Greek minister slams Alexander the Great's portrayal as gay in Netflix documentary

A Netflix drama documentary about Alexander the Great has come under fire for depicting “extremely poor-quality fiction” with Greece's minister for culture calling it “low content, rife with historical inaccuracies". The documentary is called Alexander: The Making of a God.

Minister of Culture of Greece, Lina Mendoni made these comments amid a raging debate over the show’s depiction of a romantic relationship between Alexander the Great and his confidant and friend Hephaestion.

The show is a distortion of truth, say Greek politicians

Local media in Greece and movie buffs have been calling the show “a distortion of the truth” and blamed Oliver Stone’s 2004 film Alexander for starting “a propaganda campaign about Alexander’s homosexuality”. They have been blaming the 2004 film for the narrative of Alexander being “gay”.

The documentary also became a topic of discussion in the Greek parliament. Lina Mendoni said it was “replete with historical inaccuracies, demonstrates the director’s sloppiness and poverty of scenario”.

On the show’s depiction of the relationship between Alexander and Hephaestion, Mendoni said, “There is no mention in the sources that it goes beyond the limits of friendship, as defined by Aristotle. But you will know that the concept of love in antiquity is broad and multidimensional. We cannot interpret either practices or persons who acted 2,300 years ago by our own measures, our own norms and assumptions. Alexander the Great, for 2,300 years, has never needed, nor does he need now, the intervention of any unsolicited protector of his historical memory or, even more, of his personality and moral standing.”

Government won't take any action against the makers

The government, however, doesn’t plan on taking any action against the documentary. Mendoni said it would be unconstitutional. Greece’s constitution has protected freedom of art since the early 19th century.

Mendoni said, “The ministry of culture does not exercise censorship, does not carry out actions that result in prosecution or ban, does not manipulate, does not limit, does not control the dissemination of information and ideas neither preventively nor repressively.”

“The inspiration of artists, personal interpretation, and the judgement of individuals cannot, evidently, be subjected to a regulatory regime and control, nor can it be governed by the courts or dragged into them. Instead, it is assessed and judged by each of us, by the international community. This is how Netflix is also evaluated.”

Alexander and Hephaestion: Intimate friends

The nature of the relationship between the Macedonian king and his general has long been speculated. It is widely known that Alexander and Hephaestion were intimate friends from childhood.

A similar controversy erupted whenthe Egyptian antiquities ministry published a lengthy statement criticising Netflix’s decision to cast a Black actor as Cleopatra in the drama-documentary Queen Cleopatra.