Kebra Nagast

Kebra Nagast — Budge — Section 7

A thousand years later a story arose in Egypt to the effect that Alexander the Great was the son of the god Amen of Egypt, and Alexander’s councillors promptly took advantage of it to forward the fortunes of their lord. If, they argued, Alexander is the son of Amen, he is the lawful king of Egypt, and the Egyptians must acknowledge him as their king. But it was necessary for their purpose that Amen should acknowledge Alex¬ ander as his son, and they therefore took him to the Oasis of Siwah in the Libyan Desert, and presented him to the god Amen of Libya. The god admitted that Alexander was his son, the priesthood of Amen accepted the declaration of their god, the Egyptians believed that the holy blood of Amen flowed in Alexander’s veins, and as a result he became the king of the South and the North, and Governor of the Domain of Horus without striking a blow. The native novelists and story-tellers, e.g. the Pseudo Callisthenes, declared that when Nectanebus II, the last native king of Egypt, fled from Egypt he went to Macedon, where he established him¬ self as a magician. Here he became acquainted with Queen Olympias, who wished to find out from him if 1 Trans. Soc. Bibl. Arch vol. vii, plate facing p. 119, 11. 3 and 4 (ed. Naville). Xll Preface her husband, Philip, intended to put her away. An intimacy sprang up between Nectanebus and Olympias, and he appeared to the queen one night in the form of the god Amen of Libya, arrayed in all the attributes of the god, and begot Alexander the Great. Tradition transferred the horns of Amen to Alexander, and ancient Arab writers call Alexander “ Dhu’l-Karnen,” i.e. “ provided with two horns,” a title that translates exactly one of the titles of Amen, “ Sept abui ”