Foreign to Greece royal court introduced to the Hellenistic kingdoms art as the voice of monarchical power. However, none of the royal palaces, nor the tombs of rulers, survived. The exception are objects preserved by Roman culture - some works of Hellenistic art survived exported or copied in Rome. At the beginning of the new era, the accessibility of the art market for centers smaller than Athens increased (Makowiecka, 1987: 125).

Marble statues of Hephaiston (left) and Alexander the Great (right). Possibly from a group erected to his honour in Alexandria. 1st. century BC.National Archaeological Museum in Athens, Author: Peulle, License:CC BY-SA 4.0

Busts of Alexander the Great and Hephaestion, Getty Villa Museum in Malibu, California. Author: Neilwiththedeal, License: Public domain

Alexander’s long-time friend, well-deserved in Persian expeditions, consistently rising in the military hierarchy, and according to some sources, his lover, Hephaestion, died in 324 BC to the king's deep despair. The General deserved a sublime funeral in the eyes of the ruler. The construction of the monument in honour of Hephaestion was entrusted to the architect and planner, Dinokrates who came from Rhodes, and previously developed the urban plan of Alexandria (Michałowski, 1974). The classical study by Diodorus Siculus is an invaluable source of data on this ephemeral, digested by fire work of art.

Der Scheiterhaufen des Hephäistion F. Buracz, Author: Andrew Chugg at alexanderstomb.com, License: copyrights expired-Public Domain

>Alexander gathered artists and an army of workers and dismantled the city walls [Babylon] on a distance of 2 kilometres. He collected bricks and used them to level the terrain on which he was to find a pile [...] "- Diodorus Siculus, book XVII, 104-118.

The Stag Hunt Mosaic, c. 300 BC, from Pella; right-Alexander the Great ,left-Hephaestion, Author: Vissarion, License: Public domain

The height of the building was 58 m, and the surface of the pile itself at the base 380 m 2. Its stack resembled a ziggurat and was full of oriental glamor, rich in reliefs and sculptures. Without a doubt, the scale of funeral ceremonies organized by Alexander suited the lavishness of the kings, or at least their successors. The holy fires of the Persians were extinguished throughout the Empire (Diodorus Siculus 17.114), and after Hephaestion, according to Alexander's wish, religious worship followed. Its traces were found in the relief in Pella made by Diogenes (Palagia, 2000: 168). The construction of the funeral pyre has provoked controversy among Alexander’s contemporaries with its scale and price. The ubiquitous palm wood (Diod.) was used in the construction. The iconography approved by Alexander reflected the deeds of Hephaestion over a dozen or so years. The content of the reliefs was a mixture of religious and political symbolism of Oriental and Macedonian origin. Some motifs are known from Attic tombstones from the 4th century.

Lion hunt. Mosaic from Pella, Macedonia, late 4th century BC, depicting Alexander the Great and Craterus. Pella Museum, Author: Jvdc, License: Public domain

The lower level of the pile was equipped with gilded tips carrying statues of kneeling archers and standing warriors, alternating amongst the palm columns. The sculptures of ships emphasized the military authority of Hephaestion, which Alexander planned to broadcast (Palagia, 2000: 170-172). The second level was decorated with a row of golden torches set on snakes, garnished with wreaths. Eagles hovered by the flames, holding snakes in their claws - a harbinger of military victory. Snakes are a metaphorical bridge between Alexander and Zeus, as both Zeus Ammon and Zeus Meilichios are symbolized by snakes.

François Charles Hugues Laurent Pouqueville. Grèce. Paris, Firmin Didot, 1835, Author: Gts-tg, License: Public domain

The third level of the pile was decorated with sculptures depicting hunts and wild beasts. In this way, Alexander expressed a close relationship with Hephaestion, with whom he hunted many times. The fourth level was decorated with gold and depicted the Centauromachia - an allegorical reference to the wars with Persia since the Persian invasion of Greece in 490-480 BC and the allusion to Hephaestions invaluable contribution to the struggle with Persia (Palagia, 2000: 170-172). The fifth level, also gilded, was decorated with alternating images of lions and bulls - symbols of the gods of Babylonia: Ishtar and the guards of the pile, respectively. Aelian (Claudius Aelianus, Varia Historia) writes that golden objects were thrown into the fire, while Diodor completes that Hephaestion's companions ordered gold and bone items before the ceremony in order to please Alexander. In addition, concave forms of sirens were built around the pile and at its top, in which real singers wailed. They sang until the pile was burned.

The Sang-e shir, stone lion (Hamadan, Iran) is a greek statue from the 4th century BC, a gift of Alexander the Great in the memory of Hephaestion, Author: Simorg, License: CC BY-SA 3.0

Archaeological discoveries confirmed Diodor's reports: in 1904, archaeologist Robert Koldewey excavated within the walls of Babylon a 7.5 m high brick platform with traces of burned palm trees.

***References*** Images: sources linked below Photo: @highonthehog * Palagia, O.,Hephaestion’s Pyre and the Royal Hunt of Alexander, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2000 * Makowiecka, E., Sztuka grecka – krótki zarys, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, Warszawa, 1987 * Michałowski, K. (red.) Encyklopedia sztuki starożytnej, Wydawnictwa Artystyczne i Filmowej, Warszawa, 1974 * The Library of History of Diodorus Siculus of the Loeb Classical Library edition, 1963 http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/17F*.html * Claudius Aelianius, Varia Historia, Book XII, chapter 7 An English Translation of Claudius Aelianus' Varia Historia, Studies in Classics;V. 2, 1997