Alexander gay
An Historian Goes to the Movies
One of the more controversial elements of Alexander (2004, dir. Oliver Stone) when it came out was the film’s idea that Alexander was homosexual. A team of Greek lawyers actually threatened to sue Stone over the issue, and the theatrical trim of the production largely avoided the issue (so far as I can recall, at any rate). But in the Ultimate Slice that Stone released in 2012, Alexander (Colin Farrell) is shown being attracted to men.
In the film Alexander has a favorite male slave, Bagoas (Francisco Bosch), who is presented as sharing his bed. At one point, Alexander gets into bed, and Bagoas climbs in with him and they embrace. On Alexander’s wedding night, when Alexander beds her, Bagoas briefly enters the room, sees that there is someone else in the bed, and discretely leaves. In another scene, Bagoas dances publicly for Alexander in a rather sexual fashion, and Alexander kisses him. So the clip pretty clearly shows Alexander as having a male concubine.
Alexander kissing Bagoas
More significantly, his relationship with Hephaestion (Jared Leto) is shown as being more than platonic, although the two men are not directly shown having se
You might be surprised to acquire the sex life of a long-dead conqueror is making headlines in 2024. Netflix documentary Alexander the Great: The Making of a God has provoked outrage for its portrayal of Alexander in a romantic relationship with his male companion Hephaestion.
Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) spent his short life undertaking an gigantic military campaign. He defeated the Persian king Darius III and created an empire that stretched from Europe into Egypt, Western and Central Asia, and all the way to India.
After dying at the young age of 32, he has remained the subject of intense fascination and speculation.
The six-episode series is the latest to tackle some interesting questions about the conqueror’s life through dramatised scenes and commentary from a range of experts. Although the show doesn’t try to cover everything – and there are several gaps – its portrayal of Alexander’s sexuality is what has caused the greatest stir.
Read more: Romosexuality – embracing queer sex and love in Ancient times
Alexander, the great enigma
One of the first scenes depicts Alexander sparring with Hephaestion before the pair share several kisses. Heph
Alexander the Great or Alexander the Gay?
For LGBT history month, guest blogger Prof Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones (Chair of Ancient History, Cardiff University) asks: 'Alexander the Wonderful or Alexander the Gay?' before his talk this week, exploring Alexander's sexuality and popular culture.
I believe he probably was homosexual. There was a translation error. It was supposed to say ‘Alexander the Gay’, but someone translated it wrong to ‘Alexander the Great.’ (Fanpop.com)
"Ever since the Twentieth Century discovered ‘that horrid thing Freud called sex’ (as E. F. Benson put it) and began to contemplate sexual preferences as an integral part of sexual identity, Alexander the Amazing has been scrutinized and analysed for what his love life said (or says) about the gentleman himself. In his 2006 book Alexander’s Lovers, for instance, Andrew Chugg notes that, ‘to understand Alexander well, it is necessary to follow his heart more than his policies’.
The question of Alexander’s homosexuality, once the preserve of scholars such as Tarn whose determined attempt in 1948, ‘to straighten the matter out’ (no pun intended, surely) and seal future discussion down, met only with Badian’s hatchet-job of a dissection
Anti-woke campaigners have vented their fury at Netflix over its depiction of Alexander the Great as a bisexual man.
Alexander: The Making of a God charts the rise to power of the ruler of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon, charts how he acquired one of the largest empires in history, spanning from Greece to northwestern India, and also takes an intimate look at his rumored love life.
Released on January 31, the six-part docuseries features historians and dramatic reenactments of Alexander's life and has been one of the superior 10 viewed series on Netflix since its debut, according to FlixPatrol.
Early on in the first episode Alexander (Buck Braithwaite) is seen kissing his superb friend and feasible lover, Hephaestion (Will Stevens).
"Hephaestion really was not just a cherished companion, but perhaps [Alexander's] greatest love," Dr. Salima Ikram of the American University of Cairo says in the series.
Another historian argued that sexual orientation was defined very differently in Ancient Greece, if at all.
"Same-sex relationships were quite the norm throughout the Greek world," Professor Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones of Cardiff University in Wales says in the first episode. "