Hephaestion (c. 356 BCE – 324 BCE), son of Amyntor, is a Macedonian nobleman and a general in the army of Alexander the Great.
He is "... by far the dearest of all the king's friends; he had been brought up with Alexander and shared all his secrets."
This friendship lasts their whole lives, and is compared, by others as well as themselves, to that of Achilles and Patroclus.
His military career is distinguished.
A member of Alexander the Great’s personal bodyguard, he goes on to command the Companion cavalry, and is entrusted with many other tasks through 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 corresponds with the philosophers Aristotle and Xenocrates, and actively supports Alexander in his attempts to integrate Greeks and Persians.
Alexander formally makes him his second-in-command when he appoints him Chiliarch of the empire, and makes him part of the royal family when he gives him as his bride Drypetis, sister to his own second wife, Stateira, both daughters of Darius III of Persia.
When he dies suddenly at Ecbatana, Alexander is overwhelmed with grief.
He petitions the oracle at Siwa to grant Hephaestion divine status, and Hephaestion is honored as a Divine Hero.
At the time of his own death eight months later, Alexander is still planning lasting monuments to Hephaestion's memory.
