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Article: Moses and the princess: Josephus' 'Antiquitates Judaicae' and the chansons de geste.
- Article from:
- Medium Aevum
- Article date:
- March 22, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 Society for the Study of Mediaeval Languages and Literature. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The story of the Saracen princess who aids the Christian hero in his fight against her compatriots, who converts to Christianity, and whose alliance with the hero is often consummated in marriage, is a familiar theme in the chansons de geste.(1) Indeed, it has received a good deal of scholarly attention, particularly with regard to possible sources or analogues in earlier texts and traditions. Several possibly interrelated literary sources for the theme have been suggested, including the classical figure of Medea, a story in Seneca's sixth controversia, tales in the Arabian Nights, an episode in the tenth-century Byzantine epic Digenes Akrites, and Orderic Vitalis' account ...