The 10th-century
Suda makes no attempt to list his works, asserting that he composed books "beyond number." Alexander's most important treatise consisted of forty-two books of historical and geographical accounts of nearly all the countries of the ancient world. These included five books
On Rome, the
Aigyptiaca (at least three books),
On Bithynia,
On the Euxine Sea,
On Illyria,
Indica and a
Chaldæan History. Another notable work is about the Jews: this reproduces in paraphrase relevant excerpts from Jewish writers, of whom nothing otherwise would be known (see below). As a philosopher, Alexander wrote
Successions of Philosophers, mentioned several times by
Diogenes Laërtius in his
Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers. None of Alexander's works survive as such: only quotations and paraphrases are to be found, largely in the works of Diogenes Laertius.
Eusebius extracted a large portion in his
Chaldean Chronicle. One of Alexander's students was
Gaius Julius Hyginus, Latin author, scholar and friend of
Ovid, who was appointed by
Augustus to be superintendent of the Palatine library. From what Laërtius describes or paraphrases in his work, Alexander recorded various thoughts on contradictions, fate, life, soul and its parts, perfect figures, and different curiosities, such as advice not to eat beans.
Upon the Jews Louis Ginzberg wrote of Alexander's work: “Although these excerpts reveal their author as nothing but a compiler without taste or judgment, and bereft of all literary ability, they possess, even in their meagerness, a certain value.” In his compilation Jewish and non-Jewish sources are cited indiscriminately side by side; and to Alexander, therefore, the world is indebted for information on the oldest Jewish,
Hellenic, and Samaritan elaboration of
Biblical history in prose or poetry. The epic poet
Philo, the tragic writer
Ezekiel, the historian
Eupolemus, the chronicler
Demetrius, the so-called
Artapanus, the historian
Aristeas, and
Theodotus the Samaritan, as well as an unnamed fellow countryman of the latter often confused with Eupolemus, the
rhetorician
Apollonius Molon (an anti-Jewish writer)—all of these authors are known to posterity only through extracts from their works which Alexander embodied verbatim in his. Of some interest for the ancient history of the Jews is his account of
Assyria-
Babylonia, frequently drawn upon by Jewish and Christian authors; in it extracts are given, especially from
Berossus, and also from the
Chronicles of Apollodoros and the
Third Book of the Sibyllines. Josephus made use of the work, and likewise Eusebius in his
Chronicles. Probably only Alexander's account of the
Flood is taken from Berossus, who is confirmed by the newest Assyrian discoveries, while his account of the
Confusion of Tongues is probably of
Jewish-Hellenic origin. Another work of his seems to have contained considerable information concerning the Jews. What Eusebius quotes would seem to have been taken from this work, which is no longer extant, except indirectly through Josephus. It may be noted that Alexander twice mentions the
Bible, which, however, he knew only superficially, as appears from his curious statement that the
Law of the Jews was given to them by a woman named
Moso, and that
Judea received its name from
Judah and
Idumea, children of
Semiramis. The text of the fragments preserved is in very unsatisfactory shape, owing to insufficient collation of the manuscripts. How much of his originals Alexander himself omitted is difficult to say, in view of the corrupt state of the text of Eusebius, where most of his fragments are to be found.
Abydenus—the
Christian editor of Alexander's works—evidently had a different text before him from that which Eusebius possessed. Text of the fragments is to be found in Eusebius,
Praeparatio Evangelica, ix. 17;
Clemens Alexandrinus,
Stromata i. 21, 130, and
Müller,
Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, iii. 211–230; prose extracts, from a new collation of the manuscripts, in Freudenthal, “Alexander Polyhistor,” pp. 219–236. ==Notes==