Editing Alexander the Great (section)

===Physical appearance===
[[File:Alexander-lysippus1-1.jpg|thumb|left|Roman copy of the Alexander portrait by [[Lysippos]]|216x216px]]
Historical sources frequently give conflicting accounts of Alexander's appearance, and the earliest sources are the most scant in their detail;<ref>{{cite book |last1=Stewart |first1=Andrew |title=Faces of Power : Alexander's Image and Hellenistic Politics Hellenistic Culture and Society |date=1993 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-06851-3 |page=72}}</ref> for example, Arrian describes him simply as "very handsome".<ref>{{harvnb|Arrian|1976|loc=VII, 28}}</ref> During his lifetime, Alexander carefully curated his image by commissioning works from famous and great artists of the time. This included commissioning sculptures by [[Lysippos]], paintings by [[Apelles]] and gem engravings by [[Pyrgoteles]].<ref name="Alexander the Great">{{cite book |last1=Nawotka |first1=Krzysztof |title=Alexander the Great |date=2010 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |page=43}}</ref> Ancient authors recorded that Alexander was so pleased with portraits of himself created by Lysippos that he forbade other sculptors from crafting his image; scholars today, however, find the claim dubious.<ref>{{cite web |title=Images of Authority II: The Greek Example |year=2005 |publisher=SUNY Oneonta |url=http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/arth200/politics/images_authority_2_greek.html |access-date=16 December 2011 |archive-date=4 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181004195912/http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/arth200/politics/images_authority_2_greek.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Alexander the Great"/> Andrew Stewart highlights the fact that artistic portraits, not least because of who they are commissioned by, are always partisan, and that artistic portrayals of Alexander "seek to legitimize him (or, by extension, his Successors), to interpret him to their audiences, to answer their critiques, and to persuade them of his greatness", and thus should be considered within a framework of "praise and blame", in the same way sources such as praise poetry are.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Stewart |first1=Andrew |title=Faces of Power : Alexander's Image and Hellenistic Politics Hellenistic Culture and Society |date=1993 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-06851-3 |page=69}}</ref> Nevertheless, though idealised, Lysippos's sculpture was thought to be the most faithful [[Plastic arts|plastic]] representation.{{Sfn |Bosworth|1988|pp = 19–20}}

{{Multiple image
| image1            = ACMA 1331 Alexander 2.JPG
| caption1          = Head of Alexander the Great by [[Leochares]], {{circa|330}} BC
| image2            = Alexander the Great Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek IN574 n1.jpg
| caption2          = 3rd century BC bust of Alexander from Alexandria, Egypt.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Museernes Samlinger - Kulturarvsstyrelsen |url=https://www.kulturarv.dk/mussam/VisGenstand.action?genstandId=7552114 |access-date=2025-04-21 |website=www.kulturarv.dk}}</ref>
| total_width       = 320
| align             = right
}}

[[Quintus Curtius Rufus|Curtius Rufus]], a Roman historian from the first century AD, who wrote the ''[[Histories of Alexander the Great]]'', gives this account of Alexander sitting on the throne of [[Darius III]]:

{{blockquote|Then Alexander seating himself on the royal throne, which was far too high for his bodily stature. Therefore, since his feet did not reach its lowest step, one of the royal pages placed a table under his feet.{{sfn |Rolfe |1946 |loc = 5.2.13}}}}

Both Curtius and [[Diodorus]] report a story that when [[Darius III]]'s mother, [[Sisygambis]], first met Alexander and [[Hephaestion]], she assumed that the latter was Alexander because he was the taller and more physically impressive of the two.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Skelton |first1=Debra |last2=Dell |first2=Pamela |title=Empire of Alexander the Great |date=2009 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-1-60413-162-8 |page=83 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QcJuRH89a8UC&dq=Robin+Lane+Fox+Hephaestion+Sisygambis&pg=PA83 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Siculus |first1=Diodorus |title=Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes with an English Translation by C. H. Oldfather. Vol. 4–8. |date=1989 |publisher=Harvard University Press |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0084%3Abook%3D17%3Achapter%3D37 |access-date=7 July 2021 |archive-date=9 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709192544/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0084:book%3D17:chapter%3D37 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Greek biographer [[Plutarch]] ({{circa| 45|120&nbsp;AD}}) discusses the accuracy of his depictions:
{{blockquote|The outward appearance of Alexander is best represented by the statues of him which Lysippus made, and it was by this artist alone that Alexander himself thought it fit that he should be modelled. For those peculiarities which many of his successors and friends afterwards tried to imitate, namely, the poise of the neck, which was bent slightly to the left, and the melting glance of his eyes, this artist has accurately observed. Apelles, however, in painting him as wielder of the thunder-bolt, did not reproduce his complexion, but made it too dark and swarthy. Whereas he was of a fair colour, as they say, and his fairness passed into ruddiness on his breast particularly, and in his face. Moreover, that a very pleasant odour exhaled from his skin and that there was a fragrance about his mouth and all his flesh, so that his garments were filled with it, this we have read in the ''Memoirs of Aristoxenus''.{{Sfn |Plutarch|1919|loc = [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0243:chapter=4&highlight=lysippus IV, 1]}}}}

[[File:AlexanderCameo.JPG|thumb|Alexander [[Cameo_(carving)|cameo]] by [[Pyrgoteles]]|189x189px|left]]
Historians have understood the detail of the pleasant fragrance attributed to Alexander as stemming from a belief in ancient Greece that pleasant scents are characteristic of gods and heroes.<ref name="Alexander the Great"/>

The [[Alexander Mosaic]] and contemporary coins portray Alexander with "a straight nose, a slightly protruding jaw, full lips and eyes deep set beneath a strongly pronounced forehead".<ref name="Alexander the Great"/> He is also described as having a slight upward tilt of his head to the left.{{sfn|Renault|2013|p=1}}

The ancient historian [[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]] ({{circa|175}} – {{circa|235 AD}}), in his ''Varia Historia'' (12.14), describes Alexander's hair color as "ξανθὴν" (''xanthen''), which at the  time, could mean blond, brown, [[Tawny (color)|tawny]] (light brown) or [[Auburn hair|auburn]].{{sfn|Liddell|Scott|1940|loc=[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=canqo/s ξανθός]}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Woodhouse |first=Sidney Chawner |title=English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language |publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited |year=1910 |location=London |pages=52,84,101}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Beekes |first1=Robert Stephen Paul |title=Etymological Dictionary of Greek |last2=Beek |first2=Lucien van |publisher=Brill |year=2010 |location=Leiden; Boston |pages=1033}}</ref> It is sometimes claimed that Alexander had [[heterochromia|one blue and one brown eye]],<ref>{{cite book |first=Peter |last=Green |author-link=Peter Green (historian) |title=Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age |publisher=Orion Publishing Co |year=2008 |pages=15–16 |isbn=978-0-7538-2413-9}}</ref> referring to the ''[[Alexander Romance]]'', which is however a fictional account that also claims Alexander "had sharp teeth like fangs" and "did not look like Philip or Olympias". Reconstruction, based on remaining traces of paint of the original [[polychromy]] on his [[Alexander Sarcophagus|sarcophagus]], indicates that he was depicted with brown eyes and chestnut brown hair.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Brinkmann |first1=Vinzenz |url=https://pictures.abebooks.com/inventory/31048007537_3.jpg |title=Gods in Color: Painted Sculpture of Classical Antiquity |last2=Wunsche |first2=Raimund |publisher=Arthur M. Sackler / Harvard University Art Museum |year=2007 |pages=159 |access-date=12 April 2022 |archive-date=31 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220731043302/https://pictures.abebooks.com/inventory/31048007537_3.jpg |url-status=live }}</ref> While the acropolis museum suggests that trace amounts of red paint on a head statue of Alexander were most likely a base coat for golden hues to be painted over for his hair.<ref>{{cite web |title=Head of a statue of Alexander the Great {{!}} Acropolis Museum {{!}} Official website |url=https://www.theacropolismuseum.gr/en/head-statue-alexander-great |website=www.theacropolismuseum.gr |access-date=1 October 2024}}</ref>
[[File:Detail of fresco depicting Alexander the Great.jpg|thumb|A fresco depicting a hunt scene at the tomb of [[Philip II of Macedon|Philip II]] at [[Aegae (Macedonia)|Aigai]], the only known painting of Alexander made during his lifetime, 330s BC|255x255px]]