SIMILARITIES BETWEEN ALEXANDER OF MACEDON AND KING’S MAKER
First a bit of history.
Alexander’s biography is huge, his conquests seem immeasurable and the stories about him are endless. But here I have a summary (a poor one).
Alexander The Great
Alejandro was famous for his military exploits. He led his first battles as a teenager, he set out to conquer all the known world and took his troops from the mountains of northern Greece to the borders of India. Is known for his magnanimity with his vanquished enemies, and his devotion to his friends and companions.
In his life he showed an inclination for women and men. He married Roxana, a Persian princess, with whom he had a son. He also married Barsina, Darío’s eldest daughter and Parisatis, daughter of Ocus, although the latter is not confirmed. Many claim that their loves were political and others that were a sign of their search for love. But he also had an affair with a man of his own age, his childhood friend Hephaestion, who would accompany him for years and whom many consider his greatest love. He also accepted the company of the eunuch Bagoas, dancer, musician and the favorite of King Darius, who possessed an incomparable beauty.
This new love did not affect in any way the deep devotion that Alexander felt for Hephaestion, which concluded with Hephastion’s death during the summer, in Persia. Alexander had withstood hardships and wounds that would have knocked down weaker men, but Hephaestion’s death tore him apart. It is said that he lay on the body of Hephaestion one day and one night, until finally his friends separated them. For three days he remained silent, crying, without eatin anything. And when he finally got up, he shave his hair and order all the ornaments in the city to be removed. He banned any music and ordered that all the cities of the empire hold funerals in honor of his friend. Then he dispatched messengers to the oracle of Ammon to ask that his deceased friend be granted divine honors. Hephaestion’s body was embalmed and transported to Babylon to be burned on a funeral pyre.
Alexander died soon after that, some claim that he was poisoned by his enemies, others say he died of grief… the certain thing is he died months after his friend. He was then 33 years old.
Now, my list of similarities.
Seguir leyendo
