he married Alexandra, daughter of Prince Bryachislav of
Polotsk. At an early age he distinguished himself in
constant warfare with the Germans, Swedes and Lithuanians,
who tried to wrest Novgorod and Pskov from Russia while she
was still suffering from the effects of the terrible Tatar
invasion. The most notable of these battles, whereby he
won his honorific epithet of Nevsky (i.e. of the Neva),
was fought on the banks of the Neva (July 15 1240) against
the famous Swedish statesman, Birger Jarl, whom he utterly
defeated, besides wounding him with his lance. In the following
year the Teutonic Order, in conjunction with the Order of the
Sword, succeeded in capturing Pskov; but Alexander recovered
it in 1242, advanced into Livonia, and on the 5th of April
defeated the knights on the ice of Lake Peipus and compelled
them in the ensuing peace to renounce all their conquests.
He also prevented the Swedes (in 1256) from settling in South
Finland. On the death of his father (1246) Alexander and
his younger brother Andrew went on a two years' journey
into Mongolia to obtain their yarluiki, or letters of
investiture, from the Grand Khan, who then disposed of the
fate of all the Russian princes. He returned (1250) as
grand-duke of Kiev and Novgorod, while to Andrew was given
the far more important grand- duchy of Vladimir. In 1252,
however, the Tatars themselves expelled Andrew and placed
Alexander on the throne of Vladimir. Alexander henceforth
did his best for his country by humbling himself before the
Tatars so as to give them no pretext for ravaging the land
again. Most of his spare money he devoted to the ransoming
of the numerous Russian captives detained at the Golden
Horde. But the men of Novgorod, in their semi-independent
republic, continued (1255-1257) to give the grand-duke
trouble, their chief grievance being the imposition of a Tatar
tribute, which they only submitted to in 1259 on the rumour
of an impending Tatar invasion. In 1262 the Tatar tribute
was felt so grievously all over Russia that preparations
were made for a general insurrection, and Alexander, who knew
that an abortive rebellion would make the yoke heavier, was
obliged to go to the Horde in person to prevent the Tatars
from again attacking Russia. He stayed at Sarai, their Volgan
capital, all the Winter, and not only succeeded in obtaining
a mitigation of the tribute, but also the abolition of the
military service previously rendered by the Russians to the
Tatars. This was his last service to his country. He died
on his way home from the Horde, and in the words of his
contemporary, the metropolitan Cyril, ``with him the sun
of Russia set.'' The Orthodox Church has canonized the
ruler who gave his whole life for Russia and the Orthodox
faith. His relics, discovered in 1380, were in 1724
translated by Peter the Great from Vladimir to St Petersburg.
See Sergyei Mikhailovich Solovev, History of Russia
(Rus., 2nd ed., St Petersburg, 1897, vol. 3). (R. N. B.)
ALEXANDER OF APHRODISIAS, pupil of Aristocles of Messene, the
most celebrated of the Greek commentators on the writings of
Aristotle, and styled, by way of pre-eminence, o exegetes (``the
expositor''), was a native of Aphrodisias in Caria. He came
to Athens towards the end of the 2nd century A.D., became
head of the Lyceum and lectured on peripatetic philosophy. The
object of his work was to free the doctrine from the syncretism
of Ammonius and to reproduce the pure doctrine of Aristotle.
Commentaries by Alexander on the following works of Aristotle
are still extant:--the Analytica Priora, i.; the Topica;
the Meteorologica; the De Sensu; and the Metaphysica,
i.-v., together with an abridgment of what he wrote on the
remaining books of the Metaphysica. His commentaries were
greatly esteemed among the Arabians, who translated many of
them. There are also several original writings by Alexander still
extant. The most important of these are a work On Fate, in
which he argues against the Stoic doctrine of necessity; and
one On the Soul, in which he contends that the undeveloped
reason in man is material (nous ulikos) and inseparable
from the body. He argued strongly against the doctrine of
immortality. He identified the active intellect (nous
poietikos), through whose agency the potential intellect
in man becomes actual, with God. Several of Alexander's works
were published in the Aldine edition of Aristotle, Venice,
1495-1498; his De Fato and De Anima were printed along
with the works of Themistius at Venice (1534); the former
work, which has been translated into Latin by Grotius and also
by Schulthess, was edited by J. C. Orelli, Zurich, 1824; and
his commentaries on the Metaphysica by H. Bonitz, Berlin,
1847. J. Nourisson has treated of his doctrine of fate (De
la liberte et du hazard, Paris, 1870). In the early
Renaissance his doctrine of the soul's mortality was adopted
by F. Pomponazzi against the Thomists and the Averroists.
See PERIPATETICS (ad fin.); ALEXANDRISTS; POMPONAZZI, PIETRO;
also A. Apelt, ``Die Schrift d. Alex. v. Aphr.,'' Philolegus,
xlv., 1886: C. Ruelle, ``Alex. d'Aphr. et le pretendu Alex.
d'Alexandrie,'' Rev. des etudes grecques, v., 1892; E.
Zeller's Outlines of Gk. Phil. (Eng. trans., ed. 1905, p. 296).
ALEXANDER OF HALES (ALEXANDER HALENSIS), surnamed DOCTOR
IRREFRAGABILIS, THEOLOGORUM MONARCHA and FONS VITAE, a
celebrated English theologian of the 13th century, was born in
Gloucestershire. Trained in the monastery of Hales he was
early raised to an archdeaconry. He went, like most of the
scholars of his day, to study at Paris, where he took the
degree of doctor and became celebrated as a teacher. It is
generally held that he taught Bonaventura, Duns Scotus and
Thomas Aquinas, but a comparison of dates makes it clear
that the two latter could not have been his pupils and that
the statement about Bonaventura is open to doubt. In 1222
(or 1231, see Denifle, Chartul. Univers. Paris, Paris,
1889, i. 135) Alexander entered the order of Minorite Friars
and thenceforward lived in strict seclusion. He refused,
however, to renounce his degree of doctor, and was the
first of his order who continued to bear that title after
initiation. He died in 1245 and was buried in the convent
of the Cordeliers at Paris. His most celebrated work was the
Summa Theologiae (Nuremberg, 1452; Venice, 1576; Cologne,
1611), undertaken by the orders of Pope Innocent IV. and
approved by Alexander IV., on the report of seventy learned
theologians, as a system of instruction for all the schools in
Christendom. The form is that of question and answer,
and the method is rigidly scholastic. Of small intrinsic
value, it is interesting partly as the first philosophical
contribution of the Franciscans who were afterwards to take
a prominent part in medieval thought (see SCHOLASTICISM),
and partly as the first work based on a knowledge of the
whole Aristotelian corpus and the Arabian commentators.
See Wadding, Script. ord. minor. (Rome, 1650); for his method
B. Haureau, Hist. de philos. scholast. (Paris, 1880); F.
Picavet, ``Abelard et A. de H.'' in the Bibliothieque de
l'ecole des hautes-etudes (2nd series, Paris, 1896, pp.
222-230); Schwane, Dogmengesch. (Freiburg, 1882); A. Harnack,
Dogmengesch. (1890); J. Endres, ``Des A. von H. Leben und
psvchol. Lehre'' in Philos. Jahrb. (i. Fulda, 1888, pp. 24-55,
203-296): also Vacant's Dict. de theologie catholique, vol. i.
ALEXANDER OP TRALLES (ALEXANDER TRALLIANUS), Greek
physician, born at Tralles in Lydia, lived probably about the
middle of the 6th century and practised medicine with success at
Rome. The Greek text of his Biblia iatrika was printed
at Paris in 1548 and his De Lumbricis at Venice in 1570.
See E. Milward, Trallianus Reviviscens (London, 1734).
ALEXANDER SEVERUS (MARCUS AURELIUS SEVERUS ALEXAXDER)
(208-235), Roman emperor from A.D. 222 to 235, was born
at Arca Caesarea in Palestine on the 1st of October 208. His
father, Gessius Marcianus, held office more than once as an
imperial procurator; his mother, Julia Mamaea, was the daughter
of Julia Maesa and the aunt of Heliogabalus. His original name
was Bassianus, but he changed it in 221 when his grandmother,
Maesa, persuaded the emperor Heliogabalus to adopt his cousin
as successor and create him Caesar. In the next year, on
the 11th of March, Heliogabalus was murdered, and Alexander
was proclaimed emperor by the Praetorians and accepted by the
senate. He was then a mere lad, amiable, well-meaning, but
entirely under the dominion of his mother, a woman of many
virtues, who surrounded him with wise counsellors, watched
over the development of his character and improved the tone
of the administration, but on the other hand was inordinately
jealous, and alienated the army by extreme parsimony, while
neither she nor her son had a strong enough hand to keep tight
the reins of military discipline. Mutinies became frequent
in all parts of the empire; to one of them the life of the
jurist and praetorian praefect Ulpian was sacrificed; another
compelled the retirement of Dio Cassius from his command)
On the whole, however, the reign of Alexander was prosperous
till he was summoned to the East to face the new power of the
Sassanians (see PERSIA: History.) Of the war that followed
we have very various accounts; Mommsen leans to that which
is least favourable to the Romans. According to Alexander's
own despatch to the senate he gained great victories. At all
events, though the Persians were checked for the time, the
conduct of the Roman army showed an extraordinary lack of
discipline. The emperor returned to Rome and celebrated a
triumph (233), but next year he was called to face German
invaders in Gaul, where he was slain (on the 18th or 19th of
March 235), together with his mother, in a mutiny which was
probably led by Maximinus, a Thracian legionary, and at any rate
secured him the throne. Alexander was the last of the Syrian
princes. During his reign, acting, as he did in most things,
under the influence of his mother, he did much to improve
the morals and condition of the people. His advisers were
men like the famous jurist Ulpian, the historian Dio Cassius
and a select board of sixteen senators; a municipal council
of fourteen assisted the city praefect in administering the
affairs of the fourteen districts of Rome. The luxury and
extravagance that had formerly been so prevalent at the court
were put down; the standard of the coinage was raised; taxes
were lightened; literature, art and science were encouraged;
the lot of the soldiers was improved; and, for the convenience
of the people, loan offices were instituted for lending
money at a moderate rate of interest. In religious matters
Alexander preserved an open mind. In his private chapel he
had busts of Orpheus, Abraham, Apollonius of Tyana and Jesus
Christ. It is said that he was desirous of erecting a temple
to the founder of Christianity, but was dissuaded by the pagan
priests. There is no doubt that, had Alexander's many
excellent qualities been supported by the energy and strength
of will necessary for the government of a military empire,
he would have been one of the greatest of the Roman emperors.
See Lampridius, Alexander Severus; Dio Cassius lxxviii. 30,
lxxix. 17, lxxx. 1; Herodian vi. 1-18; Porrath, Der Kaiser
Alex. Sev. (1876); Pauly-Wissowa, Realencyclopadie,
ii. 2526 foll. (Groebe); monograph by R. V. Nind
Hopkins, Cambridge Historical Essays, No. xiv. (1907).
ALEXANDER THE PAPHLAGONIAN, a celebrated impostor and worker
of false oracles, was born at Abonouteichos (see INEBOLI)
