Frank said:

>All I've got to say is that Stone obviously has some issues.
>
>Everything from script to casting was a disappointment. The
>cinimatography was great.
>
>The title should have been Queer Eye For The Historic Guy

Stone definitely has some issues. I'm a big fan of Alexander the Great. I named my first son Alexander after my great uncle and the famous Macedonian. I've also read the basic ancient texts on Alexander, i.e. Arrian, Quintus Curtius and Plutarch. Some of the nicest ancient coins in my collection have Alexander's portrait.

Stone must have been brain damaged to have needlessly dwelled so much on Alexander's sexuality. Sure Alexander was bisexual but that was standard accepted behavior amongst the ancient Greeks. Our modern concepts of sexuality are entirely inappropriate for the ancient world. Two big factors that dominated family life in ancient times were contraception and prenatal health. A lower class woman had slightly better than a 50/50 chance of surviving child birth. Female contraception was limited to such primitive methods as sticking a small pebble in the woman's uterus (a common practice amongst high class prostitutes), douching with assorted liquids or drinking tea made from the silphium plant which induced abortion (standard practice amongst woman of the aristocracy). There was also the hedious practice of abandoning newborn infants in the wilderness to be eaten by wild beasts. The best male contraceptive was simply abstaining from sex with one's wife. In the ancient world, sexual appetite was typically satisfied with prostitute slaves. These unfortunate girls were regarded as disposable (sex with them was purely mechanical). Only a fool in the ancient world would love a low class prositute since she was practically doomed to die as soon as she became pregnant. High class prostitutes (courtesans) did have access to the era's primitive contraception and often times these women were educated and highly intelligent (they were also very expensive). The courtesan Aspasia was supposably the brains behind Pericles (Aspasia might have ghost written Pericles' famous funeral speech). Typically a courtesan had dozens of clients, whom she regarded merely as sources of income (read about Cynthia from the poems of Propertius for more insight about this). Almost by default, in the ancient world the "safe" basis for erotic love was with an androgynous "friend" like Hephaestion. Of course none of this background was presented in Stone's stupid movie.

Gary