Editing Gog and Magog (section)

===Precursor texts in Syriac===

In the Syriac ''Alexander Legend'' dating to 629–630, Gog ({{langx|syr|ܓܘܓ|}}, gwg) and Magog ({{langx|syr|ܡܓܘܓ}}ܵ, mgwg) appear as kings of [[Huns|Hunnish]] nations.{{efn|Also called ''Christian Legend concerning Alexander'', ed. tr. by E. A. Wallis Budge. It has a long full-title, which in shorthand reads "An exploit of Alexander.. how.. he made a gate of iron, and shut it [against] the Huns".}}{{sfn|Budge|1889|loc='''II''', p. 150}} Written by a Christian based in Mesopotamia, the ''Legend'' is considered the first work to connect the Gates with the idea that Gog and Magog are destined to play a role in the apocalypse.{{sfn|Van Donzel|Schmidt|2010|p=17}} The legend claims that Alexander carved prophecies on the face of the Gate, marking a date for when these Huns, consisting of 24 nations, will breach the Gate and subjugate the greater part of the world.{{efn|The first invasion, prophesied to occur 826 years after Alexander predicted, has been worked out to fall on 1 October 514; the second invasion on A.D. 629 ({{Harvnb|Boyle|1979|p=124}}).}}{{sfn|Budge|1889|loc='''II''', pp. 153–54}}{{sfn|Van Donzel|Schmidt|2010|pp=17–21}}

The ''[[Pseudo-Methodius]]'', written originally in Syriac, is considered the source of the Gog and Magog tale incorporated into Western versions of the Alexander Romance.{{sfn|Van Donzel|Schmidt|2010|p=30}}{{sfn|Stoneman|1991|p=29}} The earlier-dated Syriac ''Alexander Legend'' contains a somewhat different treatment of the Gog and Magog material, which passed into the lost Arabic version,{{sfn|Boyle|1979|p=123}} or the Ethiopic and later Oriental versions of the Alexander romance.{{sfn|Van Donzel|Schmidt|2010|p=32}}{{efn|The Ethiopic version derives from the lost Arabic version ({{harvnb|Boyle|1979|p=133}}).}}

The ''Pseudo-Methodius'' (7th century<ref>{{cite book|last=Griffith|first=Sidney Harrison|title=The Church in the Shadow of the Mosque: Christians and Muslims in the World of Islam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jn-tiP0b-PYC&pg=PA34|year=2008|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton, NJ|isbn=9780691130156|page=34}}</ref>) is the first source in the Christian tradition for a new element: two mountains moving together to narrow the corridor, which was then sealed with a gate against Gog and Magog. This idea is also in the Quran {{nowrap|(609–632 CE<ref>{{cite book |title=Chronology of Prophetic Events |author=Fazlur Rehman Shaikh |date=2001 |page=50 |publisher=Ta-Ha Publishers Ltd.}}</ref><ref name=LivRlgP338>''Living Religions: An Encyclopaedia of the World's Faiths'', Mary Pat Fisher, 1997, page 338, I.B. Tauris Publishers.</ref>),}} and found its way in the Western Alexander Romance.{{sfn|Van Donzel|Schmidt|2010|p=21}}