ABSTRACT
This chapter underlines that in a male-dominated society, the importance of masculine dominance was taken for granted in the Greco-Roman and medieval world. Expectations and assumptions about masculinity change with time and context. Nevertheless, they change slowly. At least the masculine ideal of dominance and self-control changed only a little during the classical and medieval eras. Although Alexander is frequently presented as an exceptional male, he is not presented as flawless, and some authors referred to him as an antithesis of true masculinity. Nevertheless, it is arguable that whether these authors took a positive or negative standpoint on Alexander himself, all were promoting a certain ideal of masculinity, and his role was to be either an embodiment of the masculine ideal or an example of some of the pitfalls that might undermine that ideal. It would be oversimplifying to state that the figure of Alexander merely fulfils the ideals of hegemonic masculinity in the premodern world. The texts concerning the Macedonian king in the Classical and medieval world also construct a powerful masculine ideal that stands on its own.
