Alexander Versus Gog-Magog

My new chapter covers the conflation of the Hebrew myth of Gog-Magog with the Hellenistic legend of the Iron Gate. This is another step in writing a large unit, In the Shade of the Iron Gate. In this particular episode, I explain the motives of those who transformed the unpleasant experience of "barbarian" strikes into the sinister outbreak of monstrous forces on the eve of the Last Battle between the sons of light and the bastards of darkness.
Here is an excerpt:

"When medieval intellectuals discovered the enormous literary and ideological potential of conflating the Biblical myth of Gog-Magog with the Hellenistic legend of the Iron Gates, the romantic tale turned into a theological saga. The setting matched the everlasting conflict between the Christian realm of goodwill and learning versus the apocalyptic anti-world of evil and ignorance.

                The barrier sustains the line of demarcation between the opposite camps and facilitates the authoritarian control over the enclosed territory. “Historia Augusta” is a Late Latin collection of biographies describing the lives and deeds of the Roman rulers. In one of its profiles, an anonymous author praises Emperor Hadrian for putting up a rampart on the westernmost state border as an example of a sovereign who grasped the urgency of segregation between the law-abiding subjects and the illegal immigrants:  "the first to build a wall from sea to sea... to separate the barbarians from the Romans." (1)

                The wall features not only a brick-and-mortar boundary between the people of the sown and the nomads but also a wedge between the adepts of a certain faith and unbelievers. Ibn-Arabi, the philosopher of the Islamic Golden Age, commends the Possessor of Two Horns-the Koranic version of Alexander-for making “a barrier between those of God’s servants who obey him and those who disobey.” (2)

The master of the mountain pass, who functioned as Alexander’s governor, played a leading role in geopolitical games. The sad truth was that the defile recently shifted from the Christian to the Muslim sway. Confirming this, Michael Syrian makes a transit from hearsay tales to actual history: “In earlier times the kings of the peoples of the Orient were said to have guarded these gates, but at present, they are in the hands of the Arabs.” (3)

                The Syriac Early Christian literature, especially the late-seventh century Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius, linked a barrier episode to the exploits of Alexander. The bulwark cried out for shielding the civilized nations from impure, polluted rabble. However, this time the European military genius confronted the sinister hordes of Gog-Magog rather than plundering barbarian tribes.        

Image: The henchmen of Antichrist are besieging the city of saints

Courtesy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gog_and_Magog#/media/File:Toulouse_ms_815-049v-Gog%26Magog.jpg