Then, there is another branch where a trace of "anchiton" is found. That is the legend of "Alexander's Gate".
There are some books dedicated to the history of this quite famous legend, but, to my knowledge, the most comprehensive one is by Andrew Runni Anderson, 1932, called "Alexander's Gate, Gog and Magog, and the Inclosed Nations". Its print-on-demand edition is available at Amazon for an affordable price of some ten USD, for those who are interested. This book is the continuation of an earlier paper by Anderson, 1928, called "Alexander at the Caspian Gates", which I still haven't chance of examining. What I describe below is mostly based on Anderson's book, so I omit references to Anderson for brevity.
The brief story of the legend is this.
There was the term "Caspian Gates" used by classical geographers and Pliny. It was applied to passes between Media and Parthia south-east to modern Teheran. (This term was used without implying that Alexander built any gate there).
From the times of Nero onward, some authors like Tacitus, Suetonius, Josephus (Flavius) and others, begin to use the term "Caspian Gates" applied quite to another pass - namely the pass of Dariel in the central Caucasus. This is the point on the Russian-Georgian border, and the so-called Georgian Military Road passes through it. It is said (not by Anderson) that as early as late BC, or at least in the 1st c. AD there existed a real gate built by some local king. And these references to the "Caspian Gates" began to state or imply that Alexander built a gate there.
Somewhere around 1200-1300, however, the site of Alexander's gate shifted, in the representation of historians, to yet another pass - the pass of Derbend. Fortifications were built there in 6th century AD - by local kings as well, but the memory thereof did somehow vanish with time, and the fortification began to be associated with Alexander. Derbend (now in Russia) still boasts these ancient fortifications.
It was Anderson who restored the "true" location of the Alexander's gate to the pass of Dariel. I place the word "true" in quotes, because the real Alexander has never been there.
(I will continue in a while).
There are some books dedicated to the history of this quite famous legend, but, to my knowledge, the most comprehensive one is by Andrew Runni Anderson, 1932, called "Alexander's Gate, Gog and Magog, and the Inclosed Nations". Its print-on-demand edition is available at Amazon for an affordable price of some ten USD, for those who are interested. This book is the continuation of an earlier paper by Anderson, 1928, called "Alexander at the Caspian Gates", which I still haven't chance of examining. What I describe below is mostly based on Anderson's book, so I omit references to Anderson for brevity.
The brief story of the legend is this.
There was the term "Caspian Gates" used by classical geographers and Pliny. It was applied to passes between Media and Parthia south-east to modern Teheran. (This term was used without implying that Alexander built any gate there).
From the times of Nero onward, some authors like Tacitus, Suetonius, Josephus (Flavius) and others, begin to use the term "Caspian Gates" applied quite to another pass - namely the pass of Dariel in the central Caucasus. This is the point on the Russian-Georgian border, and the so-called Georgian Military Road passes through it. It is said (not by Anderson) that as early as late BC, or at least in the 1st c. AD there existed a real gate built by some local king. And these references to the "Caspian Gates" began to state or imply that Alexander built a gate there.
Somewhere around 1200-1300, however, the site of Alexander's gate shifted, in the representation of historians, to yet another pass - the pass of Derbend. Fortifications were built there in 6th century AD - by local kings as well, but the memory thereof did somehow vanish with time, and the fortification began to be associated with Alexander. Derbend (now in Russia) still boasts these ancient fortifications.
It was Anderson who restored the "true" location of the Alexander's gate to the pass of Dariel. I place the word "true" in quotes, because the real Alexander has never been there.
(I will continue in a while).