The Life of Makarios the Roman (BHG 1004–1005i) and the Alexander Romance: Truth, Fiction and the Paradoxographic

Paradoxography and narratives of wondrous travels and adventure tread the borderline between truth and fiction. On the one hand, they lend importance to, for instance, eyewitness reports, while on the other, they portray distant, unknown and fantastic lands. This article discusses both aspects as they emerge in the Life of Makarios the Roman, a popular early Byzantine saint’s Life and ego-narration about the fantastical journey of three monks to the end of the world, where they meet saint Makarios. The trip leads them through pitch-dark forests and over dangerous cliffs, along lands inhabited by dog-headed people, centaurs, and other terrifying creatures. To make sense of the Life’s contradictory features, the article takes stock of the Life’s relation to the paradoxographic tradition and particularly to Ps-Callisthenes’ Alexander Romance, known for mixing truth and fiction. The latter relation serves as a stepping stone towards explaining the specific ways in which truth and fiction work together in the Life of Makarios, and for what purpose. The article argues that, in a typically paradoxographic fashion, the Life’s authenticating strategies and imaginative narrative elements are part of a coherent literary strategy to inspire wonderment. Yet, taking a Christian approach to the paradoxographic, the Life thus communicates the unfathomable and elusive aspects of the Christian faith and specifically sanctity.