#alexander/hephaistion

[xserpx]

One might have supposed that the true act of love was to lie together and talk.

— Fires from Heaven by Mary Renault

He talked of man and fate; of words heard in dreams from speaking serpents; of the management of cavalry against infantry and archers; he quoted Homer on heroes, Aristotle on the Universal Mind, and Solon on love; he talked of Persian tactics and the Thracian battle-mind; about his dog that had died, about the beauty of friendship. He plotted the march of Xenophon's Ten Thousand, stage by stage from Babylon to the sea. He retailed the backstairs gossip of the Palace, the staff room and the phalanx, and confided the most secret policies of both his parents. He considered the nature of the soul in life and death, and that of the gods; he talked of Herakles and Dionysus, and how Longing can achieve all things.

Listening in bed, in the lee of mountain crags, in a wood at daybreak; with an arm clasping his waist or a head thrown back, on his shoulder, trying to silence his noisy heart, Hephaistion understood he was being told everything. With pride and awe, with tenderness, torment and guilt, he lost the thread, and fought with himself, and caught the drift again to find something gone past recall. Bewildering treasures were being poured into his hands and slipping through his fingers, while his mind wandered to the blinding trifle of his own desire. At any moment he would be asked what he thought; he was valued as more than a listener. Knowing this he would attend again, and be caught up even against his will; Alexander could transmit imagination as some other could transmit lust. Sometimes, when he was lit up and full of gratitude for being understood, Longing, who has the power to achieve all things, would prompt the right word or touch; he would fetch a profound sigh, dragged up it seemed from the depth of his being, and murmur something in the Macedonian of his childhood; and all would be well, or as well as it could ever be.

[marysmirages]

Spirits of ancient battles. Memories of Alexander the Great (2023/2024)

Gouache version of the work from 2017: https://www.tumblr.com/marysmirages/686070565494259712/spirits-of-ancient-battles-memories-of-alexander?source=share

[princessofopus]

“Patrochilles is real,” I say into the mic, the crowd boos. I begin to walk off the stage in shame. “No, she’s right!” I hear a voice in the back say. The lights come on. It's Alexander the Great.

[your-name-is-jim]

Interviewer: Are you very fond of Alexander? Gene Roddenberry: As a matter of fact, I am. I have Mary Renault's new Oxford book―in fact, I'd have everything in the bookstores a few years ago. Passionate admirer of Alexander. Passionate man. [...] Interviewer: There's a great deal of writing in the STAR TREK movement now which compares the relationship between Alexander and Hephaistion to the relationship between Kirk and Spock―focusing on the closeness of the friendship, the feeling that they would die for one another― Gene Roddenberry: Yes. There's certainly some of that with―certainly with love overtones. Deep love. The only difference being, the Greek ideal―we never suggested in the series―physical love between the two. But it's the―we certainly had the feeling the affection was sufficient for that, if that were the particular style in the 23rd Century. [He looks thoughtful] That's very interesting. I never thought of that before. [From Shatner: Where No Man (1979)]

Sooo I watched the new docuseries Alexander: The Making of a God and I was hit by indirect Kirk/Spock feelings because I remembered this interview. And of course I had to make a gifset about it. :)

[capelin356]

Chibi Alexander and Hephaistion

[tragicsiblings]

ALEXANDER (2004) | dir. Oliver Stone

[anxious-helianthus]

as insane of a quote as this is- does anyone know where it's from?

[jeannereames]

So you said you hoped they didn't use those nicknames, Alex, Heph, and Ptol. I thought Heph was a little weird, but I didn't mind the others. What nicknames would you have suggested instead? You said you suggested Greek ones. What were they?

Ah.... I'm glad somebody asked!

First, I've talked HERE about nicknames and endearments in ancient Greece. It's not the same as now. Not every culture makes nicknames by shortening. Yet even in my own novels I used nicknames to make unfamiliar names more accessible to readers.

So I get why nicknames might be valuable. But it's possible to use more likely ones!

What would be natural Greek nicknames? First, the names we know them by are Latinized, not their real names. In Dancing with the Lion I used the actual Greek, because it affected only a few and weren't that different. But here are the Latin, Greek, and known/likely nicknames.

Alexander = Alexandros (a-LEX-an-dros) = Aleko(s)

Ptolemy = Ptolemaios (tol-eh-MAI-os) = Ptolas

Hephaestion = Hephaistion (he-pais-TEE-on) = Phaistas/Phaiton

"Alex" and "Tol" aren't that far off. But "Heph"? Really? HUGH HEFNER is who immediately comes to mind: give him a pipe and a smoking robe. Maybe they thought "young people won't know..." but chatting with a 23-year-old student, that was the first thing she said. "It sounds like Hugh Hefner."

Virtually all I've heard from people is ridicule for the nicknames. This is one thing I completely disavow all responsibility for. I told them.

[dandelionfool]

doodling al'skander when i should be sleeping because i have not recovered from the effects of the persian boy

[jules-of-the-black-forest]

Alexander: Love, are you alright?

Hephaistion: I have this headache that comes and goes.

Krateros, coming by: Yo.

Hephaistion: Ah, there it is again.

[a-anadyomene]

[mcversipellis]

“True friends share everything, except the past before they met.”

― Mary Renault, Fire from Heaven

*Redid my old (not really old, they’re from last year🙄) illustrations on the historical novel “Fire from heaven” which follows a journey of Alexander the Great through childhood to the very end.

[forrealaperson]

I haven’t posted a lot of original stuff on my blog but when I have, it was about the Alexander (2004) movie and here is one aspect that I adore about that film that I haven’t read yet on the internet. Maybe I have to preface it by saying that I didn’t have big big expectations on the portrayal of Alexander and Hephaistions relationship going into the movie. It came out the same year as Troy and we all know how that went. Now here is an excerpt of the three pages document that I wrote after watching this movie (the Ultimate Cut):

There is one thing that I would really like to discuss in the depiction of Alexander and Hephaistions relationship. It is the lack of a kiss between the two. I was indeed wondering if there would be one, from before watching (though then, I really did not expect it) to the first scene with „it is hardest to be alone“. And then throughout the second half of the movie until the end, I wondered if they would kiss at Hephaistions death scene. Speaking now, I am really glad that they didn’t and here is why. Now there are a lot of kisses shared between various characters, Alexander even kisses his mother on the mouth. I interpreted that one as more of a „violent“ act. They were fighting in that scene. Whereas his father, he would hit, he kisses his mother. He kisses Bagaos as a show, to symbolise his love to the eunuch or his desired unity between the Persians and Macedonians. He never kisses Hephaistion on screen. This may also be a tribute to the fact that we don’t exactly know to which degree they were physically intimate and I find that okay. It is because we are very clearly and openly shown how profound their relationship and love for one another is. A great focus is laid upon the fact that there is no denying the love between them that is more important to Alexander than any other. So much that I think that any kiss would not do them justice; no kiss would be a greater symbol than any of their other scenes. It would feel flat. In particular a kiss at the deathbed could hold an implicit meaning that they did not kiss before that moment, which I do not like to think.

I like how they showed the relationship in its organic form. Their hugs are more intense and I feel like they convey the strength of the relationship more than a kiss would. No one hugs their (only) best friend like that. That is clear. There is no open interpretation.

A kiss in passing would have been nice as well, but the absence makes the fact stand out and I do like it this way. I like that it demonstrates that you don‘t need a kiss to depict a romantic relationship. That is also why I think that it could never be made this way today. Because there would be public uproar at how there wasn’t a kiss and how dare they and how it would be cowardly that they didn’t even shoot a kiss. Everything needs to be explicit nowadays, there is a checklist to go through for every film.

(this is only one way to think of it though - romances were always explicit - but I do feel this way in regards to the Alexander film)

[marysmirages]

Battle of the Hydaspes. Alexander the Great (2021)

[capelin356]

Alexander and Hephaistion in the garden

I refer to Ephippos.

[rottenlaertes]

Guess what I’m watching… 😍