is mainly used to analyze
Alexander Romance as the narrator refers to himself in plural form.
91 De Jong, Irene. “Introduction: Narratological Theory of Narrators, Narratees, and Narrative.”
Narrators, ` Narratees, and Narratives in Ancient Greek Literature. Ed. Irene De Jong, Rene Nunlist
and Angus M.Bowie. Leiden, Koninklijke Brill NV, 2004. p. XVI. PDF 92 Richardson, Brian. Plural Focalization, Singular Voices; Wandering Perspectives in We- Narration.”
Point of View, Perspective and Focalization, Modeling Mediation in Narrative. Ed. Peter Hühn, Wolf
Schmid, and Jörg Schönert. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2009. p. 143. PDF 93 Richardson, Brian. p. 146 94 Richardson, Brian. p. 148
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b.3 Ideology in Narrative Form
Ideology is not only found in the focalization of the narrator in Alexander
Romance and Anna, but also in how they structure their narration. The focus in this
section is to review how ideological conception can actually be found in the temporal
arrangement of a narration. This is in accordance with Herman and Vervaeck’s
argument, they believe that,
temporal organization and focalization are also explicit carriers of ideology….
The temporal organization of narrative concerns the actual presentation of the
events, whereas the temporal dimension of the story referred to the abstract
and chronological sequence constructed by interpreters of the narrative. The
difference between the two is significant for the study of ideology. For
instance, an event that was important and took a long time on the level of the
story may go unmentioned in the narrative. This is called an ellipsis, and it
may have various ideological meanings. It may indicate a narrator’s hypocrisy
or alternatively his or her reticence95
In Herman and Vercaeck’s view, narrator might not present events in a chronological
way. In Herman and Vervaeck’s view, the difference between the temporal
organization (narrative level) and temporal dimension (story level) is significant for
the study of ideology as certain interpretation can be derived from the temporal
presentation of the events.
Similar with Herman and Vervaeck, Nunning also believes that ideology can
be found in the textual structure of the narration. In his words,
ideology is located in narrative structures themselves, an analysis of the
semantization of narrative forms can shed light on unspoken assumptions,
attitudes, and ideologies, as well as values and norms prevalent in any given
95 Herman, Luc and Bart Vervaeck. “Ideology” The Cambridge Companion to Narrative p. 223
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text, genre and period…. Narrative forms are socially constructed, they
provide information about ideological concepts and world views.96
From the quotation above, Nunning asserts that “narrative forms are socially
constructed”, which resembles Rimmon-Kenan’s idea that the focalization of a
certain focalizer is attributed with certain ideological perspective.
To summarize the opinion from various narratologists, it can be seen that the
analysis on the narrative form itself can also reflects the author’s ideological position.
The form of a narration is “socially constructed”97 by the author. Regarding the
temporality of a text, the differences between story level and narrative level is
theorized by Genette, he elaborates three terminologies in his distinction of Order,
Duration, and Frequency.98 Order mainly concerns the chronological order of events.
Duration focuses on analyzing how long events and scenes last, while Frequency is
how often an event occurs.
Even though as a structural narratologist Genette focuses more on the
identification of narrative devices in a text, postclassical narratology uses his
terminologies to highlight certain ideological perspective. As stated by Rimmon-
Kenan, Genette’s terminology is used as an “analytical toolkit”99 to argue that the
temporal arrangement of a text also reflects the ideology of the narrator. Hence, the
position of this thesis is that Genette’s theory about the temporal arrangement of the
96 Nunning, Ansgar. “Surveying Contextualist and Cultural Narratologies: Toward an Outline of
Approaches, Concepts, and Potentials”. Narratology in the Age of Cross-Disciplinary Narrative
Research. (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter , 2009) p. 64. PDF 97 Nunning, Ansgar. p. 64 98 Genette, Gerard. Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method p. 33-85 99 Rimmon-Kenan, Shlomith. “Towards…Afterthoughts, Almost Twenty Years Later,” Narrative
Theory Critical Concepts in Literary and Cultural Studies. p. 150.
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story is still useful in analyzing the ideology of the narrator in Alexander Romance
and Anna based on how they structure their narrations.
Among Genette’s three divisions of temporality of a text, this thesis mainly
uses Genette’s elaborations of Order and Duration. Order, which concerns the
temporal arrangement or the chronological events of a narration100 is mainly used in
Alexander Romance. The narrator of Alexander Romance mainly uses prolepsis,
anticipation of future events which will be told in the future.101 Prolepsis commonly
takes the form of prophecies or dreams.
The second concept coined by Genette regarding how a story is structured is
what he defines as Duration.102 This terminology mainly covers how long or how
short an author devotes a particular section of text to describe certain events. Among
this terminology, what is mainly found in the analysis is called pause. Pause
represents segment in the text which respond to zero story duration, the plot does not
move.103 Pause is commonly found in descriptive passage especially when the one
narrating is the narrator. This is mainly found in Alexiad as Anna often pauses her
narration to state her personal opinion and remarks.
c. Narratology in Non-Fictional Text
As one of the text this thesis used as object in study is factual narrative or
historiography, this thesis includes argument concerning the applicability of
100 Genette, Gerard. Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method p. 33-85. 101 Rimmon-Kenan, Shlomith. Narrative Fiction, Contemporary Fiction p. 61 102 Genette, Gerard. p. 86-111. 103 Genette, Gerard. p. 93
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Narratology in analyzing non-fictional text. Narrative analysis usually gives more
concern with fictional story rather than factual account. This view is criticized by
Genette in his book Fictions and Dictions (1993), he claims that narratology has
become “restricted narratology”104. As one of the pioneers in Narratology, Genette
believes that narrative analysis should not only limited to fictional account but to also
include history, biography, diaries, news, thesis article, and police report. Genette
argues that the terminologies he coined are not only appropriate in analyzing fiction
but also applicable in factual text. For example, in his terminology Duration Genette
asserts that,
the accelerations, decelerations, ellipses, or pauses that can be observed, in
quite variable doses, in fictional narratives are just as characteristics of factual
narratives...they are governed by the narrator’s judgements regarding the
relative importance of the story’s phases and episodes.105
Based on Genette’s argument, it is possible to analyze both fictional and
factual literature using Genette’s concept. As Alexiad is a historical narrative which
derives from real events, Genette’s opinion is used as the justification. The analysis
of Alexiad as a factual literature mainly focuses on pause, as Anna often pauses her
narration to state her personal remarks. Lastly Genette also mentions that in
historiography the author and the narrator are the same person. His formula states:
104 Genette, Gerard. Fictions and Dictions. (New York: Cornell University Press, 1993) Trans.
Catherine Porter. p. 55-56. PDF. 105 Genette, Gerard. p. 63.
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A(uthor)
Historical narrative (including biography)
N(arrator) ≠ C(haracter) 106
Genette’s above formula highlights that in historical narrative such as historiography
the author also functions as the narrator. In Alexiad therefore Anna is the author and
also narrator-focalizer. This type of narrative is hetereodiegetic, as the narrator is
absent as an acting character in the story.107 The narrator is also an external focalizer,
as the narrator narrates the story from the position of omniscient and omnipresent
narrator.
2. Postcolonial Theories
Previously this thesis summarizes narrative theory or Narratology, and now in
this section this thesis includes several postcolonial concepts to argue that the
narration of the narrator of Alexander Romance and Anna reflect the Greek’s colonial
ideology. The focus on this section is to explore Edward Said’s concept of
colonialism, imperialism and also the Other. Another term linked with colonialism
and imperialism is colonial complicity. Second main theory is connected with how
the Greeks conceptualized their alter ego, barbarian as stated by Hall, she is
influenced by Said’s concept of the Other. Barbarian was also constructed in term of
binary opposition to the Greeks.
106 Genette, Gerard. Fictions and Dictions p. 73 107 Genette, Gerard. p. 74
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a. Colonialism, Colonial Complicity, and Imperialism
Before reviewing several aforementioned concepts, this thesis explores the
use of Saidian concepts in analyzing Greek texts. Franco de Angelis analyses the
parallel between ancient Greek colonialism and modern European imperialism in
several of his articles. He mentions that general treatment of ancient Greece usually
discusses colonies and colonization.108 Furthermore, he states:
The study of ancient Greek colonization has sought, for most of its life,
intellectual inspiration from, and hence been heavily overwritten by, analogies
with modern European imperialism and colonialism.109
In De Angelis’ view, the study of ancient Greek colonization is inevitable being
compared with modern imperialism. Regarding Greek colonization, he states that the
term colonialism is more apt to be used in defining Greek colonization during
classical Period (480-323 BCE) and Hellenistic Age (323-50 BCE).110 This is the
period where Greek colonization shows more similarity to the modern colonialism,
while the pre-500 BCE is considered by De Angelis to be more properly defined as
migration, instead of colonization. De Angelis states that
colonization in the second period (after 500 BCE) had become truly
colonialist and imperialist….it become ways of controlling conquered people
and territories and hence came under the jurisdiction of states, now more fully
developed.111
108 de Angelis, Franco. “Colonies and Colonization.” The Oxford Handbook of Hellenic Studies.
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009) Ed. George Boys-Stones et al. p. 48. PDF. 109 de Angelis, Franco. p. 49. 110 de Angelis, Franco. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome. (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2010) Ed. Michael Gagarin and Elaine Fantham. p. 252. PDF 111 de Angelis, Franco. p. 253-254.
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It can be stated that there exist certain parallels between ancient Greek colonization
and modern European colonization. Both are state controlled, and intended to control
distant territories and subjugated natives. Hence, this thesis uses Saidian concepts to
analyze Greek texts which deal with the issue of colonization. Several Saidian
concepts explored here are related with colonialism and imperialism.
Said’s theory is used as framework to illustrate how selected Greek literature
actually reflect the Greek’s colonial ideology. Colonial ideology is based on the idea
of how relationship between the colonizer and the colonized is not equal but firmly
established in hierarchy between superior and inferior race. Firstly, this thesis
explores the definition of imperialism in Said’s perspective as colonialism is the
result of imperialism, on how the pretense of imperial authority is used as the
justification for assertion of power in distant land. In Said’s word, “colonialism which
is almost always a consequence of imperialism, is the implanting of settlements on
distant territory”, while imperialism is defined as “practice, the theory, and the
attitudes of a dominating metropolitan center ruling a distant territory”112. Said
further identifies several aspects of imperialism which are:
Idea that is based on the power to take over territory, an idea utterly clear in
its force and unmistakable consequences; and the practice that essentially
disguises or obscures this by developing a justificatory regime of self-
aggrandizing, self-originating authority interposed between the victim of
imperialism and its perpetrator113
Colonizer propagates several justifications to justify their oppression toward the
subject nations. Said asserts that,
112 Said, Edward. Culture and Imperialism. (New York: Vintage Books, 1994) p. 9. PDF 113 Said, Edward. p. 69.
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[n]either imperialism nor colonialism is a simple act of accumulation and
acquisition. Both are supported and perhaps even impelled by impressive
ideological formations that include notions that certain territories and people
require and beseech domination, as well as forms of knowledge affiliated with
domination: the vocabulary of classic nineteenth-century imperial culture is
plentiful with words and concepts like "inferior" or "subject races”
“subordinate peoples," "dependency," "expansion," and "authority”114
In Said’s perspective in order to justify their authority, colonizer propagates
notions and creating ideological justification that “certain territories and people
require and beseech domination.”. Colonizer makes the colonized believed that they
are dependent for the colonizer’s benevolence in bringing civilization to uncivilized
land. Furthermore, the colonizer creates notion that subjugated population are their
dependence, their subject to be exploited and oppressed.
To summarize, there is hierarchy in how the colonizer and colonized interact.
Colonizers put themselves in an elevated position compared to the colonized which
are merely their subjects. This is demonstrated by Harmand’s assertion quoted by
Said:
It is necessary, then, to accept as a principle and point of departure the fact
that there is a hierarchy of races and civilizations, and that we belong to the
superior race and civilization, still recognizing that, while superiority confers
rights, it imposes strict obligations in return. The basic legitimation of
conquest over native peoples is the conviction of our superiority, not merely
our mechanical, economic, and military superiority, but our moral superiority.
Our dignity rests on that quality, and it underlies our right to direct the rest of
humanity. Material power is nothing but a means to that end.115
Another concept related with colonialism and imperialism is colonial
complicity. Colonialism occurs due to the complicity of the colonized in accepting
114 Said, Edward. p. 9 115 Harmand, Jules. Qtd in Said, Edward. Culture and Imperialism. p. 17
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the process of colonialism and become a willing partner. Ulla Vuorela defines it as
the participation of the colonized in the hegemonic discourses, involvement in the
promoting of universal thinking, and practices of domination.”116 Through the
powerful and authoritative Western civilizing process, the colonized are lured to take
part in its process.117
Although Said based his concepts of colonialism and imperialism on modern
European imperialism, De Angelis argues that beginning with the Hellenistic Age
(323-50 BCE) Greek colonization had become “truly colonialist and imperialist”, in
line with what Said coined. Hence, the position of this thesis is that both Alexander
Romance and Alexiad as Greek literature also reflect the colonial ideology of Greek
colonizer in how they perceive the non-Greeks with derogative portrayal. This is
primarily seen in how both narrators emphasize the superiority of the Greeks based
on the portrayal of Alexander and Alexius as a model Greek agathos, which is
contrasted with the inferiority of the savage barbarian kings. Greek colonialism is
more prominently seen in Alexander Romance, especially on Alexander’s interaction
with the Egyptians. Through the narrator’s focalization of the Egyptians, the concept
of colonial complicity, on how the Egyptians willingly assist Alexander in his
colonization of Egypt can be seen. Greek colonialism in Egypt prospers due to the
assistance of the Egyptians.
116 Vuorela, Ulla. ““Colonial Complicity: The Postcolonial in a Nordic Context”. Complying with
Colonialism: Gender, Race, and Ethnicity in the Nordic Region. (Surrey: Ashgate, 2009) Ed. Suvi
Keskiken et al. p. 19. PDF 117 Vuorela, Ulla. p. 1.
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b. The Other and the Greek’s Barbarian Other
This section focusing on reviewing several concepts related with the Other.
Firstly, this thesis explores how Said defines the construction of an alter ego of a
society. As Said’s concept emphasizes more on how the Occident views the Orient
based on modern colonialism, this thesis also includes several concepts related more
to the Greeks, mainly about the concept of barbarian in Greek consciousness.
b.1 Said’s Analysis on European Concept of the Other
After exploring the idea of colonialism and imperialism now this thesis
describes how the modern European power construct the Other. Said believes that
“identity is not only not natural and stable; but constructed and occasionally even
invented outright.”118 Furthermore, he explores the idea that “the development and
maintenance of every culture requires the existence of another different and
competing alter ego.”119 The colonizer believed themselves as superior to the
colonized nation by the fabricated identity that the colonized are their inferior Other.
Hence, the idea of colonialism is fueled by the colonizer’s perception that their
conquest is just, because they are helping the natives by educating them in their
standard.
This condescending view can be found also in how the Greeks viewed the
non-Greeks Other. Said’s view is echoed by Hall which states that,” the conceptual
boundaries…which divided Greek from non-Greek are socially produced rather than
118 Said, Edward. Orientalism. (London: Penguins Book, 1977, Reprint.1995) p. 332. PDF. 119 Said, Edward. p. 332.
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inherent in nature.”120 The Other is actually a construct or an invention instead of an
accurate portrayal of reality. Using Said’s idea that identity is invented, the view that
non-Greeks civilizations were unequal to the Greeks was based on the fabrication of
certain stereotypes or constructed instead of real fact. Hall explores the hypocrisy of
the Greeks who proclaim that the Persian Other is tyrannical while the Greeks are
democratic. In his finding tyrannies had been widespread in Greek society until 528
BC.121 It was only during the war between Greek and Persia that tyrannical form of
government was demonized to show the contrast between the Greeks and their
Persian Other. In order to strengthen their fabricated identity as the superior
civilization, the Greeks proclaimed that tyrannies can only be found in the Persian
Other, while in truth they also adapt this form of government before.
The idea of alter ego or the Other was strengthened also through the
stereotypical portrayal of savage Other in literary works. Said proclaims that,”
cultural forms like novel were immensely important in the formation of imperial
attitudes, references, and experiences.”122 Similar with what Herman and Vervaeck
addressed before, literature can be used by the dominant class to propagate the
ideological construction of colonial ideology. One example is how concept of
imperialism and colonialism is reinforced by the depiction of the violent and savage
Other in literary works. Similar view can be found also in how the Greeks perceived
themselves as superior to their barbarian Other by their depiction of savage barbarian
120 Hall, Edith. p. ix 121 Hall, Edith. p. 57-58. 122 Said, Edward. Culture and Imperialism. p. xii
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in literature. Hall states that the ideological polarization of Hellene and barbarian
started from the fifth century onwards, and drama is the source for the Greek’s
conceptualization of the non-Greek worlds.123 The Greeks and modern imperial
powers were differentiated by different time periods, but they had similar view that
the idea of the Other was strengthened by the depiction of savage and hostile Other in
literature.
b.2 The Greek’s Concept of the Barbarian
While this thesis uses Said’s concept of the Other, there is a certain difference
in how the modern imperial power and the Greeks construct their Other. The Western
imperial power portrayed the East or the Orient as their Other, on the contrary the
idea of the Other in Greek consciousness was not only limited to the east. The Greeks
coined the term barbarian to define their Other, or the anti-Greek. Quoting
Thucydides, Hall states how the word barbarian (barbaroi) was used to denote person
or people who have different culture, language, and custom to what the Greek had.124
Hence, the anti-Greeks in the Greek’s perception cover all the non-Greek ethnicity
which do not have the same paideia to the Greeks.
Barbarian was constructed in the term of binary opposition to the Greeks. In
other words, they were the polar opposite of the Greeks. Hall mentions that an ideal
Greek should possess several cardinal Hellenic virtues, such as: wisdom or
intelligence (xunesis), manliness or courage (andreia), discipline or restraint
123 Hall, Edith. p. x 124 Hall, Edith. p. 5-6.
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(sophrosune) and justice (dikaiosune).125 On the contrary, barbarians were
conceptualized to possess certain barbaric vices. While the Greeks possess
intelligence, the barbarian were ignorant and stupid (amathia) instead.126 Compared
to the Greeks’ courage (andreia), the barbarians can either be portrayed as cowards
(deilia) or as excessively boastful (alazoneia).127 To contrast with the Greek’s self-
restraint and discipline, the barbarians were depicted to possess overbearing temper
and lack of restraint -intemperance - (akolasia).128 Regarding the barbarians’ lack of
akolasia, they can be depicted either as savage, wild and bestial (agriotes) or
characterized by their excessive refinement and luxury (habrote)129. Lastly, while the
Greeks were law abiding (diakaiosune), the barbarians were marked by their
lawlessness (adikia).130 In the analysis, the binary opposition between Greek virtues
and barbarian vices is shown especially in how Alexander and Alexius are portrayed
as a noble Greek (agathos) which is contrasted with the barbarian kings.
In Hall’s view, the fabrication of the term barbarian begins with the Greek’s
conflict against the Persians in the Persians Wars. He states that,
the story of the invention of the barbarian is the story of the Greeks’ conflict
with the Persians, a people who had risen suddenly in the middle of the
middle of the sixth century to international prominence…. the
conceptualization of the struggle with Persia as a struggle of united and
disciplined Greeks against alien violence was one impetus behind the
invention of the barbarian131
125 Hall, Edith. p. 137. 126 Hall, Edith. p. x 127 Hall, Edith. p. 141 128 Ibid 129 Hall, Edith. p. 142. 130 Hall, Edith. p. 203. 131 Hall, Edith. p. 35
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To unite various diverse Greek ethnicities such as the Spartans and the Athenians, the
Persians enemy was demonized as Other, the polar opposite of the Greeks. To quote
Hall “the idea of Pan Hellenism in Greek creates the maintenance of the image of an
enemy common of all Hellenes, the ethnically other, the anti-Greek, the barbarian.”132
The chauvinistic view of Pan Hellenism causes the Greeks to consider all the non-
Greeks as their Other or as barbarian. Lynette G. Mitchell in her book Panhellenism
and the Barbarian in Archaic and Classical Greece (2007) further expands Hall’s
idea. She states that “the Persian Wars were reinvented as a symbol of unity in the
face of` the common barbarian enemy”133, furthermore “by the end of the classical
period the enemy was not necessarily fixed.”134 Her assertion indicates that while at
first the term barbarian referred only to Persia, it was later expanded to include other
non-Greek ethnicities.
While Hall claims that the term anti-Greek was based on ethnicity, Anthony
Kardellis on his book Hellenism in Byzantium: The Transformation of Greek Identity
and the Reception of the Classical Tradition (2007) proposes a different view.
Quoting Isocrates, Kardellis states that,” the name of the Greeks designates not a race
(genos) but a mindset, and those are called Greeks who share in their culture rather
132 Hall, Edith. p. 60. 133 Mitchell, Lynette G. Panhellenism and the Barbarian in Archaic and Classical Greece. (Swansea,
Classical Press of Wales, 2007) p. 10. PDF 134 Mitchell, Lynette G. p. 12
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than their common stock (physis)”135. Hence, in Kardellis’ view the Greeks defined
themselves less on ethnical basis but more on cultural basis. This thesis agrees with
Kardellis’ idea that the term Greeks is more associated with cultural aspect rather
than ethnicity, as the word Greeks is related more with culture, it makes the non-
Greeks able to be Hellenized. This is primarily shown in Alexiad, how the Byzantine
Greeks also include several Hellenized barbarians. The Hellenized non-Greeks are
stated by William Woodthorpe Tarn in his book Hellenistic Civilization (1961) as
culture-Greeks. In his words, culture-Greeks refers to Greek by adoption, they think
and behave in ways overly identical to those of their political masters.136 On the
contrary, it is also possible for Greeks to be labeled as barbarian if their behavior is
more resembling the barbarian vices instead of Hellenic virtues.
As previously covered in the first chapter, the main framework of this thesis is
postcolonial narratology, which combines narratology and postcolonialism. The
analysis uses several narratological terminologies, such as focalization and prolepsis,
which is enhanced by several postcolonial concepts such as the Other and also
colonial complicity. One example is how through the narrators’ focalization, the
binary opposition between ideal Greek agathos and barbarian kings can be seen.
Furthermore, the use of prolepsis or foreshadowing is related with the colonial
complicity of the Egyptians.
135 Isocrates, Qtd in Kardellis, Anthony. Hellenism in Byzantium: The Transformation of Greek
Identity and the Reception of the Classical Tradition. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007)
p. 18. PDF. 136 Tarn, W. W. Hellenistic Civilization. (London, World Pub. Co, 1961) p. 35. PDF.
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CHAPTER III
IDEOLOGICAL SIMILARITIES BETWEEN ALEXANDER ROMANCE
AND ALEXIAD
Previous chapter have summarized several previous studies on how the
Greeks conceptualized barbarian in their literary works and also several
theoretical concepts. Barbarian was constructed in binary opposition towards the
Greeks. While the Greeks are characterized by several positive Hellenic virtues,
barbarian are noted for their negative flaws.
This section focuses on analyzing the similar ideological conception which
still persist from Alexander Romance and Alexiad. To use a terminology coined
by Rinon, both narrator’s external focalization reflects colonial ideology or can
also be stated as colonial focalization.137 The narrators’ colonial focalization
manifests in the contrasting portrayal between the Greek agathos and their
enemies which are depiction as barbarian kings. While the Greek protagonists are
noted by their positive Hellenic virtues, their enemies are denigrated as
stereotypical depiction of barbarian kings. This chapter is divided into two main
sections. Firstly, this thesis compares the portrayal of Alexander with the
depiction of Darius in Alexander Romance. Secondly, the similar portrayal can
also be seen in how Anna contrasted between Alexius and Apelchasem in Alexiad.
To prove that the depiction of both Darius and Apelchasem are fictional, this
thesis includes the counter discourse of historical Darius and Apelchasem.
137 Rinon, Yoav. “The Pivotal Scene: Narration, Colonial Focalization, and the Transition in
Odyssey 9.” The American Journals of Philology. 128.3 (2007) p. 303
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A. Comparison between Alexander and Alexius through the Narrators’
Focalization
This section emphasizes on examining how the narrator of Alexander
Romance and Anna similarly depict both Alexander and Alexius as agathos. Both
Alexander and Alexius are exalted as conquerors due to their success in war and
also by their Hellenic virtues. Several Hellenic virtues possessed by both
Alexander and Alexius are intelligence (xunesis) and also bravery (andreia). The
similar depiction between Alexander and Alexius illustrate how both narrators
emphasizes the superiority of the Greeks as these traits cause Alexander and
Alexius to prevail against their enemies.
1. Glorification of Alexander and Alexius as Noble Greek (Agathos)
Alexander Romance is written to glorify and honor the achievement and
deeds of Alexander. Alexander is considered by the narrator as a perfect model of
a Greek (agathos). To portray Alexander as an agathos, the narrator emphasizes
both Alexander’s deeds in warfare and also his honorable virtues as a model
Greek. This is shown in the narrator’s focalization:
In our opinion, Alexander the king of the Macedonians was the best and
most noble of man, for he did everything in his own way, finding that his
foresight always worked in harness with the virtues. When he made war
against a people, the time he spent in his campaigns was not sufficient for
those who wished to research the affairs of the cities. We are going now to
speak of the deeds of Alexander, of the virtues of his body and his spirit,
of his fortune in action and his bravery.138
This thesis highlights more about the use of “we” focalization in
Alexander Romance. As seen in the quotation above the narrator uses first-person
138 Callisthenes, Pseudo. The Greek Alexander Romance. (London: Penguins Books, 1991) Trans.
Richard Stonemann. p. 46. PDF
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plural pronoun forms such as our and we in the quotations “in our opinion” and
“we are going to”. The “we” narration, as theorized by Richardson enables the
narrator to disclose the inner thoughts, perceptions, and feeling of a group.139 In
other world, the voice of the narrator claims to be communal. Communal voice
emphasizes more on the collective opinion of a particular group instead of a single
voice of an individual. The narration of the narrator, which uses “we” and “our”
narration claims to represent the collective voice of the Greeks.
Similar with how the narrator of Alexander Romance considers Alexander
as “the most noble” Greek, Anna in Alexiad also portrays Alexius as an agathos.
Even if it is the case, from narratorial perspective, both narrators employ different
focalization. Different from the narrator of Alexander Romance who uses “we”
focalization to represent the Greeks as a whole, Anna narrates in first person point
of view, “I” focalization. In “we” focalization, the narrator of Alexander Romance
represents the collective voice of the Greeks. On the contrary, “I” focalization
emphasizes that the one “who speaks”140 is the Anna as the narrator herself in her
narratorial voice. Her voice is influenced by how she as a Greek perceives the
world. As a narrator-focalizer, Anna represents the Greek’s ideological position
through her way of seeing the world141.
Another aspect regarding Anna’s status as narrator is that she writes a
historical narrative or historiography. As mentioned by Genette, in historiography
139 Richardson, Brian. “Plural Focalization, Singular Voices; Wandering Perspectives in We-
Narration.” Point of View, Perspective and Focalization, Modeling Mediation in Narrative. Ed.
Peter Hühn, Wolf Schmid, and Jörg Schönert. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2009. p. 148 140 Genette, Gerard. Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method. (New York: Cornell University
Press, 1980) Trans. Jane E Lewin. p. 186. Print. 141 Rimmon-Kenan, Shlomith. Narrative Fiction, Contemporary Fiction. (London: Routledge
Taylor & Francis Group. 1983) Reprinted. 2005. p. 83-84
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the author and the narrator are the same person.142 Hence, while the narrator of
Alexander Romance is not Pseudo-Callisthenes himself, in Alexiad Anna is both
the author and the narrator-focalizer in Alexiad. While previously it is difficult to
attribute the narration of Alexander Romance to Pseudo-Callisthenes, Alexiad is
narrated from the subjective focalization of Anna.
Anna’s “I” focalization reveals much about herself. As seen in her full
name, Anna Comnena, Anna is a member of the Comnenian family, the royal
family of Byzantium (1081-1185 AD). In her focalization, Anna asserts her
privileged status in society:
Now, I recognized this fact. I, Anna, the daughter of two royal personages,
Alexius and Irene, born and bred in the purple. I was not ignorant of
letters, for I carried my study of Greek to the highest pitch, and was also
not unpracticed in rhetoric; I perused the works of Aristotle and the
dialogues of Plato carefully, and enriched my mind by the “quaternion” of
learning.143
This aforementioned quotation highlights Anna’s high status in society. She is not
an ordinary commoner, but she is “the daughter of two royal personages,” the
Emperor Alexius and Empress Irene. Furthermore, Anna’s status as a Greek is
highlighted by the mention of her education in Greek paideia. She studies “Greek,
rhetoric, the works of Aristotle and also the dialogues of Plato”. These facts
establish that Anna is a member of the royal family of Byzantium who is educated
in Greek paideia. Her status as a Greek royalty caused her to derogatively
perceive the non-Greeks in her narration.
142 Genette, Gerard. Fictions and Dictions. (New York: Cornell University Press, 1993) Trans.
Catherine Porter. p. 72-73 143 Comnena, Anna. The Alexiad. (London: Routledge, 1928. Reprinted. Ontario, In Parentheses
Publication, 2000) p. 2. PDF
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Through her focalization, Anna portrays Alexius, her father as a noble
Greek (agathos). Similar with how the narrator of Alexander Romance glorifies
the deeds and virtue of Alexander as an agathos, Anna also wrote Alexiad to
honor her father’s achievement and also his cardinal Greek virtues. She states
that her reason to write Alexiad is to “recounts the deeds done by my father for
they should certainly not be lost in silence, or swept away on the current of time
into the sea of forgetfulness.”144 Furthermore, she adds:
To have as my object the publication of the life of so great and virtuous a
King will be a reminder of his wondrous achievements, and these force me
to shed warm tears, and the whole world will weep with me. (Comnena 4)
From the quotations above, it can be seen that Alexius is venerated not only based
on his deeds and “wondrous achievements” but also due to his virtues. Alexius’
arête (heroic excellence) is not only due to his “military prowess and the skills
which promote success in war”145 but he is also stated as a “virtuous King.” As an
agathos, not only Alexius is expected to be successful in war, but he also must
possess certain virtues fitting a noble Greek king
2. Alexander and Alexius’ Hellenic Virtues
This section focuses on analyzing how the narrators of Alexander
Romance and Alexiad depicts Alexander and Alexius to be in possession of
certain Hellenic traits. The narrators consider these traits as the reason for
Alexander and Alexius’ success in war, and furthermore as the proof for the
superiority of the Greeks. Several notable traits are intelligence (xunesis) and
bravery (andreia), and also their self-restrained nature (sophrosune)
144 Comnena, Anna. p. 2. 145 Adkins, Arthur W.H. Merit and Responsibility: A Study in Greek Values. (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1960. Reprinted.1975) p. 31. PDF
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a. Intelligence (xunesis)
One example of the Greek heroes’ intelligence is how the narrator in
Alexander Romance depicts Alexander’s deception of the Persians. Alexander is
portrayed to be able to trick the Persians into believing that Alexander has a larger
army than he actually has. The narrator focalizes it as:
Alexander arrived with a great army in the land of Persia. The high wall of
the city was visible to the Macedonians from a long way off. Then the
cunning Alexander thought of a trick: he rounded up the flocks of sheep
which were grazing there on the meadows, and tied branches from the
trees into their back; he then made the flocks march behind the army. The
branches dragging behind them on the ground stirred up the dust, and the
sandstorm reached up to Olympus, so that the Persians, as they looked up
from their walls, thought that a vast army was coming against them.
(Callisthenes 112)
This aforementioned quotation also illustrates the narrator’s usage of
embedded focalization. Embedded focalization is when the narrator represents in
the text a character’s focalization, i.e., his/her perceptions, thoughts, emotions, or
words.146 In embedded focalization, the one “who speaks” is still the external
focalizer, as the narrator can be stated to borrow the character’s voice to focalize
the narrator’s own thoughts, perceptions, and words. The use of embedded
focalization illustrates the omniscient nature of the narrator, as the narrator is able
to penetrate his/her character’s psyche and voices their voice. In this case, the
narrator delves into Alexander’s inner thought to voice Alexander’s deception of
the Persians.
146 De Jong, Irene. “Introduction: Narratological Theory of Narrators, Narratees, and Narrative.”
Narrators, Narratees, and Narratives in Ancient Greek Literature. Ed. Irene De Jong, Rene
Nunlist and Angus M. Bowie. (Leiden: Koninklijke Brill NV, 2004) p. XVI. PDF
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The narrator in Alexander Romance proclaims that intelligence is an
inherent trait for the Greeks. This is addressed by the narrator’s embedded
focalization to voice Alexander’s speech:
Truly the only sense one can get out of barbarians is their own
insensibility. Just as animals –tigers, lions, elephants, which pride
themselves on their own strength – are easily brought to heel by human
nature –even among barbarians – so the kings of barbarians who exult in
the size of their armies are easily worsted by the intelligence of Greeks.”
(Callisthenes 140)
From the aforementioned quotation, the narrator makes a parallel between
barbarian and animal. Even though several animals such as tigers, lions, and
elephants have superior strength compared to human, human will always be able
to tame and domesticate them. In the narrator’s view, it is due to “human
nature”147. Similar to animals, the barbarians who pride themselves based on their
strength will always be defeated by the superior intelligence of the Greeks. Hence,
the narrator believes that the dichotomy between barbarian and Greek is inherent,
it is always the Greek’s nature to be smarter and become the ruler of the savage
and stupid barbarian. Just as animal will always be domesticated by “human
nature”, barbarian will always be subjugated by “Greek nature” as Greeks by
nature is always smarter compared to barbarian.
Similar to Alexander previously, intelligence (xunesis) is one of the
Hellenic virtues possessed by Alexius. Several times Anna mentions how Alexius
is able to prevail against his enemies not by frontal assault but by using tricks,
stratagems, and even without any fighting at all. In Anna’s view, rash and
inconsiderate assault should be avoided instead, and using clever means to
147 Callisthenes, Pseudo. p.140
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achieve victory is more worthy to be celebrated as it shows the intellect of the
general. She focalizes it as,
now I consider it courage when anybody gains a victory through using
sound judgment; for high spirits and energy without judgment are to be
condemned, and are rashness and not courage. For we have courage in war
against men whom we can conquer; but we are rash against those whom
we cannot overcome, and thus, when danger impends over us, we hesitate
to attack from the front…. and then we handle the war in a different way
and endeavor to conquer the enemy without fighting. (Comnena 280)
The aforementioned quotation, a personal remark from Anna illustrates
what in narratological term known as pause. Pause refers to a stop in the story
when the narrator reflects or remarks on a particular happening.148 Furthermore,
Genette notes that pauses are just as characteristics of factual narrative such as
Alexiad rather than just limited to be used in fictional narrative.149 In Alexiad
several times Anna puts a stop –pause- of her narration to state her personal
opinion on a certain issue. The aforementioned quotation is Anna’s personal
opinion, as seen in “now I consider”. One example from the aforementioned
quotation, she commends the action of “using sound judgement” to achieve
victory, while “high spirits and energy without judgement” is condemned instead.
In Anna’s view, able to use sound judgement shows the intelligence of the
general, as the general should be able to anticipate the course of a battle and take
correct action. Rash and frontal assault “without judgement” shows the lack of
intelligence of the general, which fits more for a barbarian rather than Alexius as
the leader of the disciplined Byzantine army.
148 Genette, Gerard. Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method p. 93 149 Genette, Gerard. Fictions and Dictions. p.55-56
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One example of how Anna portrays Alexius as an intelligent general is
how Alexius is able to regain the city of Dyrrachium from Norman occupation.
The Normans, who are led by their Duke Robert of Apulia managed to capture
this city from the Byzantines. Alexius tries to oppose them in military campaign,
but he is defeated by the Normans in the battle of Dyrrachium (1081 AD). Using
embedded focalization, Anna portrays how Alexius uses other means beside direct
battle to recapture Dyrrachium from the Normans:
He aimed at sowing dissension amongst them by letters and other devices,
as he thought that would be the easiest means of regaining the city. He
also persuaded the Venetians who happened to be in the capital to advise
the Venetians, Amalfians and other foreigners who were in Epidamnus to
submit to his will and surrender Dyrrachium to him. And he himself did
not cease making promises and offering bribes with a view to their
surrendering Dyrrachium to him. (Comnena 105)
In the aforementioned quotation, Anna employs embedded focalization to focalize
Alexius’ perceptions and thoughts. Through embedded focalization, Anna voices
Alexius’ thoughts, in which he believes that “sowing dissentions” is the “easiest
means of regaining the city.” Furthermore, Anna narrates that Alexius also uses
other ways such as “making promises” and “offering bribes.” These indirect
means prove more successful rather than fighting the Normans directly, Anna
remarks that,
the Latins allowed themselves to be persuaded (for their whole race is very
fond of money and quite accustomed to selling even their dearest
possessions for an obol) and with high hopes in their hearts they formed a
conspiracy and first of all slew the man who had originally suggested
betraying the fort to Robert, and next his fellow conspirators; and then
they went to the Emperor, and handed over the fort to him and in return
received immunity of every kind from him. (Comnena 105)
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In her focalization, Anna illustrates how “the Latins allowed themselves to be
persuaded”. Using pause, Anna also state her personal opinion about how the
Latins are able to be convinced by Alexius, she believes that it is due to the greed
of the Latins. From the above quotation, she emphasizes that the whole race of the
Latins is “very fond of money.”150 Alexius’ intelligence (xunesis) is illustrated in
how Alexius is able to exploit this flaw of the Latins for the benefits of the
Byzantine Greeks.
b. Bravery (andreia)
Second important Hellenic virtue is bravery (andreia), a trait possessed by
both Alexander and Alexius. Beside intelligence, Alexander is also noted for his
bravery. Bravery is another Hellenic virtue an agathos is supposed to have, and
one of the most commended virtue. One example of Alexander’s bravery is during
the Greek’s crossing of the Euphrates river. The Greeks are depicted to be afraid
in crossing the swift current of the Euphrates. To encourage the Greek soldiers,
the narrator narrates how Alexander gives an example to his soldiers by crossing
the river first. The narrator focalizes the crossing of the Euphrates river as:
He (Alexander) marched on for many days through waterless country full
of ravines, until he eventually came via Ariane to the river Euphrates. Here
he built a bridge with iron arches and bands, and ordered the army to cross
it. When he saw them hesitating, he ordered the wagons and the beast of
burden, with all the provisions, to be conveyed across first, then the army.
But they were frightened by the swiftness of the river, thinking the arches
might give way. Since they did not dare to cross, Alexander took his
bodyguard with him and crossed over first. Then the rest of the army
crossed over too. (Callisthenes 107)
150 Comnena, Anna. p. 105.
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Another example of Alexander’s bravery is how he is portrayed to always
be in the front-line; in other words, Alexander personally leads his army himself.
The narrator narrates how
Alexander raced ahead to battle, full of enthusiasm, and drew up his troops
against Darius. When those around Darius saw Alexander leading his
troops towards the quarter where he had heard that Darius was positioned,
they halted their chariots and the rest of the army. (Callisthenes 131)
Furthermore, Alexander’s bravery is also illustrated by how Alexander is
portrayed to confront Porus, the Indian king in a personal combat, even though
Alexander is physically disadvantaged, as he is smaller. This is highlighted by the
narrator’s usage of embedded focalization to voice Alexander’s challenge toward
Porus:
Alexander sent a message to Porus, as follows: “It does not befit the power
of a king to allow one or other of us to gain the victory only by the
destruction of our armies; but it will be a mark of our personal bravery if
each of us puts a stop to the general fighting and comes forward to decide
the victory by single combat.” (Callisthenes 141)
Similar with the depiction of Alexander, Anna also emphasizes Alexius’
bravery (andreia). She believes that bravery is a very necessary trait for a
successful general. A hero’s martial prowess is mainly determined by his bravery,
on how he is able to lead his army personally and always be on the front line. In
this case, the portrayal of Alexius is not dissimilar with the previous depiction of
Alexander by the narrator of Alexander Romance. One illustration given by Anna
is how Alexius is portrayed to attack a detachment of the Scythians, a nomadic
people living in the north of the empire who invade Byzantium. The Byzantines
army are depicted to be afraid in facing the enemy, as the Scythians numbers six
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thousands. Through embedded focalization, Anna narrates how Alexius convinces
his army to follow him in attacking the Scythians:
Consequently, he assembled the soldiers and said, “We must not let our
courage flag by contemplating the number of Scythians, but put our trust
in God and go to battle with them, and if only we all of one mind, I am
convinced we shall beat them utterly…. Consequently, it behooves us to
take the risk and not die like cowards. So I shall go out at once and
whoever likes can follow me for I will lead the way and dash into the
midst of the Scythians.” (Callisthenes 138-139.)
Anna’s embedded focalization of Alexius depicts how Alexius tries to
raise the spirit of his army by his speech. Through Alexius’ speech, Anna
condemns cowardice (deilia), because it is a trait associated with barbarian instead
of a Hellenic virtue. Alexius’ bravery is emphasized by how Anna’s embedded
focalization state that “I will lead the way and dash into the midst of the
Scythians. Anna further highlights how Alexius is the first one who venture into
battle against the Scythians. She narrates:
With these words he immediately put on his armor and sallied out by the
gate opposite the marsh. After skirting the walls and turning aside a little,
he mounted the ridge from the back. He was the first to seize a spear and
push his way into the middle of the Scythians, and then he struck down the
first man he encountered. And the soldiers, too, who were with him
shewed themselves no less keen fighters and the result was that the greater
number of Scythians were killed and the rest taking prisoner. (Comnena
139)
Some parallels can be taken from how Anna portrays Alexius as a brave general
and how the narrator in Alexander Romance depicts Alexander’s heroism in
battle. Both narrators emphasize the personal bravery of these two generals, they
are brave enough to take risk by leading their armies personally. Previously, the
narrator of Alexander Romance illustrates how Alexander is the first one who
cross the Euphrates river while his soldiers are hesitant and frightened.
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Furthermore, Alexander is also portrayed as “the first to enter the cities” and
“fought at the head of his army”151 Similar to Alexander, Alexius is also “the first
to seize a spear” and charge into the Scythians lines. By their displays of personal
valor, Alexius and Alexander are able to encourage their army to fought harder
and achieve victory
c. Self-restrain (sophrosune)
Another Hellenic virtue possessed by both Alexander and Alexius is their
self-restrain (sophrosune). As Greeks, they are supposed to be restrained in their
conduct and behave correctly as the Greek’s standard. The narrator of Alexander
Romance illustrates this trait in his depiction of Alexander. The narrator
contrasted between Alexander as the king of the Macedonians and Nicolaus the
king of Acarnania. The narrator focalizes that Nicolaus is “the son of Andreas,
king of Acarnania, who exulted in his wealth and good fortune”. These flaws are
condemned by the narrator, as boasting (alazoneia) and hedonist lifestyle
(habrotes) are barbarian vices instead of Hellenic traits. Through embedded
focalization of Alexander, the narrator condemns these flaws:
Alexander replied, “Do not pride yourself so, King Nicolaus, and glory in
the assumption that your life will last to the morrow; for fate is not
accustomed to stay in one place, but a turn of the balance makes mock of
the boastful man.” (Callisthenes 106)
In the narrator’s portrayal of Alexander, the narrator emphasizes
Alexander’s self-restrained nature. One example is how after Alexander’s victory
against Darius, the narrator emphasizes how Alexander does not boast on his
151 Callisthenes, Pseudo. p. 106
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achievement. Furthermore, the narrator explores Alexander’s courtesy towards the
captured wife and daughter of Darius. The narrator focalizes it as:
Although he (Alexander) had defeated his opponents, he disdained to
make a great boast of it, and did not behave arrogantly towards them. He
gave orders for the bravest and most noble of the Persian dead to be
buried. Darius’ mother, wife, and children he took along with him, treated
them with all respects. (Callisthenes 106)
Similar with Alexander previously, Anna also emphasizes Alexius’ self-
restraint (sophrosune). Even though Alexius is an Emperor, he is not
characterized by his excessive wealth (ploutos) or his decadent lifestyle. In
Alexiad, Anna focuses on her father’s temperate living and his charitable nature.
She addresses how Alexius prefers to stay in the front line with his soldiers rather
than to lay down in the comfort of his capital Constantinople. She focalizes it as:
To the various generals engaged in the West he sent other letters enjoining
them to march to Sthlanitza without delay. What happened next? Did he
after summoning the protagonists, relapse into case, and enjoy his leisure
and the pleasure of the baths, as the Emperors who prefer a bestial life, are
wont to do? No, certainly not, why he could not even endure staying in the
palace any longer. (Comnena 216)
As the empire is in constant threat, not only from the Scythians in the north but
also from the Normans in the West, Alexius constantly campaigns outside of
Constantinople. Even when he is in the capital, Anna describes how Alexius is
still concerned with the situation of war, as seen by how Alexius sent many letters
to his generals. The aforementioned quotation asserts Alexius’ self-restraint and
temperance; Alexius is depicted to not fall into decadence, such as “the Emperors
who prefer a bestial life.” Anna condemns the action of previous Emperors who
prefers the decadent living on the capital rather than commanding army in the
front line. She compares the hedonist lifestyle of the past as “bestial life”, life
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without any self-restraint similar to animals. Alexius is depicted to “could not
even endure staying in the palace any longer”, as he would much prefer stay close
to his army in the battlefield to avoid the trap of decadent living in
Constantinople.
In writing Alexiad, Anna focuses on glorifying her father’s conquests. She
especially emphasizes Alexius’ bravery (andreia) and also his intelligence
(xunesis) as a successful conqueror. It can be said that she takes special concern
on establishing the superiority of the Byzantine Empire towards the non-Greeks
outside the imperium by her father’s conquests. As she focuses more on her
father’s wars, she does not give much illustration about her father’s domestic
policy and governance. Actually while Anna claims that her father does not enjoy
living in the capital, several Byzantine scholars point out that Alexius actually
accumulated immense wealth through the taxation of the populace. In his book,
Studies on Byzantine Literature of the Eleventh & Twelfth Century (1984)
Alexander Kazhdan summarizes several Byzantine scholars’ criticism toward
Alexius’ fiscal policy. One critique from John Zonaras (11-12th century) is that
Alexius rules Byzantium “as if the Empire is his household properties.”152 He
especially criticizes how Alexius distributes whole wagon-loads of public money
for the benefits of his relatives and servants, little remained in the treasure after he
died.153 Similar critique is addressed by John Oxeites (11-12th century), he states
152 Zonaras, John. Quoted in Kazhdan, Alexander and Simon Franklin. Studies on Byzantine
Literature of the Eleventh and Twelfth Century. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984)
p. 59. PDF 153 Zonaras, John. p. 61.
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that the Emperor and his relatives, the Komnenian dynasty “occupy”
Constantinople by their many estates and possession:
Beginning with the topic of the poor state of imperial finances, John
Oxeites compares the deficit in the state treasure with the opulence of the
ruling Komnenian family, highlighting to the Emperor how they had built
entire cities within the City, enjoying an abundance of possessions, while
at the same time partaking in the state’s revenues and treasures, thusly
dismantling the very imperial system, by living extravagantly, and placing
personal benefit before the common well-being.154
From the several criticisms summarized above, it can be stated that the
depiction of Alexius in Alexiad, in which Anna claims that her father is not
corrupted by the lure of decadent living (habrotes) and wealth (ploutos) is false.
Based on Zonaras and Oxeites’ finding, Alexius possesses immense wealth and
possessions. Even worse, Alexius acquires this richness from the taxation and
revenues of the citizen of Byzantium, which actually should be distributed for
either internal or external issue of the empire. Hence, although militarily Alexius
is a capable general, he is also a corrupt ruler whose policy is detrimental for the
empire’s wellbeing.
To conclude the discussion of this subchapter, this thesis summarizes that
both Alexander Romance and Alexiad is written from the perspective of the
Greeks. Alexander and Alexius are depicted as model Greek (agathos) due to
their arête (heroic excellence) and their Hellenic virtues, Through the narrators’
focalization of the deeds of Alexander and Alexius, both narrators proclaim the
superiority of the Greeks. Alexander and Alexius’ success in war is considered by
the narrators to be caused by their superior intelligence (xunesis) and bravery
154 Oxeites, John. Quoted in Stankovic, Vlade and Albrecht Berger. “The Komnenoi and
Constantinople before the Building of the Pantokrator Complex.” The Pantokrator Monastery in
Constantinople. (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter Inc, 2013) Ed. Sofia Kotzabassi. p. 23. PDF
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(andreia) as Greeks compared to their enemy as barbarian. Furthermore, as ideal
Greeks, the narrators emphasize the self-restrained behavior (sophrosune) of
Alexander and Alexius.
The narrator of Alexander Romance compares barbarian with animal,
although animals have superior strength and more numerous that human, human is
able to tame and domesticate animals due to their superior intelligence. Similar
with how human is always able to defeat the bestial aspect of animals, the narrator
of Alexander Romance also believes that the inherent superior intellect of the
Greeks is always able to defeat the superior strength and numerical superiority of
barbarian. In the narrator’s words, “so the kings of barbarians who exult in the
size of their armies are easily worsted by the intelligence of Greeks.”155
B. Comparison between Barbarian Kings through the Narrators’
Focalization
After analyzing how Alexander and Alexius are glorified as agathos, this
thesis explores the portrayal of their enemies, Darius and Apelchasem as
stereotypical barbarian kings. While Alexander and Alexius are marked by their
possession of admirable Hellenic virtues, both narrators depict Darius and
Apelchasem to be flawed by their barbarianism. To argue that their portrayal in
Alexander Romance and Alexiad are based on stereotypical view of barbarian
kings, this thesis includes the historical portrayal of Darius and Apelchasem.
155 Callisthenes, Pseudo. p.140
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1. Depiction of Darius as Stereotypical Barbarian King
In this section, this thesis analyzes how Darius as the Persian king is
depicted by the narrator. The narrator of Alexander Romance portrays Darius as
Alexander’s polar opposite. While the narrator praises Alexander’s success in
battle as the proof of the superiority of the Greeks, the narrator considers Darius’
defeat to symbolize the inferiority of the barbarian, in this case the Persians. In the
depiction of Darius, the narrator illustrates the contrasting aspect between Greek
virtues possessed by Alexander and barbarian flaws Darius has.
While Alexander is narrated to possess intelligence (xunesis), Darius is
characterized by his ignorance and stupidity (amathia) instead. Darius’ ignorance
is highlighted by the narrator through the use of embedded focalization to voice
Darius’ thoughts, perceptions, and also utterance. While the previous embedded
focalization of Alexander portrays Alexander as a wise and cunning general who
has a clear strategy, the embedded focalization of Darius mainly highlights his
confusion and his ignorance. One example is how Darius is depicted to be slow in
responding towards the Greek’s threat against his empire. The narrator
emphasizes Darius’ ignorance by the use of embedded focalization to focalize
Darius’ reply towards Darius’ satraps (governor). Through embedded focalization,
the narrator emphasizes how Darius severely underestimates Alexander’s
invasion:
The kings of kings, the great god, greets all his satraps and generals.
Demonstrate now the extent of your bravery without expecting any help
from me. A great river has burst its back in your country and has terrified
you who are the thunderbolts that should be able to quench it; and you
have been incapable of standing up to the thunder of a fresh-faced youth.
(Callisthenes 85)
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Darius’ ignorance is emphasized by how Darius’ satraps is ordered to
“demonstrate their bravery, without any help” from him. Through embedded
focalization, the narrator explores how Darius believes that his satraps should be
able to resist Alexander’s invasion, as Alexander is only a “fresh-faced youth.”
This shows how detached Darius is from the real condition of the front-line. The
narrator focalizes that, ”Darius was in Babylon, in Persia when he received this
letter.”156 Darius is depicted to write his letter in the comfort of his capital city,
Babylon, which illustrates his ignorance on the real situation in the war against
Alexander.
Darius’ ignorance is further emphasized in a dialogue between Darius and
his brother Oxydelkys. Through embedded focalization, the narrator contrasted
between Darius and Oxydelkys. While Darius is depicted to have no idea how to
fight against the Greeks, Oxydelkys is focalized to have a plan of action. The
narrator narrates the exchange as:
Then, Darius’s brother Oxydelkys said to him, “send now for your satraps
and all the people who are subject to you: The Persians, the Parthians, the
Medes, the Elymaeans, the Babylonians in Mesopotamia, and the land of
the Odyni, not to mention the Bactrians and Indians, and raise an army
from them. If you can keep the gods on your side and defeat the Greeks,
we shall by the very numbers of our troops be a source of astonishment of
our enemies….
“Good advice,” replied Darius, “but worthless. A single resolute Greek
army can conquer a horde of barbarian, just as one fierce wolf can put a
whole flock of sheep to flight. (Callisthenes 82)
Through the narrator’s use of embedded focalization, the aforementioned
quotation also highlights Darius’ defeatist nature. Darius is focalized to already
realize the superiority of the Greeks, or to quote Harmand, acknowledges that
156 Callisthenes, Pseudo. p. 82
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there exist a “hierarchy of civilizations.”157 With embedded focalization, the
narrator emphasizes that Darius already recognizes the inherent superiority of the
Greeks. In the aforementioned quotation, the Greeks are compared to wolf who is
always of the very top of the food chain. This analogy demonstrates the
superiority of the Greeks compared to the barbarian horde and the Persians who
are merely only “flock of sheep”, which will always be dominated by the
superiority of the Greek civilization.
The depiction of Darius as an ignorant and stupid king is actually based on
stereotypical view of barbarian king rather than the real description of Darius. As
previously explored by Hall, the Greeks conceptualized barbarian to possess
certain flaws, which is contrasted with the virtues of the Greeks.158 In his article,
Ernst Badian argues that the depiction of Darius is “almost entirely gathered from
sources that see them through a Greek lens; and not only Greek, but sources
concerned to celebrate the history and achievement of Alexander III of
Macedon.”159 In other words, the portrayal of Darius in various sources, including
Alexander Romance is based on how the Greeks conceptualized the figure of
barbarian king. Badian rejects the myth that Darius is an ignorant and stupid king,
he emphasizes Darius’ careful planning to counter Alexander’s invasion:
Darius now showed remarkable adaptability and courage. He collected a
large army, chiefly from the eastern part of the kingdom, which had
hitherto not been called upon, and while increasing and improving the
157 Harmand, Jules. Qtd in Said, Edward. Culture and Imperialism. p. 17 158 Hall, Edith. Inventing the Barbarian: Greek Self Definition through Tragedy. (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1989) p.137-142. 159 Badian, Ernst. “Darius III” Harvard Studies in Classical Philology. 100. (2000) 20 May 2016
2015. < http://www.jstor.org/stable/20788284 > p. 241
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arms in which Persia was traditionally strong –cataphract cavalry and
scythed chariots, to which he added elephants –160
While Darius in Alexander Romance is depicted as an ignorant king who
dismisses the threat posed by Alexander, the historical Darius shows his careful
preparation. Badian states how Darius “collected a large army” and also
“improved the arms in which Persia was traditionally strong.” Furthermore,
Darius’ careful planning is emphasized also by how he “meet the enemy on a
broad plain”161 to maximize the charge of his cavalry and elephants. Historical
Darius, as proven by Badian actually has a clear plan to defeat Alexander, he
plans to use his cavalry and elephant in a wide open plain. On the contrary,
fictional Darius believes that the idea of opposing the Greeks is futile, as by
nature a Greek army will always conquer the barbarian horde. The contrasting
portrayal between historical Darius and Darius in Alexander Romance highlights
how the narrator of Alexander Romance based his Darius on stereotypical
depiction of the ignorant barbarian king.
Another contrasting trait between Alexander and Darius is the bravery of
Alexander (andreia) which is contrasted with the cowardly nature (deilia) of
Darius. Darius is denoted as a cowardly king who is in total contrast with
Alexander’s bravery. Darius’ cowardice is mainly highlighted in his battle against
Alexander; as the battle is not in the favor of the Persians, Darius flees the battle.
The narrator states:
In the end there was a great rout of the Persians, who fled precipitately.
When many of the Persians have been horribly killed, Darius in terror
160 Badian, Ernst. p. 258. 161 Badian, Ernst. p. 259.
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pulled down the reins of his scythed chariot; as the wheels whirled, he
moved down a multitude of the Persians, like a harvester cropping down
the stalks of corn. (Callisthenes 117)
In his haste to avoid being captured by the Greeks, Darius does not care that in
order to escape he has to massacre his fellow Persians. Beside Darius’ cowardice,
the above quotation also highlights Darius lack of self-restraint (akolasia). His
lack of self-restraint is shown in how Darius recklessly “moved down” his Persian
soldiers who stands in his way to escape. Darius is depicted to have no
compassion towards the life of his soldiers and he willingly sacrifices his soldiers
so that he can escape from the battle.
Although in historical account Darius also fled the battle against
Alexander, there is difference between historical Darius and the fictional
Alexander in Alexander Romance. The narrator of Alexander Romance believes
that the reason why Darius escapes the battle is his personal cowardice, on the
contrary Badian explores several possible reasons for Darius’ flight from the
battle field. One interpretation is that Darius sees that “the only chance of saving
his kingdom lay in his survival…. His flight shows that he kept his head and
thought of his responsibilities.”162 If Darius were to fall in battle then the Persians
are in danger of falling into a civil war of succession, which will be detrimental as
they are facing an outside invader. Quoting an account from Diodorus, Badian
offers another interpretation of Darius’ choice to escape the battle. He states that
actually Darius intends to die in the battlefield, yet one of his charioteers carried
162 Badian, Ernst. “Darius III” Harvard Studies in Classical Philology. 100. (2000) 20 May 2016
2015. < http://www.jstor.org/stable/20788284 >p. 256.
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him away.163 Hence, Darius’ decision to flee the battle is not due to his personal
cowardice, but there are other reasons for that. Badian’s interpretations is that
either Darius feels that his death will be detrimental for the unity of the Persians,
or Darius already intended to die, but one of his soldier unknowingly saved him
instead.
Furthermore, while Alexander is noted as a capable general who always
lead his army himself in the front line, Darius is depicted to prefer to stay in his
capital. Through embedded focalization of Oxydelkys, the narrator denounces
Darius’ decision:
You (Darius) must rather imitate Alexander, and in that way hold on to
your kingdom. He did not entrust the conduct of the war to generals and
satraps, like you, but has always been the first to enter the cities and fought
at the head of his army. (Callisthenes 106)
By the embedded focalization of Oxydelkys, the narrator emphasizes that Darius
is Alexander’s inferior, and hence he should imitate Alexander’s conduct.
Alexander is portrayed as a brave general, as he is always “the first to enter the
cities” and “fought at the head of his army”. On the contrary, Darius prefers to
stay in his capital and delegates commands into his satraps. It is only when the
situation gets worse he takes personal command directly.
The narrator believes that Darius’ unwillingness to personally lead his
army is caused by his excessive refinement and luxury (habrotes). As a Persian
king, Darius is marked more by his wealth and extravagant clothing instead of his
virtues or achievement in war. This is contrasted by how Alexander is portrayed
163 Badian, Ernst. p. 260.
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as a model agathos, excels in both virtue and warfare. One depiction of Darius
emphasizes his luxurious dressing:
Darius wears his crown set with precious stones, his silk robes woven with
gold thread in the Babylonian style, his cloak of royal purple, and his
golden shoes studded with gems with covered his shins. He held a scepter
in either hand, and the troops around him were innumerable. (Callisthenes
114)
From this quotation, the splendor of Darius’ dressing is emphasized. His shoes are
golden and “studded with gems which covers his shins.” Furthermore, he wears
“silk robes woven with gold thread.” In Hall’s view, the Greeks believe that
wealth and truphe -an excessively dainty or comfortable way of life- became bad
education for masculinity and courage.164 In other words, the Greeks denote the
excessive dressing of the Persians as effeminate, more resembling a woman rather
a man. Darius’ luxurious lifestyle is considered to be the reason of his lack of
bravery, as he is accustomed to decadent living. Darius is depicted to prefer the
hedonist lifestyle of his capital, Babylon rather than commanding his army
directly in the front-line.
In his article, Badian further debunks the myth that Darius never
personally lead his army. He states that “there is not a word of any military
achievement by Darius in any of our Alexander sources.”165 To counter this view,
Badian proves that Darius leads the expedition to overcome Egypt himself, right
after his ascension.166 This event is omitted by the narrator of Alexander
Romance, although the episode where Egypt is conquered is included, the army
164 Hall, Edith. p. 128 165 Badian, Ernst. “Darius III” Harvard Studies in Classical Philology. 100. (2000) 20 May 2016
2015. < http://www.jstor.org/stable/20788284 >p. 254. 166 Badian, Ernst. p. 252.
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which conquer Egypt is not lead by Darius personally but instead the narrator
describes it as “a great storm cloud of barbarians” 167. By the omission of Darius
as the leader of the army which conquers Egypt, the narrator undermines Darius’
bravery and intelligence to command an army.
To summarize, it can be seen that the narrator contrasted between
Alexander as a model Greek (agathos) and Darius as a barbarian king. As an
agathos, Alexander is characterized positively by his possession of several
Hellenic virtues, mainly intelligence (xunesis) and bravery (andreia). On the other
hand, the portrayal of Darius emphasizes several negative vices. Darius is
depicted to be ignorant (amathia), cowardly (deilia), having lack of `restrain
(akolasia), and possesses excessive wealth (habrotes). To contrast the portrayal
between Alexander and Darius, the narrator either uses external focalization, or
embedded focalization to voice the characters’ statement. The embedded
focalization still conforms to the intention of the narrator, which is to portray
Alexander as a noble Greek king and Darius as a stereotypical barbarian king.
Several negative traits possessed by Darius are actually based on fabrication
instead of a real fact. The historical Darius, based on Badian’s finding is actually
an intelligent and brave military commander, while the fictional Darius is
characterized by his stupidity, cowardice and his unwillingness to lead his army
personally.
167 Callisthenes, Pseudo. p. 47.
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2. Depiction of Apelchasem as Stereotypical Barbarian King.
After analyzing how Darius is depicted as a stereotypical barbarian king,
this thesis explores the similar depiction of Apelchasem in Alexiad. Not different
from how the narrator of Alexander Romance contrasted between Alexander as an
agathos and Darius as barbarian king, Anna as the narrator of Alexius also
contrasted between Alexius and Apelchasem. While Alexius is depicted to be in
possession of several Hellenic virtues, such as intelligence (xunesis), bravery
(andreia), and self-restrained (sophrosune), Apelchasem is mainly marked by his
ignorance (amathia) and also his lack of self-restraint (akolasia) which manifests
in his decadent lifestyle (habrotes).
Although in truth Apelchasem is not yet a Sultan, but he is the arch-satrap
(governor) of Nicaea, the capital of the Turks, Anna depicts Apelchasem to
behave similarly to a Sultan of the East. Through embedded focalization, Anna
narrates how Apelchasem already expected to be appointed as Sultan due to his
high status:
Now Apelchasem who was then arch-satrap in Nicaea, where the Sultan’s
palace was, took possession of the town and transferred Cappadocia to his
brother, Pulchases, and then lived a carefree life, expecting soon to assume
the dignity of “Sultan,” in fact looked upon it as a certainty. (Comnena
110)
Anna associates Sultan with “carefree life”, she considers the Eastern ruler to live
a life of luxury and decadence. This is contrasted with how previously Anna
depicts her father, the Emperor to be self-restrained (sophrosune) in how he
rejects the decadent life of his capital Constantinople in favor of life in the frontier
with his army.
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In her father’s conflict with Apelchasem, Anna contrasted between her
father’s intelligence (xunesis) as a Greek and Apelchasem’s stupidity and
ignorance (amathia) as barbaric Sultan. After finding out how Apelchasem
maintains “a determined resistance”168 around Nicaea, Anna depicts how Alexius
uses a devious plan to overcome the Turks. She portrays how her father offers a
peace treaty toward Apelchasem, yet the peace offering is actually more for the
benefit of the Byzantines rather than the Turks. Anna states:
Emperor, clever as he was in winning the souls of men and in softening a
heart of stone, at once dictated a letter to Apelchasem advising him to
abstain from such vain enterprises and not to beat the air but to come over
to him and thus exchange a life of labour for the enjoyment of bounteous
gifts and honour….When the truce between them had been concluded, the
Emperor who was already scheming to obtain another advantage, and
could see no other way of gaining his end, invited Apelchasem to the
capital to receive gifts of money, enjoy a life of luxury to the full and then
return home. (Comnena 110)
In the aforementioned quotation, Anna portrays how Alexius deceives
Apelchasem to accept his peace treaty. She narrates how Apelchasem will receive
“the enjoyment of bounteous gifts and honors”, furthermore Alexius even invite
Apelchasem to Constantinople to “enjoy a life of luxury to the full.” Through her
father’s deception, Anna highlights her father’s intelligence as a Greek, he is able
to deceive the barbarian Sultan to accept his peace treaty. The peace treaty is
actually only a cover for Alexius’ real intention, through embedded focalization of
Alexius, Anna explores Alexius’ inner thought:
The Turkish rulers of Nicaea still held Nicomedia (which is the metropolis
of Bithynia) and as the Emperor wished to expel them from that town, he
thought it well to build a second small citadel near the sea, while the terms
of peace were being arranged. Consequently, he had all the materials
168 Comnena, Anna. p. 110.
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necessary for the construction of the fort, as well as the builders, loaded on
transports and dispatched them under Eustathius, the “Drungaire” of the
fleet, to whom he had revealed his secret and entrusted the building.
(Comnena 111)
This event depicted in Alexiad, how Apelchasem is tricked by Alexius into
accepting the treaty and living in Constantinople is actually a fabrication by Anna.
There is difference between how Anna portrays Apelchasem and the Apelchasem
in historical account. In The Universal Dictionary of Biography and Mythology:
A-Clu (2009), Joseph Thomas explores the historical fate of Apelchasem, in his
finding Apelchasem “took Nicaea and advanced towards Constantinople, but was
repulsed by Taticius and put to death by the Shah of Persia.”169 Although in
Alexiad Anna also portrays how Apelchasem captures the city of Nicaea and
threatened Constantinople, the one who defeats Apelchasem is not Taticius but
her father Alexius. Furthermore, Anna narrates that her father is able to deceive
Apelchasem, which differs from most historical accounts. The historical
Apelchasem was actually executed by the Shah of Persia due to his failure, with
no mention that he was tricked by Alexius, because in historical fact, the opponent
of Apelchasem was not Alexius but Taticius.
To sum up, it can be stated that both narrators portray Darius and
Apelchasem based on the stereotypical depiction of barbarian kings. While the
narrators depict Alexander and Alexius as a model example of Greek nobility due
to their various Hellenic traits, the depiction of Darius and Apelchasem are based
on stereotypical construction of barbarian kings. The defining traits of both Darius
169 Thomas, Joseph. The Universal Dictionary of Biography and Mythology: A-Clu. (New York:
Cosino Classics, 2009) p. 231. PDF
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and Apelchasem are their stupidity and ignorance (amathia) and also their
hedonist lifestyle (habrotes). Their barbaric traits are considered by both narrators
as the proof for their inferiority compared to Alexander and Alexius. Although
Darius has numerical advantages compared to Alexander’s soldiers, the narrator
depicts Darius as an ignorant king who dismissed the threat faced by Alexander
and unwilling to face Alexander directly. The narrator of Alexander Romance
emphasizes that Darius possesses “innumerable troops”170, furthermore the
number of troops Darius has is compared with sand on the seashore.171
Similar with Darius, Apelchasem also depicted as an ignorant sultan who
is unable to grasp the real meaning of Alexius’ peace treaty. In both cases, Darius
and Apelchasem are defeated by the superior cunning and intelligence (xunesis) of
Alexander and Alexius. The depiction of Darius and Apelchasem is actually not
based on historical account. Several studies have debunked the depiction of
Darius and Apelchasem as stereotypical barbarian kings. This infers that the
portrayal of Darius and Apelchasem is not derived from historical fact but more
on the conception of barbarian kings in the Greeks’ perspective.
170 Callisthenes, Pseudo. p. 81. 171 Callisthenes, Pseudo. p. 112.
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CHAPTER IV
IDEOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ALEXANDER ROMANCE AND
ALEXIAD
On previous chapter, this thesis analyzes the similar ideology which still
persist between Alexander Romance and Alexiad, on how the narrators glorifies the
Greek heroes and stereotypically portrays their enemies as barbarian kings. After
analyzing the similarities of ideological perspective, this chapter analyzes the
differences of ideological paradigm between Alexander Romance and Alexiad. There
are two main emphases of this chapter. Firstly, the antiquity Greeks as illustrated in
Alexander Romance uses many prolepses, in term of prophecies and omen to
legitimize the nature of Alexander conquest. On the contrary, Byzantine Greeks as
illustrated by Anna shows hostility toward prolepsis, hence Anna does not use this
narrative device in Alexiad. Second difference is on the barbarians portrayed,
Alexander Romance primarily focuses on mythical barbarians such as centaurs, while
Alexiad gives more emphasis on Hellenized barbarians.
A. The Presence and Absence of Prolepsis
This section focuses on comparing how prominent prolepsis is in Alexander
Romance and how Anna as the narrator of Alexiad does not use this terminology
anymore. Firstly, this thesis explores the use of prolepsis in Alexander Romance to
justify and legitimize the conquest of Alexander. Secondly, this thesis argues that the
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discontinuation of prolepsis in Alexiad is caused by the different religious belief
practiced by Byzantine Greeks compared to the ancient Greeks during antiquity.
1. The Presence of Prolepsis and the Myth of Colonial Complicity in
Alexander Romance
The focus of this section is to highlight how the use of foreshadowing helps
the narrator to justify Alexander’s conquest against and the Egyptians. Several events
in Alexander Romance are narrated in form of prolepsis; in narratological terms,
prolepsis172 which includes omens, prophecy, and foreshadowing refers to an event
which will occur in the future. The use of prolepsis by the narrator is due to the
narrator’s status as an external focalizer; to quote Rimmon-Kenan, an external
focalizer has in his/her disposal all the temporal dimension of the story (past, present,
future).173 The external focalizer of Alexander Romance already has a prior
knowledge that Alexander’s conquest will be successful, and the use of prolepsis is to
justify Alexander’s territorial usurpation. There are two main prolepses depicted in
Alexander Romance, which will be further explained in the next segments.
The focus of this section mainly deals with how the use of prolepsis is used
by the narrator to justify the Greek colonialism of Egypt. The prolepsis takes place in
form of two prophecies. Firstly, Sarapeum prophecy emphasizes that Alexander is the
rightful ruler of Egypt. Second prophecy, Ammonian prophecy highlights that the
establishment of Greek city in Egypt such as Alexandria is based on a prophecy given
172 Rimmon-Kenan, Shlomith. Narrative Fiction, Contemporary Fiction. (London: Routledge Taylor
& Francis Group. 1983. Reprinted. 2005) p. 61 173 Rimmon-Kenan, Shlomith. p. 63
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by Ammon. These prolepses cause the Egyptians to be complicit in assisting the
Greek colonialism.
a. Prolepsis in Sarepeum Prophecy
Firstly, this thesis explores how the narrator includes the Serapeum’s
prophecy to assert that Alexander is the rightful king of the Egyptians. This prophecy
is connected with Alexander’s parentage. In Alexander Romance, Alexander’s father
is not Philip, King of Macedonia but Nectanebo, king of Egypt instead. The narrator
remarks,
many say that he (Alexander) was the son of King Philip, but they were
deceivers. This is untrue: he was not Philip’s son, but the wisest of the
Egyptians say that he was the son of Nectanebo, after the latter had fallen
from his royal state.174
In the beginning of Alexander Romance Egypt is threatened by invasion from the
numerous barbarian hordes. Nectanebo is portrayed to be unable in resisting the
invasion of the barbarian horde. Egypt is overrun by the horde, and Nectanebo has to
flee into Macedonia. In Pella, the Macedonian capital he impregnates Queen Olympia
by disguising himself as Ammon. Olympia later gives birth to Alexander.
The manner of Nectanebo’s escape from Egypt and the conception of
Alexander as Nectanebo’s son are recorded in the form of a prophecy or oracle. The
Sarapeum prophecy deals with the flight of the last king of Egypt, Nectanebo and his
eventual return, not as an old man but as a youth. Through embedded focalization of
174 Callisthenes, Pseudo. The Greek Alexander Romance. (London: Penguins Books, 1991) p. 46.
Trans. Richard Stonemann. PDF
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the Egyptian God Serapis, the narrator asserts that what will return to Egypt is not
Nectanebo but Alexander, his son. Here is how the oracle is depicted in the text:
Meanwhile, the Egyptians asked their so-called gods what has become of the
king of Egypt, since all of Egypt had been overrun by the barbarians. And the
self-styled god in the sanctuary of the Serapeum spoke an oracle to them:
“This king who has fled will return to Egypt not as an old man but as a youth,
and he will overcome our enemies the Persians.” The Egyptians wrote down
the oracle that had been given to them on the pedestal of the statue of
Nectanebo. (Callisthenes 48)
This prophecy is fulfilled by Alexander’s entry to the land of the Egyptians. The
narrator focalizes:
[w]hen he (Alexander) reached Memphis, the Egyptians put him on the throne
of Hephaestus as king of Egypt. In Memphis Alexander saw a very tall status
of black stone which was treated as holy. The statue was the statue of the last
king of Egypt, Nectanebo. On its base was this inscription: “This king who
has fled will return to Egypt, no longer an old man but a young one, and will
subject our enemies the Persians to us.” …. Alexander sprang up and
embraced the statue, saying: “This is my father, and I am his son.”
(Callisthenes 79-80)
Alexander Romance considers Alexander’s entry into Egypt in his Egyptian
Campaign as the fulfillment of the Serapeum oracle. As Alexander is the descendant
of Nectanebo, his victory against the barbarian and his liberation of Egypt is
considered to fulfill the Serapeum prophecy. The king of Egypt depicted in the
prophecy is not Nectanebo, but his young son Alexander, as seen in the words “no
longer an old man but a young one.” Hence, when Alexander and his troops reach
Egypt, the Egyptians are shown not to resist but instead welcome Alexander as their
savior. The quotation below illustrates the response of the Egyptians towards
Alexander’s subjugation of Egypt:
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The Macedonian soldiers and the captains close to the walls heard voices from
within which were acclaiming Alexander: “Long live King Alexander”, they
said…. The Egyptians began to beseech Alexander in submissive tones:”
Have mercy, your majesty, on your own country. Do not persist in your anger
towards your slaves…. Take your city, therefore, and do what seems proper to
you.” (Callisthenes 183-184)
Alexander’s status as the Prince of Egypt due to his descends from Nectanebo
as depicted in Alexander Romance justifies his invasion of Egypt. As an Egyptian
prince, the narrator considers that Egypt is Alexander’s birthright, he has the right to
capture it from the barbarian overlord. Hence, through embedded focalization of the
Egyptians, the narrator asserts that Egypt is Alexander’s “own country” based on his
inheritance from his father Nectanebo. As the Egyptians believe that Alexander is
their rightful ruler, the portrayal of the Egyptians in Alexander Romance focuses on
their subservient nature. They willingly accept being dominated by the Greeks, as
seen in the quotation,” do what seems proper to you.” Their colonial complicity is
highlighted by this remark, it indicates that the Egyptians are willing to be ruled,
colonized, and exploited by Alexander.
The narrator further emphasizes that Alexander is welcomed in Egypt not as a
conqueror but as a king who returns. Through the embedded focalization of the
Egyptians, the narrator focalizes:
the Egyptians were joyful because they had been liberated from oppression.
They did not lead Alexander as a conquering enemy but as a king, acclaiming
him and cheering and shouting, “Egypt rules again.” (Callisthenes 184)
The narrator asserts that Alexander is accepted as a rightful king due to his status as
Nectanebo’s heir. This is highlighted by the quotation,” Egypt rules again” which
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indicates that the Egyptians accept the reign of Alexander. Furthermore, the narrator
emphasizes that the Egyptians are joyful in accepting Alexander’s leadership, the
Egyptians cheer and acclaim Alexander as the new king of Egypt.
Although the narrator emphasizes Alexander’s descent from Nectanebo, the
last Egyptian king, Alexander is more Greek than Egyptian. The narrator puts
particular focus on Alexander’s paideia based on Alexander’s upbringing and
education in Greek custom. The narrator mentions that Alexander is taught by several
Greeks such as Polynices as his grammar teacher, Anaximenes as his teacher of
rhetoric, and Aristotle of Stageira as his philosophy teacher.175 Hence, even though
Alexander is half-Egyptian, he is more Greek than Egyptian, as emphasized by his
upbringing in Greek. Even more, Alexander’s arrival into Egypt is accompanied by
his Greek soldiers and settlers. Therefore, the quotation “Egypt rules again” is ironic,
as Egypt is now ruled by a Greek, Alexander and even after Alexander’s death Egypt
is still ruled by one of Alexander’s Greek general, Ptolemy who is appointed as satrap
(governor) of Egypt.176 It can be stated that the Egyptians are still not freed from
oppression, but they are once again being colonized. Previously they are ruled by the
barbarian, now they are ruled not by a native Egyptian, but a Greek. Further
highlights of the Greek’s authority as the colonizer of Egypt will be further explained
in the next section.
175 Callisthenes, Pseudo. p. 55 176 Callisthenes, Pseudo. p. 164
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The narrator’s ideological position as a Greek colonizer is reflected through
the narrator’s commentary toward Egypt. As a Greek colonizer, the narrator focuses
on the richness of Egypt due to its proximity to the Nile River. The narrator remarks
that, “Alexander made Egypt subject to him: a king is nothing if he does not have a
productive land.”177 The conquest of Egypt places the Greeks in control of a rich and
fertile land, which fits Alexander as a Greek king who should have “a productive
land”. Through the narrator’s focalization, Egypt is described as rich in wheat, a
fertile land with a river to nourish it and rich in men.178 The fertility of Egyptian soil
is then exploited for the benefits of the Greek colonizers. There is no shortage of
native men to work for the Greeks, as Egypt is described as “rich in men”.
Furthermore, Egypt is depicted as a model colony; the Egyptian natives do not
reject Greek colonialism but instead the Egyptians embrace and celebrate the Greek’s
domination which is illustrated by this quotation:
Alexander asks for funds, and they are made available; he needs gold, and its
taxes and rents are plentiful, he asks for soldiers, and they come forward with
enthusiasm.179
The narrator highlights the enthusiasm of the Egyptian natives toward the Greek
colonialism. The Egyptians are depicted to supply everything the Greeks wanted,
either money by taxes or becoming soldier in Alexander’s army. Therefore, the
quotation above illustrates the colonial complicity of the Egyptians. Not only they
177 Callisthenes, Pseudo. p.103 178 Callisthenes, Pseudo. p.103 179 Callisthenes, Pseudo. p.104
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provide Alexander with taxes, rents, and soldiers but they even do it “with
enthusiasm.”
b. Prolepsis in Ammonian Prophecy
After exploring how the prolepsis in the form of Serapeum oracle is used by
the narrator to state that Alexander is the rightful king of Egypt, this thesis explores
how Greek colonialism in Egypt is also fueled by religious drive in form of another
prolepsis. To assert the authority of the Greeks as the new colonizer of Egypt,
Alexander Romance depicts several founding of Greek cities. Perhaps the most
famous city established by Alexander in Egypt is Alexandria, which still exist in the
present day. The founding of Alexandria as Alexander’s new capital city is based on a
prophecy given by Ammon. The prophecy is depicted here:
O King, thus Phoebus of the ram’s horns says to you:
If you wish to bloom forever in the incorruptible youth,
Found the city in fame opposite the isle of Proteus
Where Aion Ploutonios himself is enthroned as king
He who from his five-peaked mountain rolls round the endless world.
(Callisthenes 73)
The prophecy above commands Alexander to found a city “opposite the isle
of Proteus.” The narrator believes that one of Alexander’s reasons to launch his
expedition into Egypt is to seek the isle of Proteus mentioned in the prophecy. The
narrator focalizes, “when Alexander received this oracle, he set about finding out
which island was that of Proteus, and who was the god who presided over it.180
Hence, it can be said that Alexander’s expedition to Egypt has the attitude of a
180 Callisthenes, Pseudo. p. 73.
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colonial explorer; Alexander is depicted to undertake an expedition into foreign and
exotic place, in this case “the isle of Proteus” and establishes Greek city there to
assert the Greek’s authority upon the Egyptians natives. Alexander’s quest to find the
isle of Proteus is based on divine commandment by a deity, Ammon. Hence, religion
in form of prophecy is used to justify Alexander’s venture into the land of the
Egyptians and the eventual colonization of Egypt. The narrator states that
Alexander’s establishment of Alexandria as a Greek city is legitimized, because
Alexander does it in order to fulfill a prophecy which commands him to “found a city
opposite the isle of Proteus.”
Alexandria is intended as the “dominating metropolitan center”181 replacing
Alexander’s former capital in Pella, Macedonia. Hence, the name of the city is
derived from Alexander’s own name. In this passage, the narrator describes the
founding of Alexandria:
Alexander ordered his architects to build a city on a scale they preferred. On
receiving these orders, they marked out a city extending in length from the
river Dracon opposite the promontory of Taphorision as far as the river
Agathodaimon. Then Alexander ordered all those who lived within 30 miles
of the city to leave their villages and move to the city; he presented them with
parcels of land and called them Alexandrians. The chief officials of the
boroughs were Eurylichios and Melanthos, which is how those districts got
their name. (Callisthenes 74)
The founding of Greek cities in Egypt, for example Alexandria shows the example of
Greek colonialism based on Said’s concept of colonialism. In Said’s words,
181 Said. Edward. Culture and Imperialism. (New York: Vintage Books, 1994) p. 9.
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colonialism is “the implanting of settlements on distant territories.”182 The Greeks
begin to assert their authority in Egypt by establishing new cities and settlements in
which the leading officers are Greeks. In the quotation above, we can see that the
chief officials of Alexandria are Greeks, Eurylichios and Melanthos instead of
Egyptians. It highlights that after the conquest of Alexander the Greeks have high
status in Egyptian society. Furthermore, the city of Alexandria is constructed based
on the cities in Greece, as the builders and engineers are all Greeks. Alexander took
advice also from other builders, including Numenius the stone-mason, Cleomenes of
Naucratis, the engineer, and Karteros of Olynthus.183 The involvement of many Greek
architects indicates that Alexandria is constructed in line with Greek cities in
mainland Greece.
Construction of a large metropolis such as Alexandria requires immense
wealth which the Greeks do not possess. In order to get the required fund to construct
Alexander’s capital, the Egyptians are demanded to pay tribute. The narrator focalizes
it as,
then Alexander demanded of them (the Egyptians) the tribute they had
formerly paid to Darius. “It is not so that I may transfer this to my own
treasure, “he said,” but so that I may spend it on your city of Alexandria
which lies before Egypt, and is the capital of the whole world.” At this the
Egyptians gladly gave him a great deal of money, and escorted him with great
pomp and honor out of the country via Pelusium. (Callisthenes 80)
182 Said, Edward. Culture and Imperialism p. 9 183 Callisthenes, Pseudo. p. 74
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The narrator once again emphasizes the submissive nature of the Egyptians. The
Egyptians are depicted as submissive and docile, they are willing to do anything
Alexander requires, in this case paying tribute to fund the construction of Alexandria.
This can be seen in the quotation above, “the Egyptians gladly gave Alexander a great
deal of money.” The narrator uses embedded focalization of Alexander to persuade
the Egyptians, by stating that the money is not for Alexander’s “own treasure” but it
is for the city of Alexandria “which lies before Egypt and is the capital of the whole
world.” Hence, by claiming that the tribute is for the benefits of the Egyptians,
Alexander is shown to be able to convince the Egyptians. This action of the
Egyptians, in which they gladly give Alexander a great deal of money again
emphasizes the colonial complicity of the Egyptians. They help establish the new
capital of the Greek Empire, Alexandria by their own money. Yet in truth, the tribute
is not for the Egyptian’s advantage, but is it intended more for the Greeks. Although
Alexandria in the Egypt, the leading officers and the ruling class are all Greeks
instead of Egyptian natives. The Egyptians are locked out from the upper reaches of
the society, which after Alexander’s conquest is now dominated by Greek citizens.
Even after Alexander’s death, Ptolemy as the satrap of Egypt established his own
Ptolemaic dynasty (305-50 BC).
To sum up, prolepsis is used by the narrator to justify Alexander’s conquest of
Egypt and also the beginning of the Greek colonialism in Egypt. The Serapeum
prophecy highlights Alexander’s claim to the throne of Egypt as the son of
Nectanebo, the exiled king of Egypt. As the Egyptians believed that they are ruled by
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the rightful king, they have no reason to rebel or resist. Secondly, the prophecy of
Ammon is used to legitimize the establishment of Alexandria as Alexander’s new
capital city. In other words, Greek colonialism in Egypt is fueled also by religious
drive, as Alexander builds his capital city Alexandria to fulfil an oracle given by
Ammon. The religious justification of the fulfillment of an oracle is used to validate
Greek colonialism in Egypt. The use of prolepsis, the Samonian and Ammonian
prophecy cause the Egyptians to be an eager and willing partner in the process of
Greek colonialism which highlights their colonial complicity.
2. The Absence of Prolepsis in Alexiad
After exploring how prominently prolepsis is used by the narrator of
Alexander Romance to justify Alexander’s territorial conquest, this thesis explores
the absence of prolepsis in Alexiad. Firstly, this thesis analyses this issue from
narratological standpoint, especially about the applicability of using prolepsis in
historical narrative such as Alexiad. The use of prolepsis is due to a narrator’s status
as an external focalizer; to quote Rimmon-Kenan, an external focalizer has in his/her
disposal all the temporal dimension of the story (past, present, future).184 As prolepsis
is in the form of foreshadowing of the future events, a narrator need to have
knowledge what will happen in the future to be able to accurate predict the
occurrences. Furthermore, as covered in theoretical review, Genette asserts that
several characteristics of fictional literature such as temporal arrangement of story
184 Rimmon-Kenan, Shlomith. Narrative Fiction, Contemporary Fiction p. 63
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can be found not only in fictional text but also in factual literature such as historical
narrative.185
Not different from the narrator in Alexander Romance, Anna is also an
external focalizer. She is able to narrate her story without any restriction, and even
able to give an illustration of her character’s inner thoughts, perceptions, and
motivations through embedded focalization. Furthermore, she narrates her father’s
campaigns from a bird-eye perspective, above the events. As she describes Alexius’
deeds after it already happened, she has full knowledge about reign of Alexius from
his ascension until his death. Hence, she is both an omniscient and omnipresent
narrator. This indicates that from a narratological standpoint, Anna’s status as an
external focalizer allows her to employ prolepsis, yet in Alexiad she does not use
prolepsis such as prophecies and dreams. The reason for the absence of prolepsis in
Alexiad is not caused by narratological restriction but most probably by the different
values between ancient Greeks and medieval Byzantine Greeks.
Previously, the prominent uses of prolepsis in Alexander Romance is mainly
based on the values of Greek society at that time. Ancient Greeks during antiquity
believe and worship many Gods and Goddesses. One God which features in
Alexander Romance is Ammon. Ammon directly orders Alexander to establish Greek
cities in Egypt to fulfill the Ammonian prophecy. This became the justification for
Greek colonialism in Egypt. According to the narrator, Alexander’s conquest and his
185 Genette, Gerard. Fictions and Dictions. p. 55-56
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colonization in Egypt is legitimized, because Alexander does it in order to fulfill a
prophecy given by Ammon.
Polytheism is discontinued during the time of Byzantine Greeks, as they are
now Christian, or to be more specific Orthodox Christian. This different religious
paradigm causes Anna to be skeptical toward the notion of prophecies. She claims
that there is actually nothing mythical or magical in prophecies, as prophecies is
actually based on astrological science:
Now these (astrologers) observe the hour of the birth of the persons about
whom they intend to prophesy, and fix the cardinal points and carefully note
the disposition of all the stars, in short they do everything that the inventor of
this science bequeathed to posterity and which those who trouble about such
trifles understand.186
She further illustrates that she indeed has some knowledge of astrology, but it is not
intended to cast prophecies and horoscopes but to identify the astrologers:
We, also, at one time dabbled a little in this science, not in order to cast
horoscopes (God forbid!), but by gaining a more accurate idea of this vain
study to be able to pass judgment upon its devotees. (Comnena 105)
In the above passage, it can be seen that through Anna’s focalization, the
Byzantine Greeks are hostile towards the notion of prophecy. This is mainly derived
from their Orthodox Christian belief. The hostility of Orthodoxy toward astrological
prophecies is summarized by Efthimios Nicolaidis is his book Science and Eastern
Orthodoxy: from the Greek Fathers to the Age of Globalization (2011):
This condemnation had been based on the doctrine of free will, which alone
could bring a person to sin or virtue, as well as the condemnation of the pagan
186 Comnena, Anna. The Alexiad. (London: Routledge, 1928. Reprinted. Ontario, In Parentheses
Publication, 2000) Trans. Elizabeth A.S Dawes. p. 105. PDF.
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idea that stars were divinities. The fatalism implied by astrological predictions
was unacceptable to Orthodoxy because it would annul humankind’s constant
struggle to lead a life according to God’s prescriptions.187
From Nicolaidis’ statement, it can be stated that the antagonism of Orthodoxy
towards prophecies is due to two factors, the doctrine of free will and also the
association with astrological reading with paganism. Quoting Philoponus, an
Alexandrian theologian who lived in the 5th century, Nicolaidis further states:
the practice of astrology is hated by God and is ruinous for the soul in that it
distances those who indulge in it from God and from the hope that we place in
Him, and prevents them from asking Him by their prayers and by a good life
what is suitable for them, on the pretext that nothing happens outside Destiny.
The stars can indeed serve as signs for meteorological predictions but not for
the lives of humans.188
The hostility of the Byzantine Greeks toward astrology is further explored by
Anna in Alexiad. Similar with what Philoponus’ addressed about how astrology
distances its users from God, Anna also believes that any venture to the realm of
astrology “tended to make people of a guileless nature reject their faith in God and
gape at the stars.”189 Furthermore she narrates that her father “wages war against the
teaching of astrology"190 which indicates how the studies of astrology is treated
hostilely in Byzantium. Anna focalizes that the one who still believe in prophecies are
the Egyptians, through her depiction of Alexandreus:
187 Nicolaidis, Efthimios. Science and Eastern Orthodoxy: from the Greek Fathers to the Age of
Globalization. (Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 2011) Trans. Susan Emanuel. p. 49.
PDF 188 Philophonus, Quoted in Nicolaidis, Ethimios. Science and Eastern Orthodoxy: from the Greek
Fathers to the Age of Globalization. p. 37. 189 Comnena, Anna. p. 117 190 Comnena, Anna. p. 117
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There was also a famous Egyptian, Alexandreus, who was a strong exponent
of the mysteries of astrology. He was consulted by many and used to give
most accurate forecasts in many cases, not even using the astrolabe, but made
his prophecies by a certain casting of dice. There was nothing magical about
that either, it was an art practiced by the Alexandrians (or by Alexandreus)
(Comnena 118)
While the Byzantine Greeks rejects astrological prophecies due to their
Orthodox Christian belief, the Egyptians are depicted to still practice prophecies, not
only by star forecasts but also by dice casting. This is shown by how Anna describes
not only Alexandreus who still believe in prophecies but also the Alexandrians.
Nicolaidis finds out that while astronomy was discontinued by the Byzantines, the
astrological practice flourished in the Muslim world, including Egypt.191 The
contrasting practice between the Byzantines and the Egyptians cause the Egyptians to
be labelled as Other due to their mysticism in using prophecies. In their book, The
Occult Science in Byzantium (2006) Paul Magdalino and Maria Mavroudi state that
the Byzantines consider the practice of astrological prophecy to indicate the alien,
suspect rites of oriental Other.192 In her opinion towards the Egyptians’ astrological
prophecies, Anna claims that the Ishmaelites still practice paganism, as they worship
“Astarte and Ashtaroth, the figure of the moon and the golden image of Chobar.”193
It can be seen therefore that Anna’s discontinuation of prolepsis in form of
prophecies is linked with the differing values between ancient Greeks and Byzantine
Greeks. While previously the paganism of ancient Greeks causes the narrator of
191 Nicolaidis, Ethimios. p. 49. 192 Magdalino, Paul and Maria Mavroudi. The Occult Science in Byzantium (Geneva: La Pomme d'or
Publishing, 2006) p. 12. PDF 193 Comnena, Anna. p. 177.
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Alexander Romance employ many prophecies to legitimize Alexander’s conquest, the
Orthodox Byzantines are hostile toward astrological prophecies due to their religious
doctrine. Furthermore, the practice of prophecies is associated with the oriental Other
such as the Egyptians. Anna considers the practice of the Egyptians, whom she
grouped together with other Ismaelites to indicate that they still worship pagan Gods
instead of one true God.
To conclude this subchapter, one difference in ideological perspective is
related with differing religious values between antiquity Greeks and medieval Greeks.
This difference is mainly seen in how the prophecies or in narratological term
prolepsis are used. In line with Nunning’s assertion that “narrative forms are socially
constructed”194, it can be seen that the presence of prolepsis in Alexander Romance
and the absence of prolepsis in Alexiad reflect the contrasting religious paradigm
between different time periods of Greek history. The ancient Greeks who still believe
in paganism employ prophecies to legitimize the conquest of Alexander. On the
contrary, the Byzantine Greeks as Orthodox Christian are skeptical towards the idea
of prophecy. Hence, prophecy or prolepsis are no longer featured as prominently in
Alexiad as in Alexander Romance.
B. Different Barbarians by Different Narrators’ Focalization
Secondly, this thesis examines the different barbarian groups depicted in both
Alexander Romance and Alexiad. The notable difference is that Alexander Romance
194 Nunning, Ansgar. “Surveying Contextualist and Cultural Narratologies: Toward an Outline of
Approaches, Concepts, and Potentials”. Narratology in the Age of Cross-Disciplinary Narrative
Research. (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2009) p. 64
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portrays several mythical creatures which inhibit barbarian vices, hence Hall
considers them as “supernatural barbarians.”195 On the other hand, Alexiad depicts
several examples of Hellenized barbarians whom Anna describes as semi-barbarians.
As Alexander Romance takes place in the beginning of Hellenistic Age, the main
emphasis is the conquest of Alexander, not just against the real barbarians but also
toward the mythical barbarians. On the contrary as Alexiad was written when the
Greeks already established their imperium, the focus is more on how the barbarians
are Hellenized.
1. Alexander Romance’s Depiction of Mythical Barbarians
In this section, the concern is to explore the representation of the non-human
creatures in Alexander Romance. As a romance, Alexander Romance takes place
“within an idealized, imaginative, and mythical setting”.196 Even though the basic
premise of Alexander Romance is Alexander’s conquests which are based on
historical fact, Alexander Romance also includes many fantastical and fictional
aspects. One of the interesting fictional elements in Alexander Romance is how
Alexander is depicted to meet various fantastical creatures. The non-human creatures
Alexander encountered is also depicted by the narrator as Other by their bestial
appearance and savage nature. Hall considers the half-human creature as
195 Hall, Edith. Inventing the Barbarian: Greek Self Definition through Tragedy (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1989) p. 70 196 Herman, David. Jahn, Manfred and Marie-Laure Ryan. Routledge Encyclopedia of Narrative
Theory. ((London: Routledge, 2005)p. 659.
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“supernatural barbarians”197, as even though they are fantastical and fictional account,
they also inhibit certain barbarian vices. This section highlights several example of
how the non-human creatures also represent the barbarian Other in the Greek’s
consciousness.
Several of the fictional people Alexander meets in his conquest are half-
human. Even though they resemble human, they also have body parts of animal;
hence they are half-human and half-animal. One of the half-human encountered by
Alexander is called the Ochlitae. The narrator emphasizes the savage (agriotes) and
bestial appearance of the Ochlitae. The Ochlitae are described to resemble lion but
with three eyes, they are six feet tall, dressed in lions’ skin and fight with the logs of a
tree.198 The narrator states that the Ochlitae dwell in caves instead of cities or villages
which highlight their lack of civilization.199 The Ochilitae are described as very
strong, because they have the physique of a lion and come close to overpower the
Greeks by beating them with logs. Although they have immense strength, they are
depicted as coward (deilia) who are afraid of fire; Alexander is able to defeat them by
igniting fire in the forest. Hence, the narrator highlights how the Greeks’ superiority
in intellect (xunesis) is able to overcome the savagery (agriotes) of the Ochiltae. The
narrator focalizes Alexander’s victory as:
we (the Greeks) fought them, but they struck us with logs and killed a good
many of us. Alexander was afraid that they might put the Greeks to flight, and
197 Hall, Edith. p. 70. 198 Callisthenes, Pseudo. p.126. 199 Callisthenes, Pseudo. p. 127.
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so he ordered fires to be lit in the forest. When these mighty men saw the fire,
they run away. But they had killed 180 of our soldiers. (Callisthenes 129)
Another half-human creature portrayed in Alexander Romance is the centaurs.
The centaurs are based on Greek mythology, they are human from waist above, but
they have the body of a horse below the waist. Here is how the narrator depicts them
in Alexander Romance:
Here, animal resembling men appeared, from their heads to their navels they
were like men, but below they were horses. They were a great number of
them, carrying bows in their hands; their arrows were not tipped with iron but
with a sharp stone. They were eager for battle…The horse-men gathered into
a mob and decided to charge on the Macedonians. (Callisthenes 135-136)
Similar with the Ochlitiae, the centaurs are also considered as Other. The narrator
emphasizes their numerousness, “a great number of them”, and also how the horse-
man “gathered into a mob.200” Hence, the tribe of centaurs are depicted as similar to a
barbarian horde, as both have numerous numbers.
Besides the numerousness of the centaurs, the centaurs are also characterized
by their bestial nature. While the Ochlitiae are considered as human who resembles
animal, the centaurs are believed to be animal that resembles human. They are more
similar to animal rather than to human. The narrator considers that the half-human
nature of the centaurs inhibits their reasoning,” just as their human part was
incomplete, so too were their reasoning powers.”201This aspect of the half-human is
emphasized by the narrator as proof of the inferiority of the centaurs compared to the
Greeks. The centaurs have lesser intellect as their human nature is distorted by their
200 Callisthenes, Pseudo. p. 136 201 Callisthenes, Pseudo. p. 135.
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bestiality. In his narration of the centaurs, the narrator highlights how the Greek’s
superior intelligence and wisdom (xunesis) prevails against the ignorance and
stupidity of barbarian (amathia) and also the barbarian’s lack of restraint (akolasia).
The defeat of the centaurs is due to how they recklessly charged into a trap which
Alexander has prepared. The narrator focalizes it as:
As beast, they were incapable of understanding the devilment of men. So they
charged regardless towards the camp, thinking that their opponents were on
the run, and plunged and tumbled straight into the ditch. (Callisthenes 135)
The strange physicality of the centaurs is looked by the narrator with
amazement. Through embedded focalization, the narrator voices how Alexander
intends to capture the centaurs as a trophy:
Alexander wanted to capture some of the centaurs and bring them back to our
world. He brought about fifty out of the ditch. They survived for twenty-two
days, but as he did not know what they feed on, they all died. (Callisthenes
136)
In the quotation above, Alexander is depicted to try to bring several centaurs back
into “our world”. The phrase “our world” mentioned in the quotation above is
Hellenistic world, which symbolizes civilization. The capturing of the centaurs
therefore symbolizes the victory of Greek civilization against the savage tribal society
of the centaurs. The Greeks are able to win due to their superiority in intellect
(xunesis).
Another illustration of the half-human in Alexander Romance is the men with
six hands and six feet. The narrator emphasizes the numerousness of these tribe of
men:
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From there they journeyed for ten days and found men with six hands and six
feet, countless in number and all naked, who seemed to gather together when
they see the size of the phalanx. (Callisthenes 190)
Similar to the Ochlitae before, this race of men is also depicted as coward (deilia)
who are afraid of fire. The narrator focalizes it as:
When Alexander saw them, he ordered fire to be lit and carried against them.
At once they all fled and hid in caves below the ground. The soldiers caught
one of the men, and he was a wonderful sight to see. They kept him with them
for one day’s journey, but because he had none of his fellows to accompany
him, suddenly he shivered, gave a great cry and expired. (Callisthenes 191)
Similar with how the centaurs are looked by the Greeks with amazement, the narrator
also considers that the six hands and six feet men are “a wonderful sight to see.” The
strangeness of this race of men also becomes a source of fascination for the Greeks.
The Greeks intend to capture and present this strange non-human as a trophy to
symbolize their conquest of the barbarian Other.
The portrayal of the various half-humans in Alexander Romance is influenced
by the ideological aspect of the narrator as a Greek. The Greeks perceive and consider
that the world outside Greece is populated by savage barbarian. This conception is
strengthened further by their contact and conflicts with the non-Greek ethnicities such
as the Persians and the Egyptians whom the Greeks consider as Other. Hence, the
fictional account of the half-human creature in Alexander Romance is influenced also
by how the Greeks perceive the non-Greek as Other. Hall notes that “the barbarian
was to be assimilated to the mythical archetype of the stereotypical barbarian.”202 In
other words, several of the barbarian vices are used in the portrayal of mythical
202 Hall, Edith. p. 66.
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barbarians such as the Ochlitae and the centaurs. The half human creature such as the
Ochlitiae and the centaurs depicted similar to the real barbarian; even though both
have bestial strength, they are ignorant (amathia) and outsmarted by the superior
intelligence (xunesis) of the Greeks. Furthermore, the half-human is depicted as either
bestial in nature due to their animal side such as the centaurs and the Ochlitate, or as a
deformed and abnormal race of human. How Alexander and the Greeks are depicted
to defeat and capture the non-human highlight the superiority of Greek culture
compared to the half human Other. Bill Ashcroft et all in Post-Colonial Studies: The
Key Concepts Second Edition (2000) emphasize that “exotics in the metropoles were
a significant part of imperial display of power.”203 By how Alexander is described to
capture several mythical barbarians and tried to bring them back to the Hellenistic
world, the Greeks assert their authority among the mythical barbarians.
2. Alexiad’s Depiction of Semi-Barbarians
While Alexander Romance gives special emphasis on the mythical barbarians,
Alexiad focuses more on the Hellenized barbarian. As Alexander Romance covers the
beginning of Hellenistic Age, it does not explore much about the Hellenized
barbarian. On the contrary, in Byzantine society there exist a certain class which
consist of Hellenized barbarian. In Alexiad, Anna names the Hellenized barbarian as
semi-barbarian. Semi-barbarian or in original Greek mixobarbaroi refers to someone
who is not a Greek by birth, but they become Greek due to their acquisition of Greek
203 Ashcroft, Bill. Griffiths, Gareth and Helen Tiffin. Post-Colonial Studies: The Key Concepts Second
Edition. (New York: Routledge, 2000) p. 88. PDF
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culture and custom (paideia). Similar point is also addressed by Tarn, but he uses
different term, culture-Greeks instead. In Tarn’s opinion, culture-Greeks refers to
Greeks by adoption, who speaks and thinks in ways overly identical to those of their
political masters.204 It can be stated therefore that Anna’s terminology is more
derogative, as she emphasizes the barbarianism of the semi-barbarian, while the term
culture-Greeks focuses on their Hellenic aspect. Further sections will explore more
about how Anna portrays the semi-barbarian in Alexiad, she asserts that the semi-
barbarian still possess certain barbaric traits which undermine their Hellenic aspect.
a. Depiction of the Varangians
One example of semi-barbarian depicted in Alexiad is called the Varangians.
The Varangians are a group of people from Scandinavia who migrates to Byzantium
and become the Emperor’s personal retinues. Anna mentions that the Varangians are
“axe-bearing barbarians who comes from Thule (Scandinavia)”.205 The Varangians
are chosen as the Emperor’s personal guards due to their physique; as a barbarian, the
Varangians are noted to possess immense strength. Anna explores how the
Varangians carry “double-edged heavy axes on their shoulders”206, which highlights
the strength of the Varangians in how they use such heavy weapon for battle.
In her depiction of the Varangians, Anna emphasizes the loyalty of the
Varangians. The Varangians are noted to be loyal and do not have any rebellious
thought to overthrow the Emperor. Through her focalization, Anna states:
204 Tarn, W. W. Hellenistic Civilization. (London, World Pub. Co, 1961) p. 35. PDF 205 Comnena, Anna. p. 46. 206 Comnena, Anna. p. 46.
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The Varangians, being indigenous, naturally cherished a great affection for
the Emperor and would sooner lose their lives than be persuaded to adopt any
treachery against him. The Varangians, who carried their axes on their
shoulders, regarded their loyalty to the Emperors and their protection of the
imperial persons as a pledge and ancestral tradition, handed down from father
to son, which they keep inviolate and will certainly not listen to even the
slightest word about treachery. (Comnena 46)
The aforementioned quotation shows the loyalty of the Varangians. They are noted to
“will certainly not listen to even the slightest word about treachery”, it illustrates their
faithful devotion to the Emperor. Furthermore, another interesting aspect is how
Anna states that the Varangians are “indigenous” or a citizen of the Empire. The
Varangians are already accepted as a full member of the Greek community, a citizen
of the imperium. This fact is further highlighted by how the protection of the imperial
royalty is “ancestral tradition, handed down from father to son”. The Varangians can
be said to have been reside in Byzantium for many generations, as the tradition of
guarding the Emperor is inherited from generation into generation. Hence, Anna
emphasizes the Varangians’ Hellenic aspect or “Greekness”, as they already adopt
Greek paideia for generations.
Even though the Varangians have been Hellenized for many years, their
barbarian flaw is still able to manifest, especially their lack of self-restrain (akolasia).
This issue is illustrated in Alexius’ battle against Robert in the battle of Dyrrachium
(1081). Anna remarks how the cause of her father’s defeat against Robert is not due
to his wrong strategy or his insufficient valor but she blames it into the indiscipline of
the Varangians. In the middle of the conflict, the Varangians forget the discipline and
the orderly march of battle and instead they ignorantly charged far ahead, forgetting
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the rest of the Byzantine troops who are still behind. Anna focalizes the reckless
charge of the Varangians as:
Meanwhile the axe-bearing barbarians and their leader Nabites had in their
ignorance and in their ardour of battle advanced too quickly and were now a
long way from the Roman lines, burning to engage battle with the equally
brave Franks, for of a truth these barbarians are no less mad in battle than the
Franks, and not a bit inferior to them. (Comnena 78)
The ignorance of the Varangians proved costly to Alexius. The Varangians’ lack of
self-restrain (akolasia) cause themselves to be tired already when they encounter the
Frankish troops, they are defeated and wiped out by the Franks. In her focalization,
Anna narrates:
The barbarians having been previously wearied out, proved themselves
inferior to the Franks, and thus the whole corps fell; a few escaped and took
refuge in the chapel of Michael, the “Captain of the Host,” as many as could
crowded into the chapel itself, and the rest climbed on to the roof, being likely
in this way, they imagined, to ensure their safety. But the Latins started a fire
and burnt them down, chapel and all. (Comnena 36)
In the above passages, the Varangians are depicted to forget their Hellenic
aspect and instead they embrace their barbarian characteristic. In their “ardour of
battle”, they once again inhibit the flaw of barbarian, which is their lack of self-
restrain. They ignorantly charge into the Norman lines without any support from the
rest of Alexius’ troops. Their rash action turns out fatal for the Byzantines which lead
to their defeat against the Normans. Through embedded focalization, Anna voices
how Alexius “condemned his own leaders for great negligence.”207 In Anna’s
perspective, Alexius’ defeat against Robert is due to the negligence of certain
207 Comnena, Anna. p. 83.
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elements of his army, mainly the Varangians. This proved that even though the
Varangians have been Hellenized for years, their barbarian nature is still able to take
control which make them less reliable than full Greeks. Greeks are expected to have
self-restrain and emotional control (sophrosune), while the Varangians who are only
half-Greeks still fall victim to their barbarian flaw, lack of self-restrain (akolasia).
b. Depiction of Italus
Lastly, this thesis explores another portrayal of semi-barbarian in the
depiction of Italus. As his name implies, Italus is not ethnically Greek but he comes
from Sicily in Italy. Anna narrates Italus’ origin and his venture to Constantinople as:
Now this Italus (for it is necessary to give his history from the beginning),
was a native of Italy and had spent a considerable time in Sicily; this is an
island situated near Italy…. When the famous George Maniaces during the
reign of Monomachus mastered and subdued Sicily, the father of Italus which
his child only escaped with difficulty and betook themselves in their flight to
Lombardy which was still under the Romans. From there (I do not know how)
this Italus came to Constantinople, which was not ill supplied with teachers of
every subject and of the art of language. (Comnena 94)
Italus’ status as a semi-barbarian is particularly interesting to explore here
because Anna illustrates Italus’ acquisition of Greek paideia. As a Western European,
the depiction of Italus highlights how Anna as a Greek consider the West also as
barbarian. During his time in Constantinople, Italus is depicted to learn Greek culture,
custom, and education. Through her focalization, Anna asserts that Italus has never
been able to fully grasp the full extent of Greek paideia. She especially mocks Italus’
weakness in pronunciation and grammar, she believes that Italus lacks grace in his
speech and writing:
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He stumbled over grammar and had never tasted the nectar of rhetoric.
Consequently, his language was not adaptable nor at all polished. For the
same reason, too, his character was austere and entirely unadorned with
grace…. His pronunciation was such as you would expect of a Latin who had
come to our country as a young man and learnt Greek thorough fully but was
not quite clear in his articulation, for he mutilated his syllables here and there.
This want of clearness in his utterance and his dropping the last letters did not
escape even ordinary people and made rhetoricians call him “rustic” in his
speech. (Comnena 95-96)
Through her focalization, Anna summarizes Italus’ various faults, which lies in his
weaknesses in grammar, uneducated in rhetoric and also his garbled and unclear
pronunciation. This is contrasted with Anna’s own education; Anna proudly asserts
that she is “not unpracticed”208 in rhetoric which implies that she learns rhetoric
during her education. In contrary, Anna narrates how Italus “had never tasted the
nectar of rhetoric”, which causes his language to be unpolished and “without grace.”
In Anna’s perspective, Italus’ inability to fully grasp and learn Greek is
caused by his inherent nature as barbarian. Anna states that,
Italus, then, became this man (Michael Psellus)’s disciple, but he was never
able to plumb the depths of philosophy for he was of such as boorish and
barbarous disposition that he could not endure teachers even when learning
from them. He was full of daring and barbarous rebelliousness and even
before learning a thing, imagined he surpassed everybody else and from the
very start he entered the lists against Psellus himself. (Comnena 94)
Anna asserts that Italus possesses “boorish and barbarous disposition” and also
“barbarous rebelliousness”. Anna states that as a Latin barbarian, Italus’ wild and
uncivilized nature causes him to be unable fully learn Greek paideia and be
considered as Full-Greeks. She claims that the uncultured nature of the Latins causes
208 Comnena, Anna. p. 4.
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them to be unable to grasp the sophisticated culture of the Greeks, as illustrated in the
example of Italus. Furthermore, Anna explores Italus’ arrogance through embedded
focalization; she describes how Italus arrogantly perceives himself to be already
superior to his teacher even “before learning a thing”. Anna further addresses how
Italus “could not endure teachers” and even imagined that he already “surpassed
everybody else”. Hence, Italus is depicted to be unwilling to learn Greek paideia
through fully because in Italus’ perspective, he already surpasses his Greek teachers.
Anna further addresses another flaw of Italus, his temper and wildness
(agriotes). Italus’ savage nature is emphasized by how Anna focalizes that Italus even
uses physical violence, such as punching during a debate. She narrates it as:
In other ways he was most unrefined, and subject to violent temper; and this
fierce temper annulled and obliterated the credit he gained from his learning.
For in arguments, this man used fists as well as words and he did not allow his
interlocutor simply to lose himself in embarrassing nor was he satisfied with
sewing up his opponent’s mouth and condemning him to silence, but
forthwith his hand flew out to tear his beard and hair, and insult quickly
followed insult, in fact the man could not be restrained in the use of his hands
and tongue. (Comnena 95)
Anna emphasizes Italus’ violent attitude by how he is depicted to use physical
violence during a debate, “by fists as well as words.” The use of physical violence
such as punching during a debate is condemned by Anna as a barbarian habit,
civilized Greeks should eloquently use language to create an argument rather than use
physicality. She concludes that Italus still act as a barbarian through his behavior.
To summarize, another different ideological perspectives is the type of
barbarians depicted. As the emphasis of Alexander Romance is on Alexander’s
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conquest, the narrator depicts Alexander to not only conquer real barbarians but also
mythical barbarians such as the centaurs and the Ochlitiae. The depiction of mythical
barbarians in Alexander Romance are based on the portrayal of the Persians
barbarians who are ignorant (amathia) and cowardly (deilia). They are defeated by
the superior cunning and intelligence (xunesis) of Alexander as a Greek. On the other
hand, Alexiad focuses more on how the barbarians are Hellenized through their
adoption of Hellenic culture and custom (paideia). Through Anna’s narration, it can
be noted that the Byzantines still consider the semi barbarians as more barbarian than
Greeks. Anna emphasizes how the semi barbarians still possess various barbarian
flaws. One example is how Italus as a Latin barbarian is unable to fully embrace
Hellenism because of his boorish and uncultured nature. Furthermore, Italus still
embrace his wild nature (agriotes) in his use of physical violence during a debate,
which is not how a civilized Greek should behave.
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CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
Based on the analysis, this thesis argues that both Alexander Romance and
Alexiad reflect the colonial ideology of the Greeks. Similar with how the modern
colonizers proclaim their superiority to the natives through literature, Alexander
Romance and Alexiad also conceptualize the supremacy of Hellenic culture compared
to the barbarian. The emphasis of the thesis is to compare and contrast two Greek
texts from different era, hence this thesis formulates it into two questions:
1. How do Alexander Romance and Alexiad depict the similarities of ideology
between ancient Greek and Byzantine Greek?
2. How do Alexander Romance and Alexiad depict the differences of ideology
between ancient Greek and Byzantine Greek?
Through the aforementioned questions, the analysis focuses on analyzing the
similarities and differences of ideological conception. The third chapter examines the
similarities of colonial ideology, while the fourth chapter gives emphasis in the
differences of ideology.
The analysis is conducted through postcolonial narratology as the framework.
Postcolonial narrative analysis focuses on analyzing how several narrative devices in
the texts actually reflect the ideological positioning of the narrators as Greek
colonizers. The method of analysis is textual analysis, focusing on analyzing several
narrative devices through postcolonial lens. Several theories used, both on the
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narratological aspect and postcolonialism have been reviewed on the second chapter.
This thesis uses several narratological devices such as focalization, embedded
focalization, prolepsis, and also pause to argue that these devices actually reflect the
ideological positioning of both narrators. Several postcolonial terminologies such as
colonialism, the Other, and also colonial complicity highlight how the Greeks place
themselves in a more privileged position compared to the barbarian and how the
Egyptians are also complicit in the process of colonialism.
In the succeeding paragraphs, this thesis reviews the analysis in the third and
fourth chapter. The recount of the analysis is divided into three main parts. Firstly,
this thesis explores the nature of both focalizers in Alexander Romance and Alexiad
as the narrator of Alexander Romance employs “we” focalization, while on the
contrary Anna as the narrator in Alexiad uses “I” focalization. Secondly, this thesis
reviews the similarities of colonial ideology, and lastly the emphasis is on the
differences of ideological positioning.
Analyzed from narratological perspective, although both narrators are
external focalizers they narrate the story in a different way. Firstly, the narrator of
Alexander Romance uses “we” focalization, the narrator claims to represent the
communal voice of the Greeks. Although historically Callisthenes was the one who
recorded Alexander’s campaign, he was executed before the end of Alexander’s
Indian Campaign. As the person who completed Alexander Romance remained
unknown, it is attributed to Pseudo-Callisthenes instead. The use of “we” focalization
makes it is hard to correctly attribute the narration of Alexander Romance to a
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specific person, as the narrator does not emphasize a personal subjective voice but
instead the narrator claims to represent the Greeks as a whole.
On the contrary, as Anna wrote a historiography, from narratological
perspective she is both the author and the narrator of Alexiad. She uses “I”
focalization, different from the narrator of Alexander Romance. This is mainly
highlighted in her usage of pause, where she pauses her narration to remark on a
particular issue. Her subjectivity mainly manifests in her usage of pause, as it is
mainly related with her personal opinion. Even though both the narrator of Alexander
Romance and Anna narrate the story in a different way, both narrators proclaim the
superiority of the Greeks through Alexander and Alexius’ achievement in warfare.
They consider that Alexander and Alexius’ success in war is the proof for the
superiority of the Greeks. Through focalization and embedded focalization, both
narrators portray Alexander and Alexius positively as agathos, while their opponents
are considered as their inferior, due to their status as barbarian kings.
After reviewing the narratological status of both narrator focalizers, this thesis
recounts the similarities of ideological positioning. The similar ideology is mainly
related with the glorification of Alexander and Alexius as model Greek (agathos)
which the narrators consider as the proof for the superiority of the Greeks. Alexander
and Alexius are depicted to be successful conquerors due to their possession of
several Hellenic virtues, mainly intelligence (xunesis) and bravery (andreia) which
make them prevail against their enemies. On the other hands, their enemies, Darius
and Apelchasem are portrayed stereotypically as barbarian kings, which are ignorant
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(amathia) and cowardly (deilia). The depictions are actually not factual
representation, as it is countered by several historical accounts of both Darius and
Apelchasem. While this thesis still does not find the rewriting of Darius and
Apelchasem which place them as the figure of resistance, it is possible that
postcolonial rewriting of Darius and Apelchasem exist.
Although there is similarity of ideology between Alexander Romance and
Alexiad, there is also difference in ideological perspective. One difference is on the
different religious paradigm between Greeks during the time of Alexander and the
medieval Greeks as depicted in Alexiad. The narrator of Alexander Romance employs
prolepsis in form of prophecies and dreams to legitimize the conquest of Alexander.
The narrator considers that Alexander’s conquest of Egypt is justified because
Ammon orders Alexander to establish a city opposite the isle of Proteus which lies in
Egypt. On the contrary, Anna as a Byzantine Greek is hostile toward the idea of
prophecy. She claims that prophecy causes people to lessen their faith towards God
and instead practicing astrology to predict their fate. During the era of Byzantium,
prophecies is considered as superstitious and mythical rites, practiced by the Egyptian
Other. Not only it is forbidden by Orthodox Christian doctrine, Anna also does not
herself to be associated with the mythical rites of the Egyptians, whom she believed
to still practice paganism.
Second differing ideological perspective is the type of barbarian portrayed.
Alexander Romance portrays an idealized account of Alexander’s conquest. The
narrator of Alexander Romance focuses more on Alexander’s subjugation of
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barbarians, not only towards real barbarians but also mythical barbarians. Several
mythical barbarians in Alexander Romance represent the barbarian Other in the
Greek’s consciousness. The Ochiltae and the centaurs are marked by their bestiality
and savagery (agriotes), stupidity (amathia) and also cowardice (deilia). Their bestial
aspect, different physical appearance is looked by the Greeks with curiosity and
amazement. The Greeks are depicted to capture several beasts, which symbolizes
their conquest to the savage Other.
Different with Alexander Romance, Alexiad explores more on the issue of
Hellenized barbarian (mixobarbaroi) in Alexiad. As this text was written when the
Greeks already established their imperium, the focus is more on how the barbarians
are Hellenized. Through Anna’s focalization, how the Byzantine Greeks perceive the
Hellenized barbarian can be seen. Anna believes that the Hellenized barbarians are
still by nature inferior to the Greeks. Although they have been Hellenized by Greek
paideia, they still inhibit several barbarian vices, mainly lack of self-restraint
(akolasia) and also wild and uncultured nature (agriotes). These flaws cause the
Byzantine Greeks to consider the semi-barbarians more as barbarian rather than
Greeks.
As concluding remarks, this thesis states the limitation of this research and
suggestion for future researchers. The limitation of this thesis is that it only focuses
on Greek colonial ideology through the binary opposition between Greeks and
barbarians. As the focus is on the binarism, this thesis does not analyze the
ambivalent relationship between the Greeks and the natives. In the analysis, this
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thesis focuses only on how the Egyptians are complicit in Greek colonialism, without
considering the resistance towards Greek occupation. Regarding the issue of
resistance, Darius and Apelchasem can be read as figure of resistance against the
foreign domination of the Greeks.
Lastly, this thesis concludes that postcolonial narratology is able to probe the
ideological implication behind literature. Furthermore, postcolonial narratology can
also be applied in other texts. While this thesis focuses more on ancient and medieval
colonialism, the analysis on textual narrative structure can be used to analyze subtler
neo colonialism of modern era. Although direct colonialism has largely ended,
colonialism still continue through economic exploitation of the former colonies. An
analysis on the narrative form and structure can help probe the subtler colonialism in
the contemporary world.
As a suggestion for future researchers, it is hoped that this study can be
enhanced by a contrapuntal reading of text, as stated by Ashcroft et al, contrapuntal
reading focuses on revealing the deep implication of texts in imperialism and colonial
process.209 Furthermore, Said addresses that these type of reading should not only
focus on the process of colonialism and the complicity of the colonized, but also the
resistance of the colonized.210 As previously illustrated, the resistance against Greek
colonialism is a possible avenue for future scholars.
209 Ashcroft, Bill. Griffiths, Gareth and Helen Tiffin. Post-Colonial Studies: The Key Concepts Second
Edition. ((New York: Routledge, 2000) p. 49 210 Said, Edward. Culture and Imperialism. (New York: Vintage Books, 1994) p. 66-67.
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APPENDICES
APPENDIX 1: SUMMARY OF ALEXANDER ROMANCE
Nectanebo, the last pharaoh of Egypt is defeated by the barbarians and he
escaped into Pella, Macedonia. In there he impregnates Queen Olympias, who
later gives birth to Alexander. Alexander grows up, educated by Aristotle. After
his father is assassinated, he ascends to the Macedonian throne and embarks on a
Pan Hellenic expedition to conquer Persian Empire, ruled by Darius. Alexander
first marches into Egypt, where an oracle of god Ammon gives him instructions
where to found the city that will be named Alexandria. Alexander is received as
the descendant of Nectanebo and the heir of Egypt.
Resuming his campaign against Darius, he crosses the Euphrates river and
camps outside the Persian capital of Babylon. Alexander uses various tricks to
demoralize the Persians and visits the Persian court in disguise. In a vicious battle,
Darius is defeated and he flees into his Eastern provinces, He is killed by one of
his satraps (governor) who is dissatisfied with him. By Darius’ death, Alexander
claims the throne of the Persian Empire.
In his further expedition, Alexander ventures into India and encounters
king Porus. After he defeats Porus, he journeys towards the strange regions of the
East. He is described to meet strange beasts and encounters exotic lands. After his
expedition, he returns to his new capital in Babylon where he is assassinated by
his cupbearer Lolaus.
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APPENDIX 2: SUMMARY OF ALEXIAD
Alexius Komnenos, Emperor of Byzantine Empire has been campaigning
since he was fourteen years old. During his services in several emperors he
defeats many enemies and receiving much fame. Through a coup d’état, Alexius
usurps the throne from Nicephorus Botaniates. Upon ascending to the throne, he
finds that the empire is threatened in all directions. The Turks of the East are
grievously harassing the frontiers, they even reached the outside of
Constantinople itself. After Alexius managed to stabilize the situation,
immediately he is called to counter another invasion, this time from the Normans
in the West lead by Robert of Apulia. Although Alexius is unable to defeat Robert
directly, after the death of Robert the Normans is able to be driven back.
Another opponent threatens the security of the empire, this time the
nomadic Scythians (Pechenegs) from the North. The battles are hard fought and
ranging several years, yet eventually Alexius managed to defeat and enslave the
remaining Scythians. Although Alexius is a skillful general, the Byzantines are
outnumbered by the Turks and unable to venture deeper into Anatolia (modern
Turkey). He asks the Western European for military assistance, which nowadays
is known as the Crusade. Through the help from the Crusaders, Alexius is able to
regain control of much of Anatolia. Even until his old age, Alexius keeps on
campaigning in the East. He died of illness, after his return from an eastern
expedition.
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