So, apprently, Oliver Stone’s new film Alexander is going to take the historical accurate route and depict the eponymous hero as most definitely gay.
I myself am fine with this. In fact, trying to cover or hide the fact would be seriously lame, IMHO.
Should we be getting ready for the standard, over-the-top moral outrage? Is this film going to be another Last Temptation of Christ (Martin Scorcese)?
Lastly, truly how strong is the evidence that Alexander the Great was in fact gay?
He had a boyfriend and didn’t ever have sex with his wife. I’d call that fairly compelling.
Assuming this is a well-established fact via reliable historical record, then yes, I would say so.
Well, there are some Greeks who want to sue Oliver Stone without ever seeing the movie.
One thing worth noting- ancient Greek attitudes toward homosexuality had VERY little in common with modern, liberal attitudes toward homosexuality. To ancient Greeks (and to the Spartans in particular), homosexuality often reflected a rejection of all things feminine, and an extremely macho, warrior ethic.
Many of the Spartans at Thermopylae died holding their lovers’ hands- but many of those same men would have gagged at seeing Harvey Fierstein or Boy George.
Why didn’t you just say they were leather queens?
Spartan MCs in the house, woof, woof!
I was always more curious about Alexander’s apparent need for conquest. No matter what he did, it was never enough. It led to his seath, destroyed his once mighty army, and drove him to the ends of the earth. My question is why??
I’d echo astorian, but in addition point out that if you were trying to truly pin Alexander with a modern label it would be bi.
Quite aside from his wives, Alexander also had an affair with the widow ( an older woman ) of his very able adversary Memnon of Rhodes. There was no need politically for him to have done so, unlike his marriages and the union did result in a child - his illegitimate son Heracles.
Alexander seemed pretty comfortable on both sides of the aisle.
He was a megalomaniac. In the very real pathological sense of the word. He was treacherous, vicious, entertained notions of self-divinity ( a very non-Macedonian trait ) and was driven to prove himself. A very sick and dangerous ( if utterly brilliant ) individual.
What I am curious about with this film is whether Oliver Stone will go with his usual conspiracy take on history :). Because there is one and a quite plausible one at that - that Alexander’s officers poisoned him. His symptoms are perfectly consistent with slow strychnine poisoning, a substance and method the ancient Greeks knew very well and strychnine is easily concealed in wine, which Alexander was drinking by the truckload towards the end.
Oh and just to correct this - he definitely had sex with at least one wife, which produced his legitimate heir Alexander IV, but probably also the second about whom tradition records that she was pregnant when she was murdered. So he must have had sex at least twice with his wives ;). But likely rather more than that - it was at the very least what was expected of him to get a heir.
Which doesn’t prove anything about his sexual perferences, since they were political necessities. For that his mistress Barsine, mentioned above, is the more reliable footnote to hold up against his well-attested relationship with Hephaistion.
Wasn’t Alexander’s boyfriend a eunuch?
Marc
In a NY Times article on this today, Oliver Stone said, “I don’t want to corrupt history.”
And that’s when I shot myself.
You’re thinking of Bagoas, a young Persian eunuch who became a favorite of Alexander, as he had been of his opponent Darius III.
His other boyfriend and the more famous one is his lifelong friend and later senior officer, Hephaestion, who was definitely not a eunuch. Oddly enough there doesn’t appear to have been much friction ( or the sources didn’t remark on any, anyway ) between Bagoas and Hephaestion - probably because they were only indirectly rivals. Craterus and Hephaestion on the other hand as the two most senior commanders towards the end ( and thus the closest to Alexander ), couldn’t stand each other and quarreled constantly.
Where’s a good online biography of him? I keep meaning to get some books from the library about him, but, well, I’m lazy.
Yeah, I am not sure what this groups name was, but they fought side by side with their lovers, lived with htem and fought with them. It was believed that fought harder because of it.
Idiots. There are no “official documents” of Alexander’s reign.
And besides, he wasn’t Greek–he was Macedonian (which really was different, at least back then).
Did your head go back and to the left?
Sacred Band of Thebes. Philip, Alexander’s father, fought and defeated them on the field. Legend says they were slain after having fought to the last man without giving an inch. Philip was apparently very impressed with this.
Careful what you say, you might really piss someone off. The modern countries of Greece and Macedonia are constantly fighting over who gets to claim Alex as a native son. For example, Greece objects to the flag of Macedonia, which incoporates aspects of Alexanders flag (or standard or whatever the hell it was back then).