Sir Hector Archibald MacDonald, Military General, Scotland

b. March 4, 1853
d. March 25, 1903

Hector Archibald Macdonald was born of humble parentage on a farm Muir of AllanGrange, Ross-shire. His father William MacDonald was a crofter and a stonemason. His mother was Ann Boyd, the daughter of John Boyd of Killiechoilum and Cradlehall, near Inverness. He was, as were most people in the area at the time, a Gaelic speaker and in later life went by the name Eachann nan Cath "Eachann of the Battles".

At the age of 15, MacDonald was apprenticed to a draper in Dingwall, and at the age 17 moved on to the Royal Clan Tartan and Tweed Warehouse in Inverness, an establishment owned by a Mr. William Mackay. He rose rapidly through the ranks and ultimately became a major-general. MacDonald first saw action, and was commissioned as an officer, in the Second Afgan War in the late 1870s, then distinguished himself in the battle of Majuba Hill in Sout Africa in 1881.

After postings in Britain and Ireland, he was sent to Egypt in 1884. Here he recruited and trained a battalion of Sudanese soldiers, whom he led into several victorious battles, including one of the most legendary in British imperial history, Omdurman. In 1902 the army sent MacDonald to India to tke up a regional command, but he was there only briefly before being moved to Ceylon (actual Sri Lanka) as Commanding Officer of British forces.

But after only 11 months MacDonald was summoned and told he must return to England to answer "grave, very grave charges". Although details remain unclear, MacDonald was alleged to have committed sexual improperties with four Ceylonese youths or (in a different version) to have exposed himself in a train carriage with 70 schoolboys.

In London, Lord Roberts, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff ordered him to return to Ceylon to face a court-martial. In his way back, MacDonald comitted suicide in a Paris hotel. MacDonald had secretly married in 1884 and fathered a son, although he saw his wife on only four brief occasions in 19 years and never revealed his marriage to his military superiors.

Rumors circulated about a supposed affair with a male Boer prisoner in a concentration camp over which MacDonald had authority in South Africa in 1900, and about an unspecified irregular sexual activities in India in 1902. There were also rumors about his friendship with a Burgher (mixed-race) Ceylonese family, expecially with the two sons whom some said were his catmites. Nevertheless, there is no firm evidence concerning homosexual activities, and the Scottish verdict of "not proven" seems appropriate concerning MacDonald's homosexuality.

Eugène of Savoy-Soisson, Prince and General

b. October 16, 1663
d. April 24, 1736) Italy

The son of the prince (François) Eugène Maurice of Savoy-Carignano, he was born in Paris. When Louis XIV refused him to enter in his army (1683), he entered the Austrian Army, and served against the Turks at the defence of Vienna, and against the French on the Rhine and in Italy ten years later. In 1697 he expelled the Turks from Hungary by his triumph at Zenta.

In the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-14) he shared with Marlborough in his great victories against the French (battles of Blenheim, Oudenarde, and Malplaquet), and won many successes as an indipendent commander in Italy. He again defeated the Turks in 1716-18, and fought a last campaign against the French in 1734-35. Napolen considered him as one of the seven great generals to whom the art of the war is due.

Prince Eugene of Savoy was the companion of Philippe, Duc d'Orleans the transvestite homosexual brother of Louis XIV. Eugene's sexual orientation was well known to his peers. He never married, and fellow officers referred to him as a "Mars without Venus." Eugene was particularly close to the Marquis de la Moussaye and a legend sprang up about an occurrence when they were at sea during a fierce storm. The Marquis assured the Prince that they were safe, since "We are sodomites destined to perish only by fire."

ALCIBIADES (CA. 450-404 BX.), Athenian general and statesman.

b. c 450 BCE

d. c 404 BCE

Reared in the household of his guardian and uncle Pericles, he became the erom­enos and later intimate friend of Socrates, who saved his life in battle. His, brilliance enabled him in 420 to become leader of the extreme democratic faction, and his impe­rialistic designs led Athens into an alli­ance with Argos and other foes of Sparta, a policy largely discredited by the Spartan victory at Mantinea. He sponsored the plan for a Sicilian expedition to outflank Sparta, which ended after his recall in the capture of thousands of Athenians, most of whom died in the salt mines where they were confined, but soon after the fleet reached Sicily his enemies recalled him on the pretext of his complicity in the muti­lation of the Hermae, the phallic pillars marking boundaries between lots of land. He escaped, however, to Sparta and be­came the adviser of the Spartan high command. Losing the confidence of the Spartans and accused of impregnating the wife of one of Sparta's two kings, he fled to Persia, then tried to win reinstatement at Athens by winning Persian support for the city and promoting an oligarchic revolu­tion, but without success. Then being appointed commander by the Athenian fleet at Samos, he displayed his military skills for several years and won a brilliant victory at Cyzicus in 410, but reverses in battle and political intrigue at home led to bis downfall, and he was finally murdered in Phrygia in 404.

Though an outstanding politician and military leader, Alcibiades compro­mised himself by the excesses of his sexual life, which was not confined to his own sex, but was uninhibitedly bisexual, as was typical of a member of the Athenian aristocracy. The Attic comedians scolded him for his adventures; Aristophanes wrote a play (now lost) entitled Triphales (the man with three phalli), in which Alcibia­des' erotic exploits were satirized. In his youth, admired by the whole of Athens for his beauty, he bore on his coat of arms an Eros hurling a lightning bolt. Diogenes Laertius said of him that "when a young man, he separated men from their wives, and later, wives from their husbands," while the comedian Pherecrates declared that "Alcibiades, who once was no man, is now the man of all women." He gained a bad reputation for introducing luxurious practices into Athenian life, and even his dress was reproached for extravagance. He combined the ambitious political career­ist and the bisexual dandy, a synthesis possible only in a society that tolerated homosexual expression and even a certain amount of heterosexual licence in its public figures. His physical beauty alone im­pressed his contemporaries enough to remain an inseparable part of his historical image.

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Walter Ellis, Alcibia­des, New York: Routledge, 1989; Jean Hatzfeld, Alcibiade: Etude sur l'histoire d'Athènes à la fin du Ve siècle, Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1951.

Warren Johansson

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Anytus, Greek Politician and General - and lover of Alcibiades

Anytus (Greek Ἄνυτος), son of Anthemion, was one of the prosecutors of Socrates. An unsubstantiated legend has it that he was banished from Athens after the public felt guilty about having Socrates executed.We know that he was one of the leading supporters of the democratic forces in Athens (as opposed to the oligarchic forces behind the Thirty Tyrants). Plato also depicts Anytus as an interlocutor in his dialogue the Meno.

Anytus was a powerful, upper-class politician in ancient Athens, one of the nouveaux riches.Anytus served as a general in the Peloponnesian war: He lost Pylos to the Spartans during the war, and was charged with treason. According to Aristotle he was later acquitted by bribing the jury. Anytus won favor after this by playing a major role in overthrowing the Thirty Tyrants. Though Anytus lost much money and provisions during this eight month battle, he made no attempts to regain it back; this also helped his reputation with the Athenians. He came from a family of tanners, successful from the time of his grandfather. Socrates refers to his son's education in the Apology.

Both Anytus and Socrates were lovers of the young Alcibiades, but Alcibiades treated Anytus with great contempt. Once when Anytus had invited him to dinner, Alcibiades arrived late and already drunk. Seeing the table laid with gold and silver dishes, Alcibiades ordered his slaves to take half of the dishes back to his own house. Having played this prank, Alcibiades departed immediately, leaving Anytus and his other guests greatly surprised. When the guests began to rebuke Alcibiades, Anytus excused him, saying that he loved the boy so much that he would have suffered Alcibiades to take the other half of the dishes, too.

In 403 BCE, Anytus supported the Amnesty of Eucleides, which stated that no one who committed a crime before or during the Thirty Tyrants could be prosecuted.

Anytus seems to have had at least two motivations for prosecuting Socrates: Socrates constantly criticised the democratic government of which Anytus was a leader. Anytus may have been concerned that Socrates' criticism was a threat to the newly reestablished democracy. Socrates taught Anytus' son and Anytus perhaps blamed Socrates' teachings for poisoning his son's mind or taking him away from the career path his father had set for him. Xenophon has Socrates forecast that the boy will grow up vicious if he studies a purely technical subject such as tanning. And Xenophon tells us that the son became a drunk.

Source: Wikipedia

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Philip II of Macedon, General and Conqueror

Philip II was the father of the renowned Alexander the Great, but was also a notable general and conqueror in his own right, who began the military ascendancy of Macedon which was later cemented and expanded by his more famous son.  Philip was known for his love of women and many wives, but like most powerful men of the Hellenistic world, he also had male lovers - one of these assassinated him, possibly as a result of sexual jealousy.  

Philip's military skills and expansionist vision of Macedonian greatness brought him early success. He first had to re-establish a situation which had been greatly worsened by the defeat against the Illyrians in which King Perdiccas himself had died. The Paionians and the Thracians had sacked and invaded the eastern regions of the country, while the Athenians had landed, at Methoni on the coast, a contingent under a Macedonian pretender called Argeus. Using diplomacy, Philip pushed back Paionians and Thracians promising tributes, and crushed the 3,000 Athenian hoplites (359). Momentarily free from his opponents, he concentrated on strengthening his internal position and, above all, his army. His most important innovation was doubtless the introduction of the phalanx infantry corps, armed with the famous sarissa, an exceedingly long spear, at the time the most important army corps in Macedonia.

Philip's military skills and expansionist vision of Macedonian greatness brought him early success. He first had to re-establish a situation which had been greatly worsened by the defeat against the Illyrians in which King Perdiccas himself had died. The Paionians and the Thracians had sacked and invaded the eastern regions of the country, while the Athenians had landed, at Methoni on the coast, a contingent under a Macedonian pretender called Argeus. Using diplomacy, Philip pushed back Paionians and Thracians promising tributes, and crushed the 3,000 Athenian hoplites (359). Momentarily free from his opponents, he concentrated on strengthening his internal position and, above all, his army. His most important innovation was doubtless the introduction of the phalanx infantry corps, armed with the famous sarissa, an exceedingly long spear, at the time the most important army corps in Macedonia.The murder occurred during October of 336 BC, at Aegae, the ancient capital of the kingdom of Macedon. The court had gathered there for the celebration of the marriage between Alexander I of Epirus and Philip's daughter, by his fourth wife Olympias, Cleopatra. While the king was entering unprotected into the town's theater (highlighting his approachability to the Greek diplomats present), he was killed by Pausanias of Orestis, one of his seven bodyguards. The assassin immediately tried to escape and reach his associates who were waiting for him with horses at the entrance of Aegae. He was pursued by three of Philip's bodyguards and died by their hands.the historian Cleitarchus expanded and embellished the story. Centuries later, this version was to be narrated by Diodorus Siculus and all the historians who used Cleitarchus. In the sixteenth book of Diodorus' history, Pausanias had been a lover of Philip, but became jealous when Philip turned his attention to a younger man, also called Pausanias. His taunting of the new lover caused the youth to throw away his life, which turned his friend, Attalus, against Pausanias. Attalus took his revenge by inviting Pausanias to dinner, getting him drunk, then subjecting him to sexual assault. 

When Pausanias complained to Philip the king felt unable to chastise Attalus, as he was about to send him to Asia with Parmenion, to establish a bridgehead for his planned invasion. He also married Attalus's niece, or daughter, Eurydice. Rather than offend Attalus, Philip attempted to mollify Pausanius by elevating him within the bodyguard. Pausanias' desire for revenge seems to have turned towards the man who had failed to avenge his damaged honour; so he planned to kill Philip, and some time after the alleged rape, while Attalus was already in Asia fighting the Persians, put his plan in action.

Later historians are not convinced about the motive for the assassination - but there is no reason to dispute the existence of a sexual relationship

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Alexander the Great, Military Commander

b. July 20, 356 B.C.
d. June 10, 323 B.C.

There is nothing impossible to him who will try

At age 16, Alexander became a regent when his father, Philip the King of Macedon, was commanding his army in war. Alexander inherited the throne of Macedon and Greece at age 20. Beginning with no money and a small army, he conquered much of the known world and accumulated one of the world's largest treasuries. He captured the Persian empire, which stretched across Asia Minor, the Middle East, Mesopotamia, Egypt and modern-day Iran. After pushing all the way to India he finally turned back, his men tired and his empire starting to weaken.

From an early age Alexander showed great potential. He learned politics and warfare from his father; philosophy, ethics, politics, and healing from Aristotle; and the importance of an ascetic lifestyle from Leonidis. Alexander became a brilliant ruler and formidable military leader beloved by his soldiers.

Alexander and Aristotle experienced a falling out over the issue of foreigners. Like many other people at the time, Aristotle considered most foreigners barbarians. Alexander hoped to incorporate outsiders into his empire. His progressive method of appointing foreigners to army posts and encouraging native troops to marry foreigners helped create stability in his kingdom. Citizens welcomed Alexander as a liberator when he conquered Egypt in 332 B.C.

While Alexander married women and conceived children with them, Alexander also had male sex partners, including a eunuch named Bagaos. Alexander and his closest friend Hephaestion spent considerable time together. Scholars assume that their love was sexual. Although homosexuality was common in Greece, same-sex relationships occurred mostly between men and slaves or men and younger boys who were not yet citizens. Love between two males of similar age and social class was stigmatized and may have jeopardized Alexander's and Hephaestion's status had its true nature been public.

After halting his conquests and returning from the Punjab to Babylon, Alexander died at age 32. He never lost a battle, created a colossal empire, was revered by his army and controlled one of the world's largest treasuries.

Bibliography
“Ancient History: Alexander the Great.” The History Channel. June 29, 2007
“Historic Figures: Alexander the Great (356-323 BC).” bbc.co.uk. June 29, 2007
Cartledge, Paul. Alexander the Great. Vintage, 2005
Fildes, Alan and Joann Fletcher. Alexander the Great: Son of the Gods. Getty Trust Publications: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2004

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