The question of Alexander’s homosexuality, once the preserve of scholars such as Tarn whose determined attempt in 1948, ‘to straighten the matter out’ (no pun intended, surely) and close future discussion down, met only with Badian’s hatchet-job of a dissection of Tarn’s own pedantic conservatism a decade later.
In his 2006 book Alexander’s Lovers, for instance, Andrew Chugg notes that, ‘to understand Alexander well, it is necessary to follow his heart more than his policies’. Benson put it) and began to consider sexual preferences as an integral part of sexual identity, Alexander the Great has been scrutinized and analysed for what his love life said (or says) about the man himself. 'Ever since the Twentieth Century discovered ‘that horrid thing Freud called sex’ (as E. It was supposed to say ‘Alexander the Gay’, but someone translated it wrong to ‘Alexander the Great.’ () Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones (Chair of Ancient History, Cardiff University)įor LGBT history month, guest blogger Prof Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones (Chair of Ancient History, Cardiff University) asks: 'Alexander the Great or Alexander the Gay?' before his talk this week, exploring Alexander's sexuality and popular culture. Alexander the Great or Alexander the Gay?