ABSTRACT
Most scholars who have worked on Digenes Akrites have taken it for granted that the poem was influenced by the Life of Alexander. The view I set out below conflicts with this communis opinio of akritic scholarship. I shall contend that the similarities which have been pointed out are superficial only, at the level of common topoi, while at no point are the common elements between Digenes Akrites and the Life ofA/exandersuch as to warrant the supposition that Digenes represents a 'transformation' of Alexander the Great, as he appears in PseudoCallisthenes and his Byzantine successors.
