Alexanr the Great or Alexanr the Gay? - Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology - Universy of Liverpool

Contents:

• ALEXANR THE GREAT: GAY OR STRAIGHT?
• ALEXANR THE GREAT OR ALEXANR THE GAY?
• 19 - ALEXANR THE GAY AND THE GLORYHOLE THAT WAS GREECE
• WAS ALEXANR THE GREAT GAY? THE ACTUAL ANSWER

ALEXANR THE GREAT: GAY OR STRAIGHT?

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. Homosexual relatns were ordary amongst the upper class, pecially the form of perasty.

ALEXANR THE GREAT OR ALEXANR THE GAY?

Nohels, homosexual men of the same class experienced social stigma as the passive role was more effemate. As the two did not engage sex ancient thors praised Alexanr’s self-ntrol whereas morn advot, like Jam Davidson, e as nformatn of homosexualy. Hephatn secured high-rankg posns the army and, Troy, the two ma sacrific at the shr of Achill and Patrocl: two other likely lovers that suffered history’s homosexual erasure.

Advot for Alexanr’s homosexualy argue that he yearned for children wh his lover, Hephatn, and utilised the Persian prcs as surrogat given that the men’s offsprg would be s. It is unclear whether the Sa weddgs are a polil ceremony or a secret gay lovers’ unn. The ia of an LGBT or gay in was created the 20th century and is a person revered by the LGBT muny for beg a champn of LGBT rights and/or beg a notor LGBT person themselv.

Employg a broad fn, Alexanr uld be nsired an LGBT in for beg a remarkable person that likely engaged homosexual relatnships. Yet, if all necsary morn creria are applied, this may not be the se; Alexanr did not further acceptance of homosexual relatns between social class. Sce the sexual revolutn over half a century ago, Alexanr’s sexual inty has been reclaimed by liberal Wtern muni as a gay hero.

19 - ALEXANR THE GAY AND THE GLORYHOLE THAT WAS GREECE

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?

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.

WAS ALEXANR THE GREAT GAY? THE ACTUAL ANSWER

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. 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.