viewers after the streaming service was accused of ‘turning’ Alexander the Great .
This week the six-part docuseries Alexander: The Making of a God was released.
It explores ‘the extraordinary path of the young, exiled man determined to find his place in the world following his father’s assassination, quickly uniting his country in ’.
The series Alexander’s ambition ‘led to his claim of largest Western empire in history, from to part of India, in just under six years’.
By the age of 30, he had created one of the largest empires in history, stretching from Greece to northwestern India and is widely considered to be one of history’s greatest and most successful military commanders.
However, one detail in the series seems to .
Posting a clip from the first episode which shows the historical figure kissing another man, X account End Wokeness said: ‘Netflix made a new documentary about Alexander The Great. Within the first 8 minutes, they turned him gay.’
However, many made sure to make it clear Alexander, who lived from 356 BC to 323 BC, is widely suspected to have been queer.
‘To be fair in all likelihood due to the culture back then, he probably was,’ user The Britisher Paz49 commented on the original post.
‘I don’t think it was Netflix that made him gay,’ Damin Toell pointed out.
‘Except Alexander was bisexual, having lovers of both sexes. This has been known throughout history and is not breaking news,’ Joseph Jones added.
Meanwhile Yasmin Mary suggested those who were annoyed ‘crack open a history book’ to educate themselves.
All the way back in the 1st century, historian Quintus Curtius Rufus claimed, ‘Alexander scorned sensual pleasures with women’.
He also wrote: ‘He scorned sensual pleasures to such an extent that his mother was anxious lest he be unable to beget offspring.’
Alexander’s mother had even hired a famous Thessalian courtesan named Callixena to sleep with her son, but with no success.
Although same-sex relations were common in ancient Greece, and while having both male and female relations was the norm, Alexander the Great is almost always portrayed in modern depictions as heterosexual.
But while was married three times and had at least one known child, the writings of ancient historians and scholars have led to conflicting views in modern times about his sexuality.
The Netflix series shows him deeply in love with his childhood friend and military commander Hephaestion, along with the allusion to relations with one of his generals Ptolemy.
In the show, Dr. Salima Ikram of the American University of Cairo also says that Hephaestion ‘really was not just a cherished companion, but perhaps [Alexander’s] greatest love’.
Alexander: The Making of a God is streaming on Netflix.
