Abstract
Abstract The present article hypothesizes that a bizarre omen story of Alexander’s death belongs in a Hellenistic literary context rather than a historical Babylonian one. Several texts, including the Greek Alexander Romance (3.30), relate the birth omen of a stillborn child with living animals for his lower body. The court of Alexander decides to burn the portent. I suggest that the omen should be read as a manifestation of a teras in the Greek paradigm. In support of this argument, I offer comparable evidence from numerous sources, including iconographical material and the animal prophecies, primarily from the Old Testament Book of Daniel. The article ends with some thoughts on how this teras interpretation of the omen story exposes the tale as a Hellenistic construct.
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