#ALEXANDROS

[dance-world]

Alexandros - photo by Daniele Corradini Grazzi

[renaultmograine]

What's his fucken problem.

[jeannereames]

A great little article by Richard Stoneman, from over on the Lexicon of Greek Personal Names, about Alexander's name, both before he held it and, of course, its fame after.

Btw, when I was pregnant with my son, Gene Borza (my PhD advisor) asked if I would name him "Alexander." I replied, "Absolutely not. I wouldn't saddle the child of an Alexander historian with that and all the attendant expectations." Gene nodded, pleased...then proceeded to spend the next several months of my pregnancy trying to convince me that "Philip" was a much better name anyway.

He's not named Philip, either. 😜

[venomspecs]

I love this Paris, he's so short and all wrapped up in his cloak

-Scene from the gorgeous Chigi vase depicting the judgement of Paris, c. 650–640 BC

[ditoob]

Congratulations to Paris of Troy for being the original dumb blonde

[deathlessathanasia]

"For they report that the Spartans were hard-pressed by a famine and asked the god for the reason. The oracle responded that they should propitiate the gods of the Teucrians, Khimaireus and Lukos. So, then Menelaos left for Troy to complete the tasks he was assigned and after he spent some time with Alexandros he went with him for the purpose of asking the gods about the creation of children. Alexandros also asked about how he might kidnap Helen. The oracle responded to them: ‘Why do two kings, one Trojan and one Greek / why do you come to my temple with completely different intentions. / One of you seeks to discover the birth of a horse / but the other…..; What are you devising now, Zeus?’ When they failed to understand these things, they returned." (Schol bT Ad Il. 5.64)

[lightsfeather]

have you ever wondered what kind of relationship rosabel and alexandros would have? :p

I have and I've laughed at it cause I know it would be CHAOTIC af. Like you're dealing with two brash, stubborn and headstrong individuals here who don't know when to give up.

They'd probably throw sarcastic remarks and sass eachother here and there. (Alexandros did have some humor in him). They'd glare at eachother stubbornly and if they start arguing even over the smallest things there would be no end to it lmao.

Like I think Rosie would have a much different relationship with him than she does with Tirion hah.

But despite this I think they'd accept eachother as family realistically and would support eachother even if their stubborn personalities clash.

Even their nice conversations would probably go like:

"THATS MOST KIND OF YOU" Alexandros said calmly

[greekmythcomix]

✨Why Paris is such an Utter Plonker✨

(2014: https://greekmythcomix.com/comic/why-paris-is-such-an-utter-plonker/)

This little ranty Paris infographic is also a two-section video over on my YouTube channel: an explanation of the comic and then a detailed literary rant, with evidence, expanding on all these points. An essay, if you will, on Paris’ Plonkerness.

Enjoy!

youtu.be/1pJ-BOwkHaE

[sunlightfeeling]

As resident Kimura Takuya infector poster, I’m obligated to share:

Takuya’s gameplay of the first JE has been uploaded to YouTube 🥳

It’s really cute; also please watch to see Takuya’s trademark competitive nature kick in and demolish Alexandros’ ass at Puyo Puyo 😇

[karasukarei]

me rn🤧🤧🤧

🛌🚶

[thishazeleyeddemon]

As I was walking up the stair,

I met a man, who wasn't there.

[dance-world]

Alexandros - photo by Daniele Corradini Grazzi

[renaultmograine]

I've sort of said this before but how the Light treats blessings is just. So fucken funny.

Tirion gets excommunicated but still gets the divine interventions in his favor every other weekend. Even when he's dead he's still getting blessed. Why? Who fucken knows.

Whitemane gets manually rezzed by the Light every time she dies as its favorite war criminal until she's stabbed with holy weapons and then the Light wants nothing to do with her and lets her be raised as a DK.

Darion received a holy vision from the Light to go see Tirion so he could impart the wisdom of "kill yourself" on behalf of the Light.

The Light refused to help Alexandros, its strongest paladin in the Third War, until Darion killed himself for some reason.

The Light turns Calia undead for.... ????? I read Before the Storm through at least six times and I don't remember if they ever gave a reason.

The Light just LET a dreadlord lead a holy order without striking it down. Do you know how many people died because of that choice?

Anduin survived the bell incident thanks to the Light but now it zaps him every time he has a negative thought.

The Light does not even bother annihilating Arthas when he's fighting Uther despite the fact that Uther is literally the Lightbringer and it would've been so fucken easy to do so. It just lets Uther lose. The Lightbringer. The first paladin.

Just in case you forgot the Light saved Tirion from drowning in fel so he could just die slowly later for no reason.

Turalyon lives in a paradox where his wife is an evil heretic to the Light and wants her dead but if she was dead Turalyon would've been killed ages ago because the Light does not bother to actually save him from shit. But also Turalyon can't die of old age because the Light won't let him.

The Light works in mysterious ways I guess.

[jeannereames]

I saw somewhere here that you described Hephaestion as a Gamma male. That really interests me because I’ve always seen him more as a Sigma male.

Do you think he could also fit the Sigma type?

Also, another related question: you wrote that Alexander is dominant in the relationship, which of course makes perfect sense because he can be the passive one, but I did notice that you emphasized you don’t see Hephaestion as the passive type either.

I have to say, the additional scenes on your site actually made me pay more attention to Hephaestion’s dominant side, especially in moments where he’s the one protecting Alexander, rather than the other way around. That dynamic actually feels more logical, considering Alexander is the king: ultimately, everyone around him would be responsible for protecting him.

Also, in the scene "Moth & Flame", there seemed to be a hint of a dominant (sexual) aspect to Hephaestion that Alexander appeared reluctant to explore. So overall, I got the impression that while Alexander couldn’t really play the “boy,” Hephaestion didn’t quite fit that role either.

Is it possible that their dynamic (in your story) doesn’t follow a clear dominant/passive pattern, that neither of them truly fit the "passive" role?

(All the below refers only to my character Hephaistion. Whether or not it would fit the actual historical man, we have no way to know. Although I do suspect he was also a gamma male. That said, the specificity of the below is my character only.)

So I had to look up sigma males (again), although I have heard the term before. There is a difference, and Hephaistion isn't a sigma male. Sigma males (if I understand the definition) are Contraries. Gamma males genuinely don't care. Hephaistion is a bit contrary in the books mostly as part of teen rebellion. He'll become less so as he ages. *grin*

The thing about gamma males, at least as I understand the concept, is that they are neither leaders nor followers. It's as if the contest doesn't even exist for them. Sigma males seem (to me) to be reacting against the contest. "I'll win by not engaging." Gamma males can't be bothered, or seem unaware there's anything going on.

Hephaistion only rebels when someone tries to force him to do something he doesn't want to do--or more properly, sees no point in doing. I saw one description of sigma males as "rebels without a cause." That is not Hephaistion. If he rebels, he has a very concrete reason for it. Then he's immovable, unless he's convinced (with reason, or for love) to move.

He can be extremely driven, but not "ambitious" in the usual meaning of that. He is one of those rare people who, genuinely, does not give a flying fuck what the average person thinks of him. He DOES care what those he cares about think, however.

By the same token, he doesn't do things just to piss people off--because the people who do such things DO care what other people think. And to me, that's probably the dividing line between the gamma male and the sigma male. The sigma male is still posturing, just in an inverse way. He still wants to attract attention either by being "unique" and "independent," or "mysterious," or living dangerously.

The gamma male genuinely doesn't care who's watching, isn't trying to be mysterious, and has little interest in living dangerously just to do so. All that takes too much work. :-D

When I was growing up, at a certain age, for at least some teens, it was cool to be weird and counterculture. But it was performative. One wanted to be that way. An eye was cast to being perceived correctly. Staging.

A gamma male (or female!) may be aware there's a "cool" something out there, but doesn't give a shit. They're that little dork wearing whatever because they like it and if it's counterculture...sure? That's Hephaistion. It's a combination of his "I don't care" with very good looks that makes him a bit magnetic to the boys in their orbit...but also a bit scary. (And he knows that subconsciously, btw.) He is actually NOT the one inclined to live dangerously (that's Alexandros), and if he's at all mysterious, it's just because he defies his culture's expectations of manhood. ANY of them. Gamma males often do. (And I'd argue Sigma males don't; they defy alpha male ideas of manhood.)

It's important to me to have Hephaistion come from what we, today, would call a "stable home." His disinterest in vying for power arises because he grew up completely secure in his parents' (and siblings') love, AND his fundamental personality is highly independent.

To me, that's what creates him. He's enormously rooted, but also isn't a people-pleaser. That sort of person is extremely rare. But it's why he's also not passive in the usual sense, even while he's perfectly fine with Alexandros making decisions much of the time. He'll object if he cares. He just usually doesn't, and he can be a little lazy. ;-)

Hopefully, that made some sense. He's a character I've given a lot of thought to, although articulating him isn't always easy, because he's complex, and can seem to defy the more common character constructions.

[sablescarlett]

Alex and the runes of power

An art I made for Alexandros, sorta a late Xmas gift you could say.

[ditoob]

Something I think a lot of us forget when studying the Trojan War is Helen being a Spartan woman who is explicitly said to have been wrestling with other Spartans when she was taken by Theseus.

NOW IMAGINE: Trojan War AU where Paris tries to kidnap Helen but instead gets folded like a waffle by the young Spartan.