6 myths
Myths, legends, and mystical writings about Alexander from across Jewish tradition.
6 myths on JewishMythology.com retell how Jewish tradition imagines alexander, drawn from the Hebrew Bible, Midrash, Talmud, Kabbalah, and later Jewish literature. Each story below synthesizes primary sources into a single narrative; follow any myth to read it, and from there into the source passages behind it.
Alexander followed a fragrant stream to the end of the earth, reached the gate of Eden, and was turned away with a bone and a riddle.
He had silenced the earth, lifted his heart, and taken the ends of the world. Then he fell into bed in Babylon and gave everything away.
Cyrus rebuilds the Temple with five things missing; Alexander bows to a priest; Rome signs a treaty with Judah Maccabee. Three empires, one people.
Alexander marched toward Jerusalem with orders to destroy the Temple, then saw the High Priest coming out and remembered a face from a dream.
Jewish legend makes Alexander bow before Jerusalem, ride hungry eagles toward the sky, then sink in a glass box with no bottom to find.
Judas Maccabee counted his enemies and chose the one empire that had crushed every other kingdom. He was betting Judea could survive among giants.
