Editing Alexander the Great (section)

===In legend===
{{Main|Alexander the Great in legend}}
[[File:Alexander romance. Armenian illuminated manuscript of XIV century (Venice, San Lazzaro, 424) (1).jpg|thumb|right|upright|Alexander in a 14th-century Armenian manuscript]]

Many of the legends about Alexander derive from his own lifetime, probably encouraged by Alexander himself.{{sfn|Roisman|Worthington|2010|p=187}} His court historian Callisthenes portrayed the sea in [[Cilicia]] as drawing back from him in proskynesis. Writing shortly after Alexander's death, [[Onesicritus]] invented a tryst between Alexander and [[Thalestris]], queen of the mythical [[Amazons]]. He reportedly read this passage to his patron King [[Lysimachus]], who had been one of Alexander's generals and who quipped, "I wonder where I was at the time."<ref name="PA46" />

In the first centuries after Alexander's death, probably in Alexandria, a quantity of the legendary material coalesced into a text known as the ''[[Alexander Romance]]'', later falsely ascribed to Callisthenes and therefore known as ''Pseudo-Callisthenes''. This text underwent over one hundred recensions, translations, and derivations throughout the Islamic and European worlds in premodern times,<ref>{{harvnb|Stoneman|1996|loc=''passim''}}</ref> containing many dubious stories,{{sfn|Roisman|Worthington|2010|p=187}} and was translated into twenty-five languages,{{sfn|Roisman|Worthington|2010|p=117}} for example [[Middle Persian]], [[Syriac language|Syriac]] and [[Arabic]].<ref>{{harvnb|Darvishi|2022|loc=''117–152''}}</ref><ref name="auto"/>