Hephaestion ( grc, Ἡφαιστίων ''Hephaistíon''; c. 356 BC – October 324 BC), son of
Amyntor, was an
ancient Macedonian nobleman and a general in the army of
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...
. He was "by far the dearest of all the king's friends; he had been brought up with Alexander and shared all his secrets."
[Curtius 3.12.16] This relationship lasted throughout their lives, and was compared, by others as well as themselves, to that of
Achilles
In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus ( grc-gre, Ἀχιλλεύς) was a hero of the Trojan War, the greatest of all the Greek warriors, and the central character of Homer's '' Iliad''. He was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Pe ...
and
Patroclus
In Greek mythology, as recorded in Homer's ''Iliad'', Patroclus (pronunciation variable but generally ; grc, Πάτροκλος, Pátroklos, glory of the father) was a childhood friend, close wartime companion, and the presumed (by some later a ...
.
His military career was distinguished. A member of
Alexander the Great's personal bodyguard, he went on to command the
Companion cavalry and was entrusted with many other tasks throughout Alexander's ten-year campaign in Asia, including diplomatic missions, the bridging of major rivers, sieges and the foundation of new settlements. Besides being a soldier, engineer and diplomat, he corresponded with the philosophers
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ...
and
Xenocrates
Xenocrates (; el, Ξενοκράτης; c. 396/5314/3 BC) of Chalcedon was a Greek philosopher, mathematician, and leader ( scholarch) of the Platonic Academy from 339/8 to 314/3 BC. His teachings followed those of Plato, which he attempted t ...
and actively supported Alexander in his attempts to integrate the Greeks and Persians. Alexander formally made him his second-in-command when he appointed him
Chiliarch of the empire. Alexander also made him part of the royal family when he gave him as his bride
Drypetis, sister to his own second wife
Stateira, both daughters of
Darius III of Persia.
When he died suddenly at
Ecbatana
Ecbatana ( peo, 𐏃𐎥𐎶𐎫𐎠𐎴 ''Hagmatāna'' or ''Haŋmatāna'', literally "the place of gathering" according to Darius I's inscription at Bisotun; Persian: هگمتانه; Middle Persian: 𐭠𐭧𐭬𐭲𐭠𐭭; Parthian: 𐭀� ...
around age thirty-two, Alexander was overwhelmed with grief. He petitioned the
oracle
An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination.
Description
The word ...
at
Siwa to grant Hephaestion divine status and thus Hephaestion was honoured as a ''Divine
Hero
A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or strength. Like other formerly gender-specific terms (like ''actor''), ''her ...
''. Hephaestion was cremated and his ashes taken to
Babylon
''Bābili(m)''
* sux, 𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠
* arc, 𐡁𐡁𐡋 ''Bāḇel''
* syc, ܒܒܠ ''Bāḇel''
* grc-gre, Βαβυλών ''Babylṓn''
* he, בָּבֶל ''Bāvel''
* peo, 𐎲𐎠𐎲𐎡𐎽𐎢 ''Bābiru''
* elx, 𒀸𒁀𒉿𒇷 ''Babi ...
.
At the time of his own death a mere eight months later, Alexander was still planning lasting monuments to Hephaestion's memory.
Youth and education
Hephaestion's exact age is not known. No concise biography has ever been written about him, likely stemming from the fact that he died before
Alexander and none of those among Alexander's companions who survived him would have had a need to promote someone other than themselves. Many scholars cite Hephaestion's age as being similar to Alexander's so it is fair to assume that he was born about 356 BC. He is said to have become a page in 343 BC, a role common to adolescent boys of the aristocratic class in Macedon. As a member of the court, he may have met Alexander around this time.
The only surviving anecdote from Hephaestion's youth comes courtesy of the ''
Alexander Romance''. According to this tale, "one day when Alexander was 15 years old ... sailing with Hephaestion, his friend, he easily reached
Pisa
Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the ci ...
... and he went off to stroll with Hephaestion." That Alexander's exact age is given provides another clue to Hephaestion's upbringing because at fifteen Alexander and his companions were at
Mieza studying under
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ...
. Hephaestion has never been named among those who attended the lectures at Mieza, but his close friendship with Alexander at that age suggests strongly that he was numbered among them. More telling is Hephaestion's name being found in a catalogue of Aristotle's correspondences. The letters themselves no longer exist, but for them to have found their way into an official catalogue, their content must have been of some significance. It implies that Hephaestion received a good education and shows that Aristotle was impressed enough by his alleged pupil to send letters throughout Alexander's expanding empire to converse with him.
A few years after the lectures at Mieza, Hephaestion's presence was notably absent when several of Alexander's close friends were exiled as a result of the
Pixodarus affair. Among those exiled by
Philip II after Alexander's failed attempt to offer himself as groom to the Carian princess were
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...
,
Nearchus
Nearchus or Nearchos ( el, Νέαρχος; – 300 BC) was one of the Greek officers, a navarch, in the army of Alexander the Great. He is known for his celebrated expeditionary voyage starting from the Indus River, through the Persian Gulf and ...
,
Harpalus,
Erigyius Erigyius (in Greek Ἐριγυιoς; died 328 BC), a Mytilenaean, son of Larichus, was an officer in Alexander the Great's army. He had been driven into banishment by Philip II, king of Macedon, because of his faithful attachment to Alexander, and ...
and
Laomedon. The reason for Hephaestion's absence from this list could be the fact that all of the exiled men were older friends of Alexander, Erigyius himself roughly 24 years older than the prince. Hephaestion was a contemporary of Alexander and it is likely that his influence might have been seen as less of a threat than these more mature companions. Whatever Hephaestion's opinion had been on the whole affair, like many of Alexander's other childhood companions he was not exiled in its aftermath.
While it is true that very little detail of Hephaestion's childhood and education can be found, that which remains gives credence to what is known about his later life. His friendship with Alexander was long-lasting, as was his tenure in the court at
Pella; he even shared the same education as the future Great King of Greece and Asia. With such a promising start, age and experience would have helped mould Hephaestion Amyntoros into the man who would one day be the second most powerful man in Alexander's empire, second only to the king himself.
Career
Sharing Alexander's upbringing, Hephaestion would have learned to fight and to ride well from an early age. His first taste of military action was probably the campaign against the
Thracians
The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied ...
while Alexander was regent, followed by
Philip II's Danube campaign (342 BC) and the
battle of Chaeronea (338 BC) while he was still in his teens. His name is not mentioned in lists of high-ranking officers during the early battles of Alexander's Danube campaign (335 BC) or the invasion of
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
. Nor are the names of Alexander's other close friends and contemporaries listed, suggesting that their promotions, when they achieved them, were earned by merit.
Wars in Persia
Hephaestion's career was never solely a military one. Right from the start he was also engaged in special missions, sometimes diplomatic, sometimes technical. The first mention of his career in the sources is a diplomatic mission of some importance. After the
battle of Issus (333 BC) when Alexander was proceeding south down the
Phoenicia
Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their his ...
n coast and had received the capitulation of
Sidon
Sidon ( ; he, צִידוֹן, ''Ṣīḏōn'') known locally as Sayda or Saida ( ar, صيدا ''Ṣaydā''), is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate, of which it is the capital, on the Mediterranean coast. ...
, Hephaestion was "authorised to appoint to the throne the Sidonian he considered most deserving of that high office". Hephaestion took local advice and chose a man distantly related to the royal family, but whose honesty had reduced him to working as a gardener. The man,
Abdalonymus
Abdalonimus ( el, ; literally "servant of the most high gods", transliterated from the Semitic name ''Abd-Elonim'') was a Phoenician gardener, but of royal descent, who was made King of Sidon by Alexander the Great in 332 BC.
Life
After Alexand ...
, had a successful royal career, fully justifying Hephaestion's choice.
After the siege of
Tyre (332 BC) Alexander entrusted his fleet to Hephaestion, who had orders to skirt the coast and head for
Gaza, their next objective, while Alexander himself led the army overland. Hephaestion's task was not an easy one for this was not the
Athenian
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...
fleet with which Alexander had started and had earlier disbanded, but a motley collection of semi-reluctant allies of many nationalities who would need holding together with patience and strength. Furthermore, on arrival at Gaza the cargo of siege engines had to be unloaded, transported across difficult terrain and reassembled.
Plutarch
Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...
, while writing about Alexander's correspondence, reveals an occasion when Hephaestion was away on business and Alexander wrote to him. The subject matter suggests that this took place while they were in Egypt. What business Hephaestion was attending to we do not know, but Andrew Chugg
[Chugg 2006, p.93] has suggested that it was concerned either with his command of the fleet or Athenian diplomacy. He quotes sources which suggest that Hephaestion had been approached by Aristion of Athens to effect a reconciliation between Alexander and
Demosthenes
Demosthenes (; el, Δημοσθένης, translit=Dēmosthénēs; ; 384 – 12 October 322 BC) was a Greek statesman and orator in ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual pr ...
and, certainly, Athens' inaction during the revolt of the Spartan king
Agis would seem to support this idea. As Chugg says, "If he did persuade Alexander to reach an accommodation with Demosthenes at this critical juncture, as would seem likely from the circumstances, then he was significantly responsible for saving the situation for Macedon in Greece by preventing the revolt of Agis spreading to Athens and her allies."
It is likely, though not certain, that it was Hephaestion who led the advance army from Egypt to bridge the
Euphrates river
The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers''). Originating in Turkey, the Eup ...
.
Darius of Persia sent
Mazaeus to hold the opposite bank while the bridging work was in progress. This Mazaeus was the commander who threw away what looked like certain victory on the Persian right at the
battle of Gaugamela
The Battle of Gaugamela (; grc, Γαυγάμηλα, translit=Gaugámela), also called the Battle of Arbela ( grc, Ἄρβηλα, translit=Árbela), took place in 331 BC between the forces of the Army of Macedon under Alexander the Great a ...
(331 BC) and later became Alexander's governor of
Babylon
''Bābili(m)''
* sux, 𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠
* arc, 𐡁𐡁𐡋 ''Bāḇel''
* syc, ܒܒܠ ''Bāḇel''
* grc-gre, Βαβυλών ''Babylṓn''
* he, בָּבֶל ''Bāvel''
* peo, 𐎲𐎠𐎲𐎡𐎽𐎢 ''Bābiru''
* elx, 𒀸𒁀𒉿𒇷 ''Babi ...
.
Robin Lane Fox
Robin James Lane Fox, (born 5 October 1946) is an English classicist, ancient historian, and gardening writer known for his works on Alexander the Great. Lane Fox is an Emeritus Fellow of New College, Oxford and Reader in Ancient History, U ...
has suggested that a conversation with Hephaestion may have won Mazaeus over: "It is conceivable that the battle of Gaugamela was partly won on the banks of the Euphrates and that Mazaeus' reinstatement was less a sign of magnanimity than of a prearranged reward."
It is at Gaugamela that mention is first made of Hephaestion's rank. He is called the "commander of the bodyguards (
somatophylakes
''Somatophylakes'' ( el, Σωματοφύλακες; singular: ''somatophylax'', σωματοφύλαξ) were the bodyguards of high-ranking people in ancient Greece.
The most famous body of ''somatophylakes'' were those of Philip II of Macedon a ...
)". This is not the Royal Squadron, whose duties also included guarding the king in battle and which was at that time commanded by
Cleitus—a man of the older generation—but a small group of close companions specifically designated to fight alongside the king. Hephaestion was certainly in the thick of things with Alexander for
Arrian
Arrian of Nicomedia (; Greek: ''Arrianos''; la, Lucius Flavius Arrianus; )
was a Greek historian, public servant, military commander and philosopher of the Roman period.
''The Anabasis of Alexander'' by Arrian is considered the best ...
tells us he was wounded and
Curtius specifically mentions that it was a spear wound in the arm.
After Gaugamela there is the first indication that Alexander intended reconciliation with the Persians and that Hephaestion supported him in this unpopular policy. One evening in
Babylon
''Bābili(m)''
* sux, 𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠
* arc, 𐡁𐡁𐡋 ''Bāḇel''
* syc, ܒܒܠ ''Bāḇel''
* grc-gre, Βαβυλών ''Babylṓn''
* he, בָּבֶל ''Bāvel''
* peo, 𐎲𐎠𐎲𐎡𐎽𐎢 ''Bābiru''
* elx, 𒀸𒁀𒉿𒇷 ''Babi ...
Alexander noticed a high-born woman obliged to dance as part of the entertainment. Curtius explains:
"The following day, he (Alexander) instructed Hephaestion to have all the prisoners brought to the royal quarters and there he verified the lineage of each of them."
Alexander had realized that people from noble families were being treated with little dignity and wanted to do something about it. That he chose Hephaestion to help him shows that he could rely on Hephaestion's tact and sympathy. Yet Alexander could also rely on Hephaestion for firmness and resolve. When his policies had led to a plot against his life, the possible involvement of a senior officer,
Philotas, caused much concern. It was Hephaestion, along with
Craterus
Craterus or Krateros ( el, Κρατερός; c. 370 BC – 321 BC) was a Macedonian general under Alexander the Great and one of the Diadochi. Throughout his life he was a loyal royalist and supporter of Alexander the Great.Anson, Edward M. (20 ...
and
Coenus, who insisted on, and actually carried out, the customary torture.
After the execution of Philotas (330 BC), Hephaestion was appointed joint commander—with Cleitus—of the
Companion cavalry
The Companions ( el, , ''hetairoi'') were the elite cavalry of the Macedonian army from the time of king Philip II of Macedon, achieving their greatest prestige under Alexander the Great, and regarded as the first or among the first shock cava ...
, Philotas' former position. This dual appointment was a way of satisfying two divergent shades of opinion now hardening throughout the army: one, like Hephaestion, broadly supportive of Alexander's policy of integration, and the other, that of Philip's older veterans in particular, whose implacable resentment of Persian ways was well represented by Cleitus. The cavalry prospered under this command, showing itself equal to learning new tactics necessary against
Scythian nomads and to counter-insurgency measures such as those deployed in the spring of 328 BC. The army set out from
Balkh
), named for its green-tiled ''Gonbad'' ( prs, گُنبَد, dome), in July 2001
, pushpin_map=Afghanistan#Bactria#West Asia
, pushpin_relief=yes
, pushpin_label_position=bottom
, pushpin_mapsize=300
, pushpin_map_caption=Location in Afghanistan ...
in five columns to spread through the valleys between the
Oxus
The Amu Darya, tk, Amyderýa/ uz, Amudaryo// tg, Амударё, Amudaryo ps, , tr, Ceyhun / Amu Derya grc, Ὦξος, Ôxos (also called the Amu, Amo River and historically known by its Latin name or Greek ) is a major river in Central Asi ...
and
Tanais rivers to pacify
Sogdiana. Hephaestion commanded one of the columns and, after arriving at
Marakanda
fa, سمرقند
, native_name_lang =
, settlement_type = City
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from the top:Registan square, Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, Bibi-Khanym Mosque, view inside Shah-i-Zin ...
, he set out again to establish settlements in the region.
Expedition into India
In spring 327 BC the army headed into India and Alexander divided his forces. He led his section north into the
Swat Valley, while Hephaestion and
Perdiccas
Perdiccas ( el, Περδίκκας, ''Perdikkas''; 355 BC – 321/320 BC) was a general of Alexander the Great. He took part in the Macedonian campaign against the Achaemenid Empire, and, following Alexander's death in 323 BC, rose to becom ...
took a sizeable contingent through the
Khyber Pass
The Khyber Pass (خیبر درہ) is a mountain pass in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, on the border with the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan. It connects the town of Landi Kotal to the Valley of Peshawar at Jamrud by traversing p ...
. Hephaestion's orders were to "take over either by force or agreement all places on their march and upon reaching the
Indus
The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kashmir, ...
to make suitable preparations for crossing". They were in unknown territory, whose political and geographical landscapes were unfamiliar, and Hephaestion would have had to make decisions on the spot and act accordingly. He reached the Indus with the land behind him conquered, including the successful siege of Peuceolatis, which took thirty days, and proceeded to organize the construction of boats for the crossing.
Alexander often had to divide his forces and command was given to a variety of senior officers on different occasions. For example, a few weeks before this mission of Hephaestion's, Craterus had been sent with a large force to subdue the last two remaining
Bactria
Bactria (; Bactrian: , ), or Bactriana, was an ancient region in Central Asia in Amu Darya's middle stream, stretching north of the Hindu Kush, west of the Pamirs and south of the Gissar range, covering the northern part of Afghanistan, sou ...
n rebels. It seems that Hephaestion was chosen when the objectives were far from clear-cut, and Alexander needed a commander on whom he could rely to do what he would have done himself without needing instructions.
Hephaestion took part in a notable cavalry charge at the
battle of the Hydaspes river
The Battle of the Hydaspes was fought between Alexander the Great and king Porus in 326 BC. It took place on the banks of the Jhelum River (known to the ancient Greeks as Hydaspes) in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent (modern-day ...
(326 BC). Then when the army began its homeward journey he was again entrusted with half the army, including the elite troops and two hundred elephants, as they travelled south-west along the banks of the Hydaspes. Some of the army, including Alexander himself, travelled in boats which had been provided by the sponsorship of leading courtiers. Arrian lists Hephaestion first among these "honorary
trierarchs", indicating his leading position at this time. On entering hostile territory Alexander split his forces into three. Hephaestion's section marched "five days in advance, with the object of intercepting and capturing any native troops which ... might be rapidly moving forward". Again, Hephaestion was called upon when initiative was required. After Alexander had taken a detour to subdue a hostile tribe, in which he was seriously injured, Hephaestion took command of the greater part of the army as they travelled down the Indus to the sea. At the coast he organized the construction of a fortress and a harbour for the fleet at Pattala.
Hephaestion was in command at Pattala while Alexander advanced. When he rejoined Alexander at Rhambacia he established a city there also. Hephaestion crossed the
Gedrosian desert with Alexander, sharing the torments of that journey and, when the army was safely back in
Susa
Susa ( ; Middle elx, 𒀸𒋗𒊺𒂗, translit=Šušen; Middle and Neo- elx, 𒋢𒋢𒌦, translit=Šušun; Neo- Elamite and Achaemenid elx, 𒀸𒋗𒐼𒀭, translit=Šušán; Achaemenid elx, 𒀸𒋗𒐼, translit=Šušá; fa, شوش ...
, he was decorated for bravery. He was to take part in no further fighting; he had only months to live. But, having ended his military career as Alexander's de facto second-in-command, he was also his second in the political sphere. Alexander had made that official by naming him
Chiliarch. Photius mentions Perdiccas being appointed "to command the chiliarchy which Hephaestion had originally held".
Relationships
Alexander
Little is known of Hephaestion's personal relationships beyond his close friendship with
Alexander. Alexander was an outgoing, charismatic man who had many friends but his dearest and closest friend and confidant was Hephaestion.
Theirs was a friendship which had been forged in boyhood. It endured through adolescence, through Alexander's becoming king, and through the hardships of campaigning and the flatteries of court life and their marriages.
Their tutor
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ...
described friendship in general as "one soul abiding in two bodies". That they themselves considered their friendship to be of such a kind is shown by the stories of the morning after the
Battle of Issus.
Diodorus,
Arrian
Arrian of Nicomedia (; Greek: ''Arrianos''; la, Lucius Flavius Arrianus; )
was a Greek historian, public servant, military commander and philosopher of the Roman period.
''The Anabasis of Alexander'' by Arrian is considered the best ...
and
Curtius[Curtius 3.12.17] all describe the scene when Alexander and Hephaestion went together to visit the captured Persian royal family. Its senior member, the queen
Sisygambis, knelt to Hephaestion to plead for their lives, having mistaken him for Alexander because he was taller, and both young men were wearing similar clothes. When she realized her mistake she was acutely embarrassed, but Alexander pardoned her, saying "You were not mistaken, Mother; this man too is Alexander."
Their affection for each other was no secret, as is borne out by their own words. Hephaestion, when replying to a letter to Alexander's mother,
Olympias
Olympias ( grc-gre, Ὀλυμπιάς; c. 375–316 BC) was a Greek princess of the Molossians, and the eldest daughter of king Neoptolemus I of Epirus, the sister of Alexander I of Epirus, the fourth wife of Philip II, the king of Macedoni ...
, said "you know that Alexander means more to us than anything". Arrian says that Alexander, after Hephaestion's death, described him as "the friend I valued as my own life".
Paul Cartledge describes their closeness when he says: "Alexander seems actually to have referred to Hephaestion as his alter ego."
Aside from their strong personal bond, theirs was also a working partnership in that all that Alexander undertook, Hephaestion was at his side. It is possible to discern a pattern, when studying Hephaestion's career, of Alexander's constant trust in, and increasing reliance on, Hephaestion. By the time of the advance into India, after the deaths of senior generals from the older generation, there had been worrying instances among senior officers of their own generation of treachery, a lack of sympathy with Alexander's aims of further integration of Persians into the army, and of sheer incompetence. Time after time, when Alexander needed to divide his forces he entrusted half to Hephaestion, knowing that in him he had a man of unquestionable loyalty who understood and sympathized with his aims and, above all, who got the job done.
Hephaestion played a full part in Alexander's regular consultations with senior officers, but he was the one to whom Alexander would also talk in private, sharing his thoughts, hopes, and plans. Curtius states that Hephaestion was the sharer of all his secrets; and Plutarch describes an occasion when Alexander had a controversial change to impose and implies that Hephaestion was the one with whom Alexander discussed it and who arranged for the change to be implemented. According to the painting done by Aetion of Alexander's first wedding, Hephaestion was his torch-bearer (best man), showing by this not only his friendship, but also his support for Alexander's policies as Alexander's choice of an Asian bride had not been a popular one among the Macedonians.
By the time they returned to Persia, Hephaestion was officially, by title, Alexander's second-in-command, as he had long been in practice, and also his brother-in-law. Hammond sums up their public relationship as follows: "It is not surprising that Alexander was as closely attached to Hephaestion as
Achilles
In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus ( grc-gre, Ἀχιλλεύς) was a hero of the Trojan War, the greatest of all the Greek warriors, and the central character of Homer's '' Iliad''. He was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Pe ...
was to
Patroclus
In Greek mythology, as recorded in Homer's ''Iliad'', Patroclus (pronunciation variable but generally ; grc, Πάτροκλος, Pátroklos, glory of the father) was a childhood friend, close wartime companion, and the presumed (by some later a ...
", and "At the time of his death Hephaestion held the highest single command, that of the
Companion Cavalry
The Companions ( el, , ''hetairoi'') were the elite cavalry of the Macedonian army from the time of king Philip II of Macedon, achieving their greatest prestige under Alexander the Great, and regarded as the first or among the first shock cava ...
; and had been repeatedly second in command to Alexander in the hierarchy of the Asian court, holding the title of Chiliarch, which had been held by
Nabarzanes Nabarzanes (died ) was a high-ranking Persian commander, who served as the chiliarch of the royal cavalry of the Achaemenid King of Kings Darius III ().
Following the Persian defeat against the Macedonian king Alexander the Great () at the Battle ...
under
Darius. Thus Alexander honoured Hephaestion both as the closest of his friends and the most distinguished of his Field Marshals."
It has been suggested by some modern scholars that as well as being close friends Alexander and Hephaestion were also lovers, though hardly any of Alexander's extant ancient Greek or
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
* Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...
biographers ever refers to Hephaestion as anything but Alexander's friend,
consistent with Hephaestion's epithet ''"Philalexandros"'' which was given to him by
Alexander himself. It has been observed, however, that the ancient Greek word for friend "φίλος" (Philos) was also applied to lovers in the homo-erotic or sexual sense.
Furthermore, Arrian and Plutarch describe the occasion when Alexander and Hephaestion publicly identified themselves with the Homeric figures of Achilles and Patroclus. At the onset of the campaign in Asia, Alexander led a contingent of the army to visit
Troy
Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in present-day Turkey, south-west of Ç ...
, scene of the events in his beloved ''
Iliad
The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Ody ...
''. He encircled the tomb of Achilles with a garland and Hephaestion did the same with the tomb of Patroclus, and they ran a race, naked, to honour their dead heroes. Arrian and Plutarch draw no conclusions from this; however, according to
Thomas R. Martin and Christopher W. Blackwell, by no means does the identification of Alexander and Hephaestion with Achilles and Patroclus equate to their being in a homosexual relationship as
Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
, author of the ''Iliad'', never suggested that Achilles and Patroclus had sexual relations. Martin and Blackwell further suggest this concept was theorized by unspecified "later authors",
who include, however, such eminent writers as
Aeschylus
Aeschylus (, ; grc-gre, Αἰσχύλος ; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Gree ...
and
Plato
Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
that had lived before Alexander and Hephaestion's time.
Attic orator
The ten Attic orators were considered the greatest orators and logographers of the classical era (5th–4th century BC). They are included in the "Canon of Ten", which probably originated in Alexandria. A.E. Douglas has argued, however, that it ...
Aeschines, who was contemporary with them (albeit somewhat older), explicitly addressed the question in these terms: "...Homer, though he often speaks of Patroclus and Achilles, is silent about love and gives no name to their friendship; he thinks that the remarkable strength of their affection is obvious to the cultivated among his audience." Thus, according to Robin Lane Fox quite different conclusions can be drawn from Martin and Blackwell's:
"It was a remarkable tribute, uniquely paid, and it is also Hephaestion's first mention in Alexander's career. Already the two were intimate, Patroclus and Achilles even to those around them; the comparison would remain to the end of their days and is proof of their life as lovers, for by Alexander's time, Achilles and Patroclus were agreed to have enjoyed the relationship which Homer himself had never directly mentioned."
[Lane Fox 1973, p.113]
Hephaestion and Alexander grew up in a time in which, according to Thomas R. Martin and Christopher W. Blackwell, homosexual affairs were seen as abnormal by majority Greek standards of their time.
But Andrew Chugg, Robin Lane Fox and others show different views. According to
Eva Cantarella, male bisexuality was widely permitted and ruled by law, and generally not frowned upon by the public to the extent to which it remained within the preset limits. For the Greeks "homosexuality was not an exclusive choice. Loving another man was not an option out of the norm, different, somehow deviant. It was just a part of life experience; it was the show of an either sentimental or sexual drive that, over a lifetime, alternated and was associated (sometimes at the very same time) with love for a woman". The pattern that same-sex love affairs followed, however, was not the same in every city-state. Some Roman and later writers, taking the Athenian pattern as their example, have tended to assume either that Alexander and Hephaestion had a sexual relationship which belonged to their adolescence, after which they left it behind, or that one of them was older, the ''lover'' (''
erastes''), and the other was the ''beloved'' (''
eromenos'').
The former assumption has persisted to the present day, with writers of fiction such as
Mary Renault and the film director
Oliver Stone
William Oliver Stone (born September 15, 1946) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Stone won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay as writer of '' Midnight Express'' (1978), and wrote the gangster film remake '' Sc ...
among its proponents, as well as modern historians such as
Paul Cartledge, who says: "Rumour had it—and rumour was for once surely correct—that he
ephaestionand Alexander ''had once been'' more than just good friends."
[Cartledge 2004, p.10 (italics by editor)] Aelian takes the latter view when he uses just such an expression when describing the visit to Troy: "Alexander laid a garland on Achilles' tomb and Hephaestion on Patroclus', indicating that he was Alexander's ''eromenos'', as Patroclus was of Achilles."
However, what was the case in
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...
was not necessarily the case in
Macedon
Macedonia (; grc-gre, Μακεδονία), also called Macedon (), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled ...
. As Robin Lane Fox says, "descendants of the
Dorians
The Dorians (; el, Δωριεῖς, ''Dōrieîs'', singular , ''Dōrieús'') were one of the four major ethnic groups into which the Hellenes (or Greeks) of Classical Greece divided themselves (along with the Aeolians, Achaeans, and Ioni ...
were considered and even expected to be openly homosexual, especially among their ruling class, and the Macedonian kings had long insisted on their pure Dorian ancestry". This was no fashionable affectation; this was something that belonged at the heart of what it was to be Dorian, and therefore Macedonian, and had more in common with the
Theban Sacred Band
The Sacred Band of Thebes ( Ancient Greek: , ''Hierós Lókhos'') was a troop of select soldiers, consisting of 150 pairs of male lovers which formed the elite force of the Theban army in the 4th century BC, ending Spartan domination. Its pr ...
than with Athens.
Lucian
Lucian of Samosata, '; la, Lucianus Samosatensis ( 125 – after 180) was a Hellenized Syrian satirist, rhetorician and pamphleteer who is best known for his characteristic tongue-in-cheek style, with which he frequently ridiculed supersti ...
, writing in his book ''On Slips of the Tongue'', describes an occasion when Hephaestion's conversation one morning implied that he had been in Alexander's tent all night, and Plutarch describes the intimacy between them when he tells how Hephaestion was in the habit of reading
Alexander's letters with him, and of a time when he showed that the contents of a letter were to be kept secret by touching his ring to Hephaestion's lips. There also exists a letter, spuriously attributed to
Diogenes of Sinope, heavily hinting at Alexander's yielding to "Hephaestion's thighs".
[Pseudo-Diogenes 24. The letter in question is part of the ]Cynic epistles
The Cynic epistles are a collection of letters expounding the principles and practices of Cynic philosophy mostly written in the time of the Roman empire but purporting to have been written by much earlier philosophers.
Letters and dating
The two ...
, none of which are considered authentic nor written by Diogenes of Sinope as scholars attribute them to multiple authors between the 1st century BC to the 1st century AD (Abraham J. Malherbe, (1977), ''The Cynic Epistles: A Study Edition''. SBL; Leif E. Vaage, (1990), ''Cynic Epistles (Selections)'', in Vincent L. Wimbush, ''Ascetic Behavior in Greco-Roman Antiquity: A Sourcebook'', pp. 117-118. Continuum International).The letter is partially translated and quoted by Chugg (''Alexander's Lovers'', second edition, 2012, p. 18). It reads as follows: "If you wish to be beautiful and good, throw away the rag you have in your head and come to us. Yet you will not be able to do so, for you are held fast by Hephaistion's thighs."
No other circumstance shows better the nature and length of their relationship than Alexander's overwhelming grief at Hephaestion's death. As Andrew Chugg says, "it is surely incredible that Alexander's reaction to Hephaestion's death could indicate anything other than the closest relationship imaginable". The many and varied ways, both spontaneous and planned, by which Alexander poured out his grief are detailed below. In the context of the nature of their relationship however, one stands out as remarkable. Arrian says that Alexander "flung himself on the body of his friend and lay there nearly all day long in tears, and refused to be parted from him until he was dragged away by force by his Companions".
Others
Among Alexander's other officers, it is possible that Hephaestion was closest to
Perdiccas
Perdiccas ( el, Περδίκκας, ''Perdikkas''; 355 BC – 321/320 BC) was a general of Alexander the Great. He took part in the Macedonian campaign against the Achaemenid Empire, and, following Alexander's death in 323 BC, rose to becom ...
, because it was with Perdiccas that he went on the mission to take Peuceolatis and bridge the
Indus
The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kashmir, ...
. By that time, as Alexander's effective second-in-command, he could doubtless have chosen any officer he cared to name. They accomplished everything they set out to do with great success, which indicates that the two of them worked well together, and that Hephaestion found the irrepressible Perdiccas a congenial companion. It is notable that their two cavalry regiments in particular were selected by Alexander for the dangerous crossing of the river
Hydaspes before the battle with the Indian king,
Porus. On that occasion superb teamwork would have been of paramount importance.
However, outside the close-knit coterie of the Macedonian high command, he was not universally admired. This is clear from Arrian's comment about Alexander's grief: "All writers have agreed that it was great, but personal prejudice, for or against both Hephaestion and Alexander himself, has coloured the accounts of how he expressed it."
Yet given the factions and jealousies that arise in any court and that Hephaestion was supremely close to the greatest monarch the Western world had yet seen, it is remarkable how little enmity he inspired. Arrian mentions a quarrel with Alexander's secretary
Eumenes but, because of a missing page in the text, the greater part of the detail is missing, leaving only the conclusion that something persuaded Hephaestion, though against his will, to make up the quarrel. However, Plutarch, who wrote about Eumenes in his series of ''
Parallel Lives
Plutarch's ''Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans'', commonly called ''Parallel Lives'' or ''Plutarch's Lives'', is a series of 48 biographies of famous men, arranged in pairs to illuminate their common moral virtues or failings, probably writt ...
'', mentions that it was about lodgings and a flute-player, so perhaps this was an instance of some deeper antagonism breaking out into a quarrel over a triviality. What that antagonism might have been, it is not possible to know, but someone with the closeness to the king of a secretary might well have felt some jealousy for Hephaestion's even greater closeness.
In only one instance is Hephaestion known to have quarrelled with a fellow officer and that was with
Craterus
Craterus or Krateros ( el, Κρατερός; c. 370 BC – 321 BC) was a Macedonian general under Alexander the Great and one of the Diadochi. Throughout his life he was a loyal royalist and supporter of Alexander the Great.Anson, Edward M. (20 ...
. In this instance it is easier to see that resentment might have been felt on both sides, for Craterus was one of those officers who vehemently disliked Alexander's policy of integrating Greek and Persian, whereas Hephaestion was very much in favour. Plutarch tells the story: "For this reason a feeling of hostility grew and festered between the two and they often came into open conflict. Once on the expedition to India they actually drew their swords and came to blows ..." Alexander, who also valued Craterus highly as a most competent officer, was forced to intervene and had stern words for both. It is a measure of how high feelings were running over this contentious issue that such a thing should have happened and also an indication of how closely Hephaestion identified Alexander's wishes with his own.
Hephaestion gave perhaps the ultimate proof of this in the summer of 324 BC, when he accepted as his wife Drypetis, daughter of Darius and sister to Alexander's own second wife Stateira.
Of his short married life nothing is known, except that at the time of Alexander's own death, eight months after Hephaestion's, Drypetis was still mourning the husband to whom she had been married for only four months.
For Alexander to marry a daughter of Darius made good political sense, allying himself firmly with the Persian ruling class, but for Hephaestion to marry her sister shows the high esteem in which Alexander held him, bringing him into the royal family itself. They became brothers-in-law, and yet there was more to it than that. Arrian says that Alexander "wanted to be uncle to Hephaestion's children".
[Arrian 7.4.29] Thus it is possible to imagine Alexander and Hephaestion hoping that their respective offspring might unite their lines and that, ultimately, the crown of Macedon and Persia might be worn by one who was a descendant of them both.
Death and funeral
Death
In spring 324 BC Hephaestion left Susa, where he had been married, and accompanied Alexander and the rest of the army as they travelled towards
Ecbatana
Ecbatana ( peo, 𐏃𐎥𐎶𐎫𐎠𐎴 ''Hagmatāna'' or ''Haŋmatāna'', literally "the place of gathering" according to Darius I's inscription at Bisotun; Persian: هگمتانه; Middle Persian: 𐭠𐭧𐭬𐭲𐭠𐭭; Parthian: 𐭀� ...
. They arrived in the autumn and it was there, during games and festivals, that Hephaestion fell ill with a fever. Arrian says that after the fever had run for seven days, Alexander had to be summoned from the games to Hephaestion, who was seriously ill. He did not arrive in time; by the time he got there, Hephaestion was dead. Plutarch says that being a young man and a soldier, Hephaestion had ignored medical advice: As soon as his doctor,
Glaucias, had gone off to the theatre, he ate a large breakfast, consisting of a boiled fowl and a cooler of wine, and then fell sick and died.
Piecing the accounts together, it seems as if Hephaestion's fever had run its course for seven days, after which time he was sufficiently recovered for his doctor, and Alexander himself, to feel it was safe to leave him, and for Hephaestion to feel hungry. His meal, however, seems to have caused a relapse that led to his rapid death. Precisely why this should have happened is not known. As Mary Renault says, "This sudden crisis in a young, convalescent man is hard to account for." The explanation that fits most of the facts is that the fever was
typhoid
Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by ''Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several d ...
and that solid food perforated the ulcerated intestine that the typhoid would have caused. This would have led to internal bleeding, though it would be unusual in that case for death to follow quite as swiftly as it seems to have done here. For that reason, it is not possible altogether to discount other possible explanations, one of them being poison.
Following Hephaestion's death his body was cremated and the ashes were taken to
Babylon
''Bābili(m)''
* sux, 𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠
* arc, 𐡁𐡁𐡋 ''Bāḇel''
* syc, ܒܒܠ ''Bāḇel''
* grc-gre, Βαβυλών ''Babylṓn''
* he, בָּבֶל ''Bāvel''
* peo, 𐎲𐎠𐎲𐎡𐎽𐎢 ''Bābiru''
* elx, 𒀸𒁀𒉿𒇷 ''Babi ...
.
The general
Eumenes suggested that divine honors be given to Hephaestion; this was later done.
Hephaestion's death is dealt with at greater length by the ancient sources than any of the events of his life, because of its profound effect upon Alexander. Plutarch says that "Alexander's grief was uncontrollable" and adds that he ordered many signs of mourning, notably that the manes and tails of all horses should be shorn, the demolition of the battlements of the neighbouring cities and the banning of flutes and every other kind of music.
[Plutarch 72.3] Besides the account reported in a previous section about the immediate manifestations of despair by Alexander on his friend's body, Arrian also relates that "until the third day after Hephaestion's death, Alexander neither tasted food nor paid any attention to his personal appearance, but lay on the ground either bewailing or silently mourning," and that he had the doctor, Glaucias, hanged for his lack of care. Arrian also mentions Alexander ordering the shrine of
Asclepios in Ecbatana to be razed to the ground,
[Arrian 7.14.9] and that he cut his hair short in mourning, this last a poignant reminder of
Achilles
In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus ( grc-gre, Ἀχιλλεύς) was a hero of the Trojan War, the greatest of all the Greek warriors, and the central character of Homer's '' Iliad''. He was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Pe ...
' last gift to
Patroclus
In Greek mythology, as recorded in Homer's ''Iliad'', Patroclus (pronunciation variable but generally ; grc, Πάτροκλος, Pátroklos, glory of the father) was a childhood friend, close wartime companion, and the presumed (by some later a ...
on his funeral pyre:
: ''Thus o'er Patroclus while the hero prayed,''
: ''on his cold hand the sacred lock he laid.''
: ''Once more afresh the Grecian sorrows flow:''
: ''And now the sun had set upon their woe.''
Another hint that Alexander looked to Achilles to help him to express his grief may be found in the campaign, shortly following these events, against a tribe called the Cossaeans. Plutarch says they were massacred as an offering to the spirit of Hephaestion, and it is quite possible to imagine that to Alexander this might have followed in spirit with Achilles' killing of "twelve high-born youths" beside Patroclus' funeral pyre.
Alexander ordered a period of mourning throughout the empire and "many of the Companions, out of respect for Alexander, dedicated themselves and their arms to the dead man". The army, too, remembered him; Alexander did not appoint anyone to take Hephaestion's place as commander of the
Companion cavalry
The Companions ( el, , ''hetairoi'') were the elite cavalry of the Macedonian army from the time of king Philip II of Macedon, achieving their greatest prestige under Alexander the Great, and regarded as the first or among the first shock cava ...
; he "wished Hephaestion's name to be preserved always in connection with it, so Hephaestion's Regiment it continued to be called, and Hephaestion's image continued to be carried before it".
Messengers were sent to the oracle at
Siwa to ask if
Amon would permit Hephaestion to be worshipped as a god. When the reply came saying he might be worshipped not as a god, but as a divine
hero
A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or strength. Like other formerly gender-specific terms (like ''actor''), ''her ...
, Alexander was pleased and "from that day forward saw that his friend was honoured with a hero's rites". He saw to it that shrines were erected to Hephaestion's memory, and evidence that the cult took hold can be found in a simple votary plaque now in
Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki
The Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki ( el, Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο Θεσσαλονίκης ) is a museum in Thessaloniki, Central Macedonia, Greece. It holds and interprets artifacts from the Prehistoric, Archaic, Classical ...
, inscribed, "To the Hero Hephaestion".
Funeral
Hephaestion was given a magnificent funeral. Its cost is variously given in the sources as 10,000 talents or 12,000 talents, about $200,000,000 or $ 240,000,000 in the early 21st century's money. Alexander himself drove the funeral carriage part of the way back to Babylon with some of the driving entrusted to Hephaestion's friend Perdiccas.
At Babylon, funeral games were held in Hephaestion's honour. The contests ranged from literature to athletics and 3,000 competitors took part, the festival eclipsing anything that had gone before both in cost and in numbers taking part. Plutarch says that Alexander planned to spend ten thousand talents on the funeral and the tomb. He employed
Stasicrates, "as this artist was famous for his innovations, which combined an exceptional degree of magnificence, audacity and ostentation", to design the pyre for Hephaestion.
The pyre was sixty metres high, square in shape and built in stepped levels. 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
A centaur ( ; grc, κένταυρος, kéntauros; ), or occasionally hippocentaur, is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse.
Centaurs are thought of in many Greek myths as bein ...
, 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
siren
Siren or sirens may refer to:
Common meanings
* Siren (alarm), a loud acoustic alarm used to alert people to emergencies
* Siren (mythology), an enchanting but dangerous monster in Greek mythology
Places
* Siren (town), Wisconsin
* Siren, Wiscon ...
s, hollowed out to conceal a choir who would sing a
lament
A lament or lamentation is a passionate expression of grief, often in music, poetry, or song form. The grief is most often born of regret, or mourning. Laments can also be expressed in a verbal manner in which participants lament about somet ...
. It is possible that the pyre was not burnt, but that it was actually intended as a tomb or lasting memorial; if so, it is likely that it was never completed, as there are references to expensive, uncompleted projects at the time of Alexander's own death.
One final tribute remained, and it is compelling in its simplicity and in what it reveals about the high esteem in which Hephaestion was held by Alexander. On the day of the funeral, he gave orders that the sacred flame in the temple should be extinguished. Normally, this was only done on the death of the Great King himself.
Amphipolis Tomb
Based on a monogram found in the
Amphipolis Tomb in northern Greece, the lead archaeologist, Katerina Peristeri, claims that the whole tumulus was a funerary monument for Hephaestion, built between 325–300 BC.
Portrayals of Hephaestion in fiction
* In the 1961 television version of
Terence Rattigan's play ''
Adventure Story
Adventure fiction is a type of fiction that usually presents danger, or gives the reader a sense of excitement. Some adventure fiction also satisfies the literary definition of romance fiction.
History
In the Introduction to the ''Encyclopedi ...
'', Hephaestion is played by
William Russell.
* In the
Oliver Stone
William Oliver Stone (born September 15, 1946) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Stone won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay as writer of '' Midnight Express'' (1978), and wrote the gangster film remake '' Sc ...
film ''
Alexander'', Hephaestion is portrayed by
Jared Leto
Jared Joseph Leto ( ; born December 26, 1971) is an American actor and musician. Known for his method acting in a variety of roles, he has received numerous accolades over a career spanning three decades, including an Academy Award and a Gold ...
.
* Hephaestion is a major character in
Mary Renault's novels ''
Fire from Heaven'' and ''
The Persian Boy
''The Persian Boy'' is a 1972 historical novel written by Mary Renault and narrated by Bagoas, a young Persian from an aristocratic family who is captured by his father's enemies, castrated, and sold as a slave to king Darius III, who makes h ...
''.
* Hephaestion is a secondary character in Judith Tarr's 1993 ''Lord of the Two Lands''.
* Cave, A. J. (2008) ''Roxana Romance''. Pavasta. Hardcover: , eBook:
* Hephaestion is a secondary character in Jo Graham's 2010 ''Stealing Fire''.
* Hephaestion is one of the main characters in Stephanie Thornton's 2015 novel The Conqueror's Wife (ISBN 978-0-451-47200-7).
* He is mentioned as "Alexander's Lover" in the song "
Mystery of Love" from the 2017 film ''
Call Me By Your Name''; the song received a nomination for
Academy Award for Best Original Song
The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is presented to the ''songwriters'' who have composed ...
.
* Indian actor
Akash Singh Rajput portrays Hephaestion in the 2017 Indian TV series ''
Porus''.
* Hephaestion is a main character in Jeanne Reames's 2019 ''Dancing with the Lion'' duology.
* Hephaestion is the major character in "Trampling in the Land of Woe" by William Galaini (Alternative Universe)
* Hephaestion is a major character in "
Memories of Hephaestion: A Story of Alexander the Great'" by A.R. Valeson.
* John McLeod's novel ''
The Lion of Macedonia.''
* A character calling herself "Hephaestion" appears as a Servant in ''
The Case Files of Lord El-Melloi II
is a Japanese light novel series written by Makoto Sanda ('' Rental Magica'') and illustrated by Mineji Sakamoto. Officially part of the ''Fate'' series, it began serialization by Type-Moon under the ''Type-Moon Books'' imprint on December ...
'', but later it is revealed that she is Hephaestion's sister, but never received a name in order to serve as a
political decoy
A political decoy is a person employed to impersonate a politician, to draw attention away from the real person or to take risks on that person's behalf. This can also apply to military figures, or civilians impersonated for political or espionag ...
to Alexander the Great as well as her brother.
Notes
References
Ancient sources
*
Aelian, ''Varia Historia''
*
Arrian
Arrian of Nicomedia (; Greek: ''Arrianos''; la, Lucius Flavius Arrianus; )
was a Greek historian, public servant, military commander and philosopher of the Roman period.
''The Anabasis of Alexander'' by Arrian is considered the best ...
, ''The Campaigns of Alexander''
*
Quintus Curtius Rufus
Quintus Curtius Rufus () was a Roman historian, probably of the 1st century, author of his only known and only surviving work, ''Historiae Alexandri Magni'', "Histories of Alexander the Great", or more fully ''Historiarum Alexandri Magni Macedon ...
, ''The History of Alexander''
*
Diodorus Siculus
Diodorus Siculus, or Diodorus of Sicily ( grc-gre, Διόδωρος ; 1st century BC), was an ancient Greek historian. He is known for writing the monumental universal history '' Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which ...
, ''
Bibliotheca Historica
''Bibliotheca historica'' ( grc, Βιβλιοθήκη Ἱστορική, ) is a work of universal history by Diodorus Siculus. It consisted of forty books, which were divided into three sections. The first six books are geographical in theme, ...
''
*
Diogenes Laërtius
Diogenes Laërtius ( ; grc-gre, Διογένης Λαέρτιος, ; ) was a biographer of the Greek philosophers. Nothing is definitively known about his life, but his surviving ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' is a principal sour ...
, ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers: Aristotle''
*
Diogenes of Sinope, ''Letters''
*
Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
, ''
Iliad
The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Ody ...
''
*
Horace
Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...
, ''Epistles''
*
Lucian
Lucian of Samosata, '; la, Lucianus Samosatensis ( 125 – after 180) was a Hellenized Syrian satirist, rhetorician and pamphleteer who is best known for his characteristic tongue-in-cheek style, with which he frequently ridiculed supersti ...
, ''Pro Lapsu''
*
Plutarch
Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...
, ''
Parallel Lives
Plutarch's ''Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans'', commonly called ''Parallel Lives'' or ''Plutarch's Lives'', is a series of 48 biographies of famous men, arranged in pairs to illuminate their common moral virtues or failings, probably writt ...
: Alexander, Eumenes''
Modern sources
*
Cartledge, Paul (2004) ''Alexander the Great: The Hunt for a New Past''. London: Macmillan.
*Chugg, Andrew Michael (2006) ''Alexander's Lovers''. Lightning Source UK Ltd.
*
Hammond, N. G. L. (1980 2nd edition) ''Alexander the Great: King, Commander and Statesman''. Bristol Press.
*
Hammond, N. G. L. (1997) ''The Genius of Alexander the Great''. London: Duckworth.
*Heckel, Waldemar (2006) ''Who's Who in the Age of Alexander the Great''. MA, USA: Blackwell.
*
Lane Fox, Robin (1973) ''Alexander the Great''. London: Allen Lane.
*
Martin, Thomas R., Blackwell, Christopher W. (2012). ''Alexander the Great : the story of an ancient life''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
*
Renault, Mary (1975) ''The Nature of Alexander''. London: Allen Lane.
Further reading
*Reames, Jeanne. ''Hephaistion Amyntoros: Eminence Grise at the Court of Alexander the Great.'' Diss. The Pennsylvania State University, c1998.
abstract
* Borza, Eugene and Reames, Jeanne. ''Some New Thoughts on the Death of Alexander the Great,'' The Ancient World 31.1 (2000) 1-9.
* Bosworth, Albert Brian. ''Hephaistion''. In: Simon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth (Hrsg.): ''The Oxford Classical Dictionary''. 3. Aufl., Oxford University Press, Oxford 1996, .
* Carney, Elizabeth D. ''Alexander the Great and the Macedonian Aristocracy''. Dissertation, Duke University, 1975.
* Heckel, Waldemar. ''Hephaistion''. In: Ders.: ''The Marshals of Alexander's Empire''. Routledge, London 1992, .
* Reames, Jeanne. ''An Atypical Affair? Alexander the Great, Hephaistion, and the Nature of Their Relationship''. In: ''The Ancient History Bulletin'' 13.3 (1999), pp. 81–96.
* Reames, Jeanne. ''The Cult of Hephaistion''. In: Cartledge, Paul, and Greenland, Fiona Rose (ed.), ''Responses to Oliver Stone's Alexander. Film, History, and Cultural Studies''. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison 2010, (accessible online i
Scribd.com.
* Reames, Jeanne. ''The Mourning of Alexander the Great,'' In: ''Syllecta Classica'' 12 (2001) 98-145.
External links
by Andrew M. Chugg
Hephaestion at WCD(Wiki Classical Dictionary)
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