The Persian Romance of Alexander the Great - Lecture by Prof. Michael Barry

“Setting out to conquer the Persian Empire in 334 BC, Alexander the Great lamented that no poet would narrate his history and adventures. Yet, more than 1,000 years later, Alexander was re-identified as “Iskandar” by Persia’s two greatest epic poets: Firdawsî and Nizâmî. Join historian and professor Michael Barry as he bridges the concepts of art, mysticism, and poetry in this illustrated talk exploring the blending of sober history with heroic tales.

Professor Michael Barry is a lecturer in Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University, where he specializes in medieval and modern Muslim cultures of Iran, Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan. He served as a consultant for the development of the new Islamic art galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Arts, and with the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. Amongst his many publications on Islamic art and Sufi symbolism are The Canticle of the Birds (2013) and Figurative Art in Medieval Islam (2005).”