The story of Dhul-Qarnayn (in Arabic ذو القرنين, literally The Two-Horned One, also transliterated as Zul-Qarnain or Zulqarnain), mentioned in the Quran, may be a reference to Alexander III of Macedon (356-323 BC), popularly known as Alexander the Great. Some Western and traditional Muslim scholars identify Alexander the Great as Dhul-Qarnayn (Quran 18:83-94). However, some early Muslim scholars believed it to be a reference to a pre-Islamic monarch from Persia or south Arabia, with, according to Maududi, modern Muslim scholarship also leaning in favour of identifying him with Cyrus the Great.