Alexander III of Macedon is more commonly known as Alexander the Great justly. The tales of his success during his many military campaigns truly belong in legends. In the mere 32 years of his life, his rule spread from one corner of the world to another. It is no surprise that he was dubbed as the “Two-horned One” throughout the legends.
Archaeological evidence has been found that depicts Alexander as a man with two horns on various coins from different times. Perhaps he was bestowed upon the title of the Two-horned One when he conquered Egypt in 332 B.C., and the native priests received him as a descendant of Ammon Ra, the god of the sun. It has been narrated that Alexander became convinced of his divine ancestry and demanded his subjects to deify him. Other legends take the two horns symbolically, where the two horns represent Alexander’s might from East to West.
One of the most interesting comparisons linked to Alexander the Great is Dhul-Qarnayn, who is mentioned in the Quran. In Arabic, the word literally translates to a “two-horned man”. As per numismatic evidence, the ancient coins that were unearthed of Alexander the Great with two horns are used by many to support their hypothesis of the sure link between the king and the Arabic epithet of Dhul-Qarnayn.
Grounds of the Hypothesis
The Muslim scholars who lean towards the hypothesis that Alexander the III is the one mentioned in Quran do it based on a few similarities between the life and achievements of the king and the Quranic verses which mention Dhul-Qarnayn.
Gates of Alexander and Gog & Magog
One of the legends of Alexander III of Macedon is that he was responsible for the construction of the Caspian Gates or Gates of Alexander in the Caucasus. The tale goes that Alexander had the gates built to keep out the barbarians of the north who often came down and plundered the south. Many traditions line up the barbarians with Gog & Magog. The mention of Gog & Magog is found in Christian Bible, Hebrew Bible, and Quran. As it goes, the holy books maintain different narratives regarding Gog & Magog and refer to them as one person, a group of people, or land.
A Christian legend is often mentioned in this context inscribed in Syria before the age of Islam. It tells of a letter that Alexander wrote to his mother, and the content corresponds to the story of Dhul-Qarnayn.
“I petitioned the exalted Deity, and he heard my prayer. And the exalted Deity commanded the two mountains and they moved and approached each other to a distance of twelve ells, and there I made … copper gates 12 ells broad, and 60 ells high, and smeared them over within and without with copper … so that neither fire nor iron, nor any other means should be able to loosen the copper; … Within these gates, I made another construction of stones … And having done this I finished the construction by putting mixed tin and lead over the stones, and smearing …. over the whole, so that no one might be able to do anything against the gates. I called them the Caspian Gates. Twenty and two Kings did I shut up therein.”
In Quran, it is a nation of people called Yajuj & Majuj. The holy book narrates that Dhul-Qarnayn, on his travel to the ends of the world, came across a people who were not well-versed in any language but told him of Yajuj & Majuj:
“O Zul-qarnain! the Gog and Magog (people) do great mischief on earth: shall we then render thee tribute in order that thou mightest erect a barrier between us and them?”
Dhul-Qarnayn is narrated to have taken pity on them and built a great barrier between the two groups. He erected a mighty wall of iron that brought peace through the lands but warned the group that Yajuj & Majuj will finally overcome it during the apocalypse.
Scholars argue that the gates built by Alexander and the people of Gog & Magog are the same as mentioned in the Quranic verses about Dhul-Qarnayn, who made a wall to keep out the barbaric nation of Yajuj & Majuj.
Vastness of Land Travelled
As previously mentioned, Alexander the Great traveled and conquered lands far and wide. He had a powerful empire that was laid out from Greece to northwestern India. The conqueror was said to have his heart set on traveling to the ends of the Earth, and the desire was instilled by his teacher, Aristotle.
In Quran, the mention of Dhul-Qarnayn travels can be found. The verses talk about how he traveled to places where the sun rises and sets. Ibn Kathir, a historian, and scholar made a note of the Quranic verse that talks about Dhul-Qarnayn during his commentary on the Holy book:
“(Until, when he reached the setting place of the sun,) means, he followed a route until he reached the furthest point that could be reached in the direction of the sun’s setting, which is the west of the Earth. As for the idea of his reaching the place in the sky where the sun sets, this is something impossible, and the tales told by storytellers that he traveled so far to the west that the sun set behind him are not true at all. Most of these stories come from the myths of the People of the Book [Jews and Christians] and the fabrications and lies of their heretics.”
Alexander’s Travels Through the Subcontinent
It is a well-documented fact that Alexander, following his dream to conquer land till “the ends of the Earth”, marched through the region (present-day Pakistan) and conquered the lands up till Gandhara. The army’s threat of mutiny foiled the king’s plans to continue his conquest of Asia. The mutiny came after years of conquests, the deaths of thousands of soldiers, and dreadful battle conditions.
The time Alexander and his army spent conquering the region of Gandhara, present-day areas of Northern Pakistan, has led to many legends. Apart from leaving remnants of war and several cities founded and renamed, Alexander’s army has left behind something far more precious, their descendants.
The People of Kalash
Every soul who has encountered these people has immediately spotted them as different from the rest of Pakistanis. The fair skin, blond hair, and blue eyes are just the physical attributes that mark them apart, but there is much more. The Kalasha are polytheists when it comes to religion and one of the few groups who held onto the religion of their ancestors despite the Taliban’s forceful Islamization of the region.
The claim that the race is descended from the army of Alexander the Great comes from many sources. Some of the contributing factors that further the myth are the army’s route, religion, physical features, Rudyard Kipling’s The Man Who Would Be King, and more.
Professor Noorul Amin, a member of the Pashto Department at the Islamic College University, explained,
“While some long believed them to be in some way linked to the Greeks who arrived in South Asia with Alexander the Great, there is little in the way of concrete evidence to support that suggestion… Even so, the Kalasha themselves have come to believe that they descended from one General Shalakshah of Alexander’s army.” He further noted, “The fair skin and blue eyes of the Kalasha people has resulted in a popular assumption that they were of Greek origin, specifically the descendants of Alexander the Great’s soldiers who followed him on his campaign to India. The hypothesis that the Kalasha people were originally Greek has also been promoted officially in Pakistan.“
