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The true identity of Rider in Fate/Zero is Alexander the Great, the famed
conqueror and King of Macedonia. Since Alexander conquered so many countries,
his name has been adapted to many different languages, including Arabic,
Persian, and Turkish, in which he's known as Iskandar, Eskandar, and İskender.
([Source](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander#Variants_and_diminutives).)

The page I linked says the Japanese forms of the name are "アレクサンドロス
(Arekusandorosu), アレクサンダー (Arekusandā), アレキサンダー (Arekisandā)" which are all
based on the Greek form, Ἀλέξανδρος ( _Alexandros_ ), or the English/general
European form, Alexander. **Did the staff ever publish any statements about
why Rider is called by a Middle Eastern form of his name, Iskander, instead of
using one of the European forms based on "Alexander"?**

(Note: If the answer contains spoilers for Season 2, please use spoiler tags,
or at least warn me at the top.)


CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-09-30T07:22:01.283
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question
fate-stay-night fate-zero
Why is Rider called "Iskander" instead of "Alexander"?


While I don't know if Gen Urobuchi had said anything about this, the [TYPE-
MOON Wikia](http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Rider_%28Fate/Zero%29) page for
Rider (under Profile section, since you know his real name the first paragraph
shouldn't be too bad in terms of spoilers) says his name was also Al-Iskandar
which does kinda sound like Alexander.

But then that doesn't answer _why_ they choose that name. This is just
speculation on my part, however
[Iskandar](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iskandar) is derived from the Old
Persian name Sikandar. Old Persian have been used in Achaemenid Empire at the
time of Alexander's conquests, and it should be noted that the Achaemenid
Empire was [one of the largest empires in the
world](http://books.google.com.au/books?id=WBAZAQAAIAAJ&q=%28Meyer%20p.85%29&redir_esc=y)
in terms of how many people it ruled.

> Darlus ruled about 50 million people in the largest empire the world had
> seen (Meyer, p.85)

And
[Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_empires#Largest_empires_by_land_area_and_population)
lists it as the second largest in terms of % of the world population

> 44.48% (50 million out of 112.4 million in 480 BC)

I would assume Alexander's name being Al-Iskandar (or just Iskandar) is a note
to one of his greatest achievements: his victory against the Achaemenid
Empire.


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I don't have any concrete statement from Gen Urobuchi or the anime production
staff, but I suspect it's because although Alexander the Great began as King
of Macedonia, he spent a good portion of his life ruling Persia and other
Middle Eastern kingdoms, and so was actually more of a Middle Eastern king
than a Greek one.

According to [the Wikipedia
article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great), Alexander reigned
from 336 BC to 323 BC--a reign of only thirteen years. He spent two years as
King of Macedonia, rallying his forces for an invasion of Asia. In 332 BC,
just two years after beginning his conquest, he overthrew Darius III, Pharaoh
of Egypt and King of the Achaemenid Empire in Persia, and assumed those
titles. That means that, of thirteen years of rule, he spent nine as King of
Persia and Macedonia and just two as King of Macedonia; furthermore, we can
see from the Wikipedia page that he spent almost all of his time after the
invasion in Persia and the Middle East. As @Memor-X mentions in his answer,
the Achaemenid Empire was one of the largest empires in the world by
population, so being its king put Alexander over a far greater number of
people than his kingship of Macedonia. As Memor-X mentions, "Iskandar" is
Alexander's name in Old Persian, and all of these new subjects would have
known him by that name. And after taking the kingship of Persia, Alexander
didn't double back to Europe; he continued east, pushing through Pakistan and
into India, searching for the great ocean at the end of the world (as his
fictionalized counterpart Rider also was), planning to establish a capital at
Babylon and invade the Arabian Peninsula. Since all the people on his eastward
march would be more familiar with Persian than with Greek, it makes sense that
they would also call him "Iskandar".

Not only that, but during his time as ruler of Persia, Alexander adopted
several Persian customs and overall tried to integrate his Macedonian and
Persian subjects
([Source](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great#Problems_and_plots),
the first paragraph, and also
[here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great#Last_years_in_Persia).)
Alexander also married two Persian princesses, [Stateira
II](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stateira_II) and her cousin [Parysatis
II](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parysatis_II), and integrated his army so
that both Macedonians and Persians could hold positions of high power; he
bribed, pandered, and punished as needed to keep the peace between them, even
having some of his men executed for desecrating the tomb of Persian king Cyrus
the Great.

Given all that, it seems possible that Urobuchi thought that even though
Alexander began as a Greek king, his major accomplishments were more
associated with Persia and the Middle East, and so it was the Persian form of
his name that should go down in legend. His Noble Phantasm, Ionioi Hetarioi,
transports everyone to the Persian desert, not the Macedonian hills, which
could be another nod to this. It's also notable that, so far as I can
remember, we first hear the name "Iskandar" from Rider himself, in Episode 4
when he flies into the middle of Saber and Lancer's battle and tries to
recruit them for his army; perhaps Urobuchi thought that, given all the
history that Memor-X and I mentioned, Rider would think of himself as Iskandar
and not Alexander.


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So according to the [Rider (Fate/Zero)
Wikia](http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Rider_\(Fate/Zero\)), Iskandar is the
"adult aspect" summoned in Fate/Zero, whereas Alexander is the "child aspect"
whom I believe is summoned in the android IOS game Fate/Grand Order.

> "the King of Conquerors (征服王, Seifuku-Ō?), summoned as the adult aspect
> known by the name Iskandar (イスカンダル, Isukandaru?) rather than the youthful
> aspect known as Alexander (アレキサンダ, Arekisanda?)."


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It because Japan and Turkey in the same language family. That means reading
İskandar(İskender) easier than reading Alexander. But I have question too!

In fate\apo why did they call the Dracula's skill like Kazikuru bei? Its a
Turkish word too but they didn't read it as "Kazikli Bey"


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