ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 discusses how early Christian writers adopted historical non-Christian exempla to serve their rhetorical aims and ideological goals. It shows that the different uses of Alexander were part of their self-identification, as the Christians created a coherent image of themselves and portrayed ‘pagans’ as the other. The first subchapter examines Christian texts that employed criticisms of the traditional philosophy and religion by referring to stories about Alexander’s divinity or religiosity. The second subchapter shows how the Christian texts on asceticism gave new meanings to Alexander’s legendary meetings with Diogenes and the Indian philosophers in the monastic discourse. The third subchapter discusses the debate on the alleged status of Jews and early Christians as the people of Almighty God from the perspective of Alexander’s legendary visit to Jerusalem and the various interpretations made of it. The next subchapter shows that Alexander’s reign and career in the context of the Book of Daniel was used by the Christian writers as an illustration of the historical accuracy of Daniel’s prophecies, and hence of the power of God. The last subchapter demonstrates how the life of the Macedonian king could be presented as a warning example of unjust kingship and could serve to emphasize the importance of Christian deeds and living in fear of the true God. Historical exempla were part of the ideological battle between the Christians and their opponents, who represented traditional culture and religion.
