Greece’s Culture Minister has criticised Netflix‘s new Alexander: The Making Of A God series and branded it a “fiction of extremely poor quality” and “full of historical inaccuracies.”

The show, which focuses on Alexander the Great, landed on the streaming service last week. It charts the rise of the Macedonian general from the moment of his father’s assassination to the conquering of his own empire.

Greek Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni made a statement in Parliament after she was asked to officially condemn the series, reports The Greek Herald.

While she said there are inaccuracies in the series, she also emphasised that the Ministry of Culture does not censor art or proceed with actions that result in its prosecution.

[embedded content]

“The elements of Alexander’s personality are not brought out in the Netflix series, which does not serve the historical truth. It is filled with historical inaccuracies and shows directorial sloppiness and poverty of scenario,” Mendoni said.

She added: “It seeks easy sensationalism to gain viewers by using malicious commentary as supposed facts. The platform characterises the series as a documentary with scenes of fiction. In essence, it is an extremely low-quality fiction, of low content, which is far removed from historical events as recorded in ancient written sources and documented by archaeological research.”

In the opening episode Alexander is shown kissing another man, his close friend, confidant and bodyguard Hephaestion.

The historical accuracy of the scene was disputed by Mendoni. She said: “Regarding the issue of the relationship with Hephaestion, there is no mention in the sources that it goes beyond the limits of friendship, as defined by Aristotle.

“We should not interpret actions of persons that lived more than 2,000 years ago with our own modern standards and norms.”

Her comments come after the scene in question caused a stir on social media last week.