Final essay

After considering the notes that Mr Wright gave me i have revised my essay and have now done my final essay

How did Alexander The Great Die?

Alexander the Great was a Greek king of Macedon, he is widely known for his military conquers, but his death is still vastly unknown. There are many theories for his death such as malaria, typhoid fever and murder. So in this essay I will explore the theories of Alexander's death.

Firstly in exploring Alexander The Greats death you have to understand who Alexander The Great was. He was born in 356 BC and after his father's Philip II death, he became king of Macedonia which had brought most of the states of Greece under its control. Alexander was known for his military conquests and being undefeated in battle. In his short life Alexander conquered the Persian empire which consisted of most of Asia Minor, as well he conquered Syria, Egypt and Mesopotamia. Finally after conquering most of the known world he died in 323 BC in Babylon, under suspicious circumstances.
A Silver coin with Alexander The Great on it.

Next in discovering what killed Alexander is finding what primary sources say about Alexander's death. Some primary sources which speak about Alexander's death are Plutarch, Diodorus, Arrian and Rufus. All of these sources speak of many different theories but some are common throughout the four, such as natural causes/diseases and foul play. But as well as putting forward the idea of Alexander being murdered Plutarch dismisses it and Arrian and Diodorus say they only mention as to adding to its completeness. So all four sources state different theories into which Alexander died.

Also in understanding Alexander's death you have to know his symptoms when he died written by the primary sources mentioned above. The most precise recount of the beginning of Alexander's death in the cycle of the ten days it lasted is, written by Arrian ( Anabasis 7.25-27) who recounts every single day as a diary. His symptoms lasted over the period of ten days. It all started on July 1st on the banks of the river Euphrates in the city of Babylon Alexander was celebrating with his friends when after drinking a lot of unmixed wine fell ill. Alexander suffered from a fever, nausea intense back pain, diarrhoea and loss of conciousness which eventually ended his life. After a few days his condition deteriorated and after 5 days he was unable to speak. Soon after another two days his condition became even worse, and after another three days he was dead.

Likewise in discovering Alexander's death you have to understand any illness or injury he has had before. Alexander had received many wounds in battle but not any sever enough to cause his death. Also throughout Alexander's conquest of the Persian empire and India he suffered many of the same symptoms as before and almost died from it, these symptoms are most common for malaria or typhoid but recovered and moved on only many months later dying from the same symptoms.

So in discovering what killed Alexander you have to explore the many theories firstly and see if they match the symptoms. I am going to explore the theory of murder. This theory has been put forward by all of the primary sources mentioned above. This theory has some evidence to support it such as a person to arrange the organiser for the plot who is said too be Antipater who was a recently removed Macedonian viceroy. Also during Alexander's time there was poisons available. But there are many points that are against the theory of Alexander being murdered such as the symptoms of Alexander are well documented and don't match up with any of the poisons that were available in his day. Such as, back in his day there were probably no long lasting poisons that would last over ten days. So therefore through the evidence presented above I believe that Alexander was not killed through an act of foul play such as poison due to his symptoms not matching up with the poisons that were available of the day. Also all sources of Plutarch, Arrian, Diodorus and Rufus dismiss murder as the symptoms of poison don't match Alexander's symptoms.

So another theory to how Alexander died is that he died of natural causes or natural diseases such as Typhoid fever or malaria. So firstly Typhoid Fever is a possibility to how Alexander died because it matches with his symptoms. In the time of Alexander the Great and some centuries after where all of my sources are from had some idea of diseases such as typhoid fever and malaria but did not fully understand them. So the sources relate his symptoms to natural diseases. So Typhoid Fever can be considered as a possible candidate as some of his symptoms such as, nausea and diarrhoea relate to the disease. Also Alexander's conquest took him through areas which carry these diseases. so Typhoid fever could of possibly been the disease that could of killed Alexander as in the sources they think it is a natural disease and the symptoms relate to this disease. So this could of possibly been the disease that killed Alexander.

Finally another theory which could possibly be the cause of Alexander's death is another natural disease, Malaria. The theory of malaria is put forward by many of the sources as one of the natural diseases which could of killed Alexander. Malaria is very possible because it matches with many of Alexander's symptoms such as his worsening fever and sever back pain. Also as another reason this theory is possible, is because the malarial infection has been existence since the 6th century B.C. Also where Alexander spent most of his time was in tropical conditions of the Persian empire, India and Babylon, and this is where the malarial infection is most common. So through all this evidence presented above of the sources believing it was a natural disease and the symptoms matching up with the disease, it is possible that this could have been the natural disease that could of killed Alexander.

So, in conclusion I believe that through the sources of Arrian, Plutarch, Diodorus and Rufus that Alexander was killed by either the disease Typhoid or malaria. Through the sources I believe that the theory of murder can be ruled out as the symptoms don't relate to them and the sources disprove the theories. So therefore in my opinion is that Alexander The Great was either killed by Typhoid fever or malaria as the symptoms both can relate too them and though both of them don't kill in the 10 days, this could have been caused by Alexander being previously ill.


By Jason Thrift


Bibliography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great#Death_and_succession

http://www.livius.org/aj-al/alexander/alexander_t28.html

http://www.grahamphillips.net/Alexander/Alexander_2.htm

http://ajol.info/index.php/actat/article/viewFile/52557/41163

http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/alexander/index.html