Introduction

This study looks at the literary tradition surrounding Alexander III (356-323 BCE), best known as Alexander the Great, in Late Antiquity. I examine conceptions of gender and public identities and how these conceptions are constructed by the reuse of the image of Alexander as an exemplary man in Late Antiquity. My sources contain texts representing various literary genres composed especially during the fourth and fifth centuries CE. In this volume of collected papers, this study sheds light on the continuity and change of constructions of manliness and public identities within the Roman Empire.

Only a few historical figures – if any – have provoked as much interest and fascination as Alexander has. Richard Stoneman aptly writes that ‘Alexander's name has continued to resound through the centuries’. Alexander's figure as an exemplary man had an important legacy in both the Hellenistic world and in the Early Roman Empire where Latin Romans and Greek Romans wrote about his reign and personality. The cultural phenomenon of imitatio Alexandri was a common tool in Roman literature. Notable Roman statesmen and emperors identified themselves with Alexander.