Any info on Alexander's ring depicted in Oliver Stone's film

Post here about Alexander in film, TV, radio, other websites, YouTube etc.

Moderator: pothos moderators

Post Reply
Basileus
Posts: 9
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2011 9:38 pm

Any info on Alexander's ring depicted in Oliver Stone's film

Post by Basileus »

I am speaking about the ring Alexander wears on his right hand in the film.
User avatar
amyntoros
Somatophylax
Posts: 2188
Joined: Sat Oct 11, 2003 2:51 pm
Location: New York City

Re: Any info on Alexander's ring depicted in Oliver Stone's

Post by amyntoros »

If you mean the ring that Hephaistion gave to Alexander in the movie, on page 88 of The Making of Alexander by Robin Lane Fox it says:
Judith Mackenzie addressed the changing face of Alexandria, but she verified, too, the validity of the yellow-red finger-ring, acquired by Hephaistion in Egypt and given to Alexander: just such a colored stone, she pointed out, is now mentioned in a newly discovered papyrus text of poems by the early Alexandrian Greek poet, Poseidippus.
Only did a quick skim through the book, but I'm fairly certain this is the only mention of a ring. Hope it helps.

Best regards,
Amyntoros

Pothos Lunch Room Monitor
Basileus
Posts: 9
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2011 9:38 pm

Re: Any info on Alexander's ring depicted in Oliver Stone's

Post by Basileus »

That's a great help thanks. I am thinking of recreating this ring for myself. But I have no idea how to go about doing this or who could build it/ or who made the ring for the film....
Any idea or help or links would be appreciated
User avatar
spitamenes
Hetairos (companion)
Posts: 329
Joined: Mon Mar 07, 2011 10:51 pm
Location: St.Louis, U.S.

Re: Any info on Alexander's ring depicted in Oliver Stone's

Post by spitamenes »

Hello,
I did quite a bit of searching online for replicas of the ring and could not find much. I did see a couple sites that offer to make movie replica jewelry for very good prices. I can't remember the name of the site but if you search replica movie jewelry it should pop right up. I hope this helps. It seemed to be more than reasonable on the prices and from the looks of they're display images, it would probably turn out very good.
All the best...
Spitamenes :D
Alexias
Strategos (general)
Posts: 1082
Joined: Thu Nov 26, 2009 11:16 am

Re: Any info on Alexander's ring depicted in Oliver Stone's film

Post by Alexias »

As I was moving posts about, I came across this. I ended up buying two of the rings used on the movie. The Colin Farrell one represents the ring that Hephaestion gave to Alexander on his wedding night, but is probably one of several used. The one used in closeups had the spirals (as on the other ring worn by Anthony Hopkins), but this one was presumably just used for wide shots. It shows considerable signs of wear on the underneath as the white plastic shows through. They are made of white plastic and perspex with red and gold paint. The one used as Alexander's royal ring had the oval stone placed horizontally rather than vertically and was won on Alexander's right hand. This one was worn on the left hand.
Colin Farrell's ring.JPG
Colin Farrell's ring.JPG (189.18 KiB) Viewed 12446 times
Anthony Hopkins (as old Ptolemy) only did one day of filming, in which he wore Alexander's royal ring and Hephaestion's ring.
Anthony Hopkin's ring.JPG
Anthony Hopkin's ring.JPG (193.73 KiB) Viewed 12446 times
I can't remember if I posted photos of these when I bought the rings in 2014, but I probably didn't as they might have seemed to fannish for this site then. :)
sean_m
Hetairos (companion)
Posts: 259
Joined: Mon Nov 17, 2014 4:00 pm

Re: Any info on Alexander's ring depicted in Oliver Stone's film

Post by sean_m »

Alexias wrote:As I was moving posts about, I came across this. I ended up buying two of the rings used on the movie. The Colin Farrell one represents the ring that Hephaestion gave to Alexander on his wedding night, but is probably one of several used. The one used in closeups had the spirals (as on the other ring worn by Anthony Hopkins), but this one was presumably just used for wide shots. It shows considerable signs of wear on the underneath as the white plastic shows through. They are made of white plastic and perspex with red and gold paint. The one used as Alexander's royal ring had the oval stone placed horizontally rather than vertically and was won on Alexander's right hand. This one was worn on the left hand.

I can't remember if I posted photos of these when I bought the rings in 2014, but I probably didn't as they might have seemed to fannish for this site then. :)
Enjoy your collectables! As others have said, there are books on Greek and Hellenistic jewelry and jewellers who can make replicas in bronze, gold, and semiprecious or synthetic stones if you want to research the kinds of rings which Alexander and his Friends and Bodyguards wore. I am not an expert on jewelry.

The different approaches which different props department take are interesting. "Costume jewelry" is an old and proud tradition, and one of my medieval friends tells me that there is a London statute forbidding the goldsmiths to make things with fake gems except for the King and the Bishop of Winchester ;)
My blog (Warning: may contain up to 95% non-Alexandrian content, rated shamelessly philobarbarian by 1 out of 1 Plutarchs)
Post Reply