Death in Babylon : Alexander the Great and Iberian Empire in the Muslim Orient

Though Alexander the Great lived more than seventeen centuries before the onset of Iberian expansion into Muslim Africa and Asia, he loomed large in the literature of late medieval and early modern Portugal and Spain. Exploring little-studied chronicles, chivalric romances, novels, travelogues, and crypto-Muslim texts, Vincent Barletta shows that the story of Alexander not only sowed the seeds of Iberian empire but foreshadowed the decline of Portuguese and Spanish influence in the centuries to come. __Death in Babylon__ depicts Alexander as a complex symbol of Western domination, immortality, dissolution, heroism, villainy, and death. But Barletta also shows that texts ostensibly celebrating the conqueror were haunted by failure. Examining literary and historical works in Aljamiado, Castilian, Catalan, Greek, Latin, and Portuguese, __Death in Babylon__ develops a view of empire and modernity informed by the ethical metaphysics of French phenomenologist Emmanuel Levinas. A novel contribution to the literature of empire building, __Death in Babylon__ provides a frame for the deep mortal anxiety that has infused and given shape to the spread of imperial Europe from its very beginning.

Though Alexander the Great lived more than seventeen centuries before the onset of Iberian expansion into Muslim Africa and Asia, he loomed large in the literature of late medieval and early modern Portugal and Spain. Exploring little-studied chronicles, chivalric romances, novels, travelogues, and crypto-Muslim texts, Vincent Barletta shows that the story of Alexander not only sowed the seeds of Iberian empire but foreshadowed the decline of Portuguese and Spanish influence in the centuries to come.

Death in Babylon depicts Alexander as a complex symbol of Western domination, immortality, dissolution, heroism, villainy, and death. But Barletta also shows that texts ostensibly celebrating the conqueror were haunted by failure. Examining literary and historical works in Aljamiado, Castilian, Catalan, Greek, Latin, and Portuguese, Death in Babylon develops a view of empire and modernity informed by the ethical metaphysics of French phenomenologist Emmanuel Levinas. A novel contribution to the literature of empire building, Death in Babylon provides a frame for the deep mortal anxiety that has infused and given shape to the spread of imperial Europe from its very beginning.

Though Alexander the Great lived more than seventeen centuries before the onset of Iberian expansion into Muslim Africa and Asia, he loomed large in the literature of late medieval and early modern Portugal and Spain. Exploring little-studied chronicles, chivalric romances, novels, travelogues, and crypto-Muslim texts, this book shows that the story of Alexander not only sowed the seeds of Iberian empire but foreshadowed the decline of Portuguese and Spanish influence in the centuries to come. It depicts Alexander as a complex symbol of Western domination, immortality, dissolution, heroism, villainy, and death, but also shows that texts ostensibly celebrating the conqueror were haunted by failure. Examining literary and historical works in Aljamiado, Castilian, Catalan, Greek, Latin, and Portuguese, the book develops a view of empire and modernity informed by the ethical metaphysics of French phenomenologist Emmanuel Levinas Cover 1 Death in Babylon : Alexander the Great & Iberian empire in the Muslim Orient 4 contents 8 preface 10 acknowledgments 16 1 death and the other An Introduction 18 2 the stinking corpse Alexander, the Greeks, and the Romans 50 3 oblivion Iberian Empire in the Maghreb 96 4 immortality The Promise of Asia 134 5 judgment The Aljamiado Alexander 176 6 conclusions 214 notes 220 References 252 Index 266 Though Alexander the Great lived more than 17 centuries before the onset of Iberian expansion into Muslim Africa and Asia, he loomed large in the literature of late medieval and early modern Portugal and Spain. This title shows that the story of Alexander sowed the seeds of Iberian empire and foreshadowed the decline of Spanish influence. Examining literary and historical works in Aljamiado, Castilian Catalan, Greek, Latin, and Portuguese, this book develops a view of empire and modernity informed by the ethical metaphysics of French phenomenologist Emmanuel Levinas