Alexander’s Lavish Hephaestion Funeral Pyre

In 324 BC, when Alexander the Great’s dearest friend Hephaestion died, Alexander planned a hugely expensive funeral that modern estimates put at about $2 billion. He ordered a 60-meter-high pyre with seven layers of golden objects as the centerpiece of the rites. Afterward, Hephaestion was worshipped as a divine hero, and shrines were erected in his memory.

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