 My name is Adrian Edwards and I'm one of the curators of the British Library exhibition Alexander the Great. Among the stories told about Alexander the Great are those that relate to his wives and lovers. Writers and artists have often asked questions such as who was Roxanne, his first wife, and how did she capture his heart? There have also been questions about his male lovers. Let's have a look at some of the objects from the exhibition to see how these relationships have been portrayed over time. This French 15th century manuscript includes an illustration of the first time that Roxanne is presented to Alexander. Alexander is seated at the banqueting table and Roxanne is on the left dressed in gold. She immediately captured his heart and Alexander decided that they should be married. In fact she became the first of several wives and historians tell us of two others and there may have been more. Alexander's courtiers were actually against this marriage because Roxanne was not of royal blood. But that's just in this version of the story. When we look at Persian sources we find a Roxanne who is of royal blood. This manuscript is a 16th century version of Fydozi Sharnameh, the Persian national epic. This illustration shows the wedding ceremony with Roxanne and Alexander seated side by side, but which is which? To a contemporary Western audience it's not immediately obvious but it's Alexander on the left and Roxanne on the right. In the 21st century some writers and artists have begun to explore Alexander's same sex relationships. In this digital comic Hamish Thiel explores the relationship between Alexander and Hephaestian, his lifelong companion and second in command. This part of the story references an episode first reported by the Roman historian Cirtius when the Persian queen mother mistook Hephaestian for Alexander. In Hamish's comic, when the same mistake is made, Alexander again points out that Hephaestian is Alexander too and adds that he is also his heart and soul, prompting the comic aside, get a room. New generations of artists have also started looking at Alexander's relationship with his eunuch slave Baguas. Interest in this was largely prompted by Mary Reynolds' 1972 novel The Persian Boy. This drawing, originally posted on the DeviantArt digital platform, is by the Vietnam-placed artist Dava. It shows a loving and consensual relationship, but Dava's principal interest is in exploring Alexander's androgyny and in looking at the concept of beauty on the boundaries of masculine and feminine. Alexander lived 23 centuries ago and not much survives in terms of hard evidence about the man's private life. As a result, artists and storytellers have a lot of freedom when they explore Alexander and his relationships. These four portrayals probably say more about the worlds in which they were created than they do about the man himself. But what will future generations make of these relationships?