The increased interest in queer theory has prompted academia to re-examine popular narratives in all areas of study; the field of Classics has seen a surge of literature concerning gender, sexuality, and power. Scholarship has focused on the sexuality and gender performance of Alexander the Great, the infamous King of Macedon that expanded from the Northern Balkans to the western borders of India. Literature that supports Alexander's masculinity being tied to his sexuality often falls into two broad categories: the empowerment of Alexander and his empire due to his personal relationships, or Alexander's loss of power because of his personal relationships. Within this discourse, one of the figures closest to Alexander in his later years is also the one who has been most overlooked: Bagoas the Younger, his eunuch courtier. My research examines Bagoas and his place in the historiography and popular reception of Alexander the Great. My argument is two-pronged. First, I explore the inclusion and exclusion of Bagoas in historiographical sources to consider ancient authors' concepts of power, empire, and gender. Then, I examine the popular use of Bagoas in the popular reception of Alexander in plays, novels, and movies as expressions of constructed masculinity in post-war periods of the twentieth century.
Relying on scholarship about sexuality in the ancient Meditteranean world including Foucault, Halperin, and Dover in conjunction with modern queer theorists such as Butler and Sedgwick, I argue that ancient and contemporary accounts of Alexander, Bagoas, and their relationship are affected by the systems of sexuality and gender.