Colin Farrell as Alexander the Great According to David Halperin, a reknowned American gay classicist, it may be anachronistic to consider Alexander the Great of Macedonia (356-324 BCE) as either "gay" or "straight." Why? Modern concepts of human sexuality, whether heterosexual, bisexual or gay, only date from the seventeenth century insofar as Western Europe is concerned. From the eighteenth century onward, our forebears mounted organised resistance to religious and medical condemnations and shared perceptions of an identity and community based on same-sex emotional and sexual preferences for other males. Without urban industrial societies, gay male social identities, networks and communities didn't exist. One might feel desire for the same sex and even engage in mutual masturbation, oral or anal sex, but not regard oneself as a gay man in the contemporary sense of the word. Therefore, Alexander the Great might well have had same-sex intimacy and intercourse with his companion Hephaestion, or formed an intimate relationship with Bagaos, a beloved eunuch, but be neither "gay," "bisexual" or "straight." How did Alexander understand his sexual identity, then? Halperin argues that there was a stigmatised identity roughly similar to contemporary "queens" or "bottoms," for men who liked penetrative sex. However, this kinaidos identity isn't exactly identical to the aforementioned rough equivalents, because effeminate 'heterosexual' male kinaidos might also exist. In this case, the exact gender of their dominant partner wasn't as important to Macedonian concepts of sexuality as the fact that a kinaidos enjoyed being a bottom to whoever was the top. Alexander the Great appears to have been the dominant party, regardless of the gender of his partner, and wasn't subjected to stigma or shaming because he chose Hephaestion as his bedmate. If he did enjoy being on the receiving end in the solitude of a battlefield tent with Hephaestion, he didn't advertise the fact. In the case of "lesbians", something similar happened with hetaeristrai, roughly equivalent to "butch lesbians."Lesbian" came into vogue to describe female same-sex identity, desire and sexual practice during the days of the Roman Republic, several hundred years later. Can we therefore claim Alexander as "one of us" without serious anachronism? While he may not have regarded himself as a "gay," "bisexual" or "heterosexual" male, Alexander did have same-sex erotic desires, and acted on them, whether with Hephaestion or Bagaos. As one lesbian reviewer of Colin Farrell's forthcoming portrayal noted, "the past is a foreign country." True, but it may have some familiar landmarks. Then again, there are some differences. Classical Greeks wouldn't have fancied Colin's prodigious endowment, as small was beautiful in their culture. However, we are far more appreciative of that aspect of his portrayal. Recommended Reading: Louis Crompton: Homosexuality and Civilisation: Cambridge, Massachuesetts: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press: 2003. Gayle Gibson: "Return of the King" Xtra Toronto (11.11.04): http://www.xtra.ca/site/toronto2/news/body8.shtm David Halperin: How to Do the History of Homosexuality: Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 2002. Craig Young - 21st December 2004