Hi! I have been hearing so much controversy over Colin Farrell's "bad dye job" in Oliver Stone's new movie, Alexander the Great. Didn't the real Alexander have BLONDE hair???????? Thank you, Lisa

-- Anonymous, November 30, 2004

Answers

Bill,

OK, i don't know for sure... however, i am 6'2'' and my father is only 5'8'' so even if Philip was so short which i am also not sure about this doesn't prove anything. Can you cite that ancient source please?

-- Anonymous, December 03, 2004

I was very disappointed with the movie too. We badly another good movie, to correct the many errors they made there.

According to my knowledge, Alexander was about 6 feet tall. He was very fair and handsome, had greenish blue eyes and light brownish hair, a bit golden. Since he spent a lot of time in the sun, the tips were very light (burned out). You may say "blonde" probably but not in Scandinavian sense. He also had a small and short beard towards the end of his life.

-- Anonymous, November 30, 2004

I am 6'1" and my dad is 5'10" I know they say son's out-grow there parents but this isn't always true. It was easy to find out about the height of Philip, there are many books, websites and tv programs about the discovery of his tomb and looking at how tall he was using his bones and his armour. As I have said this shows that he was about 5'4". There have been many historical sources telling us of how short Alexander was. The source I found was written by Alexanders personal historian Callisthenes who says "Alexander is a much shorter man than his father, but more heavily built."

-- Anonymous, December 04, 2004

Ok here's some more evidence, the tomb of Alexanders father Philip has been found. The body had been cremated but using the bones and modern day technology concludes that Philip was around 5'4" (he was lame in one leg but that didn't make much of a difference in his height) According to ancient sources, Alexander when fully grown was shorter than his dad and hence fourth had to be below 5'4".

-- Anonymous, December 03, 2004

Bill,

The story you cite is correct but it only means that Darius was extraordinarily tall, a quality which helped him become the king of Persian empire in the first place!

I suggest we wait a bit until the Tomb is found and then we can see who was right!

Oleg

-- Anonymous, December 02, 2004

I have to correct you there Oleg. In the old days, people were much shorter than today. In Alexanders time the average height of a fully grown man was around 5'5" Alexander was shorter too at between 4'11" to 5'3" this is shown most of all when Alexander reached Persepolis and sat on Darius's throne and his feet never touched the ground, so one of his men brought Alexander Darius's royal table which Alexander used as a foot stool. One of Darius's servants who was present began to cry at what had become of his masters former royal goods. Alexander feeling guilty was going to remove the table until one of his men said it was a good omen that the king of kings Darius's high table was now at your feet, as soon would be his empire!

-- Anonymous, November 30, 2004

You are correct, Collin Farrels hair dye job was bad. His hair was blonde, wavey and shoulder length. He was approximately 5 foot 3 inches. They also had several other description problems with the movie. 1) Olympias was Auburn(Dark Red) haired with green eyes. 2) His best friend Haephestion was much taller than Alexander, approximately 6 feet tall. This is why the Princess Statira was talking to Haephestion instead of Alexander in the movie.(Because he was more kingly looking and was closer in height to her son Darius who was 6 foot 5 inches.) The other problem with that scene is it actually took place on the battlefield after the battle of Issus and it was Darius's mother Sisigambis who approached them and spoke to Haephestion. 3) Bucephalas was black but (if memory serves me right) had a white spot on his forehead. And he didn't die in battle against Porus, he died three months later.

There are many other problems with the movie as well. I have read many books on the subject and was very dissapointed with the movie.

-- Anonymous, November 30, 2004