Nizāmī’s Cosmographic Vision and Alexander in Search of the Fountain of Life

This article takes as its starting point one of the highlights of the Alexander Romance’s multi-lingual tradition – the Persian Eskandarname by Nezami-e Ganjevi, end of 12th century –, focusing on one of the most famous episodes of the saga: Alexander’s expedition into the Land of Darkness in search of the Fountain of Life. A thorough comparative analysis across Greek, Latin, Syriac, Hebrew, Arabic, and Persian texts enables us to pinpoint the precise geographical location of this land in ancient and medieval cosmographic culture. This corrects the generally accepted view of an unknown land, sometimes subterranean and infernal; it shows that it was, instead, a representation of the little explored Northern regions of Europe and West Asia, with their specific climactic features, often dangerous for the earliest adventurous sailors and explorers. Nezami’s account, together with a series of other Arabic and Persian narratives belonging to the Stories of the Prophets genre, also provide a valuable strand for a cosmographic interpretation of the literary myth of the Fountain of Life itself.