Here’s the historical notes from my friend, sadly not in much of any order (she did put them in chrono order of when she sent them, so it should follow the flow of the show). I haven’t seen every single ep and when I do watch I tend to be distracted, so its hard for me to follow everything. I think I’ll keep on watching now that they’re re-airing from the beginning and maybe upon a second viewing it’ll all make more sense to me.
Random bits of Alexander the Great stuff:
About Harp Guy and Alex’s sex life:
Hephaestion – the blue-haired, pretty Harp Guy, who was very likely historically Alex’s main male lover. (Alexander was also connected with a Persian slave boy, named Bagoas, I think, whom he met much later on – the “Persian Boy” of the title of the second book of the Mary Renault historical trilogy about him. See below. This character doesn’t seem to have turned up in “Reign,” though.)
As I told you recently, in real life Hephaestion pre-deceased Alexander, and Alexander went mad with grief about his death. Apparently, when Alexander died he was buried in the same tomb as Hephaestion. (Whether Ptolemy had anything to do with building the tomb I don’t know.)
I must be very quick to remind you that sexual orientation among the Ancient Greeks was processed, culturally, very differently from the way we do. Men were expected to have intense, sexual relationships with other men, while still marrying women and having children by them. Women lived in a very separate sphere from men – not quite in harems, but there were separate quarters in the houses for women, called something like the “Gynaceuem” or something like that. Women were not expected to mix socially with men outside their families. Marriages tended to be arranged. The usual patriarchal crap. Though, as with many of these kinds of societies, queens and noblewomen often knew how to manipulate the men around them to their own advantage. (See Olympias…)
Alexander was married to the Persian Princess, Roxanne. I think he may have had a couple of other state marriages, too. (Not sure if he was actually polygamous or more of a serial monogamist. Remember, the events of “Reign” are compressing a story that took about 10-15 years to play out in real life. Generally, I seem to recall Greek marriages were more or less monogamous, but rich men had slave women or concubines, etc. too. Persian kings may have been polygamous, which could have given Alex an excuse if he wanted to add to the collection after Roxanne…)
I’m not a huge expert but since I studied Dead Greeks I know the basics of the story. So far, what I’ve seen is actually bizarrely accurate. I mean, some of the details have been Weirded Up (that whole thing about the Assassins of Pythagoras? the Plato-Hedron?) but the basic sequence of events is pretty spot-on.
Even the weird shit about Alexander’s mother is not coming out of thin air. History tells us that she was apparently a priestess and was accused of witchcraft and general strangeness. She also was said to be overbearing and very ambitious for her son. The strong intimations of incestuous feelings aren’t totally out of left field either – I think that accusation has been leveled in the historical record, too. (It may be exaggerated in this version but again, it’s not coming out of thin air.)
I am recognizing many of the characters from history. Like, Alexander really is said to have studied with Aristotle. I thing with Diogenes is another story associated with him. (Though, again, less weird than in this version.)
Note that Ptolemy is one of Alex’s Posse – you may recognize his name as the general who ended up inheriting Egypt and founding the line of Greek-Egyptian Pharaohs that continued for hundreds of years and included the famous Cleopatra. (Which, it turns out, was originally the name of Alexander’s sister – she isn’t included in this version of the story, apparently.)
I also recognize other names. In Athens to this day there is the Stoa of Attalos, in the Agora, which was built by one of the kings established by Alexander there. (I was surprised Attalos got executed in this version of the story. The Attalos of Athens may be a different guy with the same name. Names get repeated a lot.) Anyway, most of the major players are real historical figures. It’s kind of fun! (Though that Cassandra, Warrior Princess chick looks added in. I don’t remember any mention of an Amazon-like Badass Chick in any story I know of Alexander. )
If you are interested, there is a historical novel trilogy that is, as far as I know, one of the better accounts of Alexander’s life. It’s by Mary Renault, and the first book is called “Fire from Heaven.” That first book goes up to Alex at around 20, around the time his father dies. Then the next book is about his campaigns (I think that one is called “The Persian Boy”) and a third one is actually about his death and the aftermath. (I think that one is called “Funeral Games.”) Renault does talk a lot about Alex’s relationship with Hephaestion and other men, but since the books were written in 1969, thereabouts, there’s not exactly a “Queer as Folk” sensibility. (It’s low key but not denied.)
Also, there was a PBS TV documentary not too many years ago, hosted by Michael Wood. It was about re-tracing the steps of Alexander the Great by actually going to the historical and archaeological sites associated with his exploits. I may have it on tape somewhere, but my tapes are a hideous uncatalogued mess right now. You may find tapes or DVDs on PBS.com, or maybe even in the library.
(I think the show was called “In the Footsteps of Alexander” or something like that.)
The closest thing we’ve seen to a villain yet is Attalos, the guy who maneuvered his daughter into bed with the King. Though I’m dying to find out What Happened On Samothrace Island!
(Again, based on real events in history – there were a lot of mystery cults in Greece and Rome back then.)
new commentary: What ended up happening at Samothrace is of course, MIGHTY weird in “Reign.” But I believe there really was a wiggy mystery cult there. The most famous thing out of Samothrace is the famous “Winged Victory” statue (the “Nike of Samothrace”) now in the Louvre. Not sure what the date for that statue is – it might be from Alexander’s era or not long thereafter.
By the way, the time in Greek history during and after Alexander’s era is known as the Hellenistic Era. Before that, it’s called “Hellenic” of which the “Classical” era includes the golden age of Athens, the building of the Parthenon, etc. Alexander lived in the 300’s something BCE. The Golden Age was about 100 years earlier. I believe Socrates lived in that era. Plato, of course, was his follower, then Aristotle.
from the original e-mail:
Oh, yeah, the philosophy stuff is definitely mumbo-jumbo. I know a little Greek philosophy and this is the part they’re playing most fast and loose with.
I nearly fell out of bed (was watching in my room) when Diogenes started talking like Yoda. I seem to recall, Diogenes may have been the philosopher who supposedly walked around Athens with a lantern looking for one honest man. (What the tarot card “the Hermit” is based on.) I could be wrong about that. But I have definitely heard the name.
Other events from real history depicted in “Reign” include:
The Gordian Knot incident (which is a famous saying even to this day.)
The visit to the Oracle of Ammon
The founding of Alexandria (of course)
The defeat of Persia and the marriage to Roxanne
The slog to India. In history, Alexander died on the way back from India. I think he caught some kind of a swamp fever or something. Let’s see how he buys it in this version.
This is the URL for “In the Footsteps of Alexander”
Found a website relating to that really good PBS show about Alexander that I know I have floating around on tape somewhere. Until I find it, here is a URL for the show’s site:
http://www.mpt.org/programsinterests/mpt/alexander/