Alexander in Exile

[marcus]

Hi Karl,A little while ago I went through Heckel's 'Marshals' and managed to extract the names of Philip's 7 Somatophylakes, when they were replaced and by whom... of course, I don't have my list with me so I cannot check. However, if my memory serves me correctly, Alexander's friend Lysimachos was made one of the seven some while after Alexander came to power - in fact, the only immediate new appointment he made was to replace Pausanias, who of course was killed after his assassination of Philip.If there was a somatophylax who served Philip, then it wasn't the same one. As it is, as one of Philip's bodyguards he wouldn't have gone off to protect Alexander in Illyria. I think it is perfectly plausible that Alexander would have had someone with him as a bodyguard, he being the heir to the throne and all that; but as others have pointed out there is nothing in the sources to tell us who it was. My bet would be that his 'mentors' would have gone (ie. the older friends of the prince, such as Ptolemy, Erigyios, etc.), because they were the youths/men set to give him a good example (hence their exile over Pixodarus, if that ever happened); but I would imagine that Philip would have prevented Alexander's 'syntrophoi' from disappearing from the court.In fact, thinking about it, maybe the mentors definitely went with Alexander and were told to stay away when Alexander returned to court - which would account for their 'exile' if the Pixodarus affair never actually happened...?All the bestMarcus

[marcus]

I am in abject humbleness mode - after checking last night it appears that Lysimachos was already a somatophylax when Alexander succeeded to the throne, so apologies for my misdirected polemics... (unless I read my notes wrong and I was, actually, correct in the first place!)However, as he was one of Philip's somatophylakes, I still think it highly unlikely that Lysimachos would have been sent off to look after Alexander in Illyria. More likely Alexander was accompanied by his 'mentors', as I suggested in my previous note.All the bestMarcus

[Yiannis K]

It seems that there were traditionally 7 Somatophylakes (bodyguards). Those were (during Alex's reign:
Arrybas (replaced by Leonnatus at 331BC)
Ptolemaeus (replaced by Hephaestion at 333 BC)
Lysimachus
Aristonus
Balacrus (later Menes at 332 and later Perdiccas at 330)
Demetrius (replaced by Ptolemy at 328BC)
Peithon
and finally Peucestas who saved ATG's life was added as an honorary eighth somatophylax.regards,
Yiannis

[marcus]

Yiannis,That's right. Balacrus was made military governer of one of the Anatolian satrapies and was replaced by Menes; and Lysimachos and Aristinous served throughout Alexander's life. But I think Demetrius was replaced by Ptolemy earlier, in 330 - wasn't Demetrius accused of being part of the Philotas conspiracy, and executed then?All the bestMarcus

[susa]

JohnAny problems with Antinous? Does Adrian's attachment to him mean Adrian had a brain damage? C'mon, you shouldn't be so phobic like this. Specially because we are not very sure about the 'greater general' -¦s sexual inclinations anyway. I think you should open your mind.:)susa

[John]

Susa,Well, Hadrian went out of his way to show the world that he had a gay relationship with Antinous.Alexander seemed to go out of his way NOT to show such a relationship with ANY male.Maybe Alexander was homophobic?John

[susa]

John!Oh, it was a sad, gloomy beautiful sunny day here, you know, today!!
But then you cheered up the whole thing!!!Alexander was homophobic? HA HA HA HA! That's the ticket. ;)You know, i heard many things about him until today - that he might have been a woman, that he might have been an alien - but 'homophobic' is the best of all!!!Your attempts to start a discussion with me are absolutely fab!!!!As for Adrian, well, i'd do the same - Antinous was a real beauty, why not be vain?susa

[clementina]

decided ?
do tell me.

[John]

Susa,Maybe Alexander was homophobic because he saw that his father was assassinated because of a homosexual incident?As for Antinous, I think the Nile put him out of his misery.JohnP.S. Are you reading too much Alexander fiction? "The Persian Boy," by Mary Renault IS fiction, you know.

[Linda]

I didn't know much about (H)adrian before susa posted about him, but on reading stuff on the web, I was struck by the similarity of his grief for his lover as Alexander's for Hephaestion. The Persian Boy may be fiction, but the fact that Alexander had a sexual relationship with Bagoas is mentioned in Curtius and Arrian. He in no way hid this (see the infamous kissing incident) - he may have be more circumspect in his relationship with Hephaestion - we really don't know, as it is difficult to pick up the nuances of the time, and this leads to lots of interpretations of what their relationship actually was. I apologise if I have misinterprested an elaborate three-way flirt between John, Susa and Clementina, (if there are three...?).Oh, and Alexander was really too old to have been influenced by Pausina and his father, apart from drawing a lesson on how not to conduct affairs.Linda

[susa]

LindaNo, you haven't misinterpreted anything. Actually i was just waiting for a chance to answer John back - because he was quite rude when he mentioned Antinoos and, as you so correctly put it, Adrian's pain for the loss of Antinoos was equal to Alexander's pain when Hephaistion died. Love and loss, you know , as u said some time ago. So i think John should't say such things about the greek boy and about the emperor, because his 'greater general' too went thru such a pain.We are talking about people here, and feelings, not mythical characters that live only in books.susa

[John]

* In that theater incident, the mob FORCED Alexander to kiss that guy. (But is the story really true?)* Alexander/Hephaistion -v- Hadrian/AntinousHephaistion was Alexander's Companion and fellow General; Antinous was Hadrian's little sex toy.Cheers,John

[Linda]

John, John John...Do you really think Alexander would have kissed someone he didn't want to? And that he was asked to means the relationship was well known. And if you don't beleive the story, there is still enough from Arrian and Curtius to say pretty definitely that Alexander had a sexual relationship with Bagoas. You can't dispute that the reactions of Alexander and Hadrian are very similar - so what if Antonious was younger - it was a ten year relationship, "Pretty-boy?". I do think you are being a touch homophobic. I didn't before, but I do now. And someone can be a fellow soldier and also a lover. They are not mutually exclusive, and if you think they are, then you had better have some evidence to hand. Lordy.

[susa]

Umm, what an expensive 'little sex toy'!!There's a city for him on the banks of the Nile, you know - Antinoe.
I don't think a 'toy' would get a whole city, a constellation [yep, a constellation - how romantic!], 200 statues [at least - look at any museum], and many other things in his memory [oh, archaeologists have just found a temple for Antinoos in Tivoli!].And you can ask whomever knows a bit about Adrian how dear Antinoos was to him. Not only a passtime.C'mon, John, stop being homophobic! What a bore!:)susa

[maciek]

Hi John!!
How You do it three girls and You alone - You have to be very special guy. First I saw something about flirt with two and now it's three... what a nice discussion here!!!Maciek