#OnThisDay #Alexander the Great was born in 356BC. His story, popular especially in Persian, is told in this thread on Add Ms 18804, a Shahnama from Northern India dated 1719. Here (f 97r) Iskandar/Alexander pursues the Persian emperor Dara/Darius III across the Euphrates

2.Alexander is the crowned figure with a halo to show his special status. Dara is off-stage. Note the curly waves, so typical of painting of this period

The battle over, Iskandar cradles the dying Dara (who by the way is his half-brother). This recalls scenes of the hero Rustam and the death of his son Suhrab earlier on in Firdawsi’s epic (f 99v)

Here (f.101r): Dara’s funeral procession, the execution of his traitorous murderers (another story) and featured centre stage, Alexander’s bearded tutor, the philosopher Aristotle holding a book