Peniarth 481

File:Alexander killing Porus in single combat.jpg

Folio 70r.: Alexander killing Porus in single combat before their armies.

Peniarth 481D is a late 15th-century illuminated manuscript in its original binding that is held at the National Library of Wales. It is also known as The Battles of Alexander the Great, a reference to the twenty-six miniatures that accompany the Latin text Historia de preliis Alexandri Magni. The volume also contains Disticha Catonis, and Historia trium Regum (History of the Three Kings). The manuscript, which is one of the most lavishly decorated in the National Library, has examples of the work of an English scribe, a Flemish illuminator and a workshop in Cologne.

• School, with Cato and his translator.jpg

  Folio 1r.: School, with Cato and his translator (seated below) instructing pupils.

• Translator addressing his master on a road.jpg

  Folio 2r.: Translator addressing his master on a road leading from a castle to a farm.

• Translator addressing his master.jpg

  Folio 8v.: Translator addressing his master, with a man ploughing in the background.

• Translator addressing his master, indoors.jpg

  Folio 14v.: Translator addressing his master, indoors.

• Translator addressing his master, in a garden.jpg

  Folio 19r.: Translator addressing his master, in a garden.

• Nectanebus enthroned, with courtiers.jpg

  Folio 29v.: (i) Nectanebus enthroned, receiving news of Artaxerxes’ threatened invasion; (ii) Nectanebus in his chamber bewitching Artaxerxes’ fleet in a basin of water.

• Another translator addressing his master.jpg

  Folio 30r.: Translator addressing his master.

• Alexander killing Nectanebus, his father.jpg

  Folio 34r.: Alexander killing Nectanebus, his father, by throwing him into a ditch.

• Bucephalus being presented to Philip; Bucephalus in a cage with the remains of condemned criminals.jpg

  Folio 34v.: Bucephalus being presented to Philip; Bucephalus in a cage with the remains of condemned criminals, being tamed by Alexander.

• Alexander entering Italy with his followers.jpg

  Folio 37v.: Alexander, mounted on Bucephalus, entering Italy with his followers.

• Alexander outside the gates of Abdyra receiving the keys of the city.jpg

  Folio 44r: Alexander outside the gates of Abdyra receiving the keys of the city.

• 

  Folio 51v.: Alexander’s first victory over Darius, the Persian king.

• 

  Folio 56v.: Alexander’s third victory over Darius; Darius escaping over the river in a cart.

• 

  Folio 59r: The murder of Darius by his own generals; Alexander at the side of the dying king.

• 

  Folio 60v.: The coronation of Alexander.

• Alexander has the murderers of Darius executed.jpg

  Folio 61r.: Alexander has the murderers of Darius executed by hanging.

• The marriage of Alexander and Darius’ daughter.jpg

  Folio 61v.: The marriage of Alexander and Darius’ daughter.

• Alexander’s first victory over Porus.jpg

  Folio 64r.: Alexander’s first victory over Porus.

• Alexander’s meeting with Queen of the Amazons.jpg

  Folio 66v.: Alexander’s meeting with Talistris, Queen of the Amazons.

• Alexander, his men and beasts suffering from thirst by a river.jpg

  Folio 67r.: Alexander, his men and beasts suffering from thirst by a river.

• Alexander and his men facing amazing beasts.jpg

  Folio 68v.: Alexander and his men facing amazing beasts across a river.

• Alexander killing Porus in single combat.jpg

  Folio 70r.: Alexander killing Porus in single combat before their armies.

• Alexander’s tents on fire.jpg

  Folio 72v.: Alexander’s tents on fire, and amphibious men and women standing in water.

• Alexander sending a message over a river to the Brahmins.jpg

  Folio 73v.: Alexander sending a message over a river to the Brahmins.

• The battle with woodland men armed with clubs.jpg

  Folio 82r.: The battle with woodland men armed with clubs.

• Alexander climbing up to the palace on the adamantine mountain.jpg

  Folio 83r.: Alexander climbing up to the palace on the Adamantine mountain.

• Alexander and his companions consult the prophetic trees of the Sun and the Moon; Alexander meeting a black-legged monster man, a horse-lion and headless men (f. 84v.).jpg

  Folio 84v.: Alexander and his companions consult the prophetic trees of the Sun and the Moon; Alexander meeting a black-legged monster man, a horse-lion and headless men.

• Alexander fighting a crowned dragon.jpg

  Folio 90r.: Alexander fighting a crowned dragon; long-haired women emerging from a river.

• Alexander fighting the dog-headed Cynocephali.jpg

  Folio 92r.: Alexander fighting the dog-headed Cynocephali.

• 

  Folio 94v.: Alexander and his queen at table, and again in the foreground with a feather in his throat after being poisoned.

• Alexander on his deathbed.jpg

  Folio 95v.: Alexander on his deathbed, surrounded by mourners, and dictating his will to his notary.