Alexander the Great's hair

[Dick Daskell]

Was it blonde as some sources say? He had dark hair in that famous Roman mosaique in Pompeii.

[Drusilla1S]

I don't think he was blond in the Nordic sense. He was described as fairer skinned than other Greeks, but not pale skinned.

The attached site breaks down many of the misconceptions that have grown around Alexander, particularly since the making of Oliver Stones film, which ignored the persian capital of Persepolis in favour of a less important, Babylon, and had Persians (Iranians) speaking arabic, when their language is more closely related to Indian and European speech.

http://www.grecoreport.com/The_Alexander_Movie.htm

[Dick Daskell]

I heard that film had many historical flaws, even though it is still an interesting portrayal of his life. Stone should have shown more on how talented a military leader/commander Alexander was, i.e how he managed to destroy a much more powerful civilisation (Persia).

[Tatty Rollox]

..... and here is the bold Alexander ........

[Dick Daskell]

Do you know if that was made before or after Stone's film?

[nickmo]

Probably an intersting guy to chat to over a pint if you had a chance - Aristotle was his teacher, ran Macedonia when he was 16, ruled the country at 20 after his father was murdered, slaughtered the Spartans in a decisive battle and took over Greece, then moved to conquer Persia, Egypt, north India and much of central Asia. Devloped strategies for war that lasted til the 20th century.

Reputed to be gay, but was linked to Roxanna of Persian royal family and 2 other wives, didn't leave an heir (2 children died young) and died at 33, not clear if poisoned or natural causes, perhaps from battle wounds.

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great and lots of other sites - see also: http://militaryhistory.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.e-classics.com%2FALEXANDER.htm where Plutarch describes him as smelling sweetly and with blond hair - but Plutarch is a known praiser and flatterer, rather than always being accurate.