My 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, 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 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.

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 three, 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. S 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 his 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 1^st 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, nausia intense back pain 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.

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 twelve 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 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. 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, nausia, but not enough to thoroughly prove it was Typhoid Fever. So I believe Typhoid Fever didn't kill Alexander The great due to the symptoms not fully matching Alexander's.

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 severe back pain, worsening fever and sever back pain. Also as another reason this theory is possible, is because the malarial infection has been existence since the 6^th century B.C. Also where Alexander spent most of his time was in tropical conditions of the Persian empire, India and Babylon. So through all this evidence presented above of the sources believing it was a natural disease, the symptoms of Alexander matching the malaria disease's symptoms and the area and the time of the disease also matching Alexanders time and area, I believe that Alexander was killed by the Malaria disease.

So, in conclusion I believe that through the sources of Arrian, Plutarch, Diodorus and Rufus that Alexander was killed by the disease Malaria. Through the sources I believe that the theories of both murder and Typhoid fever 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 killed by Malaria.

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