Budge_Ethiopic_Alexander

XII PREFACE.
trds'e zur Geschichte des Alexanderroinans" Prof.
Noeldeke discusses in liis characteristic masterly
manner the Greek, Syriac, Hebrew, Persian and
Arabic versions, and ably shews how each is re-
lated to the other, and how certain variations in
the narrative have arisen. No writer before him
was able to control, by knowledge at first hand,
the statements of both the Aryan and Semitic
versions; his work is therefore of unique value.
Would that he would add to our obligations by
publishing a translation of the Armenian version
of the Alexander story! Following the same system
Dr. Ausfeld made an exhaustive examination of
the non-genuine portions of the oldest Greek
traditional rendering of the legends of Alexan-
der,^ and the results which he obtained from his
study of the Greek texts confirm those of Prof
Noeldeke.
While the pages of this book were passing
through the press, on July 4th, 1894, death removed
from our midst the veteran Ethiopic scholar Prof
' See De7ikschriften der Kaiserlichen Akadcmic der ]Visscn-
schaften in Wien. Philosophisch-Historische Classe, Bd. xxxviii.
Wien, 1890.
^ See Zur Kritik des GriccJiiscJien Alexanderromans. Untcr-
suchiingen iiber die unechten Teile da- iiltesten Oberlieferuug.
Karlsruhe, 1S94.