Royston Lambert
Gag, you want me to go dig up every Alexander book and article and dissertation I've ever read?
Just a quickie search gives me Arrian and Plutarch mentioning the Illiad-style tributes. I'd have to dig dieeper for the modern historians.
The Achilles-Patroclus / Alexander-Hephaestion connection is well known. It is a fact of history that Alexander and Hephaestion together sacrificed at the tombs of Achilles and Patroclus at Troy. They did so openly, before the entire army. There is no doubt that the message they were conveying was that they were the new Achilles and Patroclus, and should be accepted as such.
Gag, indeed! I don't know what came over me, requesting your sources. God knows, there are gazillions of them! Forgive me. I'm somewhat protective of Alexander. Not that he needs my protection. Heaven forbid. (Wouldn't mind him being a little protective of me, however - haha!) There are extremely disparate views about Alexander in every aspect of his legend. I personally tend to veer towards the romantic. Just regarding his sexuality alone, there are mind-bogglingly opposite sites on the Internet, ranging from overt gay to overt straight. Some of them are very aggressive in their views. It's amazing that a man who has been dead for over two thousand years can still generate such passion. As for me, I believe Alexander was simply a man of his time.
