Re: Hephaiston's death
Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2022 6:14 pm
Thank you, Alexias, for your kind words. My friend had embolism five days after a surgical operation. She only should have been back home next day.
Others again say that he hanged the physician Glaucias, for having indiscreetly given the medicine; while others affirm that he, being a spectator of the games, neglected Hephaestion, who was filled with wine.
Diodorus Chapter XVIIHe also held drinking parties with his Companions. At this time Hephaestion fell sick; and they say that the stadium was full of people on the seventh day of his fever, for on that day there was a gymnastic contest for boys. When Alexander was informed that Hephaestion was in a critical state, he went to him without delay, but found him no longer alive. ... Others again say that he [Alexander] hanged the physician Glaucias, for having indiscreetly given the medicine; while others affirm that he, being a spectator of the games, neglected Hephaestion, who was filled with wine. Translated 1884
Alternative translation
About this time Hephaestion fell sick. One the seventh day of his illness it so happened that there was a big crowd at the stadium to watch the boys' races, which were then taking place. During the races a message was brought to Alexander that Hephaestion's condition was serious; he hurried away, but his friend was dead before he could reach him. ... Some have said that he had Glaucias, the doctor, hanged for giving the wrong medicine; others because he had seen Hephaestion drinking too much and had made no attempt to stop him. Translated 1971
Plutarch Chapter 7Here he refreshed his army for some time and staged a dramatic festival, accompanied by constant drinking parties among his friends. In the course of these, Hephaestion drank very much, fell ill, and died.
Maybe Badian was right to state that Hephaestion basically drank himself to death, but he would have had to be seriously drunk to die of alcohol poisoning, and this doesn’t seem to have been his intention, or there to have been enough time for him to drink about a gallon of wine.When he came to Ecbatana in Media and had transacted the business that was urgent, he was once more much occupied with theatres and festivals, since three thousand artists had come to him from Greece. But during this time it chanced that Hephaestion had a fever; and since, young man and soldier that he was, he could not submit to a strict regimen, as soon as Glaucus, his physician, had gone off to the theatre, he sat down to breakfast, ate a boiled fowl, drank a huge cooler of wine, fell sick, and in a little while died. ... he also crucified the wretched physician, translated 1919
Alternative translation
At this time it happened that Hephaestion had caught a fever, and being a young man who was accustomed to a soldier's life, he could not bear to remain on a strict diet. No sooner had his physician Glaucus gone off to the theatre, than he sat down to breakfast, devoured a boiled fowl, and washed it down with a great cooler-full of wine. His fever quickly mounted and soon afterwards he died. translated 1973