ALEXANDRIA. 339 
nature of the conditory, with the tradition men- ^vn^' 
tioned by Leo Africanus, and preserved among ^ ' % ■' " * 
the Moslems to the hour of its removal ' : a spe- 
cies of evidence which may fairly be deemed 
internal ; because it is impossible that a set of 
ignorant barbarians could be aware that the 
object of their veneration was, in fact, that par- 
ticular kind of coffin, which Herodian, speaking 
of the Tomb of Alexander, has designated by the 
term Soros ; still less that the same Soros, in- 
scribed with the sacred writing of the priests, is 
(3) The Arabs retain both the name and the aera of Alexander in 
their calendars; calling him, always, ^jjliljj bicornis; and 
Golius explains the true cause of this appellation, " Arahes eum 
Bicornem vocant, non tam ob partum Orientis et Occidentis impe- 
rium, quam a cornutd Alcxandri effigie, nummis exhiUtd, ut Jovis 
Ammonis filius agnosceretur." {Vid. Annot. in lib. ii. Sulpit. Sever, 
c, 25, p. 343. Edit. Horn. L. Bat. 1654.) The image of Alexander, 
so expressed, appears upon the medals of Li/simachus, and was com- 
mon to many States after his death, although it is always falsely 
considered as the head of some other person. His image also appears 
very commonly covered with the spoils of a lion; when it is impro- 
perly considered as a young Hercules: sometimes, also, it is seen armed 
with a helmet, and then it is confounded with the figures oi Minerva. 
Le Brun has been censured and ridiculed for introducing what has 
been called a head of Minerva, upon the figure of Alexander, in his 
celebrated paintings of his battles ; whereas it is, in all probability, 
a genuine portrait of that hero. Alexander is thus alluded to in the 
Tailor's Story before the Sultan of Casgar, in the Arabian Tales. 
" Sir," said he, *' you will be pleased to know that this day is Friday, 
tlte IRlh of the month Saffar, in the year 653 from the retreat of 
our grea,t Prophet from Mecca to Medina, and in the year 7390 of 
THE ErOCHA or THB GREAT ISKENDER WITH TWO HOHS»." 
Z2 
