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Part of the entry on Hephaestion:
‘For it is equally to the credit of Hephaestion and Alexander, that though the former undoubtedly owed his elevation to the personal favour and affection of the king, rather than to any abilities or achievements of his own he never allowed himself to degenerate into the-position of a flatterer or mere favourite, and the intercourse between the two appears to have been uniformly characterised by the frankness and sincerity of a true friendship.’
‘It was fortunate for Hephaestion that his premature death saved him from encountering the troubles and dissensions which followed that of Alexander, and in which he was evidently ill qualified to compete with the sterner and more energetic spirits that surrounded him. Even during the lifetime of the king, the enmity between him and Eumenes, as well as that already adverted to with Craterus, had repeatedly broken out, with a vehemence which required the utmost exertions of Alexander to repress them; and it is but justice to the latter to observe, that his authority was employed on these occasions without any apparent partiality to his favourite. (Plut. Alex. 47, Eum. 2 ; Arr. Anab. vii. 13, 14.) If, indeed, we cannot refuse this obnoxious name to Hephaestion, nor affirm that he was altogether exempt from the weaknesses and faults incident to such a position, it may yet be fairly asserted that history affords few examples of a favourite who abused his advantages so little.’
Mary Renault says something similar in The Nature of Alexander - "that so little is adduced against him is remarkable." Perhaps she had read this.
This map of Alexandria comes from E M Forster's Guide to Alexandria (1922).
The island of Pharos was, according to Forster, empty in the early days of Alexandria (possibly until the building of the lighthouse about 279 BC) except for a temple to Hephaestion. Presumably this temple is the one Cleomenes, the Greek Alexander left in charge of Egypt, built in the hope that Alexander would excuse his corruption charges. He was executed by Ptolemy in about 322 BC.
It is possible that the temple to Hephaestion might have been the first building that anyone saw on sailing into the new Alexandria. The prehistoric harbour (the island was known to Homer), might still have been in use until the causeway was built, creating the two great harbours, and merchants arriving in the new city might have drawn up their contracts and sworn to uphold them in Hephaestion's temple, as Alexander ordered that merchants' contract were to include Hephaestion's name, and oaths were sworn in Hephaestion's name.
Is this a testimony to Hephaestion's organisational abilities, and perhaps a reputation for fair dealing?
I don’t know if anyone will be interested but I’ve written a very long, and doubtless boring, essay on Alexander & Hephaestion’s early years.
1. Age(1) http://kizzikat.livejournal.com/15767.html#cutid1
2. Mieza http://kizzikat.livejournal.com/16317.html#cutid1
3. The Pages http://kizzikat.livejournal.com/16640.html#cutid1
4. The Older Pages http://kizzikat.livejournal.com/17258.html#cutid1
5. Age (2) http://kizzikat.livejournal.com/17813.html#cutid1
6. Erastes/eromenos (1) http://kizzikat.livejournal.com/18109.html#cutid1
7. Erastes/eromenos (2) http://kizzikat.livejournal.com/18197.html#cutid1
8. Amyntas http://kizzikat.livejournal.com/18546.html#cutid1
9. Alexander of Epirus http://kizzikat.livejournal.com/18884.html#cutid1
10. The women of Alexander’s family (1) http://kizzikat.livejournal.com/19169.html#cutid1
11. The women of Alexander’s family (2) http://kizzikat.livejournal.com/19375.html#cutid1
12. Ages of Alexander’s associates http://kizzikat.livejournal.com/19543.html#cutid1