Examination of the life and career of Hephaistion Amyntoros can shed light on the exercise of formal and informal power at the court of Alexander the Great. Such an examination can also illuminate several other aspects of classical Argead Macedonian history, using historical, anthropological and, where appropriate, psychological methodology. The unifying theme throughout is the intersection of the personal and political in Macedonian court life, which produced not private persons holding public offices, but public individuals.

    The first part of the thesis considers the Argead kings prior to Alexander, with a focus on Philip II, in order to explore the traditional relationship between the royal house and the Macedonian populace, a relationship governed by nomos -- customary law -- rather than by a formal constitution. We find that while the kingship was theoretically absolute, each king was bound by this nomos and the expectation that he "court" his subjects using the tools of rhetoric and gift-exchange. Furthermore, his subjects enjoyed a certain degree of isegoria -- freedom of speech -- with regard to the king.

    There follows an examination of ethnicity in constructionist terms, where ethnicity, while a very real concept, is a matter of self-ascription rather than genetic purity. This provides the context for a prosopographical search for the place held by Hephaistion's family in the Macedonian elite. Hephaistion may have been the descendant of Greek immigrants, naturalized over the course of a few generations until they were accepted as Macedonian citizens due to their adoption of Macedonian culture and language.

    The second part of the thesis turns to consideration of Hephaistion's career and relationships with others at Alexander's court. Content analysis of his assignments reveals that, while his primary function has long been recognized to have been logistical and diplomatic, his importance has heretofore been underestimated. He emerges as Alexander's chief logistics and diplomatic officer. Comparative analysis of the Persian office of hazarapatish makes more clear the role which Alexander had in mind when appointing Hephaistion to the chiliarchy near the end of his life.

    Agonistic posturing was a natural product of his growing influence, and the analysis of his career is followed by analysis of rival relationships with fellow marshals and others in positions of power, focusing chiefly on the downfall of Philotas and Kallisthenes, as well as on his open hostility with Krateros and Eumenes. In order to understand Hephaistion's role in each situation, special attention will be paid to the political and psychological context of these several confrontations between prominent members of Alexander's court.

    In the last part of the thesis, the focus centers on Hephaistion's personal relationship with Alexander himself. Recent studies of Greek homoeroticism provide a model by which to measure their long-term attachment as well as to elucidate important Macedonian variations on the Greek model, emphasizing military settings and the evidence of attachments between coevals. Characterizing their relationship as merely that of lover-beloved is reductionistic. Hephaistion occupied the chief place in Alexander's affective life, fulfilling a role consonant in importance -- if quite different in detail -- to that of a modern spouse.

    This is borne out by Alexander's reaction to his death. The king's grief has previously been viewed as excessive, even pathological. Yet consideration of his mourning in light of modern psychological bereavement research shows that his mourning was normal. Medical research on bereavement suggests further that the unique stresses incurred by bereavement -- whether normal or complicated -- can affect health with regard to particular pathologies, including communicable illnesses, and this stress may have been a factor in Alexander's own demise eight months after Hephaistion's.

    Finally, Hephaistion's informal political influence and role as an éminence grise will be examined, followed by a discussion of the Macedonian fusion of the personal and political with an emphasis on what positive alternatives this Macedonian model might offer to modern politics and public life. We see that not only Macedonian royalty, but also Macedonian officers and courtiers, functioned as public individuals.
 

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