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Marcus Friday afternoon! Best time to do non-work emails.. Firstly, I think I said why Craterus's friends questioned why Alexander needed Hephaestion's love, not the other way around. But thinking about it, when people are rivals they are often unreasonable. They don't like to think the other has an...

Hi Tre This is not fair! Saying you won't take part and then flinging some references at me! You aren't a teacher by any chance? :) I am afraid I don't really see the need for models of sexuality. Why compartmentalise this and separate it from other behaviour. Describe but don't prescribe. I suspect...

Sikander I think there are a few problems with Alexander - firstly that we want to know so much about him - there is never enough! Secondly, what his "biographers" considered interesting to readers. Arrian was interested in his military prowess, Curtius was more gossipy and liked a good ya...

Also, I feel there are some suppositions I don't quite see the evidence for although I am, as always, willing to be instructed - firstly that heirs were a problem. Kings have had bastard children throughout time - the boys could fight for their father, the girls used to marry off to allies. It was i...

I don't want to labour this point too much - maybe people will always disagree, in the nicest possible way! Tre said: "One did not have the same relationship with women as one had with men in those days. He is accorded more than one mistress, and if one reads the Moralia and other sources, his ...

Hi Marcus The book is "The Oxford Illustrated History of Greece and the Hellenistic World". The photo is of "Imprint of a Greek Papyrus found in the palace of Ai Khanoum, Afghanistan. The papyrus has perished, leaving only the traces of ink preserved in reverse on the fine earth forme...

Sikander I did agree strongly with how you represented sexuality at that time - that behaviour varied, and that you cannot apply sweeping terms. Yes, there is not much about Alexander's private life. It did occur to me, thinking over this discussion, to wonder why we think that Alexander and his cir...

I am not sure that there is as much evidence for women as for men. I think you can deduce (and commentators have done so) that he was not particularly interested in women. There is no evidence that he was. Whereas there is evidence that he found men physically attractive (Curtius, comparing Hephaist...

I didn't have much more to say, actually. The fact that he was married three times is neither here nor there. Gay kings marry - Edward II, Louis XIV, Queen Anne of UK (she had 14 children). His mistress was suggested to him by Parmenion, and was in any case a political relationship. She is not menti...

Dave and Dr Pal I find it peculiar that people wish to further analyse Alexander's reaction to Hephaistion's death. As far as I can see, the comparison with Achilles came from others, not Alexander himself. His reaction was genuine, unbridled grief, it is plain from all the reports. Cutting off your...

Well, it doesn't say it isn't by Aristotle...there just isn't that much information about it in the text of the book. But it obviously isn't definitely by him. Maybe it was something he later discarded :) I'll have a look at it later and find out where the fragment is kept and see if there is any mo...

In a general Greek civilisation book I have (at home, sorry, don't know the name), there is a picture of a scroll of an Aristotelean dialogue found in Afghanistan. I wondered if this might have been dropped by Alexander (or Hephaestion - didn't he correspond with Aristotle as well? Or Callisthenes?)...

According to Ananova, Heath Ledger is to play Alexander in a a film to be directed by Oliver Stone, to be released next Christmas. Ledger *looks* like A. (a bit...) but can he act A.? Anyone know?

Linda

Ohhh - I was looking forward to seeing this. I don't really care if DiCaprio was miscast, I thought Scorsese could have made an interesting film. He does the "group of friends" thing very well.
Is there anything else actually in production?