Alexander the Great 5
"The Kids Are Alright": Alexander and His Friends
by CTCWeb Editors
"Sometimes I Must Get Out Into the Light" - The Who
Like the old school ties formed at elite institutions today, at the school of Royal Pages, Alexander made friends with other Macedonian boys who would play important roles in his future successes. Alexander’s closest companion was Hephaistion. The son of Amyntas, a Macedonian noble, Hephaistion was also educated by Aristotle. Later, Hephaistion would hold prominent positions in the military structure established by Alexander and would remain a close advisor to his king.
The Roman writer Q. Curtius Rufus described Hephaistion as omnium amicorum carissimus, “the most dear of all the friends” to Alexander. The two boys remained friends throughout their lives. When Alexander’s army crossed the Hellespont and visited the ancient and storied site of Troy, Alexander and Hephaistion made sacrifices to their gods together. Alexander laid an offering on the tomb of the great warrior Achilles while Hephaistion made an offering to the tomb of Patroclus, Achilles’ best friend (for an image of Achilles' burial mound today, click here). The Homeric texts of the Iliad and Odyssey held sway over both of their imaginations.
To learn more about Achilles and Patroclus, see Troy.
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Legend says that later in their lives, when Alexander was firmly established as a glorious conqueror, his army overtook the caravan of the mother of King Darius III of Persia. When Alexander and Hephaistion visited Darius’ mother, she mistakenly made obeisance to the taller and more physically impressive of the two: Hephaistion. When she realized that she had made a mistake, the old woman was flustered. To calm her, Alexander remarked: “Hephaistion is Alexander, too.”
Like Patroclus and Achilles, Hephaistion and Alexander would die young. Hephaistion died first, leaving Alexander to mourn his loss for days, only to return to battle again to conquer his foes.
