Alexandreis

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Alexandreis, sive Gesta Alexandri Magni (The Alexandreid, or The Deeds of Alexander the Great) is a medieval Latin epic poem by Walter of Châtillon, a 12th-century French writer and theologian. The poem was popular and influential in Walter's own times, even being translated into Icelandic prose as the Alexanderssaga; Matthew of Vendôme and Alan of Lille borrowed from it and Henry of Settimello imitated it, but it is now seldom read. One line is sometimes quoted:

Incidit in Scyllam qui vult vitare Charybdim (Wanting to avoid Charybdis, he runs into Scylla.)

[edit] Bibliography

• F. J. E. Raby, A History of Secular Latin Poetry in the Middle Ages (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1934. ISBN 0198143257) vol. 2 pp. 72-80.
• J. Blänsdorf, Einführung in Walther von Châtillon, Alexandreis ( http://www.jblaensdorf-mainz.homepage.t-online.de/Walther__Alexandr_/walther__alexandr_.html )

[edit] External links

• Latin text of the Alexandreis at the Bibliotheca Augustana