Who is hephaestions lover

Alexander and Hephaestion spent time with each other nearly their whole lives, until the death of Hephaestion in BC. They traveled, fought in battlefields and experienced many adventures together. Alexander is said to have felt a strong bond with him also due to his sensitivity, love of literature and intelligence. As a ruler, he didn't have too many people who he could trust. It seems that he believed in the loyalty his mother Olympias, Hephaestion, and his friend Ptolemy, future pharaoh Ptolemy I Soter.

According to some later writings, Alexander felt extreme loneliness after the death of his dear friend, and he himself died just a few months after the burial of Hephaestion.

Throughout history, the Greek male friendship may be considered somewhat unique. Greek men could love their best friends like brothers and like family, and their way of treating each other could often be misinterpreted. At the same time, Ancient Greek military forces for example, the Spartans , believed that homosexual sex made bonds between the soldiers stronger. This same-sex interaction was a very popular topic to many ancient authors. The great philosopher Plato in his work Symposium wrote that the interlocutor Phaedrus made a comment on the importance of sexual relationships between men, which improves the brotherhood and bravery on the battlefield.

Many researchers interpreted his interest in this topic as confirmation that he was in such a relationship with Socrates, although there is no evidence to support this theory. That he loved at least two men there can be little doubt. The first was the Macedonian noble Hephaestion, a friend from boyhood, whom he looked on--and may actually have referred to--as his alter ego.

The Persian queen mother, it was said, once mistook the taller Hephaestion for Alexander, who graciously excused her blushes by murmuring that 'he too is Alexander'. Whether Alexander's relationship with the slightly older Hephaestion was ever of the sort that once dared not speak its name is not certain, but it is likely enough that it was.

At any rate, Macedonian and Greek mores would have favored an actively sexual component rather than inhibiting or censoring it. Like hunting, homosexuality was thought to foster masculine, especially martial, bravery.

If we follow this way of thinking, there was at least one more man who could have been the male lover of Alexander. His name was Bagoas and he was a Persian eunuch. However, it is impossible to really know the truth of their relationship as there is no direct information about the sexual preferences of Alexander. Homosexuality was a norm in the ancient times, but in the case of Alexander the Great and Hephaestion, it is hard to rationally conclude what the true relationship was between them.

Even if they were lovers, the beliefs and perceptions about homosexual relationships was definitely different than the way it is considered today. However, the author of this article doubts the theory that Alexander and Hephaestion were in a romantic relationship.

Late 19th-century engraving. After the death of Hephaestion, Alexander decided to build an impressive monument in his memory in Macedonia. Almost immediately, it became clear that the commander of the Companion cavalry the best soldiers in the Macedonian army , Philotas , had known of the plans and had not reported his discovery. At first, Alexander forgave Philotas, but the next day, the accusations were renewed by the phalanx commanders Craterus and Coenus , Philotas' brother-in-law.

It is not known whether they had a secret agenda, but we may be suspicious, as we see two infantry commanders accusing the leading cavalry commander. During the night, Philotas was arrested. As the army exercised capital jurisdiction in Macedonia, Alexander organized a trial. He accused Philotas and the court found him guilty of conspiracy.

However, the precise nature of the conspiracy was unclear. Hephaestion, Craterus and Coenus declared that torture should be employed to force the truth out of Philotas. He confessed that he and his father had wanted to kill Alexander to become kings themselves.

After this confession, the commander of the Companions was executed. What to make of this story? No one doubts that the first conspiracy was a fact, but the existence of the conspiracy of Philotas and Parmenion is another matter.

The confession of the tortured man can, of course, not be taken as proof. On the other hand, it is strange that Philotas did not report the first conspiracy. It is possible that he wanted to see what happened: if the soldiers' attempt failed, nothing was lost, if it were successful, the army would chose him as its commander and king.

He had much to gain, but the fact that he had a motive does not mean that he really did what he was accused of. We will never known what really happened. The consequences of the murder were clear. In the first place, the execution of Philotas made the murder of his father Armenian inevitable - and in fact, he was killed. According to Classical belief, gods and men went to different places in the afterlife.

The Oracle at Siwa bargained that Hephaestion was not a god, but a divine hero, an answer with which Alexander was satisfied. Temples were immediately erected in his memory, and there is evidence that a cult in his name did take hold. The pyre was of a scale and complexity to rival the Pyramids:. The first level was decorated with two hundred and forty ships with golden prows, each of these adorned with armed figures with red banners filling the spaces between.

On the second level were torches with snakes at the base, golden wreaths in the middle and at the top, flames surmounted by eagles. The third level showed a hunting scene, and the fourth a battle of centaurs, all done in gold. On the fifth level, also in gold, were lions and bulls, and on the sixth the arms of Macedon and Persia.

The seventh and final level bore sculptures of sirens, hollowed out to conceal a choir who would sing a lament. On the day of the funeral, in perhaps the most poignant touch of the whole spectacle, Alexander ordered the sacred flame in the temple be put out. Such an act was usually reserved only for the death of the Great King himself.

He grew progressively worse over a period of twelve or fourteen days before he finally succumbed. The cause is unknown although, like Hephaestion, it could have been anything from malaria or typhoid to poison.

He was thirty-three years old. Died on this day: Eyre de Lanux , American , artist and art deco designer. Kate swapped the north-west for the midwest in October and married award winning author AJ Rose. Together they plan to take over the world. Some 20 years later, I still am living for their history.

Read more…. Civil partnerships have been legal in England and Wales since The conception of human sexuality as an innate and immovable part of human identity is something that has only entered society fairly recently. Some have suggested that ancient sexuality can be viewed as a vertical rather than horizonal system- this means that in the ancient mindset, many sexual relations were entered into not just for the purpose of mutual intimacy but were partially a reflection of the hierarchy of ancient society.

Under this framework sexual attraction to, and intimate relationships between, men were acceptable so long as they adhered to certain roles. Usually, a citizen male of a Classical city would have been permitted to pursue intimacy with another person regardless of their gender so long as they occupied a social role that, at the time, was considered inferior. This could include younger men, enslaved men, and women. However, not all relationships documented from the ancient world adhered so strictly to the confines of social hierarchy.

There is a plethora of evidence from ancient literature and art that suggests that same-gender attraction was apparent between couples for purposes of genuine affection. While previous generations of scholars had made attempts to sanitise, or indeed completely redact, evidence of same-sex attraction in the ancient world, in recent decades there has been more consideration of love and relationships that appear outside of the typical heterosexual hierarchy.