Overview
For my Omeka exhibit, I decided to focus on imagery related to the episode in book 10 of Walter of Chatillon’s “Alexandreis”. In the Chatillon text, Nature and the Leviathan have a meeting to discuss how to deal with Alexander (Chatillon 10.91-197). He has become hubristic, and a threat to both Heaven and hell; Nature warns Leviathan that after Alexander makes it up the river to Paradise and conquers it, he will next turn to Hell. In Chatillon’s passage, Nature and Leviathan decide, along with a council of demons, to poison Alexander.
The images in my exhibit that best correspond to this particular passage are the demonic feast from the “Ambrosiana Bible” (1), the relief from Santa Maria la Mayor (2), and the illustration “Belial Standing before the Inferno Having a Conference with Devils” (3). These images all illustrate medieval ideas of what a demonic council would entail; often it seemed to require many smaller demons sitting in Leviathan’s mouth.
Leviathan himself is described by Chatillon as being serpentine or draconic, a portrayal that is reflected in the aforementioned images. Upon meeting with Nature, he shape shifts into a less clear form:
“When from afar he saw the goddess and quit his furnace, coming forth to meet her. Lest he should terrify her, serpent’s guise he laid aside. He took up once again that first appearance which creating Nature had given him.” (Chatillon, 10.83-86)
The new form Leviathan takes is not described. Portrayals of Leviathan seem to typically give him a serpentine shape. For this reason I used several images of dragons in my exhibit. Illustrating the difference between Eastern and Western imaginings of dragons, I used a Turkish illumination of the “Dragon of Tannin Island” (4) and a illumination from a manuscript of “Alexandreis”, which depicts a dragon in the lower margin of the text (5). Neither of these illustrations are specific portrayals of Leviathan, but they provide examples of how dragons existed in medieval thought.
Nature and Leviathan are presented by Chatillon as being mother and son (Chatillon 10.86). To illustrate this relationship, as well as the importance of familial relationships to Alexander myth more generally, I used an illumination from the “Bamberg Apocalypse'' (6). In Revelations 12:1-6 an anonymous woman and dragon each play roles in the apocalypse. The woman will have a son, who will be stolen by the dragon and his demons, and then the woman will ally with the angels to reclaim her son. This familial relationship between a woman and a dragon seems likely to have influenced Chatillon’s portrayal of Nature and Leviathan.
Alexander’s relationship with Heaven and Hell varies across his mythos. In pagan tradition he is a demigod, son of Zeus-Ammon. Because of this it is difficult to accuse him of hubris- he cannot be against or defiant of the gods if he is of them. Nevertheless, his mortal death was an undeniable part of his history. Later writers would still bring divine intervention into Alexander’s life, but through punishment instead of as an equal in a war against Heaven and Hell. I used the painting “The Last Judgement” (7) as another illustration of how Hell was pictured, The painting depicts Hell as seen in Dante’s “Inferno”. Alexander appears in the “Inferno” as one of the souls being punished in Hell (Inferno, 12.107). He is being punished alongside other ‘tyrants’, doomed to be forever boiled alive in blood and tears.
Chatillon’s predestined demise of Alexander is not unique to “Alexandreis”. in Ulrich von Eschenbach’s account, rather than Nature allying with Leviathan and demons, Leviathan brings his concerns about Alexander to God. He tells God that once Alexander conquers Hell, he is going to conquer Heaven as well. Following this God befriends Alexander, offering him guidance until He and Leviathan eventually poison him (8). In the “Libro de Alexandre”, God decides that Alexander needs to die for his hubris before he can invade Heaven. He tells Nature that she is right to plan Alexander’s death, as his ambition has become too great (9).
The presence of Leviathan in Alexander myth seems to indicate an interpretation of him as a proto-Christ figure; it is not that Hell cannot be harrowed, but it is not supposed to be done by Alexander. Rather than being rewarded for his conquests, as medieval thought progressed he would be punished for them. From being poisoned by Leviathan’s demons to being boiled in Hell, he was no longer the infallible victor, but a victim of divine judgement like all other mortals.
1) "Ambrosiana Bible: ms. B 32 INF, fol. 136: Messianic Banquet". 1236-1238. Artstor, library-artstor-org.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/asset/ARTSTOR_103_41822003086368
2) "Santa Maria la Mayor in Toro, Interior detail". mid 12th - mid 13th c., Image: ca. 1987. Artstor, library-artstor-org.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/asset/AWMONUMENTSIG_10313272679
3) Anonymous Artists. "Belial Standing before the Inferno Having a Conference with Devils, Consolatio Peccatorum Seo Processus Belial". Published 14 February 1473. Artstor, library-artstor-org.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/asset/BARTSCH_660027
4) Muhammad ibn Muhammad Shakir Ruzmah-'i Nathani. "Zakariya ibn Muhammad Qazwini: Dragon of Tannin Island and Horned Rabit, Leaf from Turkish Version of the Wonders of Creation. Tercüme-yi 'Aca'ib ül-mahlukat. 1121 AH/AD 1717 (Ottoman)". Artstor, library-artstor-org.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/asset/AWALTERSIG_10313536856
5) "Illumination in Alexandreis, margin, lower, fol. 30v, Detail. second half 14c". Artstor, library-artstor-org.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/asset/PRINCETON_MANUSCRIPTS_1031320380
6) "Apocalypse (Bamberg Apocalypse), fol 29v .. ca. 1000-1020". Artstor, library-artstor-org.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/asset/AWSS35953_35953_31691649
7) Lochner, Stephan, ca. 1410-1451. "Last Judgment: det.: Inferno. 1435-40". Artstor, library-artstor-org.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/asset/ARTSTOR_103_41822000664530
8) Cary, George. “The Medieval Alexander”. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1967. P. 178
9) Ibid, p. 179
Sources not numbered
Walter, “The Alexandreis of Walter of Chatillon”.Translated by David Townsend. University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1997.
Alighieri, Dante. “Inferno”. Translated by Robin Kirkpatrick. Penguin Books, New York, 2013.
“Bible”. New Revised Standard Version. Collins Publishers, London, 1989.