NETFLIX series on Alexander the Great is “low-quality fiction” says Culture Minister

Greece has spoken! The NETFLIX series about Alexander the Great, “The Making of a God”, is “poor quality fiction and of low content” said Culture Minister Lina Mendoni on Wednesday.

The series triggered a controversy in the country as it touched a sensitive topic, that of homosexuality, and thus of a personality Greeks consider as “superhero.”

Beginning of the month, when the series “Alexander: The Making of a God” was launched, it triggered a furor in conservative Greece due to scenes featuring an homoerotic relationship between Alexander the Great and Hephaistion.

“Shameful to show Alexander the Great as homosexual,” some Greek websites entitled their relevant articles.

Now the issue has reached the Parliament when leader of arch-conservative, religious party Nike, Dimitris Natsios asked the government whether it plans to take measures against the film.

Responding to Natsios, minister Mendoni clarified that the Ministry does not censors art.” At the same time, though, she criticized its quality and historical inaccuracies saying among others that “it does not serve the historical truth.”

“The elements of Alexander’s personality are not brought out in the Netflix series, which does not serve the historical truth. It is replete with historical inaccuracies and shows directorial sloppiness and scriptenographic poverty” the minister stressed., were the words of Lina Mendoni.

She added that the series “seeks easy sensationalism to gain viewers by using malicious commentary as supposed facts. The platform characterizes the series as a documentary with scenes of fiction. In essence, it is an extremely low-quality fiction, of low content, which is far away from historical events as recorded in ancient written sources and documented by archaeological research.”

Regarding Alexander’s relationship with Hephaistion, the minister said  that nothing has been mentioned in historical sources that it went beyond the limits of friendship, as defined by Aristotle”.

However, she pointed out that “the concept of love in ancient Greece was broad and multidimensional,” adding that ” we cannot interpret neither practices, nor persons who acted 2,000 years ago, with our own measures, our own norms, our own assumptions. Alexander the Great for 2,300 years has never needed, nor does he need now, the intervention of any unsolicited protector of his historical memory or even more of his personality and moral status.,” he added characteristically.

Lina Mendoni underlined that no actions against the Netflix platform have been taken or were planned.

PS even if the relationship between Alexander and Hephaistion went beyond limits, at the end of the day the Great was rather bisexual than gay.