The Story Behind the Mysterious Death of Alexander the Great

[post_slider]

Alexander was born on the sixth day of the ancient Greek month of Hekatombaion, which corresponds to 20 July 356 BC, in Pella, the capital of the Kingdom of Macedon (although the exact date is uncertain). He was the son of Philip II, King of Macedon, and Olympias, the daughter of Neoptolemus I, King of Epirus. Despite the fact that Philip had seven or eight wives, Olympias was his primary wife for a while, most likely because she was the mother of Alexander.

The Life of Alexander

During his early years, he was nursed by a nurse named Lanike, who was the sister of Alexander’s future general, Cleitus the Black. Alexander was schooled by the rigorous Leonidas, a relative of his mother’s, and Lysimachus of Acarnania later in his boyhood. Alexander was taught to read, play the lyre, ride, battle, and hunt in the manner of noble Macedonian lads.

Alexander started his rule by assassinating potential heirs to the throne. He executed his cousin, the former Amyntas IV. He also killed two Macedonian princes from the Lyncestis region, although Alexander Lyncestes was spared. The Olympians burned alive Cleopatra Eurydice and Europa, Philip’s daughter.Alexander was enraged when he learned of this. Alexander also ordered the assassination of Attalus, the commander of the army’s advance guard in Asia Minor and Cleopatra’s uncle.

At the age of 32, Alexander died in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II in Babylon on the 10th or 11th of June 323 BC. There are two stories about Alexander’s death, both with minor differences in the specifics of the event. According to Plutarch, Alexander entertained the admiral Nearchus 14 days before his death and spent the night and the next day drinking with Medius of Larissa.

According to ancient accounts, Alexander the Great’s body did not begin to decompose for six days after his death in Babylon in 323 B.C. This affirmed what the ancient Greeks assumed about the young Macedonian monarch, as well as what Alexander himself believed about himself: that he was not an ordinary man, but a god.

The Debate Surrounding his Death

Alexander had conquered an empire spanning from the Balkans to modern-day Pakistan at the age of 32, and he was on the verge of launching another invasion when he fell ill and died after 12 days of intense pain. His cause of death has been contested by historians since then, with theories ranging from malaria, typhoid, and alcohol poisoning to assassination by one of his rivals.

However, a fresh explanation proposed by a scholar and practicing clinician claims that Alexander may have died as a result of the neurological condition, Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS). She also claims that people may not have detected any initial symptoms of decomposition in Alexander’s body because he wasn’t yet dead.

Most other ideas of what killed Alexander have centered on the severe fever and stomach agony he suffered in the days leading up to his death, wrote Dr. Katherine Hall, a senior lecturer at the University of Otago in New Zealand, in an essay published in The Ancient History Bulletin.

She also mentions that during Alexander’s illness, he was said to have suffered from progressive, symmetrical, ascending paralysis. He remained compos mentis (completely in control of his mental abilities) until just before his death.

GBS, is an uncommon but dangerous autoimmune condition in which the immune system assaults healthy cells in the neurological system. Hall claims, she can explain the symptoms of Alexander’s death better than the other ideas put out. She believes he got the disease from a Campylobacter pylori infection, which was a common bacterium at the time. Alexander most likely contracted a GBS type that caused paralysis without causing confusion or coma, according to Hall.

Hall Argues Alexander May Have Been Buried Long Before His Death

While there has long been a debate about what killed Alexander, Hall throws a curveball by claiming that he may not have died when everyone thought he did.

She claims that Alexander’s breathing would have been less evident due to his increasing paralysis and the fact that his body required less oxygen as it shut down. Because doctors used the presence or absence of breath, rather than a pulse, to decide whether a patient was alive or dead in ancient times, Hall believes Alexander was declared dead before he died.

By proposing that Alexander’s true death was six days later than traditionally recognized, Hall said in a release from the University of Otago.

“I intended to provoke new debate and discussion and maybe revise the history books. His death may be the most well-known case of pseudothanatos, or death by misdiagnosis, ever documented. “

Because of the ongoing debates about Alexander’s death, the researchers have yet to reach a definitive conclusion. In the meantime, they are on the verge of determining which theory adds up.