(Okay, I tried searching for any relevant previous answers, but... it's difficult even to guess what search terms might bring up the relevant post, to say nothing of the potato-quality search engine issue...)

A post from another subreddit led me to uncovering this older piece from the now sadly-defunct The Toast. It's obviously a humor piece (and a good one), but it does lead one to wondering, and in my case, wondering in particular about the second and third images in the post. The implication from the post is that they are medieval depictions of Alexander the Great. In two distinct images, he-- if these are real pieces, and they depict Alexander-- is shown conducting some sort of underwater exploration in a submersible container.

Beyond the general "wtf", the questions which come to mind:

• Do these images look to be real (not made up for the purposes of the satirical piece) ancient depictions of Alexander the Great, and... is he really being depicted in some sort of submersible?

• If so, then where on earth would the notion for such an image have come from? I'm presuming-- perhaps incorrectly-- that there is no way the historical record supports such an event actually happened. If that is correct, and this depicts a legendary/non-historical event, do we have any other indications of the source of such a story?

• If this isn't too far afield/broad for this inquiry, do we have any insight into why the creators of these pieces would have wanted to depict Alexander the Great in this fashion? Who is Alexander the Great to these (presumably Christian) monks that they would depict his mythic/legendary status in such a weird and glorifying manner?

Okay, that's what I've got.