Only the Good Die Young. The Day of Alexander’s Death in the Alexander Romance

Abstract

In Ps.-Callisth. III 35 we read that the day of Alexander’s death was named νεομάγα / νεομέγα / νεομαχία /νεομηνία (depending on the mss.) «because Alexander died young»: the word, whatever the original is, makes no sense for this explanation. This article suggests that there is an Egyptian word (and word play) under this expression, confirming the idea of an Egyptian origin of the text.