caption commands death_date death_place birth_place allegiance unit battles birth_date nickname rank spouse image article_title name
hephaestion housed in the prado museum , madrid . this head bronze is no longer identified as hephaestion . portrait head , as of september 2007 companion cavalry c. 324 bc babylon macedonia macedonia somatophylakes siege of the granicus , siege of halicarnassus , siege of of miletus , battle of issus , siege of tyre -lrb- pelium 332 bc -rrb- , siege of gaza , battle of , gaugamela , battle of the persian gate , siege of battle aornos , battle of the hydaspes river , mallian campaign of thebes , battle c. 356 bc patroclus general , 2nd in command . drypetis princess of the achaemenid dynasty in persia . hephaistion prado bronze head.jpg hephaestion
 hephaestion
hephaestion

hephaestion -lrb- `` hephaistion '' ; c. 356 bc -- 324 bc -rrb- , son of amyntor , was a macedonian nobleman and a general in the army of alexander the great .
he was '' ... by far the dearest of all the king 's friends ; he had been brought up with alexander and shared all his secrets . ''
this friendship lasted throughout their lives , and was compared , by others as well as themselves , to that of achilles and patroclus .
his military career was distinguished .
a member of alexander the great 's personal bodyguard , he went on to command the companion cavalry and was entrusted with many other tasks throughout alexander 's ten-year campaign in asia , including diplomatic missions , the bridging of major rivers , sieges and the foundation of new settlements .
besides being a soldier , engineer and diplomat he corresponded with the philosophers aristotle and xenocrates and actively supported alexander in his attempts to integrate the greeks and persians .
alexander formally made him his second-in-command when he appointed him chiliarch of the empire .
alexander also made him part of the royal family when he gave him as his bride drypetis , sister to his own second wife stateira , both daughters of darius iii of persia .
when he died suddenly at ecbatana around age thirty-two , alexander was overwhelmed with grief .
he petitioned the oracle at siwa to grant hephaestion divine status and thus hephaestion was honoured as a `` divine hero '' .
hephaestion was cremated in babylon in the presence of the entire army .
at the time of his own death a mere eight months later , alexander was still planning lasting monuments to hephaestion 's memory .
