By Charlotte Dunn/The Dialog

You is likely to be stunned to be taught the intercourse lifetime of a long-dead conqueror is making headlines in 2024. Netflix documentary Alexander the Great: The Making of a God has provoked outrage for its portrayal of Alexander in a romantic relationship along with his male companion Hephaestion.

Alexander the Nice (356–323 BC) spent his quick life enterprise an unlimited navy marketing campaign. He defeated the Persian king Darius III and created an empire that stretched from Europe into Egypt, Western and Central Asia, and all the best way to India.

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Conquest course of Alexander the Nice from Greece to India to Babylon in 334-323 BC, with a very powerful provinces of his empire. (Generic Mapping Instruments/CC BY-SA 3.0)

After dying on the younger age of 32, he has remained the topic of intense fascination and hypothesis.

The six-episode collection is the most recent to deal with some fascinating questions in regards to the conqueror’s life via dramatized scenes and commentary from a spread of consultants. Though the present doesn’t attempt to cowl the whole lot – and there are a number of gaps – its portrayal of Alexander’s sexuality is what has brought about the best stir.

Alexander, the Nice Enigma

One of many first scenes depicts Alexander sparring with Hephaestion earlier than the pair share a number of kisses. Hephaestion guarantees he might be by Alexander’s aspect “til the bitter finish”. The consultants then notice the pair have been seemingly extra than simply shut buddies.

Some viewers, nevertheless, have accused the present of pushing a supposed agenda. Others discovered it “too woke”.

Even Greece’s Minister for Tradition, Lina Mendoni, has spoken on the subject, insisting that historic sources supply no proof for the connection going “beyond the limits of friendship”.

Mendoni’s remark was made in response to questions from Dimitris Natsiou, the president of a far-right Christian Orthodox political celebration. Natsiou has spoken out in opposition to the collection for perceived inaccuracies. Together with different critics, he suggests the present’s portrayal of Alexander’s sexual id is a historic distortion.

It’s true there may be nothing written by Alexander himself that confirms how he considered his personal sexuality. However is it honest to name the present  inaccurate for its interpretation of his relationship with Hephaestion?

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Head of Hephaistion sculpted in marble. Statue is on the Getty Museum in California. (Public Domain)

The Historic Proof

Whereas the traditional proof suggests the pair have been notably shut, reconstructing the previous shouldn’t be a simple matter. Most surviving historical authors truly wrote centuries after Alexander’s loss of life and sometimes had their very own interpretations of occasions. This makes it very difficult to uncover the reality.

Some sources do assume the pair have been lovers, such because the Roman creator Claudius Aelianus, or Aelian, due to the best way they presented themselves in public.

This public presentation might be the strongest proof for the way vital Hephaestion was to Alexander. Alexander was an absolute grasp of propaganda. He took care to limit how he appeared in art and sculpture, and managed his marketing campaign narrative via the usage of his personal historian, Callisthenes of Olynthus. Callisthenes was liable for glorifying Alexander’s victories and presenting the model of occasions Alexander needed.

Alexander claimed the mythological hero Achilles was his ancestor. (Public Domain)

Alexander additionally stage-managed various occasions initially of his navy marketing campaign to make it appear to be the start of one other Trojan War. The story of this struggle was extremely vital to the traditional Greeks, and particularly Alexander, who claimed the mythological hero Achilles was his ancestor.

Throughout the vital opening act, Alexander laid a wreath on the tomb of Achilles. Some historical accounts say Hephaestion did the identical for the tomb of Patroclus, who many within the historical world assumed was Achilles’ lover.

Hephaestion is the one companion of Alexander who’s talked about by identify doing one thing vital like this. Alexander was little doubt astute sufficient to grasp the implication in his personal day; he was subsequently most likely comfy along with his followers assuming he and Hephaestion have been lovers, simply as Achilles and Patroclus have been considered.

An outline from a vase (circa 500 BC from Vulci) exhibiting Achilles tending Patroclus, who’s wounded by an arrow. (Public Domain)

Historic creator Diodorus Siculus studies that Alexander most popular Hephaestion above everyone else, even claiming that Hephaestion liked him as Alexander, whereas his different shut good friend Craterus liked him because the king. These are simply a few of the quite a few anecdotes that exhibit Hephaestion had a major position in Alexander’s life – and one which was totally different to that of a good friend.

After Hephaestion’s loss of life in 324 BC, Alexander mourned him extravagantly, simply as Achilles did for Patroclus.

These very public shows is likely to be as shut as we will get to understanding how Alexander needed the pair to be perceived. They usually recommend a romantic relationship is a robust chance.

What does the scholarship say?

Maybe a extra vital query is why a documentary exploring this angle may provoke such a robust response as we speak.

It’s true that scholarship on Alexander’s intercourse life has not at all times been accessible. It wasn’t till 1978 that Ok. J. Dover’s work Greek Homosexuality paved the best way for brand new insights right into a extra various interpretation of sexualities within the historical world.

Earlier than this, vital students on Alexander, equivalent to W. W. Tarn (1869–1957), had outright denied Alexander’s curiosity in males, asserting any such proof was a results of “hostile” sources. Tarn even erased sure figures from historical past, together with one other attainable male lover of Alexander’s, Bagoas. He was unable to just accept Alexander as somebody who didn’t match along with his personal picture of the conqueror.

The fact is that same-sex relationships have been usually fairly frequent during the time of Alexander the Nice, though there have been additionally societal pressures on males, as they have been anticipated to marry and have youngsters with their legit wives.

Queer erasure has been all too frequent in scholarship, which has historically favored hetero-normative interpretations, even when the proof might clearly be interpreted in one other method.

Media representations that discover these interpretations supply us an opportunity to grasp historical relationships in their very own context. In doing so, they pave the best way for a richer understanding of the chances of the previous.

This text was initially revealed below the title ‘A new Netflix doco shows Alexander the Great as queer, and some viewers aren’t happy. An expert weighs in’ by Charlotte Dunn on The Conversation, and has been republished below a Artistic Commons License.

High picture: Alexander Placing his Seal Ring over Hephaestion’s Lips, by Johann Heinrich Tischbein, 1781. Supply: Public Domain