A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

ALEXANDER.
Maccab. x. 11; Joseph. Ant. xiii. 2. ~ 4; Euseb.
CLhronicon; Clinton, Fasti, iii. p. 324.) [P. S.]
ALEXANDER, of BEROEA; he and Thyrsis
suffocated Demetrius, the son of Philip III. of
Macedonia, at Heracleia, in B. c. 179. (Liv. xl. 24;
comp. DEMETRIUS, son of PHILIP.) [L. S.]
ALEXANDER ('AAl4avSpos), at first bishop
in CAPPADOCIA, flourished A. D. 212. On the
death of Severus, A. D. 211, he visited Jerusalem,
and was made coadjutor of the aged Narcissus,
bishop of that city, whom he afterwards succeeded.
Hie founded an ecclesiastical library at Jerusalem,
of which Eusebius made great use in writing his
History. After suffering under Severus and Caracalla, he was at last thrown into prison at Caesarea,
and, after witnessing a good confession, died A. D.
250. Eusebius has preserved fragments of a letter
written by him to the Antinoites; of another to
the Antiochenes (tist. Eccl. vi. 11); of a third
to Origen (vi. 14); and of another, written in conjunction with Theoctistus of Caesarea, to Demetrius of Alexandria. (vi. 19.) [A. J. C.]
ALEXANDER, CARBONARIUS ('AAXavvpos 6 'AvOpaecevs), flourished in the third
century. To avoid the dangers of a handsome person, he disguised himself and lived as
a coal-heaver at Cumae, in Asia Minor. The see
of this city being vacant, the people asked St.
Gregory Thaumaturgus to come and ordain them a
bishop. He rejected many who were offered for
consecration, and when he bade the people prefer
virtue to rank, one in mockery cried out, " Well,
then! make Alexander, the coal-heaver, bishop!"
St. Gregory had him summoned, discovered his
disguise, and having arrayed him in sacerdotal
vestments, presented him to the people, who, with
surprise and joy, accepted the appointment. He
addressed them in homely but dignified phrase,
and ruled the church till the Decian persecution,
when he was burnt, A. D. 251. (S. Greg. Nyssen.
Vt. S. Greg. Thauumatiurg. ~~ 19, 20, ap. Galland.
Biblioth. Patr. vol. iii. pp. 457-460.) [A. J. C.]
ALEXANDER ('AAhgavSpos), third son of
CASSANDER, king of Macedonia, by Thessalonica,
sister of Alexander the Great. In his quarrel
with his elder brother Antipater for the government [ANTIPATER], he called in the aid of
Pyrrhus of Epirus and Demetrius Poliorcetes.
To the former he was compelled to surrender, as
the price of his alliance, the land on the sea-coast
of Macedonia, together with the provinces of Ambracia, Acarnania, and Amphilochia. (Plut.
Pyrrh. p. 386, b.) Demetrius, according to Plutarch (Pyrre1. 386, d., Demelr. 906, a.), arrived
after Pyrrhus had retired, and when matters,
through his mediation, had been arranged between
the brothers. Demetrius, therefore, was now an
unwelcome visitor, and Alexander, while he received him with all outward civility, is said by
Plutarch to have laid a plan for murdering him at
a banquet, which was baffled, however, by the
precaution of Demetrius. (Demetr. 906, a. b.)
The next day Demetrius took his departure, and
Alexander attended him as far as Thessaly. Here,
at Larissa, he went to dine with Demetrius, and
(taking no guards with him by a fancied refinement of policy) was assassinated, together with his
friends who attended him, one of whom is said to
have exclaimed, that Demetrius was only one day
beforehand with them. (Plut. Demetr. p. 906,
c. d.; Just. xvi. 1; Diod. xxi. Exc. 7.) [E. E.]

ALEXANDER. 115
ALEXANDER ('AAiav8pos), emperor of CONSTANTINOPLE, was the third son of the emperor
Basilius and Eudocia. He was born about A. D.
870, and, after his father's death, he and his brother Leo, the philosopher, bore the title of imperator
in common. Leo died on the 11th of May, 911,
and Alexander received the imperial crown, together with the guardianship of his brother's son,
Constantinus Porphyrogenitus, whom he would
have mutilated so as to render him unfit to govern,
had he not been prevented. The reign of Alexander, which lasted only for one year and some
days, was one uninterrupted series of acts of
cruelty, debauchery, and licentiousness; for the
restraints which he had been obliged to put on
himself during the lifetime of his brother, were
thrown off immediately after his accession, and
the worthiest persons were removed from the court
while the ministers to his lusts and passions were
raised to the highest honours. He involved his
empire in a war with Simeon, king of the Bulgarians, but he did not live to see its outbreak. He
died on the 7th of June, 912, in consequence of a
debauch, after which he took violent exercise on
horseback. (Constant. in Basil. 26; Scylitz. pp.
569, 608; Zonaras, xvi. 15, &c.) [L. S.]
ALEXANDER (ST.), patriarch of Constantinople. [ARmus.]
ALEXANDER CORNE'LIUS ('AAChavlpos
Kopv'm-4tos), surnamed POaLYISTOR (IoAvI''Trwp),
a Greek writer and contemporary of Sulla. According to Suidas he was a native of Ephesus and a
pupil of Crates, and during the war of Sulla in
Greece was made prisoner and sold as a slave to
Cornelius Lentulus, who took him to Rome and
made him the paedagogus of his children. After-,wards Lentulus restored him to freedom. From
Suidas it would seem as if he had received the
gentile name Cornelius from Lentulus, while Servius (ad Aen. x. 388) says, that he received the
Roman franchise from L. Cornelius Sulla. He
died at Laurentum in a fire which consumed his
house, and as soon as his wife heard of the calamity, she hung herself. The statement of Suidas
that he was a native of Ephesus is contradicted by
Stephanus Byzantius (s. v. Ko-rdriov), who says
that he was a native of Cotiaeum in Lesser Phrygia,
and a son of Asclepiades, and who is borne out by
the Etymologicum Magnum (s. vv. hbe'ouca and
7Ept p i' s7), where Alexander is called Konaevs.
The surname of Polyhistor was given to him on
account of his prodigious learning. He is said to
have written innumerable works, but the greatest
and most important among them was one consisting
of 42 hooks, which Stephanus Byzantius calls
HIavroeSaTrr "TAsrs Aodyo. This work appears to
have contained historical and geographical accounts
of nearly all countries of the ancient world. Each
of the forty books treated of a separate country,
and bore a corresponding title, such as Phrygiaca,
Carica, Lyciaca, &c. But such titles are not always sure indications of a book forming only a
part of the great work; and in some cases it is
manifest that particular countries were treated of
in separate works. Thus we find mention of the
first book of a separate work on Crete (Schol. ad
Apollon. Rhod. iv. 1492), and of another on the
" Tractus Illyricus." (Val. Max. viii. 13, ext. 7.)
These geograpic-hco-historical works are referred to
in innumerable passages of Stephanus Byzantius
and Pliny. A separate work on the Phrygian
I 2