Alexander the great aristotle gay relationship

Alexander married three times: to Roxana of Bactria, Stateira, and Parysatis, daughter of Ochus. He fathered at least one child, Alexander IV of Macedon, born by Roxana shortly after his death in BC. Director Oliver Stone’s depiction of the Macedonian king as homosexual in the movie “Alexander” was similarly divisive. On one end of the spectrum, various gay rights activists and LGBTQ sites praise Alexander the Great as an iconic “gay hero”.

So the alexander the great aristotle gay relationship pretty clearly shows Alexander as having a male concubine. More significantly, his relationship with Hephaestion (Jared Leto) is shown as being more than platonic, although the two men are not directly shown having sex. The claim that Alexander the Great was homosexual is based on speculation rather than concrete historical evidence.

His deep friendship with Hephaestion, while significant, does not equate to a romantic or sexual relationship. In modern studies, Alexander has been both portrayed as homosexual, and defended from such "allegations". One side accepts a reputed disinterest in women, while the other tries to deny it. Neither gives proper attention to Alexander's circumstances or to the ancient social realities.

At least, if the story is actually true. The real question, assuming the story is based in fact, is what Alexander intended. Consequently, the proper form of proskynesis when meeting him, at least on ceremonial occasions, was full prostration.

Alexander the Great | An Historian Goes to the Movies

The erastes was both a sexual lover and a mentor to the eromenossomeone who helped usher him into adult male society through socialization. He does a good job making his two major battle scenes, Gaugamela and Hydaspes, intelligible to the viewer. Neither gives proper attention to Alexander's circumstances or to the ancient social realities. Similarly, when Hephaeston dies, Alexander suspects poison and confronts Roxane, who denies the charge.

This makes the boy's comparison to Hephaistion particularly suggestive. Hades often gets short shrift in Greek myth in general, largely because of his position, I think. The problem with this bit of circumstantial evidence is that we cannot be sure when the comparison came about. The greatest warrior in Greek literature, Achilles, famously fights to avenge his dead companion Patroclus in The Iliad.

This means that there is an enormous relationship of room for later ideas about Alexander to have crept into the accounts of him, and getting back to the essential Alexander is quite challenging. Calculators, Calculators, Calculators! Like Liked by 1 person Reply. Roxane walks in and gets upset, asking if her husband loves Hephaestion.

February 13, at pm. This pothos. By the same token, however, gay rights activists who would overdraw the parallel and claim Alexander as a gay hero, refusing to recognize differences between now and great aristotle gay, are equally without historic basis. So the Greeks generally avoided talking directly about exactly what happened when an erastes got busy alexander the his eromenos ; looking too closely at that made them anxious.

At one point, Alexander gets into bed, and Bagoas climbs in with him and they kiss. Thus, it would be inappropriate to refer to the friend as "lover" except in very specific circumstances, as such would fall short of encompassing the whole.

Hephaestion and alexander relationship

Alexander tries to straddle these two scenarios. So Alexander spends his whole adult life trying to outdo his father and to get as far away from his mother as geographically possible. At least some of his teachings seem to have made an impression on his student! As Arrian tells the story. A man could easily have a wife or concubine and a boyfriend. April 30, at pm.

Yet the model above is a largely Athenian pattern based on Athenian evidence