few days later her son is attacked by foreign armies, who then kidnap his
wife. Hefinds refuge in Alexander’s camp. His advisor Ptolemy sits on his
throne so that Alexander can disguise himself as his chief bodyguard. With
his son, Alexander rescues the wife. They then become guests at Queen
Candace’s court. She uses the portrait to uncover Alexander’s ruse. She
asks,“Why are you so upset? You who have destroyed the Persians and the
Indians, who have taken trophies from the Medes and Parthians, who have
subdued the whole East–now, without a single battle, you have become the
prisoner of Candace.”^2 Nonetheless, in return for Alexander’s support of
her son, she shields him from the local armies that would kill him if his
identity were revealed. He resolves afight between her sons, winning her
praise as a wise ruler, and is released with gifts.
Firdausi tells a similar tale, in which Queen Qaydafeh of Andalusia
commissions a full-length portrait of Alexander, who is in Egypt. She
then spurns his written demand for tribute. Conquering a third kingdom
where her son resides, Alexander intercedes on the son’s behalf and pre-
vents his execution, and then accompanies him in disguise to his mother’s
court. As his purported deputy, he demands tribute for Alexander in
exchange for the son. Enraged, Qaydafeh shows that he has uncovered
his ruse by revealing the cloth portrait to him, where“if the painted face
had moved at all you would have said that it was Sekandar himself!”^3 She
reveals that she maintains a large collection of portraits of foreign rulers as
part of her command, and releases the humbled Alexander with a promise
of peace.
Nizami’sIskandarnamahelaborates the story. Queen Nushabeh com-
pensates for never having left her city, Barda, through a collection of
portraits on silk cloths of all the kings of the world made by her dispersed
artists and physiognomers. The accuracy of the portraits allows her to
judge kings through her knowledge of physiognomy. Her judicious use
of the paintings impresses Alexander, who muses that her refinement gives
her the wisdom of a man rather than a woman, contradicting the slew of
proverbs restricting a woman to the home inserted immediately after the
story (through which he presumably restores a normative gender
hierarchy).^4 The frequent illustration of the scene in manuscripts of
Nizami’s work underscores its importance. [Figure 6] Many of these
images depict the queen enthroned with Alexander before her and an
identical portrait on display. She always holds court in a garden, reflecting
the use of tents and outdoor spaces for imperial activities among formerly
(^2) Stoneman, 1991 : 136–140. (^3) Ferdowsi, 2007 : 495. (^4) Nizami, 1991 : 202.
The Image as Proof 185