Challenging Gender Roles: Alexander the Great's Gender-Bending Outfits, Athenaeus, Deipnos. 12.53

 

Name:   Athenaeus Date:   2nd century CE Region:   Naucratis [modern Egypt] Citation:    Deipnosophists  12.53

Ephippus also states that Alexander the Great also wore sacred garments to dinner. Sometime he wore Ammon’s sacred purple garb, open-toe sandals, and horns, just like the god would. Sometimes he dressed in Artemis’ garb; he usually did this when he was riding in a chariot, with the Persian cloak, wearing the goddess’ bow on his shoulders and brandishing her spear in his hand. Sometimes he dressed like Hermes; but on most days, he would wear a purple cloak, a tunic with white stripes, and a royal miter, with a crown on top. When he was hanging out with his entourage, he would wear Hermes' iconic sandals and hat, with the god's Caduceus in his hand. Sometimes he wore even Hercules’ lion pelt and club.”

Ephippus vero scribit: "Etiam sacras vestes in cenis gestasse Alexandrum: nunc quidem Hammonis purpuram, & fissiles soleas & cornua, velut ipse Deus; nunc vero Dianae, cuius cultum saepe etiam sumebat quum curru veheretur, Persica quidem stola indutus, sed ita ut supra humeros arcus Deae & spiculum emineret. Subinde etiam Mercurii cultum; alias quidem fere ac quotidie chlamydem purpueram & tunicam medio albo intertexto & causiam cui diadema regium circum positum; ubi vero cum amicis una esset, talaria, & petasum in capite, & caduceum in manu: saepe vero etiam leoninam pellem & clavam, veluti Hercules."

ἔφιππος δέ φησιν ὡς Ἀλέξανδρος καὶ τὰς ἱερὰς  ἐσθῆτας ἐφόρει ἐν τοῖς δείπνοις, ὁτὲ μὲν τὴν τοῦ Ἄμμωνος πορφυρίδα καὶ περισχιδεῖς καὶ κέρατα καθάπερ ὁ θεός, ὁτὲ δὲ τὴν τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος, ἣν καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ ἅρματος ἐφόρει πολλάκις, ἔχων τὴν Περσικὴν στολήν, ὑποφαίνων ἄνωθεν τῶν ὤμων τό τε τόξον καὶ τὴν σιβύνην, ἐνίοτε δὲ καὶ τὴν τοῦ Ἑρμοῦ: τὰ μὲν ἄλλα σχεδὸν καὶ καθ᾽ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν χλαμύδα τε πορφυρᾶν καὶ χιτῶνα μεσόλευκον καὶ τὴν καυσίαν ἔχουσαν τὸ διάδημα τὸ βασιλικόν, ἐν δὲ τῇ συνουσίᾳ τά τε πέδιλα καὶ τὸν πέτασον ἐπὶ τῇ κεφαλῇ καὶ τὸ κηρύκειον ἐν τῇ χειρί, πολλάκις δὲ καὶ λεοντῆν καὶ ῥόπαλον ὥσπερ ὁ Ἡρακλῆς.

 Translated into Latin by Translated into Latin by Iohannes Schweighaeuser (1804)

 

 Athenaeus was a scholar who lived in Naucratis (modern Egypt) during the reign of the Antonines. His fifteen volume work, the Deipnosophists, are invaluable for the amount of quotations they preserve of otherwise lost authors, including the poetry of Sappho.

 

M/M: Alexander and Bagoas: Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae XIII.lxxx

Please note that even though Bagoas was free and able to consent to Alexander's affection, many eunuchs were not so lucky, and spent the duration of their lives in slavery. It is important to ensure that we do not romanticize relationships that would not be considered consensual today, including the master / slave dynamic.  

In his book On Sacred Sacrifices at Troy, Dichaearchus states that Alexander the Great was so smitten by the eunuch Bagoas that he kissed him in the middle of a theater, and when the spectators applauded them, he kissed him again.

Dicaearchus certe, in libro De Solemni Sacrificio ad Ilium, ait, ita impotenter [Alexandrum] amasse eum Bagoam eunuchum, ut in totius theatri conspectu…eum suaviaretur: plaudentibus vero spectatoribus, & adclamantibus, paruit, iteruque retro eum osculatus est.

Δικαίαρχος γοῦν ἐν τῷ περὶ τῆς ἐν Ἰλίῳ Θυσίας [Ἀλέξανδρον] Βαγώου τοῦ εὐνούχου οὕτως αὐτόν φησιν ἡττᾶσθαι ὡς ἐν ὄψει θεάτρου ὅλου καταφιλεῖν αὐτὸν ἀνακλάσαντα, καὶ τῶν θεατῶν ἐπιφωνησάντων μετὰ κρότου οὐκ ἀπειθήσας πάλιν ἀνακλάσας ἐφίλησεν.

--Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae XIII.lxxx; Translated into Latin by Iohannes Schweighaeuser (1805)

Athenaeus was a scholar who lived in Naucratis (modern Egypt) during the reign of the Antonines. His fifteen volume work, the Deipnosophists, are invaluable for the amount of quotations they preserve of otherwise lost authors, including the poetry of Sappho. 

M/M: Achilles & Patroclus Reborn: Alexander & Hephaestion, Arrian, Anabasis Alexandri 1.12.1-2

Name: Arrian [Flavius Arrianus Nicomediansis] Date: 86 - 160 CE Region: Bithynia [modern Turkey] Citation: Anabasis of Alexander 1.12.1-2

As Alexander arrived at Troy, the Governor Menoetius honored him with a golden crown in front a crowd of Greeks and locals; then Chares the Athenian did the same, who came all the way from Sigeum to do so. They say that thereafter Hephaestion honored the tomb of Patroclus with a golden crown; there are also those who say that Alexander then crowned Achilles' tomb, too, and said that Achilles was blessed to have obtained Homer as the reporter of his deeds.
ἀνιόντα δ᾽ αὐτὸν ἐς Ἴλιον Μενοίτιός τε ὁ κυβερνήτης χρυσῷ στεφάνῳ ἐστεφάνωσε καὶ ἐπὶ τούτῳ Χάρης ὁ Ἀθηναῖος ἐκ Σιγείου ἐλθὼν καί τινες καὶ ἄλλοι, οἱ μὲν Ἕλληνες, οἱ δὲ ἐπιχώριοι:...οἱ δὲ, ὅτι καὶ τὸν Ἀχιλλέως ἄρα τάφον ἐστεφάνωσεν: Ἡφαιστίωνα δὲ λέγουσιν ὅτι τοῦ Πατρόκλου τὸν τάφον ἐστεφάνωσε: καὶ εὐδαιμόνισεν ἄρα, ὡς λόγος, Ἀλέξανδρος Ἀχιλλέα, ὅτι Ὁμήρου κήρυκος ἐς τὴν ἔπειτα μνήμην ἔτυχε. 

Porro Alexandro Ilium versus adscendenti Menoetius gubernator auream coronam imposuit: post hunc Chares Atheniensis, qui ex Sigeo venerat, atque alii nonnulli, partim Graeci, partim indigenae. Ab Hephaestione vero Patrocli tumulum coronatum esse narrant. Sunt qui Alexandrum etiam Achillis tumulum coronasse dicant: et felicem quidem, ut fama est, nominavit Achillem quod Homerum praeconem ad perpetuandam suam memoriam nactus esset. 
Translated from the Greek by Fr. Duebner

M/M: Call Me By Your Name: Alexander the Great and Hephaestion, Quintus Curtius Rufus, Hist. Alex. 3.12.15-17

Call Me By Your Name: Alexander the Great and Hephaestion

Name:  Quintus Curtius Rufus Date:  1st Century CE Region:   Unknown Citation: History of Alexander the Great, 3.12.15-17

After the battle's casualties were buried with proper dignity, Alexander sent a message to announce to the Persian captives that he would visit them. He entered the captive queen's tent without his retinue, only bringing Hephaestion with him. Hephaestion was by far Alexander's best friend, a boyhood companion who was raised in the same household as the king. He was Alexander's closest confidant, and had the most liberties in monitoring and criticizing the man's behavior, a feat that seemed to be more encouraged by Alexander himself than Hephaestion's own impulse. And although they were the same age, Hephaestion had a more kingly presence than Alexander. Therefore when the queen saw Hephaestion, she assumed he was the king and bowed before him in the Persian manner. When one of the captive court's eunuchs pointed out to her who the real Alexander was, Queen Sisigambis threw herself at Alexander's feet, apologizing that she did not know which was which. Alexander took the queen by her hand and lifted her back to her feet, saying, “You weren't wrong, Queen Mother; this man is also Alexander.”    

 

Call Me By Your Name: Alexander the Great and Hephaestion

Iamque iustis defunctorum corporibus solutis, [Alexander] praemittit ad captivas qui nuntiarent ipsum venire, inhibitaque comitantium turba, tabernaculum cum Hephaestione intrat. Is longe omnium amicorum carissimus erat regi, cum ipso pariter eductus, secretorum omnium arbiter, libertatis quoque in admonendo eo non alius plus ius habebat, quod tamen ita usurpabat ut magis a rege permissum quam vindicatum ab eo videretur. Et sicut aetate par erat regi, ita corporis habitu praestabat. Ergo reginae, illum esse regem ratae, suo more veneratae sunt. Inde ex captivis spadonibus quis Alexander esset monstrantibus, Sisigambis advoluta est pedibus eius, ignorationem numquam antea visi regis excusans. Quam manu allevans rex: “Non errasti,” inquit, “Mater, nam et hic Alexander est.”

Quintus Curtius Rufus [1st century CE] was a Roman statesman and author who lived during the reign of the Julio-Claudian emperors. Although much of his work is lost, the remaining fragments of his History of Alexander the Great provide insight into the life of the great hero.