Alexander The Great Death

Alexander The Great Death

As King of Macedonia and Persia, Alexander the Great, one of history’s greatest military strategists, founded the biggest empire the ancient world had ever seen. Despite the fact that he died before achieving his aim of creating a new kingdom, his impact on Greek and Asian culture was so significant that it spurred the creation of a new historical era—the Hellenistic Period. So what was the reasons for Alexander the Great Death?!

 

When Alexander died at Babylon in 323 B.C., as per historical accounts (Plutarch, life of Alexander, part 7 of 7), his body did not begin to decompose for six days. His contemporaries thought he was not an average man, but a god, which he shared. His cause of death has been contested by historians since then, with theories ranging from malaria, typhoid and alcohol poisoning to assassination by his rivals.

Cause of Alexander Death

In an essay published in The Ancient History Bulletin, Dr. Katherine Hall, a research lecturer at the University of Otago’s Dunedin School of Medicine, hypothesised that Alexander’s death was caused by the neurological illness Gullain-Barré Syndrome (GBS). She also claims that no one observed any immediate symptoms of decomposition on Alexander’s body since he wasn’t dead yet, calling his death the “most renowned case of pseudothanatos, or false diagnostic of death, ever documented.” GBS, according to Hall, can explain his illness’s symptoms easier than any other idea.

Now, based on research undertaken by Thomas Gerasimides, retired professor of Medicine at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, a new idea has emerged that contradicts earlier theories for Alexander’s death, claiming that Alexander died of necrotizing pancreatitis (NP).

Gerasimides and his team, who started their research in 1995, have gone through all of the literature (Arrionas, Ptolemy, Plutarch, Curtius, and so on) about Alexander the Great’s final days in order to compile a medical history. This decision was made “after a thorough research based on the signs of his condition (evidence-based medicine),” according to Gerasimides, who also observes that “30 percent of people suffering with acute necrotising pancreatitis die nowadays.”

“The first sign was acute stomach discomfort, which was followed by fever and a 14-day period of increasing degradation,” he explained.

Symptoms Before Death

Gerasimides has ruled out the following ideas as the reason of Alexander’s death based on the symptomatology:

Malaria

Although he had a fever as a sign of his sickness, it was not the type of fever commonly linked with malaria.

Pneumonia

Alexander’s symptoms are not consistent with pneumonia, which infrequently causes abdominal pain. Furthermore, the fever was already existing before Alexander reached the Euphrates River, indicating that the cold water was not the origin of the sickness.

Typhoid fever and West Nile virus

Typhoid fever was ruled out because there was no epidermis at the time, and the West Nile virus was ruled out because it produces encephalitis rather than gastrointestinal pain and delirium.

Gullain-Barret Syndrome

The current notion that Alexander died as a result of the neurological condition Gullain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) was also dismissed, as paralysis of the respiratory muscles would result in cyanosis, which his doctors did not note.

Poisoning

Arrian of Nicomedia, a historian, proposed three theories for Alexander’s poisoning, one of which was that his instructor Aristotle gave the poison to Antipater to avenge the death of his student Kallisthenes. However, the historian didn’t even believe them, as he stated in his writings. How is it possible that Aristotle, the great instructor, poisoned his best student?

Furthermore, there were no chemical toxins available at the time. “We searched and determined that there were 114 kinds of poisons at that time,” Gerasimides says, “along with the professor of Toxicology, Nikolaos Raikos.” Substances such as the conium that murdered Socrates, strychnine, and hydro cyanide, among others, will kill you in a matter of hours. Alexander would not be able to survive for more than 14 days.”

The death of Alexander the Great stays one of history’s unsolved mysteries, and despite the fact that this recent study uncovers new information, even the study’s author, professor Gerasimides, admits that incontrovertible evidence concerning Alexander’s tomb, mummified body, and forensic analysis and autopsy remains to be revealed.

What did Alexander say when he died?

When Alexander The Great returned to his homeland after conquering nations, he became unwell, which ultimately to his death. “I will depart from this world soon,” he warned his generals, “and I have three requests, which you must carry out without fail.”

What are the 3 wishes of Alexander the Great?

Alexander the Great summoned his military leaders on his deathbed and told them his three final wishes:

His casket should be carried by the best doctors; the wealth he has amassed (money, gold, rare stones, etc.)…

His hands should be freed and hung from the coffin for all to see! Mystery