Alexander's Last Days: Chronological Source Rearrangement (without the poison narrative and the romances)

[AdamKvanta]

Inspired by Alexias, I made a chronological source rearrangement of Alexander's last days without the poison narrative and the romances. However, this is not a reconstruction like I did in this thread: https://www.pothos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7309. Here I quote the sources explicitly so there is no harmonization/alteration of the source text. Sometimes I added comments in square brackets to clarify the context. And sometimes I removed out-of-the-context passages. Those are replaced with the ellipsis symbol "...".

Alexander's Last Days: Chronological Source Rearrangement (without the poison narrative and the romances)

Day 0: [17. month Daesius] [May 31, 323 B.C.]

Justin [Trogus]: Returning, therefore, to Babylon, and allowing himself several days for rest, he renewed, in his usual manner, the entertainments which had been for some time discontinued, resigning himself wholly to mirth, and joining in his cups the night to the day. As he was returning, on one occasion, from a banquet [with Nearchus], Medius, a Thessalian, proposing to renew their revelling, invited him and his attendants to his house.

Diodorus [Cleitarchus?]: They [soothsayers] bade him sacrifice to the gods on a grand scale and with all speed, but he was then called away by Medius, the Thessalian, one of his Friends, to take part in a comus.

Arrian: A few days after this, after offering to the gods the customary sacrifices for good success, and certain others also for the purpose of divination, he was feasting with his friends [Medius], and was drinking far into the night. He is also said to have distributed the sacrificial victims as well as a quantity of wine to the army throughout the companies and centuries. There are some who have recorded that he wished to retire after the drinking party [with Nearchus] to his bed-chamber; but Medius, at that time the most influential of the Companions, met him and begged him to join a party of revellers at his residence, saying that the revel would be a pleasant one.

Plutarch: He gave a splendid entertainment to Nearchus, and then, although he had taken his customary bath before going to bed, at the request of Medius he went to hold high revel with him; ...

Diodorus [Cleitarchus?]: There [at the house of Medius] he drank much unmixed wine in commemoration of the death of Heracles, and finally, filling a huge beaker [bowl of Heracles], downed it at a gulp [the whole sentence is interpolated from the next day (Day 1) to make Alexander appear that he became ill from this large cup of unmixed wine]. Instantly he shrieked aloud as if smitten by a violent blow and was conducted by his Friends, who led him by the hand back to his apartments. His chamberlains put him to bed and attended him closely, but the pain increased and the physicians were summoned. No one was able to do anything helpful and Alexander continued in great discomfort and acute suffering.

Justin [Trogus]: Taking up a cup, he suddenly uttered a groan while he was drinking, as if he had been stabbed with a dagger, and being carried half dead from the table, he was excruciated with such torture that he called for a sword to put an end to it, and felt pain at the touch of his attendants as if he were all over wounds.

Arrian: They [historians] say that Alexander was seized with an acute paroxysm of pain over the wine-cup, on feeling which he retired from the drinking bout.

Arrian [Royal Diary]: The Royal Diary gives the following account, to the effect that he revelled and drank at the dwelling of Medius; then rose up [εξανασταντα could also mean "went to stool" (diarrhea?)], took a bath, and slept; ...

Day 1: [18. month Daesius] [June 1, 323 B.C.]

Arrian [Royal Diary]: ... then again supped at the house of Medius and again drank till far into the night.

Athenaeus [Nicobulê]: ... when Alexander was dining with Medeius of Thessaly he pledged the health of everyone at the dinner, there being Tarentum in all, and accepted the same number of toasts from all; ...

Athenaeus [Ephippus]: Alexander, for example, once called for a six-quart cup [bowl of Heracles] and after a drink proposed the health of Proteas. He took the cup, and when he had sung the king's praises he drank, to the applause of everybody. A little while afterwards Proteas demanded the same cup, and again drinking, pledged the king. Alexander took it and pulled at it bravely, but could not hollowed out; on the contrary, he sank back on his cushion and let the cup drop from his hands. As a result, he fell ill and died [10 days later], because, as Ephippus says Dionysus was angry at him for besieging his native city, Thebes.

Diodorus [Cleitarchus?]: There [at the house of Medius] he drank much unmixed wine in commemoration of the death of Heracles, and finally, filling a huge beaker [bowl of Heracles], downed it at a gulp. [The source is probably from Cleitarchus who is famously unreliable. The veracity of this whole narration is criticized by Plutarch (see below).]

Plutarch: ... after drinking all the next day, he began to have a fever. This did not come upon him after he had quaffed a "bowl of Heracles," nor after he had been seized with a sudden pain in the back as though smitten with a spear; these particulars certain writers [e.g. Cleitarchus?, see Diodorus above] felt obliged to give, and so, as it were, invented in tragic fashion a moving finale for a great action.

Athenaeus [Nicobulê]: ... he then left the party and soon after went to sleep.

Arrian [Royal Diary]: After retiring from the drinking party he took a bath; after which he took a little food and slept there, because he already felt feverish.

Plutarch [Royal Diary]: On the eighteenth of the month Daesius he slept in the bathing-room because he had a fever.

Interpolated Day 2 [only in Arrian's Royal Diary]: [19. month Daesius] [June 2, 323 B.C.]

Arrian [Royal Diary]: He was carried out upon a couch to the sacrifices, in order that he might offer them according to his daily custom. After performing the sacred rites he lay down in the banqueting hall [men's quarters] until dusk. In the meantime he gave instructions to the officers about the expedition and voyage, ordering those who were going on foot to be ready on the fourth day, and those who were going to sail with him to be ready to sail on the fifth day. From this place he was carried upon the couch to the river, where he embarked in a boat and sailed across the river to the park. There he again took a bath and went to rest. [See Day 5.]

Day 2: [19. month Daesius] [June 2, 323 B.C.]

Arrian [Royal Diary]: On the following day he took another bath and offered the customary sacrifices. He then entered a tester bed, lay down, and chatted with Medius. He also ordered his officers to meet him at daybreak. Having done this he ate a little supper and was again conveyed into the tester bed. The fever now raged the whole night without intermission.

Plutarch [Royal Diary]: On the following day, after his bath, he removed into his bed-chamber, and spent the day at dice with Medius. Then, when it was late, he took a bath, performed his sacrifices to the gods, ate a little, and had a fever through the night.

Day 3: [20. month Daesius] [June 3, 323 B.C.]

Arrian [Royal Diary]: The next day he took a bath; after which he offered sacrifice, and gave orders to Nearchus and the other officers that the voyage should begin on the third day.

Plutarch [Royal Diary]: On the twentieth, after bathing again, he performed his customary sacrifice; and lying in the bathing-room he devoted himself to Nearchus, listening to his story of his voyage and of the great sea.

Day 4: [21. month Daesius] [June 4, 323 B.C.]

Arrian [Royal Diary]: The next day he bathed again and offered the prescribed sacrifices. After performing the sacred rites, he did not yet cease to suffer from the fever. Notwithstanding this, he summoned the officers and gave them instructions to have all things ready for the starting of the fleet. In the evening he took a bath, after which he was very ill.

Plutarch [Royal Diary]: The twenty-first he spent in the same way and was still more inflamed, and during the night he was in a grievous plight, ...

Day 5: [22. month Daesius] [June 5, 323 B.C.]

Arrian [Royal Diary]: The next day he was transferred to the house [men's quarters] near the swimming-bath, where he offered the prescribed sacrifices. Though he was now very dangerously ill, he summoned the most responsible of his officers and gave them fresh instructions about the voyage.

Plutarch [Royal Diary]: ... all the following day his fever was very high. So he had his bed removed and lay by the side [men's quarters] of the great bath, where he conversed with his officers about the vacant posts in the army, and how they might be filled with experienced men.

Arrian [Royal Diary]: He was carried out upon a couch to the sacrifices, in order that he might offer them according to his daily custom. After performing the sacred rites he lay down in the banqueting hall [men's quarters] until dusk. In the meantime he gave instructions to the officers about the expedition and voyage, ordering those who were going on foot to be ready on the fourth day, and those who were going to sail with him to be ready to sail on the fifth day. From this place he was carried upon the couch to the river, where he embarked in a boat and sailed across the river to the park. There he again took a bath and went to rest. [This is from the Arrian's interpolated Day 2 but it probably belongs here.]

Day 6: [23. month Daesius] [June 6, 323 B.C.]

Arrian [Royal Diary]: On the following day he was with difficulty carried out to the sacrifices, which he offered; and none the less gave other orders to the officers about the voyage.

Plutarch: [It seems Plutarch's Royal Diary is silent about this day]

Day 7: [24. month Daesius] [June 7, 323 B.C.]

Arrian [Royal Diary]: The next day, though he was now very ill, he offered the prescribed sacrifices. He now [probably after sunset] gave orders that the generals should remain in attendance in the hall [of the palace], and that the colonels and captains should remain before the gates.

Plutarch [Royal Diary]: On the twenty-fourth his fever was violent and he had to be carried forth to perform his sacrifices; moreover, he ordered his principal officers to tarry in the court of the palace, and the commanders of divisions and companies to spend the night outside.

Arrian: One writer has not even been ashamed to record that when Alexander perceived he was unlikely to survive, he was going out to throw himself into the river Euphrates, so that he might disappear from men's sight, and leave among the men of after-times a more firmly-rooted opinion that he owed his birth to a god, and had departed to the gods. But as he was going out he did not escape the notice of his wife Roxana, who restrained him from carrying out his design. Whereupon he uttered lamentations, saying that she forsooth envied him the complete glory of being thought the offspring of the god.

Day 8: [25. month Daesius] [June 8, 323 B.C.]

Curtius: Some have believed that the provinces were distributed by Alexander in his will, but we have learned that the report of such action was false, although handed down by some authorities.

Justin [Trogus]: On the fourth day [on Day 8 because for Justin's source Day 5 is the beginning of the illness (first time bed-ridden)], Alexander, finding that death was inevitable, observed that “he perceived the approach of the fate of his family, for the most of the Aeacidae had died under thirty years of age.” He then pacified the soldiers, who were making a tumult, from suspecting that the king was the victim of a conspiracy, and, after being carried to the highest part of the city [northern palace], admitted them to his presence, and gave them his right hand to kiss. While they all wept, he not only did not shed a tear, but showed not the least token of sorrow; so that he even comforted some who grieved immoderately, and gave others messages to their parents; and his soul was as undaunted at meeting death, as it had formerly been at meeting an enemy. When the soldiers were gone, he asked his friends that stood about him, “whether they thought they should find a king like him?” All continuing silent, he said that, “although he did not know that, he knew, and could foretel, and almost saw with his eyes, how much blood Macedonia would shed in the disputes that would follow his death, and with what slaughters, and what quantities of gore, she would perform his obsequies.” At last he ordered his body to be buried in the temple of Jupiter Ammon. When his friends saw him dying, they asked him “whom he would appoint as the successor to his throne?” He replied, “The most worthy.” Such was his nobleness of spirit, that though he left a son named Hercules, a brother called Aridaeus, and his wife Roxane with child, yet, forgetting his relations, he named only “the most worthy” as his successor; as though it were unlawful for any but a brave man to succeed a brave man, or for the power of so great an empire to be left to any but approved governors. But as if, by this reply, he had sounded the signal for battle among his friends, or had thrown the apple of discord amongst them, they all rose in emulation against each other, and tried to gain the favour of the army by secretly paying court to the common soldiers. [There are probably some interpolations in this whole account.]

Curtius: When the king saw them [the troops] he said: "After I am gone will you find a king worthy of such men?" (...) adding instructions that they should order his body to be taken to Ammon. When they asked to whom he left his kingdom, he replied, to him who was the best man, but that he already foresaw that because of that contest great funeral games were in preparation for him. Again, when Perdiccas asked when he wished divine honours to be paid to him, he said that he wished it at the time when they themselves were happy. These were the king's last words, ... [Curtius' original account is a garbled mix of two similar processions from Day 8 and Day 10].

Arrian: Some authors, however, have related that his Companions asked him to whom he left his kingdom; and that he replied: "To the best." Others say, that in addition to this remark, he told them that he saw there would be a great funeral contest held in his honour.

Diodorus [Cleitarchus?]: His Friends asked: "To whom do you leave the kingdom?" and he replied: "To the strongest." He added, and these were his last words, that all of his leading Friends would stage a vast contest in honour of his funeral.

Curtius: Then Aristonus began to speak, saying that Alexander, when he was asked to whom he left his kingdom, wished the best man to be chosen; ...

Plutarch [Aristobulus]: But Aristobulus says that he had a raging fever, and that when he got very thirsty he drank wine, whereupon he became delirious [speechless] ...

Arrian [Royal Diary]: But being now altogether in a dangerous state, he was conveyed from the park [northern palace] into the [southern] palace. When his officers entered the room, he knew them indeed, but could no longer utter a word, being speechless.

Plutarch [Royal Diary]: He was carried to the palace on the other side of the river on the twenty-fifth, and got a little sleep, but his fever did not abate. And when his commanders came to his bedside, he was speechless ...

Day 9: [26. month Daesius] [June 9, 323 B.C.]

Arrian [Royal Diary]: During the ensuing night [8./9. June] and day [9. June] and the next night [9./10. June]... [he was in a very high fever].

Plutarch [Royal Diary]: ... he was also [speechless] on the twenty-sixth [9. June]; ...

Day 10: [27. month Daesius] [June 10, 323 B.C.]

Arrian [Royal Diary]: ... and the next night [9./10. June] and day [10. June] he was in a very high fever. Such is the account given in the Royal Diary. In addition to this, it states that the soldiers were very desirous of seeing him; some, in order to see him once more while still alive; others, because there was a report that he was already dead, imagined that his death was being concealed by the confidential body-guards, as I for my part suppose. Most of them through grief and affection for their king forced their way in to see him. It is said that when his soldiers passed by him he was unable to speak; yet he greeted each of them with his right hand, raising his head with difficulty and making a sign with his eyes.

Plutarch [Royal Diary]: ... therefore [on the next day] the Macedonians made up their minds that he was dead, and came with loud shouts to the doors of the palace, and threatened his companions until all opposition was broken down; and when the doors had been thrown open to them, without cloak or armour, one by one, they all filed slowly past his couch.

Curtius [Cleitarchus?]: Meanwhile the troops, overcome by anxiety and longing to see him, although their leaders warned them not to burden the king in his illness, extorted permission to be admitted to his presence. As they gazed at him, their rising tears gave the impression no longer of an army looking upon its king, but of one attending his funeral; yet the grief of those who stood about his couch was still greater. (...) Incredible to tell and to hear of, he continued to hold his body in the same attitude in which he had composed himself when he was about to admit the soldiers, until he had been saluted by the whole army for that last time. And having dismissed the common throng, as if he had discharged every debt to life, he threw back his exhausted frame, and after bidding his friends to seat themselves (...) he drew his ring from his finger and handed it to Perdiccas, (...) and shortly afterwards [actually the next day] he died. [Curtius' original account is a garbled mix of two similar processions from Day 8 and Day 10].

Justin [Trogus]: On the sixth day from the commencement of his illness [on Day 10 because for Justin's source Day 5 is the beginning of the illness (first time bed-ridden)], being unable to speak, he took his ring from his finger, and gave it to Perdiccas, an act which tranquillized the growing dissension among his friends; for though Perdiccas was not expressly named his successor, he seemed intended to be so in Alexander’s judgment.

Diodorus [Cleitarchus?]: When he, at length, despaired of life, he took off his ring and handed it to Perdiccas.

Curtius [Cleitarchus?]: Then Aristonus began to speak, saying that Alexander (...) had himself judged that Perdiccas, to whom he had handed his ring, was the best man. For he was not the only one who sat by Alexander when he was dying, but, the king, looking about, had chosen him from his throng of friends to give it to. Therefore it was Alexander's wish that the supreme power should be bestowed upon Perdiccas. And there was no doubt that Aristonus' opinion was the truth.

Curtius [Cleitarchus?]: Then Perdiccas [after Alexander's death on Day 11], having put in view of the public the royal throne, on which were the diadem and the robe of Alexander together with his arms, placed on the same throne the ring which had been handed to him the day before [on Day 10] by the king.

Plutarch [Royal Diary]: During this day, too, Python and Seleucus were sent to the temple of Serapis to enquire whether they should bring Alexander thither; [then they slept there during the night] ...

Day 11: [28. month Daesius] [June 11, 323 B.C.]

Plutarch [Royal Diary]: ... and [in the temple] the god gave answer [to Python and Seleucus] that they should leave him [Alexander] where he was. And on the twenty-eighth, towards evening, he died.

Arrian [Royal Diary]: The Royal Diary also says that Peithon, Attains, Demophon, and Peucestas, as well as Cleomenes, Menidas, and Seleucus, slept in the temple of Serapis, and asked the god whether it would be better and more desirable for Alexander to be carried into his temple, in order as a suppliant to be cured by him. A voice issued from the god saying that he was not to be carried into the temple, but that it would be better for him to remain where he was. This answer was reported by the Companions; and soon after [towards evening] Alexander died, as if forsooth this were now the better thing. Neither Aristobulus nor Ptolemy has given an account differing much from the preceding.

Plutarch [Aristobulus]: But Aristobulus says that he (...) died on the thirtieth day [in the macedonian calendar "the thirtieth day" means the last day, so it's actually the 29. day in the macedonian calendar and the 28. day in the macedonian calendar amended by Alexander's order] of the month Daesius.

Diodorus [Cleitarchus?]: This was how he died after a reign of twelve years and seven months.

[marcus]

Inspired by Alexias, I made a chronological source rearrangement of Alexander's last days without the poison narrative and the romances. However, this is not a reconstruction like I did in this thread: https://www.pothos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7309. Here I quote the sources explicitly so there is no harmonization/alteration of the source text. Sometimes I added comments in square brackets to clarify the context. And sometimes I removed out-of-the-context passages. Those are replaced with the ellipsis symbol "...".

This looks great! I haven't had a chance to read it in full yet, but it looks as if you've put together a pretty comprehensive review of the source material. Well done and thanks.

[AdamKvanta]

This looks great! I haven't had a chance to read it in full yet, but it looks as if you've put together a pretty comprehensive review of the source material. Well done and thanks.

Thanks! I appreciate your kind comments.

[Alexias]

Thanks for this. Some thoughts:

Day 0: The sources all seem to agree that, perhaps against his better judgement (he may have already been feeling ill), Alexander was persuaded to go to Medius’s late night party. At this party, he seems to have been taken ill.

By this action, Alexander may himself have given grounds for the poisoning theory.

Day 1: Alexander appears to have been feverish, slept in the bathhouse and dined with Medius.

There is a muddling up of the days here in the sources.

Day 2-3: A sequence of bathing and fever.

Day 4: Bathed again and a very bad night with fever.

Day 5: Very ill but still offering sacrifices and issuing instructions from the men’s bathhouse. Went across the river.

Day 7: Summons officers to wait in palace. Roxane attending him. Crisis point?

Day 8: Death now seems inevitable, will and succession discussed.

Day 9: Too weak/delirious to talk.

Day 10: Army troops past. Ring given to Perdiccas.

Day 11: Died.

So after a week of a high fever, it seems it did not break and Alexander got progressively weaker. Does this match the symptoms of arsenic poisoning? Was Alexander reinfected with something? The constant baths did not lower or break his fever. We do not know what other treatment he received.

[Alexias]

What happens when a fever doesn't break?

...Fat cells start burning energy and our muscles rapidly contract, causing shivering – both of which warm us up. As a result, the body's temperature starts to rise.

If it rises too far, that can be fatal. Our cells begin to die, releasing proteins into the blood that can damage the kidneys and other organs, resulting in their failure. The exact temperature this happens at probably depends on the source of a person's fever, as well as other factors such as how hydrated they are......

..... Even a mild fever comes at a great cost: raising your body temperature by just 1°C requires a 10 per cent increase in energy expenditure. Fever is associated with a higher pulse and breathing rate, placing additional strain on the heart and lungs that could be risky in seriously ill people.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7195085/

[AdamKvanta]

So after a week of a high fever, it seems it did not break and Alexander got progressively weaker. Does this match the symptoms of arsenic poisoning? Was Alexander reinfected with something? The constant baths did not lower or break his fever. We do not know what other treatment he received.

Thanks for spending some time on this. I think we both agree that Alexander had a fever and that a fever can be fatal if it rises too far. So the question is what could cause such a high fever? You wrote (in my other thread):

he may have caught a chill by going out again at night after having taken a bath, which he exacerbated by drinking while feverish

I just don't think catching a chill (cold or flu) is likely to be fatal. Let's not forget it happened in May/June in Babylon (a very warm climate), so I don't think cold or flu is common in such a context. Even malaria is not that fatal and I already gave some arguments against the malaria hypothesis here: https://www.pothos.org/forum/viewtopic. ... 733#p47733

Does this match the symptoms of arsenic poisoning?

Yes, it does match subacute arsenic poisoning and we can compare it with the case of Francis Hall. He also had a fever and his illness lasted for several days. Both became comatose in their last days. Actually, I think both were re-poisoned after a week or so. I could talk about Hall's case in great detail if anybody is interested.

But maybe the strongest arguments for the arsenic hypothesis are Alexander's strong pain in the abdomen after drinking and his body which didn't decompose after his death. These two events are characteristic of heavy metal poisoning (including arsenic) but can't be explained by malaria. See more in my thread about the arsenic hypothesis: https://www.pothos.org/forum/viewtopic. ... 716#p47716

[Alexias]

Hi, yes I'd agree that a cold/chill wouldn't kill Alexander, but they could have developed into pneumonia, which could well have killed him. But, of course, the fever could also have come from another infection.

I know you like the arsenic poisoning, but I am afraid I am not convinced. It just doesn't seem probable to me. If you were going to poison him, just do it outright to make sure you got him. But if you were going to poison him, somebody would have been ready and prepared to take over, someone who controlled the army, and they weren't.

[AdamKvanta]

Hi, yes I'd agree that a cold/chill wouldn't kill Alexander, but they could have developed into pneumonia, which could well have killed him. But, of course, the fever could also have come from another infection.

I agree that some people are at an increased risk for developing severe or life-threatening pneumonia but I don't think Alexander was one of them. I'll quote healthline.com here:

Pneumonia can affect anyone. But there are some at an increased risk for developing a severe or life-threatening infection.

People that are at an increased risk for having a serious or life-threatening case of pneumonia include:

• children younger than 2 years old

• adults aged 65 and older

• people who are hospitalized, particularly if they’ve been placed on a ventilator

• individuals with a chronic disease or condition, such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or diabetes

• people with a weakened immune system due to a chronic condition, chemotherapy, or an organ transplant

• those who smoke cigarettes

https://www.healthline.com/health/pneum ... monia#risk

I know you like the arsenic poisoning, but I am afraid I am not convinced. It just doesn't seem probable to me. If you were going to poison him, just do it outright to make sure you got him. But if you were going to poison him, somebody would have been ready and prepared to take over, someone who controlled the army, and they weren't.

I'm not sure if killing Alexander outright would be the ideal scenario because everybody would have known that he was poisoned and that could be a complication.

Also regarding the motive of the poisoning, Antipater's main goal was to avoid leaving Macedonia in a place of Craterus. Moreover, he was afraid Alexander would punish him in Babylonia. We can read this in Justin:

Of those that were sent home Craterus was appointed leader, and commissioned to take the government of Macedonia in the room of Antipater, whom he sent for, with a body of recruits, to supply the place of Craterus. Pay was allowed to those that went home, as if they had been still in the service. In the course of those proceedings, Hephaestion, one of his friends, died; a man who was a great favourite with Alexander, at first on account of his personal qualities in youth, and afterwards from his servility.

...

The author of this conspiracy was Antipater, who, seeing that his dearest friends were put to death, that Alexander Lyncestes, his son-in-law, was cut off, and that he himself, after his important services in Greece, was not so much liked by the king as envied by him, and was also persecuted with various charges by his mother Olympias; reflecting, too, on the severe penalties inflicted, a few days before, on the governors of the conquered nations, and hence imagining that he was sent for from Macedonia, not to share in the war, but to suffer punishment, secretly, in order to be beforehand with Alexander, furnished his son Cassander with poison, who, with his brothers Philippus and Iollas, was accustomed to attend on the king at table.
https://www.attalus.org/translate/justin11.html#12.1

So when Antipater heard that Craterus was going to replace him, he first poisoned Hephaestion (or do you think Hephaestion died of pneumonia too?) because he would most probably succeed Alexander, and then a year later he poisoned Alexander. Actually, I think Antipater might have been in cahoots with Perdiccas (who certainly controlled a part of the army) and even with Ptolemy. And they might have had other motives but I think Antipater's main motive was to stay in Macedonia as a king.

[Alexias]

Sorry, not convinced. As Plutarch said, the poisoning theory didn't surface until about 5 years after Alexander's death in a pamphlet designed to denigrate Cassander in the wars of the successors. I wrote about it here viewtopic.php?p=47178&hilit=holkias#p47178.

[marcus]

So when Antipater heard that Craterus was going to replace him, he first poisoned Hephaestion (or do you think Hephaestion died of pneumonia too?) because he would most probably succeed Alexander, and then a year later he poisoned Alexander. Actually, I think Antipater might have been in cahoots with Perdiccas (who certainly controlled a part of the army) and even with Ptolemy. And they might have had other motives but I think Antipater's main motive was to stay in Macedonia as a king.

I'd need to check, but I'm pretty sure that Hephaestion died some time before Alexander send Craterus back to Macedonia. I think this is one conspiracy too far ...

[hiphys]

No, Hephaestion died after Craterus' departure from Opis/Ecbatana. I rather wonder why AdamKvanta don't mention among the possible cause of pneumonia in Alexander's illness the chest wound in the Malloi city, perhaps with pneumothorax complications.

[Alexias]

Having checked this, Craterus seems to have left for Greece in June 324 BC (Hephaestion dying in the October), but 12 months later was no further than Cilicia. Heckel says his ill-health and trouble in Cilicia had held him up, but Antipater therefore must have known for 12 months that Alexander had summoned him to Babylon. So why did Antipater wait that long before arranging for Alexander to be poisoned? It wouldn't have taken Cassander 12 months to get to Babylon.

BTW, I don't think Hephaestion was poisoned or died of pneumonia. He probably died of typhoid, his own recklessness and the doctor's failings.

[Alexias]

Going off at a tangent, why did Alexander summon the officers to assemble in the hall/courtyard? Did he want them there to issue instructions about the Arabia campaign, maybe that he would catch them up when he was recovered, or that it was postponed?

Or did he realise he was dying and want them there for some sort of prayer vigil or support group? He can't have wanted them there to ratify his appointed successor as he didn't appoint Perdiccas until the last minute.

Any thoughts?

[AdamKvanta]

Sorry, not convinced. As Plutarch said, the poisoning theory didn't surface until about 5 years after Alexander's death in a pamphlet designed to denigrate Cassander in the wars of the successors. I wrote about it here viewtopic.php?p=47178&hilit=holkias#p47178.

Actually, according to one source, soon after Alexander's death, Demosthenes (who died on 12 October 322 BC) proposed a decree conferring honors upon Iollas for poisoning Alexander:

[Demosthenes] also proposed a decree conferring honours upon Iolas, who was supposed to have given Alexander the poison.
https://www.attalus.org/translate/orato ... a%20decree

And Curtius said the poison narrative was suppressed by Antipater and then by his son Cassander: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id= ... 07&seq=567.

[AdamKvanta]

I rather wonder why AdamKvanta don't mention among the possible cause of pneumonia in Alexander's illness the chest wound in the Malloi city, perhaps with pneumothorax complications.

Thanks for the comment, hiphys. I didn't mention Alexander's pneumothorax because usually, a healed pneumothorax has no long-term effect on health. Here are two sources:

In most cases once the pneumothorax has healed, there is no long-term effect on health...
https://www.emedicinehealth.com/collaps ... cle_em.htm

Once a punctured lung has healed, it does not typically cause adverse health effects.
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articl ... 97#outlook

And we know that Alexander recovered relatively soon from this injury and some time after that, he was able to cross the Gedrosian desert (the 60-day march through the desert, where Alexander lost at least 12,000 soldiers). So no health problem there but circa two years after the injury, he would get pneumonia in Babylon during May/June? How likely is that?