(Dedicated to the Ideal itself and to all who served it...once upon a time...)

Emotions,ideas,ideals are like the species of the animal and plant kingdom;some survive,some evolve,mutate and some become extinct.Now Heroic Friendship belongs to the last category as something that was once lived through,understood and is now distinct.So far, I am the first to clasify it and adress it by such a term-another one existing is Homeric Philia.

Starting from mythology,most of our examples are of the Bronze Age-a totally mythical era.Parallels are seen in Sumeria in the pair of Gilgamesh and Enkindu and Israel in David and Jonathan.However identical these cases might be with the equivalent Greek ones,the latter outnumber them by far:Achilles-Patroclus,Hercules-Iolaos,Theseus-Peirithoos,Orestes-Pulades and more.It is true that the Greeks rendered more significance to friendship in general than any other people.Thus,these pairs of friends were not without heirs in historical times:Armodius-Aristogeiton,Damon-Phidias,Alexander-Hephaistion.

But Heroic Friendship is a whole different,autonomous chapter from Friendship in general.From comparing various cases(not only the Greek) we can deduce features of it.Firstly,as Aristotle deemed the best type of friendship is that which is based on virtue(in contrast to the other two,which are on pleasure and interest respectively).But what does that mean?who can be virtuus?Acccording to the Greeks this virtue would have to do with the degree at which a man reflects his divine origin;the universe as it is and this is related both to body and spirit inseparably.Man loves beauty,says Plato,and comes closer to it in order to give birth(i.e create).This same drive brings one lover of virtue to another;a sublime force to gain something higher.Nietcze had beautifully put it in a a way the Greeks would have agreed with:"Friendship is the combination of two people's forces in pursuit of a higher truth".When Theseus had gone out to confront Peirithoos ,they were both dumbfounded by each others appearance to such a point of admiration that they hated the idea of having to kill each other and became friends.It was Virtue one recognised in one another to identify him as his own "blood",his own kind.

But the Greeks thought that only deep love could accomplish that.Only a high drive of admiration for someone else could be creatively inspiring.Eros for the Greeks,as Dion Fortune said,was much more than just sex;it included a comrade's love and that between teacher and student.Heroic Friendship is a child of Greek Eros,and there's a streak of love much more intence than our kind of friendship,that inspired loyalty and self-sacrifice.The very word philia(from philo=to love)proves how more intence it was.Its interesting to notice that David deems that Jonathan's love for him was greater than that of women and Gilgamesh narrating his dream of Enkindu's imminent arrival says for him:"I worshiped him like a god,I loved him like a woman".

But Aristotle compliments his theory by saying that the ideal type of philia is that which is based on virtue AND on common interests,so that pleasure of company fastens it and promotes its activity.This comes closer to Heroic Friendship.This is the sence of "omoios omoio aei pelazei"(it takes one to know one).Most of our heroic couples have similar likes that strech to sharring the same beliefs,the same problems and of course causes.Thus Pulades will help Orestes in his cause,Patroclus will be there for Achilles despite his opposite opinion and in historical times some of these couples would overthrow entire regimes(see Armodius and Aristogeiton,and others as well).A very common pattern is that these two friends embark on a long journey with a cause(Gilgamesh and Enkidu to distant mountains to kill Hubaba,Patroclus follows Achilles to the Trojan cause as Hephaistion will do for Alexander,Theseus and Peirithoos travel to the land of the Amazons and to the Underworld,Orestes and Pulades to Tauris).I reckon that this motif has an allusion to the spiritual,intellectual journey Heroic Friendship enjoyed and a natural trip was its material manifestation that inspired it.Thus,in the Japanese Way of the Warrior,ther's a chapteer on friendship encouraging man to find his comrade and co-traveller with whom he will embark on the journey of life until they both retire in sweet reminescense of old age...

Another feature of Heroic Friendship is exclusiveness.One friend stands for the other as nobody else can;one's "heroic friend" embodies all those virtues(at least the most important ones)that he cannot find in others.Thus,we can understand what Alexander meant of "Philalexandros".When asked the reason of favouring Hephaistion more than Crateros he replied:because Crateros loves the King(philobasileus),whereas Hephaistion loves Alexander;Alexander,the essence of him,with its flaws and dark sides,all what the rest cannot understand or forgive-these your Heroic Friend will love;not your strenght,but your weakness,as Patroclus tolerated Achilles obstinence.

As most of these couples are warriors the idea of self sacrifice is very distinct in them.But there are more reasons to this associated with the idea of pursuing virtue.There is something about Heroic Friendship that transcends death!Like all great relationships it holds the key to man's immortality(no wonder why such deep devotion excites the envy of the Gods).The need to see again what Zeno called an alter ego(in the question what is a friend)is what keeps the soul alive and eager in the afterlife;it's the hand that pulls you on to the other side,saving you from the abyss of non-existence.And it initiates reincarnation.Thus it was said that the ashes of both Achilles and Patroclus were mixed in their urns,so that in a next life one would bear some of the others qualities inseparably with him:an allusion to heroic friends being two sides of the same coin,which however compliment each other.

But most of all Heroic Friendship ignited the pursuit of the Ultimate Ideas.The feeling of omnipotence which it rendered caused some of the noblest deeds,as Damon's will to be executed in stead of his friend,Diokles self sacrifice to protect his friend in battle that inaugurated an important festival in Megara,the two Spartans that offered to go to Xerxe's court and die for compensation of the death of the Persian ambassadors,Pulades offer to die in stad of Orestes,and so on.Thus,we can understand what was meant in Plato's Symposium about an army of lovers capable of doing everything,because not one soldier would dare do something shameful out of fear of being degraded in the eyes of his friend.This opinion echoed the realities of Spartan comradeship and the Sacred Band,that fell to the last men in the battle of Chaironia.Both them and the Spartans of Thermopylai came to the consummation of such epic deeds only because they feared nothing to loose.All they loved was incarnated in their comrades around them.Nooone would loose noone,as all would be going through the same course:from struggle to glorious death and then together in the nether world.

Heroic Friendship is a distinct example of polarity and especially duality.Though friends have a solid common foundation/denominator,they implement each other.But most of all they are "heroic" in the sence of Greek Tragedy(=something which is separated by it's uniqueness than all the rest;something that others cannot accomplish).They relish something whose value lies in its qualitative rareness and makes them conscious of their extraordinarity against the masses.This could have been in the late Tsarouche's mind(modern Greek painter) when he deemed:"Friendship is the agreement of two people against the whole world..."