Alexander and the Septuagint

by Kilian SC · November 23, 2016

John Lee, Johannesburg- How often do we see admired personalities of the past peering out at us from the pages of history, almost “beckoning to us” to know them better.

Such for me is the personality of Alexander of Macedon, son of Philip and Olympias, known to the world as Alexander the Great, who lived from 356 to 323BC. He left no heir to carry on his dynasty. He married the princess Roxana and later made Darius’ daughter his second wife. The only son, a possible heir, died young.

As a demonstration of his greatness, when Alexander was begged by the daughter of Darius to have pity on the lives of the royal household and herself after defeating the Persians, the 20-year-old Alexander bowed down before her and said: “You are indeed a queen. You and your family shall stay with me in the royal palace in freedom.”

When this great king conquered a nation, he would instruct his soldiers to marry among the women of the conquered, a thing unknown before, and learn as many of their customs as possible.

Near the river Hydaspes, Alexander fought his greatest battle against the Indian rajah, Pours, but was forced to return to Babylon where he died at age 33, conquerer of the then-known world, of what is thought to have been malarial fever and a life of dissipation.

When Alexander was addressed by the Jewish priests after conquering Jerusalem, he was told his name is mentioned in the Great Testimony of the Hebrew God (the Old Testament) in the Book of Daniel.

As a result, Alexander ordered the translation of our Old Testament scriptures into Greek (the Septuagint), which is the language in which Jesus and those of his time studied the sacred scriptures and is an official canonised version of the Old Testament used by the Catholic Church.

We cannot deny the profound effect Alexander had on history, civilisation and even Catholic Christianity.