I'm sorry if this sounds like a dumb question, but we hear about how much Hephaestion meant to Alexander all the time but never the reverse. Based on descriptions I'm inclined to believe otherwise, but how do we know they had a close mutual relationship at all? I feel like he could have also just been someone who knew how to make good use of the king's good graces.
Generally, I constantly wonder why there is so little known about him anyway? Considering that he was most likely the closest person to one of the greatest conquerors ever and ALSO had a high position in the military, it is strange to me that we know so little of him.
Why Don't We Know More about Hephaistion? (Or, one of the problems with Great Man history)
It’s not particularly strange to know so little given one important detail: Alexander didn’t outlive him by even a year.
In the Successor Wars that followed, it didn’t serve anyone to preserve his memory…especially not when they could elevate their own instead. This isn’t necessarily a matter of spite or resentment, but of simple ambition. Hephaistion was dead; he couldn’t help them. And he’d not been the king (seat of power), so elevating his memory couldn’t really help them to further their own. Unlike elevating Alexander’s memory, as their power came as a result of being his officers.
Also, we do know a fair bit about him compared to others—now virtual unknowns—who during Alexander’s lifetime were apparently pretty important individuals.
How many of you—WITHOUT racing to Google—can tell me anything about Aristonous, or Peithon? These were members of his personal bodyguard (Somatophylakes). And no, that does not make them faceless Men in Black/Secret Service. All Somatophylakes were quite highly placed Hetairoi from families as important as Hephaistion’s, maybe (probably) even more so.
Truth is, we know about those around Alexander who went on to become Successors, or who played pivotal roles in the drama (like Eumenes). Aristonous served those men instead…so you’ve never heard of him. Peithon might be slightly better known as he became a satrap, but he faded behind Seleukos and Antigonos and Perdikkas.
Even Krateros is unknown to the average person with only a passing interest in ATG. Kleitos is better known, and when I mention Krateros to non-specialists, they often confuse him with Kleitos … “Oh, is he the one Alexander killed in a drunken rage?” Nope. I couldn’t convince the Netflix people to include him even though he went on to become the second most important person in the empire at the end of Aleander’s life, after Hephaistion. From their point of view, his wasn’t a “recognizable” name.
So, I think it can sometimes help to get a sense of expectations. History written in that time was very much "Great Man" history, where the focus was on a particular individual and others would appear in the spotlight only when they walked on stage to interact with him.
As I’ve collected all ancient references to either Hephaistion or Krateros, it’s pretty clear that, even in the Roman world, Hephaistion was better-known. And he certainly had a much longer afterlife into the medieval and Renaissance worlds. The only surviving figures from the court to be remembered in greater detail were those who established dynasties of their own, such as the Ptolemies, Seleucids, and Antigonids. Or Eumenes, because Plutarch wrote a Life about him.
In the end, whatever you do won't matter if nobody remembers it--and writes about it. I'm opening my monograph on Hephaistion and Krateros with this famous line from Hamilton:
"Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story?"
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