Ahem

Apparently some people are upset about the new movie about Alexander the Great.

ATHENS, Nov 19 (Reuters) - A group of Greek lawyers are threatening to sue Warner Bros film studios and Oliver Stone, director of the widely anticipated film "Alexander," for suggesting Alexander the Great was bisexual.

The lawyers have already sent an extrajudicial note to the studio and director demanding they include a reference in the title credits saying his movie is a fictional tale and not based on official documents of the life of the Macedonian ruler.

Putting aside, for the moment, that I can't for the life of me think of what grounds there might be for such a suit, to say nothing of the difficulty of finding someone with standing to bring it, these Greek lawyers may be forgetting something: Alexander wasn't Greek.  He was Macedonian. 

Now it's true that he had Greek tutors and that much of his army was made up of Greek soldiers, but that was largely because his father, Philip of Macedon, had conquered most of Greece and consolidated it into his kingdom.

Of course, over the ages forgetting this little bit of history has been a national Greek past time. (As far as I can tell. I could be wrong, but I've seen lots of instances over the years of Greeks writing and talking about Alexander as if he was Greek.)  I guess when there's a king who ruled most of the known world in your history, it's easier to think of your country being his home than it being a mere vassal.

Update: Josh Claybourn takes a look at the underlying facts about Alexander.  My vague recollection is that there's slightly more evidence about Alexander's possible bi-sexuality than Josh thinks, but it's been ten years since I've studied the subject and I wasn't that interested at the time so I'll defer to him on this.

Comments

[Mark Byron]

The Greek sort of claim Macedonia as their own; there's a Macedonian area northern Greece as well as the country of Macedonia that splintered off from Yugoslavia. Hence, the Greeks were/are up in arms with the idea of an independent Macedonia called Macedonia to their north. Check out the stink they made early this month when the US officially started calling Macedonia by that name.

[Jeffrey]

Yes, I'm aware that much of ancient Macedonia currently lies within the borders of modern Greece. I don't think it affects my point though, as I find retroactive claims on history to absurd. (And that's the BEST thing I can say about them.)

[Bill]

jeffry,

I served in Macedonia and did some studying in grad school on the issue when I got back.
The fact is the US made a big deal about the creation by Tito of "Macedonia". Secretary of State Stettinius specifically said this was done in order to make a claim against Greece.

When I was in Macedonia there were prominent maps in the schools showing Macedonia encompassing part of Greece.

Despite all of this Greece is the biggest investor in the country and except for the name issue relations are actually very good.

there are not many good analogies to explain the issue but it isn't as simple as most people think. You have to imagine a region dominated by World war two, a "hot" war in the middle of the cold war in which this issue was used as a terriorial claim, etc.

[Jeffrey]

Bill, what does ANY of what you said have to do with Alexander the Great? The only way I can make head or tails of what you said is if when discussing Tito "creating" Macedonia what you actually meant is that he created a fictional historical account that included a "Macedonia." I have no idea if this is what you meant, but it's sure not what you said.

Please try to be more clear because you haven't even begun to establish the relevance of your post.