Cyclops vs. Wolverine

The tale of Hephaistion and Krateros pulling swords on each other in India, recorded only by Plutarch, may not be a real event but an anecdotal illustration of Alexander’s new Persianizing policies versus traditional Macedonian resistance, embodied by Hephaistion for the former, and Krateros for the latter. If tension between the two marshals was probable enough, as suggested by the Philalexandros-Philobasileus comparative, a physical confrontation was most likely invented by Plutarch for literary ends.