Author(s):
Badian, Ernst (Cambridge, MA)
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Neudecker, Richard (Rome)
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Ameling, Walter (Jena)
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Fornaro, Sotera (Sassari)
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Hübner, Wolfgang (Münster)
(Ἡφαιστίων;
Hēphaistíōn). [German version] [1] Commander under Alexander the Great, 4th cent. BC H. of Pella, friend and probably lover of Alexander [4]. Their relationship was soon likened to that of Patroclus and Achilles [1] and correspondingly embellished. It is doubtful whether he was a childhood friend of Alexander (Curt. 3,12,16), as he was not banished by Philippus II in 337 BC. The wreath offered to Patroclus at Troy and the scene described in the vulgate version ( Alexander historians) of the confusion of H. and Alexander by Sisygambis (Arr. Anab. 1,12,1; 2,12,6) are highlighted as fictitious. After minor missions, he appears at Gaugamela, where he was wounded, as the ‘leader of the Somatophylakes’ (Diod. Sic. 17,61,3). This hardly means that he was in command of the Hetairoi bodyguards (‘among the Somatophylakes’ is how H. is later attested: ‘leader’ was probably added by Diodorus. Arr. Anab. 3,15,2 gives no rank). At the trial of Philotas, he took part in the arrest and torture. As a reward, he took over the command of the Hetairoi with Cleitus. He is hardly mentioned in Bactria and Sogdiana, particularly surprisingly at the death of Cleitus, and as accuser of Callisthenes only in Plutarch (Alexander 55,1), from an unidentifiable source. Only in the Indian campaign, and particularly after the mutiny at the Hyphasis, does he appear in leading roles. At Patala and in the battle with the Oreitae he carried out important missions and from Carmania he led the main body of the army and the baggage train to Susa. At the weddings in…