Alexander

Factual error: The backdrop to the party scene in India shows a large building with glass windows. The Romans were the first to use glass windows some 300 years later.

Factual error: Just before old Ptolemy starts telling his story of Alexander, at the very beginning of the movie, we see a shot of the famous Lighthouse of Alexandria. It's fully operational, which is a mistake because the building was finished during the reign of Ptolemy's son, Ptolemy II Philadelphos, some years after the first Ptolemy's death.

Factual error: Contrary to what's depicted in the movie, Cleitus was never involved in the murder of Parmenion. He was in fact on his way to Alexander when Parmenion was killed.

Factual error: The event of wounding Alexander by an arrow that punctured his lung is depicted with great attention to detail and shown exactly as described by historians. However, in reality, it happened during the storming of the Mallian Stronghold, not during the battle of Hydaspes.

Revealing mistake: Towards the beginning of the movie, young Alexander tames a horse and then jumps on the horse and rides off. He is supposed to be riding bareback, but in one of the shots from a distance, you can tell that the actor's feet are in stirrups.

Allyson

More mistakes in Alexander

Alexander: While in your mind and body are stretched to breaking you have no thought beyond the next. And you look back then and there it was, happiness. In the doing, never the thinking.

More quotes from Alexander

Trivia: Many details are based on Plutarch's "Life of Alexander." These include: Alexander taunting Philip for being too drunk to walk from one couch to another, Bagoas' dance Hephaestion not following the medic's dietary restriction, eating poultry, in particular Alexander and Hephaestion reading letters from Olympias together; Alexander using his ring to signal that the content was to remain confidential, the taming of Bucephalus Phillip's assassination, and Olympias keeping snakes in her bedchamber.

More trivia for Alexander

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