Were the Romans the first to call Alexander the Great?

Answer 1

Yes. The oldest surviving reference we have of Alexander with the epithet, 'the Great', is found in a Roman play titled, "Mostellaria (The Haunted House) 775-7, a play written by Titus Maccius Plautus c. 254-184 BCE testifying to the admiration that the Romans had for his military achievements. This is roughly a century after Alexander's death in 323 BC.

Tranio: Alexandrum magnum, atque Agathoclem, aiunt maxumas

Duo res gessisse. Quid mihi fiet tertio, Qui solus facio facinora immortalia? `

The line from the play, "Alexandrum magnum atque Agathoclem aiunt maximas" in English reads, "Alexander the great and most importantly, they say, Agathocles". The character,

Tranio, a slave in Rome owned by Theopropides is comparing himself admiringly to Alexander and Agathocles.

We don't know if the playwright Titus Maccius Plautus coined the title but we can safely assume that his audience would recognize who 'Alexandrum magnum' was, an indication that the epithet predated Plautus' play and suggests that the Romans began styling Alexander as 'the great' fairly soon after his death.