Hephaestion's looks

[Sam]

Hi board! Perhaps you have the answer to my question: What do we know Hephaestion's looks? What did he look like? Thanks!
Sam

[ruthaki]

I believe all that is known is that he was probably a handsome fellow, and taller than Alexander, In fact, imposing enough that the dowager Queen of Persia mistook him for Alexander.
I'm not sure there are any sculptures or coins with his image, are there?

[beausefaless]

Your question is always interesting for me, I'd like to believe they had much more in common than being lovers in the seconded half of their lives, especially during their campaigns, but in the first part, it's very probable they shared their physical attraction with each other, their looks were similar but Hephaestion was taller and Alexander appears to be a better looker ( this is what I gather from the different statues I've seen).
Oliver Stone thinks Jared Letto is the right choice for the part of Hephaestion in the movie beeing made at this time. I liked Jared's roll in Switch Back opposit Danny Glover, a bit of action, lots of suspense and Jared's eyes were blue as the water around all the non poluted islands in the south pacific ocean.

[Linda]

SamThis website has pictures of statues etc believed to be Hephaestion, although there is no definitive Hephaestion.Regarding myths, here is another one - that their relationship was "more than lovers" or moved on from lovers, in their later life. As far as I can see, this comes from Mary Renault, and is based on an interpretation of the Athenian "model" of homosexuality (boy/man) and the appearance of Bagoas on the scene. From their actions (particularly Alexander's on H's death, I can't see any evidence that it was not a fairly constant relationship. Close both politically and personally, although whether the first was caused by the second, we don't know.

[Linda]

oops - teh urlhttp://home.earthlink.net/~mathetria/images.html

[marcus]

Andrew,It sounds as if you are rather taken with Mr Leto - very poetic!Interesting that you suggest Alexander was the better looking of the two. I've never formed an opinion on this, but certainly Heph appears to have been thought of as very handsome - as in the Sisygambis episode. I can't remember whether Plutarch says anything explicit about A's looks, but I always got the impression that he was more 'pretty' than 'handsome'. Whether that allows us to make a comparison I don't know.All the bestMarcus

[anna]

Actually, you know this is very interesting, those bits of information. My personal interpretation for some reason, from all the sources - (i don't know who was handsomer or prettier. We don't know how Hephaistion looked, we can only guess. I barely inderstand how Alex looked even though we have some busts and sculptures and coins )- that Hephaistion was the taller of the two and maybe even bigger overall, and that in ancient world was a physical virtue which was unseperatable from beauty. He was taller - bigger - more prominent looking - more Royally looking! Remember the story from Curtius about the skiphyans chuckling upon seeing the small-sized Alex? In Asia the size matters (i think even today it's the cultural tradition). By Sysygambis standarts the king should've been tall and big - the main epitome of male beauty and Royal feature. That might be the reason of her confusion, i doubt she had the chance to check the faces of two young males of foreign origin she never saw before and clearly distinguish between them - before the bow. Especially, as some claim, they looked pretty much alike, even in the way they dressed. Poor Alex had to cover the unroyal gape in height by his ambitions ;)But i still don't think Alex was less handsome than his friend, at least there is no clear proof, though that might be possible, of course. All we know is that Arrian describes him as handsome. But the beauty is in the beholder's eye, as they say. :)Sorry for the long rumblings, by the way.

[Tre]

From a technical standpoint we really have no idea what he looked like, save for a few statues that are rather vague and different when put side by side. Curtius says he was of greater physique, and that's about it.Regards,Tre

[jan]

Check out Jeane Zimmerman's website. Use the search engine if necessary or ask Tre. She has many great pictures of Hephaestion available.

[smittysmitty]

Hi Sam,
don't know about his looks, but may be able to comment on his height. If Alexander was meant to be 5 foot 2 inches, and H was considerably taller, I reckon that puts his height around 5 foot6inches!How does all that sound for the Romantics?
sorry, being a bit cheeky!
Cheers!