Hephaestion Amyntoros

[kizzikat]

3.         THE PAGES

Comments

[fiona13]

I thought this was a really well-argued piece, carefully weighing and assessing all the various suggestions that have been made, particularly concerning Hephaistion's origins and family. You make it nice and clear what is known and what is speculation. Myself, I don't believe that the Amyntor who was granted Athenian citizenship in 334 can have been Hephaistion's father. That's because, if he was living in Athens when Hephaistion was born, Hephaistion would have been a metic, denied access to aristocratic pursuits and not in a position to take advantage of sharing Alexander's upbringing, which we know he did. And if Amyntor was not then living in Athens, it doesn't give him a very big window of time in which to gain sufficient influence to have earned the honour

[kizzikat]

Oh, thank you for that, I didn't know about the festival of Xanthika! Sounds probable. Much of this section grew out of 2 frustrations - constantly reading that boys joined the Royal Pages about 13 or 15 without any attempt at explanation, and the mistaken assumption in so many fanfiction stories that Hephaestion was an Athenian, or that he had his own Pages. This Athenian origin is used to make him a vulnerable and isolated outsider, which might increase the reader's empathy for him and give more scope for emotional drama, but it reduces him to a very feminine position. And I so don't believe he functioned as Alexander's wife! I don't know why we can't accept a close emotional dependance between Alexander and Hephaestion which might have had a sexual elemental but was closer to that of brothers than spouses.

[mieza]

I don't know if you've read it, but you might find my recent article "The Cult of Hephaestion" interesting, regarding H.'s feminizing by moderns: Responses to Oliver Stone's 'Alexander,' Paul Cartledge and Fiona Greenland, eds., (Madison: Univ. of Wisconsin Press, 2010) 183-217.

[kizzikat]

Thank you for that. Yes, I have read it and it was my reason for buying the book in the first place! I did however find it a rather negative view of Hephaestion - concentrating on what he was not rather than what he was. I am not sure I agree with the interpretation of the Sogdiana column led by Hephaestion, or with the dating of his appointment to the Bodyguards - but there again, I'm no expert

[mieza]

I did however find it a rather negative view of Hephaestion - concentrating on what he was not rather than what he was.I find that interesting, as most people critique me for being overly POSITIVE towards him, and certainly, compared to the analyses of my fellow historians, I take a far more positive view of him. I wonder if perhaps you may have misread it partly? I do focus on what he was -- a logistics officer. There is a tendency (as noted by Donald Engels) to disregard logistics officers and downgrade their importance compared to combat officers. That's what I want to call into question. I believe modern historians have unconsciously (or even consciously) adopted a bias from the ancient sources themselves. My point is that Hephaistion was appointed chilliarch because he was a very good logistical officer, and he earned his job. It wasn't given to him

[kizzikat]

I have re-read your essay and, yes, perhaps, I did concentrate on the negative points, but it was the underlying negativity which struck me: To paraphrase, Hephaestion ‘may not have been in the front line, but…’ rather smacks of special pleading

[mieza]

If I may point out an error? First, let me state that I don't really care what fanfic argues or has H. do. I'm a historian, and my concern is with the historical person

[kizzikat]

Firstly, thank you for even bothering to look at this essay, let alone comment on it. I certainly didn’t expect you to and if you would rather I removed the link from megalexandros, please do say! I am not a historian and don’t pretend to be, and consequently don’t have the time or resources to be as thorough or accurate as I would have liked to be. However, I don’t think I have actually made the assumption that this Amyntor was living in Athens. This is an assumption made by many fans in fanfiction, and as I have a strong interest in both the historical Alexander and Hephaestion, and an interest in their representations in fiction as this brings the historical figures to life, it’s an assumption I am trying to correct! I suspect I am waging a losing battle though as many fanfiction writers are less interested in being historically accurate that they are in indulging in romantic fantasy. There are however a minority of fanfiction readers/writers who have a strong interest in the historical side of Alexander and Hephaestion.

[mieza]

I don't mind the link at all. And actually, I was responding to someone else's comment that to be a proxenos assumed Amyntor was in Athens, when that wouldn't be the case at all (rather the opposite).