Alexanr the Gay and the Gloryhole That Was Greece (Chapter 19) - A History of Alexanr the Great World Culture

Contents:

• ALEXANR THE GREAT OR ALEXANR THE GAY?
• 19 - ALEXANR THE GAY AND THE GLORYHOLE THAT WAS GREECE
• ALEXANR THE GREAT’S GAY LOVERS
• ALEXANR THE GREAT: GAY OR STRAIGHT?
• WAS ALEXANR THE GREAT GAY? THE ACTUAL ANSWER
• COL FARRELL'S GAY KISS 'ALEXANR' WAS 'HORRIBLE'
• ZACK SNYR'S 300 SEQUEL WAS A GAY LOVE STORY FEATURG ALEXANR THE GREAT, BUT WB WANTED NO PART OF IT
• A THIRD 300 MOVIE WAS PASSED ON AFTER IT BEME A GAY LOVE STORY
• BREAKG GROUND WH A GAY MOVIE HERO
• 19 - ALEXANR THE GAY AND THE GLORYHOLE THAT WAS GREECE
• A THIRD 300 MOVIE WAS PASSED ON AFTER IT BEME A GAY LOVE STORY

ALEXANR THE GREAT OR ALEXANR THE GAY?

The Importance of Evince the Heated Debate on Homosexualy Ancient Egypt.

Roman Law and the Banng of ‘Passive’ Homosexualy. At the same time, Ancient Greek ary forc (for example, the Spartans), believed that homosexual sex ma bonds between the soldiers stronger. Like huntg, homosexualy was thought to foster mascule, pecially martial, bravery.

Homosexualy was a norm the ancient tim, but the se of Alexanr the Great and Hephatn, is hard to ratnally nclu what the te relatnship was between them.

19 - ALEXANR THE GAY AND THE GLORYHOLE THAT WAS GREECE

Even if they were lovers, the beliefs and perceptns about homosexual relatnships was fely different than the way is nsired today.

Alexanr the Great or Alexanr the Gay?

For LGBT history month, gut blogger Prof Lloyd Llewellyn-Jon (Chair of Ancient History, Cardiff Universy) asks: 'Alexanr the Great or Alexanr the Gay?

ALEXANR THE GREAT’S GAY LOVERS

I thk he probably was gay. It was supposed to say ‘Alexanr the Gay’, but someone translated wrong to ‘Alexanr the Great.

The qutn of Alexanr’s homosexualy, once the prerve of scholars such as Tarn whose termed attempt 1948, ‘to straighten the matter out’ (no pun tend, surely) and close future discsn down, met only wh Badian’s hatchet-job of a dissectn of Tarn’s own pedantic nservatism a later.

The sexual revolutn of the 1960s and 1970s stimulated even Classicists to thk new and excg ways, and Alexanr’s sexualy was thrown wi open for bate – classrooms, on gay polil march, popular lerature, magaz, pornography – and the strengtheng gay muni of the liberal wt happily embraced the ancient ler not only as a gay prototype, but as a gay hero.

ALEXANR THE GREAT: GAY OR STRAIGHT?

In recent s enthiastic (if flawed) gay-tert webs have been bily appropriatg Alexanr as a role mol for the morn gay man; so much so, ed, that the Cassell’s Queer Compann entry dited to the Macedonian nqueror not that Alexanr is a staple the long list of historil gays that have been ‘claimed ‘om history. The talk is not even ncerned wh iologi surroundg ancient exprsns of sexual inty eher, but do look at ntemporary exprsns of the sexual and genred self bee our foc is explorg morn ncepts of homosexual inti which have attached themselv to the figure of Alexanr the Great. Takg as s startg pot this lecture will exame several twenty-first century rpons to ‘Alexanr the Gay’ by people who intify themselv through a range of genrs and sexuali.

For some though, Alexanr is not jt a top ten gay hero, he is the ultimate fantasy whose kiss we ntue to crave. And yet is rarely brought up today Greece, at least pole pany, bee acknowledgg ancient male-male relatns mak the untry’s hero seem, well, gay. And there is ep-seated homophobia throughout the here’s the thg: Alexanr the Great and his iend Hephatn were not “gay.

And yet today, both pro-gay and anti-gay groups around the world too often assume that people other tim and plac fed their sexualy the same ways is fed when the news broke about Hephatn’s shre, gay-themed webs across the Wt proudly tmpeted the disvery of a monument to Alexanr’s “gay lover.

WAS ALEXANR THE GREAT GAY? THE ACTUAL ANSWER

The film won applse om gay-rights groups the Uned Stat but faced angry prottatns Greece, where a group of lawyers threatened to sue the film’s stud, Warner Brothers. Kennedy was a shootg guard for the Los Angel Lakers basketball team, ” one of the Greek attorneys said, “and so Warner nnot e out and say that Alexanr was gay.

They lled “homosexualy, ” sistg that s victims need to be “cured” of their “ailment. Unr prsure om the gay rights movement, medil muni dropped the disease mol 1970s, when Wtern attus towards same-sex love began to shift of Alexanr the Great and Hephatn at the Getty Villa Mm Malibu, California. In a 2013 Pew Charable Tst poll, only 40 percent of Greek rponnts agreed that their society should “accept” homosexualy.

By ntrast, over three-quarters of rponnts Spa, Germany, France, and Bra favored social acceptance of gay of this discrepancy has to do wh the Greek Orthodox Church, which has nmned the untry’s small but growg movement for gay rights. Greeks are a famoly proud and pennt people, so submissn—of any sort—seems posively he me to power earlier this year, Greek Prime Mister Alexis Tsipras—a self-scribed atheist—pledged support for a gay civil unns bill as well as for a measure allowg gays to adopt children. But Tsipras soon backed away om his promise, claimg—whout evince—that there are “ntradictns the scientific muny” about whether gay upl uld be aquate adoptive there’s the neo-Nazi Goln Dawn Party, which engag route anti-gay vlence and harassment.

COL FARRELL'S GAY KISS 'ALEXANR' WAS 'HORRIBLE'

It also enjoys robt support among police officers, who rarely tervene to protect gay victims. Meanwhile, the Orthodox Church has joed Goln Dawn and other right-wg parti opposg the civil unns bill for gays. ”Perhaps teachg the te story of Alexanr the Great n help rce some of the vic bigotry agast gays prent-day Greece.

ZACK SNYR'S 300 SEQUEL WAS A GAY LOVE STORY FEATURG ALEXANR THE GREAT, BUT WB WANTED NO PART OF IT

And may beg wh droppg the term “gay.

” It not only distorts history but also misguidly attempts to fd a precursor for morn homosexualy, imposg our own vobulary on people om long ago who spoke about sexualy very different ways. Summary Wh ntemporary Wtern gay muni, Alexanr the Great is often champned as a hero and an spiratnal figure – the ultimate high-stat homosexual. This chapter explor the var ways which he has been visualised wh the gay muny and s wir – more closeted – muny.

The darker, anti-gay, readg of Alexanr is also explored the ntext of right-wg natnalism and the ary.

A THIRD 300 MOVIE WAS PASSED ON AFTER IT BEME A GAY LOVE STORY

(1999) Somethg for the Boys: Mil Theater and Gay Culture. (1995) Cassell’s Queer Compann: A Dictnary of Lbian and Gay Life and Culture. THE GAY LOVERS OF ALEXANDER III OF MACEDON, known as ‘THE GREAT’.

A group of homophobic Greek lawyers even threatened to sue Warner Bros. The lawyers, tramplg their own tellectual herage unrfoot, sent a letter to the stud mandg they state the tle creds that the movie was a fictnal surroundg the “gayns” of Alexanr has a precent. A uple of years prevly, a mob of hundreds of Macedonian Greeks stormed an archeologil symposium after a speaker prented a paper on the homosexualy of Alexanr.

BREAKG GROUND WH A GAY MOVIE HERO

Stone’s movie uld have been done much better; he uld have portrayed Alexanr as we know him historilly, gay lovers and all, but Col Farrell was not the bt choice to play Alexanr. When the DVD was released, Stone attempted to salvage the movie by rearrangg the scen and takg out much of the homosexual ntent.

19 - ALEXANR THE GAY AND THE GLORYHOLE THAT WAS GREECE

This relatnship rembled morn gay love and beme legendary for ’s passn.

What may seem normal to some of today, the gay love of one man for another, ancient days was owned upon as a threat to masculy and the stcture of society. Alexanr saw their love as emulatg that heroic love between Achill and Patrocl, another ancient uple that morn gay upl n look to as an example of votn. Edorial Board, World History of Male Love, “Famo Homosexuals”, The Gay Lovers of Alexanr the Great, 2000 <> Jt for the rerd, to any of my Greek rears, always remember this, the greatt man Greek History was a homosexual (ο μεγαλύτερος άνθρωπος στην ελληνική ιστορία ήταν ομοφυλόφιλος), not a perast like many ancient Greeks, but a homosexual who had a male lover of equal age, which ma a huge difference the Ancient Greek World.

A THIRD 300 MOVIE WAS PASSED ON AFTER IT BEME A GAY LOVE STORY

It happens to be one of my favore morn gay art piec. Yet, to give Stone his due, he was prepared to take on the ch the welter of homophobic cricism he received for pictg his hero  close homoerotic enunter wh the Persian nuch. For ancient Greeks there was no ntradictn between youthful homoeroticism and predomantly or wholly heterosexual adult proclivy and activy.