Friendships in History, especially from mythology and the ancient world have withstood the test of time. This video will take you through the close friendships of Alexander the Great and Hephaestion, David and Jonathan and Enkidu and Gilgamesh. These friendships from the Ancient World are all from different geographic regions, with different beliefs and histories, yet are all remembered as famous friendships.
Alexander the Great, son of Phillip II of Macedon inherited the Macedonian Empire and expanded it into the largest empire his world had seen, and as he did that, his greatest friend and trusted general Hephaestion was by his side. Hephaestion was taught by Aristotle with Alexander in their youth, and then became his second in command until his death.
The story of David and Jonathan comes from the bible, with prince Jonathan, the son of King Saul becomes close friends with the shepherd David, the man who killed Goliath. When King Saul became jealous of David, he planned on killing him, but his son Jonathan defied him and kept his friend safe.
Our final friendship is the wild man of the woods Enkidu, with the civilized and cruel King Gilgamesh, known from the Epic of Gilgamesh. As the oldest epic poem, the Epic of Gilgamesh recounts the friendship of Enkidu and Gilgamesh, who first fight each other and then become friends. They go on adventures, and after the death of Enkidu, Gilgamesh feels as though he has lost his other half and goes on a journey to find the meaning of life, and immortality.
The music used in this recording is the intellectual copyright of Michael Levy, a prolific composer for the recreated lyres of antiquity, and used with the creator's permission. Michael Levy's music is available to stream at all the major digital music platforms. Find out more on:
Hello and welcome to Ancient History Encyclopedia. My name is Kelly and in honor of International
Friendship Day on the 30th of July we're going to have a look at some of the friendships from
the ancient world. We're going to start off with the famous Alexander the Great and his friend
Hephaestion. Alexander the Great was the son of Philip II of Macedon, the king who conquered the
Greek city-states and upon Philip II's death Alexander inherited a sizable kingdom. Philip
II prepared his son for rule by having him and his companions tutored by the Greek philosopher
Aristotle. Hephaestion was the closest of Alexander's friends and was one of his classmates.
They formed a deeper relationship during this time and it would only grow after Alexander assumed
the throne and led his armies to conquer Persia. Alexander's other friends of youth also took part
but none were as close to the king as Hephaestion as noted by the first century Roman historian
Quintus Curtius Rufus. Hephaestion was by far the dearest to the king of all his friends, brought up
with him and the confidant of all his secrets. He also had more freedom than anyone else in
admonishing him, a privilege which he nevertheless used in such a manner that it seemed rather to be
allowed by the king than claimed by himself. Alexander would extend his father's kingdom
significantly into an empire and would conquer most of the known world of his day. Hephaestion
was considered a good influence on Alexander by Philip II and his judgment proved sound as
Hephaestion was able to wisely counsel the sometimes impetuous Alexander and direct him when no one
else could. Hephaestion became Alexander's second in command during their conquests and much of the
organization and logistics of the successful campaigns were his responsibility. His stature
among Alexander's officers is noted in an event after the battle of Issus when the Persian king
Darius III was defeated. Darius's mother appealed for her life throwing herself upon the man that
she thought was the conqueror Alexander. She was actually appealing to Hephaestion who when standing
next to Alexander was taller than him. Their friendship would continue until the death of
Hephaestion by fever and afterwards Alexander buried him with all the rituals of kingship
and mourned him until his own death. Their friendship is considered akin to that of Achilles
and Patroclus given Alexander's fascination with Achilles as his supposed ancestor and it is
possible that Alexander himself encouraged this association. Another great friendship comes from
David was a shepherd and Jonathan was a prince and the son of King Saul. At first King Saul loved
David because he defeated Goliath and for his obvious military skill but eventually he became
jealous of David's popularity and planned to kill him. In the meantime Jonathan and David became very
good friends and Jonathan gave David tokens of their friendship which were also symbols of power
and royalty. Regarding the beginning of their friendship before King Saul took issue with David
the book of 1st Samuel states, Jonathan became one in spirit with David and he loved him as himself
from that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return home to his family and Jonathan
made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. King Saul eventually initiated his
plans to kill David but Jonathan defied his father and helped David escape. David trusted Jonathan
in this and Jonathan did not disappoint him. Later in battle against the Philistines Jonathan was
killed and in the same battle King Saul killed himself when he knew he was going to be defeated.
Afterwards David assumed the throne to become King David. The friendship between Jonathan and David
is frequently cited by writers as an example of a true friendship expressing the values
of mutual respect, loyalty, compromise and sacrifice. Another famous friendship of these
same lines comes from ancient Mesopotamia the story of Enkidu and Gilgamesh as told in the
Enkidu is a wild man of the woods and is uncivilized and Gilgamesh is a cruel king of a
civilized city. In order to try and humble Gilgamesh the gods send the temple harlot Shamat
to civilize Enkidu and then to fight and defeat Gilgamesh. Enkidu is enraged by the god's
manipulation and does not want to be civilized or to battle anyone but he does allow himself
to be brought to Gilgamesh for their one-on-one fight. Gilgamesh beats Enkidu in the fight and
afterwards they become friends because they recognize something of themselves in each other.
Enkidu sees something of his former savage self in Gilgamesh and realizes he can be civilized
and be himself and Gilgamesh sees how his civilized self can be savage and that he
needs to find a new outlet for his self-expression that isn't cruelty. Enkidu and Gilgamesh allow
each other to be themselves and they form a deep bond and then they go on an adventure.
They travel to the cedar forest where no mortal is allowed to go to steal some of its trees. The
forbidden trees are guarded by the terrifying demon Humbaba whom they fight with the help of
After they defeat Humbaba, they cut down some of the trees, they make a raft and they float on it
back to Uruk. Afterwards, Gilgamesh is propositioned by the goddess Inanna or Ishtar
and he refuses. Insulted, the goddess sends the bull of heaven down to earth to kill Gilgamesh.
Instead, the great bull is killed by Enkidu who then defies the goddess by taking one of the legs
of the bull and throwing it at her. For this affront, Enkidu is sentenced to death by the gods.
After he dies, Gilgamesh exclaims how can I rest? How can I be at peace? Despair is in my heart.
What my brother is now, that shall I be when I am dead. It wasn't just his best friend that
Gilgamesh had lost, it was his other half who allowed him to be whole. After Enkidu's funeral,
Gilgamesh sets off to find the meaning of life and immortality because he did not want to die
as Enkidu had. His quest was really to find that wholeness and meaning that he had found with his
friendship with Enkidu. Through his quest, not really for immortality, but away from the fear
of a meaningless existence. His fear and grief forced him to wrestle with the meaning of existence
and in doing so, he lived a meaningful life. Eventually, according to the story, he returned
to the city and wrote down the story of his friendship with the wild man from the woods
and his quest for meaning after that friendship was lost. So from the different friendships you've
seen today, what do you think makes a good friend? And do you think that the notion of
friendship has the same values across different civilizations? Let us know down in the comments
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