History shows that the great conqueror was well versed in medicine. Perhaps this was his undoing.

Could replace the doctor

Alexander the Great received a good education, and medicine was not the last subject there. “The king was interested not only in the abstract side of this science, but... came to the aid of his sick friends, prescribing various methods of treatment and treatment regimen,” Plutarch wrote about him in “Comparative Lives.”

Alexander enters Babylon. Lebrun, ok. 1664.

One can only guess how Alexander treated his comrades. However, he probably knew field surgery very well. Even an ordinary warrior of that time was an expert in stab and chopped wounds - let alone a commander. It can also be argued that the king was well versed in poisonous and medicinal herbs. During the Asian and Indian campaigns, he compiled a herbarium and sent the results to his teacher, philosopher and physician Aristotle.

Bust of Alexander the Great as Helios. Capitoline Museums (Rome)

Lame conqueror?

It is not known who and for what reasons first began to attribute illnesses to Macedonsky that he never suffered from. But stories about them are still passed on from mouth to mouth and have already begun to seem true to some. So, many are sure that Alexander was one-eyed, lame, and at the same time suffered from epilepsy. This is wrong. It was not Alexander who was one-eyed, but his father Philip. His son Hercules suffered from epilepsy. The lame one was the treasurer (and embezzler) Harpalus, one of the conqueror’s friends and associates.

But this does not mean that Alexander himself was absolutely healthy. He could declare himself as much as he liked as the son of the god Zeus, immortal and not susceptible to disease. In reality it was different.

The Macedonian court sculptor Lysippos depicted his king this way: his chin is raised, his face is turned to the right, his head is tilted back and to the left. Try to reproduce this pose - and you will immediately be accused of contempt for the human race... In his work, Lysippos adhered to the instructions of Aristotle, who said: “One should not go against nature, but represent the greatest of all living naturally.” So is the image real? At the time, Alexander may have suffered from Brown syndrome. This is a rare form of strabismus. If a person with such a disease tries to hold his head straight, objects will appear double. But turning the head like a sculpture can compensate for vision. So the point is not at all about the king’s contempt for “mortals,” but about illness. It can be congenital or acquired. In this case, it’s more likely the latter - in his youth the conqueror received a serious head injury, accompanied by partial loss of vision.

Alexander: Ask me whatever you want! Diogenes: Don't block the sun for me! (Jean-Baptiste Regnault, 1818)

Different eyes

He had no luck with his eyes at all. Or luck, depending on how you look at it. One of his chroniclers, Arrian, mentioned: “One of his eyes was the color of the sky, the other the color of the night.” This is called heterochromia of the eye, that is, different colors. The thing is again rare, occurring in about 0.5% of people.

In the old days, the owner of such eyes was suspected of having connections with the other world. The priests of the peoples conquered by Alexander literally trembled at his gaze. Mystical fears were in vain. If anyone should have thought, it should have been Alexander himself. According to research by modern iridodiagnosticians (doctors who make diagnoses based on the iris), heterochromia indicates congenital weakness of the gastrointestinal tract. The doctors of antiquity also guessed something like this, since they advised the king to be as abstinent as possible in food.

Alexander cuts the Gordian knot. (Jean-Simon Berthelemy, late 18th-early 19th centuries)

Nine strokes

Alexander did not suffer from any other chronic diseases. According to the evidence, he required serious medical attention only nine times. Eight of them fit into the “occupational risks” of the conqueror of half the world. Here is how Plutarch lists them: “At Granicus, his helmet was cut with a sword, penetrating to the hair and bone of the skull. At Issus, the king was wounded in the thigh with a sword. Near Gaza he was wounded by a dart in the shoulder, and near Maracanda by an arrow in the shin so that the split bone protruded from the wound. In Hyrcania - a stone to the back of the head... In the area of ​​the Assakans - an Indian spear to the ankle. In the region of the malls, an arrow two cubits long, piercing the shell, wounded him in the chest and lodged deep in the bones near the nipple. There they struck him in the neck with a mace.”

Once again the king found himself to blame. After a rapid march to the city of Tarsus, heated, he decided to swim in a mountain river. Coming out of the water, he “fell as if struck by lightning, lost the power of speech and spent about a day unconscious, barely showing signs of life.” Apparently it was a stroke.

The trust of Alexander the Great in the doctor Philip (art. G. Semiradsky, 1870)

Death at the bottom of the glass

The king was raised to his feet by the doctor Philip. With the help of what drug is not clear. It is only known that Philip and the other doctors categorically forbade the king from drinking alcoholic libations. But Alexander continued to indulge in wine. After the final victory over Darius, he drank continuously for 22 days. Then, in India, he even organized drinking games - who would outdrink whom. The winner was a certain Greek named Promachus, who drank about 4 khoi (about 13 liters) of wine. True, he and 40 other people died three days later.

The day before his death, Alexander drank about 8 liters of wine. The next day, in the midst of the feast, he drained the cup of Hercules and writhed with pain in his stomach.

Alexander meets the Indian king Porus, captured in the Battle of the Hydaspes River

Usually the answer to his death is sought in that very cup. They say that drinking the vessel of an ancient hero is like death. Forgetting that the cup had a volume of 0.27 liters - a little more than our faceted glass.

Another version: poison was added to the wine. But the king lived for almost two more weeks, he felt better several times, he even played dice and made plans to capture the Arabian Peninsula.

At the same time, few people remember the king’s medical education. Alexander, since he was told to watch his stomach, regularly took medicine based on white hellebore, which he prepared himself. In microdoses it is still used as a laxative. But the slightest overdose can lead to death. The symptoms are very similar to those that the king had - chills, fever, fever, abdominal pain. In addition, hellebore does not combine well with alcohol, especially in the post-stroke period. It is not surprising that Alexander suffered another blow from this combination - in the last hours before his death, he could not speak, barely moved, and then fell into a coma, from which he never recovered.

Alexander the Great feasts with hetaerae in captured Persepolis. Drawing by G. Simoni

Alexander was born in the Macedonian capital of Pella. He came from the valiant Argead dynasty, which, according to legend, dates back to the famous hero Hercules. Alexander's father was the Macedonian king Philip II. Mother - Olympias, daughter of the king of Epirus. Alexander had a brother, Philip III, who was considered mentally retarded.

The boy grew up in an ambiguous environment: he sincerely admired the valor of his father, who waged endless wars with the Greek policies, but at the same time felt personal hostility towards him, as he was under the influence of his mother, who set her son against her husband.

At an early age, Alexander studied not at home, but according to established tradition - with relatives. He studied at Mieza, and his teachers were Leonidas, who insisted on the Spartan way of life, and the actor Lysimachus, who taught the young heir to the throne rhetoric and ethics.

From the age of 13, he began to be raised by a great thinker who was well acquainted with his father. Aristotle, realizing that he was the mentor of the future ruler, emphasized the study of politics, ethics and philosophy. In addition to them, trying to give his ward a classical education, the teacher taught the prince medicine, literature and poetry.

From an early age, Alexander showed such qualities as ambition, stubbornness and determination. On the other hand, he was completely indifferent to physical pleasures, limited himself in food and did not show interest in the opposite sex for quite a long time.

For the first time, the father entrusted his son with the management of Macedonia when he was only 16 years old. Philip himself went to conquer Byzantium, and at this time an uprising arose in his homeland, the instigator of which was the Thracian tribes. The young prince, with the help of the regiments remaining in the capital, suppressed the rebellion, and on the site of the Thracian settlement he founded the city of Alexandropol in his honor. After 2 years, he again acted as a successful commander, commanding the left wing of the Macedonian army at the Battle of Chaeronea. In 336 BC, King Philip was killed and Alexander was proclaimed king of Macedonia.

Great Marches

Having come to power, Alexander destroys his father's enemies, who were responsible for his death, and abolishes taxes. Then, within 2 years, he suppresses the barbarian Thracian tribes in the north of the country and restores Macedonian power in Greece.

After this, Alexander unites all of Hellas and makes a great campaign against Persia, which Philip had dreamed of all his life. It was the battles with the Persians that fully demonstrated the amazing military talent of Alexander the Great. After the Battle of the Granik River in 334 BC, almost all of Asia Minor came under Macedonian rule. And Alexander himself found the glory of the greatest commander and conqueror.

Having conquered Syria, Phenicia, Palestine, Caria and other countries of the Middle East almost without a fight, Alexander went to Egypt, where he was greeted like a new Deity. In Egypt, the king founded another city in his honor - Alexandria.

Returning to Persia, Alexander conquered Susa, Persepolis and Babylon. The last city became the capital of the united power. In 329, the crown king of Persia, Darius, was killed by his own entourage, and Alexander again shows himself as a smart tactician and strategist. He declares that the king’s murderers, and not the conquerors, are to blame for the fall of the Persian Empire, and calls himself an avenger for the honor of Darius.

Alexander becomes King of Asia and within two years captures Sogdean and Bactria, that is, modern Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Occupying new territories, Alexander founded cities in his honor. For example, Alexandria Eskhata and Alexandria in Arachosia, which have survived to this day under the names Khujand and Kandahar.

In 326 BC. Alexander the Great launched a campaign against India. He managed to capture several tribes and conquer the territory of present-day Pakistan. But after crossing the Indus River, the exhausted army went on strike and refused to move on. Alexander was forced to turn his troops back after a triumphant 10-year advance deep into the Asian part of the Eurasian continent.

The peculiarity of Alexander the Great as a ruler was that he accepted the traditions and beliefs of the occupied territories, did not try to impose his own culture, and even sometimes left former kings and rulers as governors. This policy prevented a surge in uprisings in the conquered territories, but every year it increasingly caused discontent among compatriots. The same system would later be used by the ancient Roman emperors.

Personal life

In general, the harem of Alexander the Great numbered 360 concubines, of which Campaspa was distinguished, she was his mistress for 2 years starting in 336, and Alexandra’s elder by 7 years Barsina, who became the mother of his illegitimate son Hercules. In addition, his relationships with the Amazon queen Thalestris and the Indian princess Cleophis are known.

Alexander had three wives. The first was the Bactrian princess Roxana, whom the king took as his wife when the bride was only 14 years old. They married in 327. She gave birth to the only officially recognized child of the great commander - the son of Alexander.

After 3 years, the king married two Persian princesses at the same time - the daughter of King Darius Stateira and the daughter of King Artaxerxes III Parysatis. Both of these additional marriages are considered to have taken place solely for political reasons. True, this did not prevent the first wife Roxana from becoming jealous and killing Stateira on this basis immediately after her husband’s death.

In general, Alexander the Great had fairly advanced views for his time on relationships with women, whom he greatly respected and considered almost equal to men, although even his teacher Aristotle insisted on a secondary role for women.

Death

In the winter of 323 BC. e. Alexander begins to plan new campaigns against the Arab tribes of the Arabian Peninsula and the conquest of Carthage. But less than a week before the start of the enterprise, the great commander fell seriously ill, presumably with malaria. Although there are versions about the poisoning of Alexander.

For several months he could not get out of bed at his home in Babylon. From the beginning of June, he lost his speech and was overcome by a severe fever that lasted 10 days. June 10, 323 BC the great king and commander Alexander the Great died. At the time of his death he was only 33 years old, he did not live about a month before his 33rd birthday.

For years, historians have been trying to solve one of the greatest ancient mysteries of all time, namely the death of Alexander the Great. Many assumptions have been made, but we still cannot answer the question: How did Alexander the Great die?

Scientists believe they know the cause of his death, but they are unable to prove it.

Alexander the Great, the Greek King of Macedonia and the ruler of one of the largest empires in the ancient world, has passed away. He died in 323 BC. in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II in Babylon when he was only 32 years old. But what exactly caused his death remains unknown. Alexander the Great had a high fever for several days. He could not speak or walk. Twelve days later he was dead.

Some claim that he died due to natural causes while others believe that he was secretly killed by poison at a celebratory banquet. Many historians attribute his death to illness. Essentially, it could be anything from typhus, malaria, smallpox and leukemia. Some scholars have suggested alcoholism, infection from a lung wound, and grief—Alexander's close friend Hephaestion had died several months earlier.

Was Alexander the Great poisoned?

According to Dr. Leo Shep, a toxicologist at the New Zealand National Poisons Centre, Alexander the Great could not have been poisoned with arsenic, for example, and would have died sooner.

Based on what we know from the writings of the ancient Greek historian Diodorus, Alexander the Great was stricken with pain after drinking a large bowl of neat wine in honor of Hercules. Complaining about his health, Alexander the Great went to bed and his health steadily deteriorated as a fever took hold of his body.

Dr. Shep believes that it is possible that hellebore, a poisonous plant from the lily family, also known as white hellebore, was used to kill the Greek King of Macedon.

Often fermented by the Greeks as an herbal treatment to induce vomiting in case of poisoning, it would produce exactly the same symptoms as those recorded in Alexander.

Who would want to kill Alexander the Great?

Alexander the Great had a number of enemies who would like to see him dead. Moreover, Alexander's generals also felt that they had gone too far from his military ambitions.

There is some evidence that even Alexander's senior commanders were not prepared to follow him anywhere. In India in 325 BC, on the eastern edge of the Indus river system, Alexander's army staged a sit-in when ordered to march east towards the Ganges. Even the highest ranking officers took part in the mutiny. Thus, many would benefit from his death in many ways.

According to ancient documents, the death of Alexander the Great occurred on June 10, 323 BC. e. The greatest commander was only 32 years old. Until now, historians cannot figure out the reason for his death. The sudden death of Alexander the Great, who had not identified his heir, led to the collapse of his empire and the creation of several states, headed by military leaders and associates of the great king.

Return to Babylon

In 323 BC. e. The Hellenic army was returning to the west. Alexander the Great completed his campaign to the east, reaching India. He managed to create a huge empire, stretching from the Balkans to Iran and from Central Asia to Egypt. In the history of mankind, there have never been such huge states that appeared literally overnight by the will of one commander.

The death of Alexander the Great occurred in Babylon. It was a huge oasis with many canals taking water from the Euphrates. The city often suffered from diseases and epidemics. Perhaps it was here that the King of Kings contracted the infection.

Funeral of Hephaestion

In the last year of his life, Alexander became nervous and suspicious. His mourning was caused by the death of his best friend and close military leader Hephaestion. The whole of May passed in the hassle associated with organizing the funeral. A huge ziggurat was built for Hephaestion, which was decorated with numerous trophies obtained during the campaign in the east.

The king ordered a decree to be sent to all parts of the empire that his friend should be revered as a hero (in fact, this was the status of a semi-deity). Being an extremely religious and superstitious person, Alexander attached great importance to such things. Among other things, he surrounded himself with numerous prophets and oracles.

Travel along the Euphrates

Babylon annoyed Alexander. He briefly left the bustling city to explore the banks of the Euphrates and the neighboring swamps. The king was planning to organize a naval expedition around He explored the banks of the river, trying to figure out how to place 1,200 ships near Babylon that were soon to set off.

During this voyage, the wind tore off the ruler’s head his red hat with a gilded ribbon, which he wore as a diadem. The prophets, to whom the monarch listened, decided that this incident was a bad omen that did not bode well. When the death of Alexander the Great became a fait accompli, many close associates remembered that incident on one of the Euphrates canals.

Onset of the disease

At the end of May the king returned to Babylon. He stopped mourning the death of his friend and began to feast with his companions. Festive sacrifices were made to the gods, and the army began to distribute long-awaited gifts - a lot of wine and meat. In Babylon, the success of Nearchus' expedition was celebrated; the king was also impatient to go on another campaign.

In early June, Alexander developed a high fever. He tried to get rid of the disease by taking baths and making generous sacrifices to the gods. Rumors about the king's illness leaked into the city. When a crowd of excited Macedonians burst into the residence of their ruler on June 8, the king greeted his supporters, but his entire appearance suggested that the monarch was holding out in public through force.

Death of Alexander

The next day, June 9, Alexander fell into a coma, and on the 10th, doctors declared him dead. Over the course of many centuries, historians of different generations have proposed a variety of theories about what caused the death of the young commander, who was always distinguished by good health. In modern science, the most common point of view is that the cause of the death of Alexander the Great is far from mystical.

Most likely, the king caught malaria. She noticeably weakened the body, and it could not cope with pneumonia (according to another version - leukemia). The debate about the second fatal disease continues to this day. A less common theory is that the cause of Alexander the Great's death was West Nile fever.

Versions about poisoning

An important fact is that not a single one of the king’s companions died from an infectious disease. Perhaps the monarch ruined his health with regular drinking bouts. During the last holiday, he did not stop feasts for a single day, where alcohol was consumed in huge quantities.

Modern researchers have paid attention to the symptoms that accompanied the commander’s illness. He suffered from convulsions, frequent vomiting, muscle weakness and a fast pulse. All this indicates poisoning. Therefore, versions of the death of Alexander the Great also include a theory about the improper treatment of the monarch.

Doctors might have given him white hellebore or hellebore to ease his first illness, but in the end they only made the situation worse. Even in Antiquity, there was a popular version about the poisoning of Alexander by his commander Antipater, who was threatened with removal from his post as governor in Macedonia.

King's Tomb

323 BC e. (the year of the death of Alexander the Great) became a mourning period for the entire vast empire. While ordinary residents grieved for the untimely death of the monarch, his entourage decided what to do with the body of the deceased. It was decided to embalm him.

In the end, the body was taken over by Ptolemy, who began to rule in Egypt. The mummy was transported to Memphis, and then to Alexandria, a city founded and named after the great commander. Many years later, Egypt was conquered by the Romans. The emperors considered Alexander their greatest role model. The rulers of Rome often made pilgrimages to the The last reliable information about it dates back to the beginning of the 3rd century, when Emperor Caracalla visited this place, who laid his ring and tunic on the tomb. Since then, the trace of the mummy has been lost. Today nothing is known about her further fate.

Regency of Perdiccas

Information about the tsar’s last orders, made before he finally fell into a coma, remains controversial. After his death, the empire of Alexander the Great was supposed to receive an heir. The monarch understood this and, sensing his approaching end, could appoint a successor. In Antiquity, there was a widespread legend that the weakening ruler gave his signet ring to Perdiccas, a loyal military leader who was to become regent under Queen Roxana, who was in her last month of pregnancy.

A few weeks after Alexander's death, she gave birth to a son (also Alexander). Perdiccas's regency was characterized by instability from the very beginning. After the death of Alexander the Great, other close associates of the deceased king began to challenge the power of the successor. In historiography they remained known as diadochi. Almost all the governors in the provinces declared their independence and created their own satrapies.

Diadochi

In 321 BC. e. Perdiccas, during a campaign in Egypt, died at the hands of his own military leaders, dissatisfied with his despotism. After the death of Alexander the Great, his power finally plunged into the abyss of civil wars, where each contender for power fought with everyone. The bloodshed continued for twenty years. These conflicts went down in history as the Wars of the Diadochi.

Gradually, the commanders got rid of all of Alexander’s relatives. The king's brother Arrhidaeus, sister Cleopatra, and mother Olympias were killed. The son (formally named Alexander IV) lost his life at the age of 14, in 309 BC. e. The great monarch had another child. The illegitimate son Hercules, born of the concubine Barsina, was killed at the same time as his half-brother.

Division of the Empire

Babylon (the place of death of Alexander the Great) quickly lost its power over the provinces. After the death of Perdiccas, the diadochi Antigonus and Seleucus began to play an important role in the ruins of the previously united empire. At first they were allies. In 316 BC. e. Antigonus came to Babylon and demanded from Seleucus information about the financial costs of war against his neighbors. The latter, fearing disgrace, fled to Egypt, where he found refuge with the local ruler Ptolemy.

The death of Alexander the Great, in short, was long in the past, and his supporters continued to fight against each other. By 311 BC. e. The following balance of power has emerged. Antigonus ruled in Asia, Ptolemy - in Egypt, Cassander - in Hellas, Seleucus - in Persia.

The Last War of the Diadochi

The last, fourth war of the Diadochi (308-301 BC) began due to the fact that Cassander and Ptolemy decided to unite in an alliance against Antigonus. They were joined by the king of Macedonia, Lysimachus, and the founder of the Seleucid empire, Seleucus.

Ptolemy was the first to attack Antigone. He captured the Cyclades, Sikyon and Corinth. To do this, a large Egyptian landing landed on the Peloponnese, where it took the garrisons of the king of Phrygia by surprise. Ptolemy's next target was Asia Minor. created a powerful bridgehead in Cyprus. His army and navy were based on this island. Having learned about the enemy's plans, Antigonus regrouped his troops. His army left Greece for a while. This army on 160 ships headed for Cyprus. Having landed on the island, 15 thousand people under the leadership of Demetrius Poliorketes began the siege of Salamis.

Ptolemy sent almost his entire fleet to the rescue of the fortress in Cyprus. Demetrius decided to give a naval battle. As a result of the collision, the Egyptians lost all their ships. Most of them were sunk, and the transport ships went to Antigonus. In 306 BC. e. isolated Salamis capitulated. Antigonus captured Cyprus and even proclaimed himself king.

A few months after this success, the diadochos decided to deal a crushing blow to Ptolemy on his own land and equipped an expedition to Egypt. However, the satrap's army was unable to cross the Nile. In addition, Ptolemy sent agitators to the enemy’s camp, who actually bought out the opponent’s soldiers. Discouraged, Antigonus had to return home empty-handed.

For several more years, the opponents attacked each other one by one at sea. Antigonus managed to expel Lysimachus from Phrygia. At the same time, Demetrius finally ended his campaign in Greece and went to Asia Minor to unite with his ally. The general battle did not come. It happened only 8 years after the start of the war.

Battle of Ipsus

In the summer of 301 BC. e. The Battle of Ipsus took place. This battle became the final chord of the wars of the Diadochi. Antigonus's cavalry, led by Demetrius Poliorcetes, attacked the allied heavy cavalry, led by Seleucus's son Antiochus. The battle was fierce. Finally, Demetrius's cavalry defeated the enemies and rushed after them. This action turned out to be a mistake.

Pursuing the enemy, the cavalry broke away too far from the main forces of Antigonus. Seleucus, realizing that the enemy had made a miscalculation, brought elephants into the battle. They were not dangerous for the Macedonians, who had learned to use flammable agents and boards studded with nails against huge animals. However, the elephants finally cut off the riders from Antigonus.

The heavy phalanx of the Phrygian king was surrounded. She was attacked by light infantry, as well as horse archers. The phalanx, unable to break through the blockade, stood under fire for several hours. Finally, Antigonus' soldiers either surrendered or fled from the battlefield. Demetrius decided to go to Greece. 80-year-old Antigonus fought to the last, until he fell, struck by an enemy dart.

Alexander's legacy

After the Battle of Ipsus, the allies finally divided Alexander's former empire. Cassander left behind Thessaly, Macedonia and Hellas. Lysimachus received Thrace, Phrygia and the Black Sea region. Seleucus got Syria. Their enemy Demetrius retained several cities in Greece and Asia Minor.

All the kingdoms that arose from the ruins of the empire of Alexander the Great adopted their cultural basis from it. Even Egypt, where Ptolemy reigned, became Hellenistic. Numerous countries in the Middle East have a connecting link in the form of the Greek language. This world existed for about two centuries until it was conquered by the Romans. The new empire also absorbed many features of Greek culture.

Today, the place and year of death of Alexander the Great are indicated in every ancient history textbook. The premature death of the great commander became one of the most important events for all contemporaries.

The life of Alexander the Great is the story of how one man with a small army conquered almost the entire known world. His soldiers saw him as a military genius; his enemies called him damned. He himself considered himself a god.

Noble origin

Alexander the Great was born in July 356 BC from the marriage of the Macedonian king Philip and one of his many queens, Olympias. But he could boast of more famous ancestors. According to dynastic legend, on his father’s side he was descended from Hercules, the son of Zeus, and on his mother’s side he was a direct descendant of the famous Achilles, the hero of Homer’s Iliad. The Olympics itself also became famous for being a constant participant in religious orgies in honor of Dionysus.

Plutarch wrote about her: “The Olympiad was more zealously committed to these sacraments than others and went on a rampage in a completely barbaric manner.” Sources tell us that during the processions she carried two tame snakes in her hands. The queen's excessive love for reptiles and the cold attitude between her and her husband gave rise to rumors that Alexander's real father was not the Macedonian king at all, but Zeus himself, who took the form of a snake.

City for Science

Alexander was seen as a talented child from childhood; he was prepared for the throne from an early age. Aristotle, who was close to the royal court, was appointed mentor to the future Macedonian king. To pay for his son’s education, Philip II restored the city of Stragira, where Aristotle was from, which he himself had destroyed, and returned the citizens who had fled and were in slavery there.

Invincible and vain

Since his first victory at age 18, Alexander the Great has never lost a battle. His military successes brought him to Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan, to Cyrenaica and India, to the territories of the Massagetae and Albania. He was the pharaoh of Egypt, king of Persia, Syria and Lydia.
Alexander led his warriors, each of whom he knew by sight, with impressive speed, overtaking his enemies by surprise, even before the latter were ready for battle. The central place of Alexander's fighting force was occupied by the 15,000-strong Macedonian phalanx, whose warriors marched against the Persians with 5-meter peaks - sarissas. Throughout his military career, Alexander founded more than 70 cities, which he ordered to be named in his honor, and one in honor of his horse - Bucephalus, which exists to this day, however, under the name Jalalpur in Pakistan.

Become a god

Alexander's vanity was the flip side of his greatness. He dreamed of divine status. Having founded the city of Alexandria in Egypt in the Nile Delta, he went on a long journey to the oasis of Siwa in the desert, to the priests of the Egyptian supreme god Amun-Ra, who was likened to the Greek Zeus. According to the plan, the priests were supposed to recognize him as a descendant of God. History is silent about what the deity “told” him through the mouths of his servants, but supposedly it confirmed Alexander’s divine origin.

True, Plutarch subsequently gave the following curious interpretation of this episode: the Egyptian priest who received Alexander told him in Greek “paidion”, which means “child”. But as a result of bad pronunciation, it turned out to be “Pai Dios,” that is, “son of God.”

One way or another, Alexander was pleased with the answer. Having declared himself a god in Egypt with the “blessing” of a priest, he decided to become a god for the Greeks. In one of his letters to Aristotle, he asked the latter to argue to the Greeks and Macedonians for his divine essence: “dear teacher, now I ask you, my wise friend and mentor, to philosophically justify and convincingly motivate the Greeks and Macedonians to declare me god. By doing this, I am acting as a self-responsible politician and statesman.” However, his cult did not take root in Alexander’s homeland.

There was, of course, a political calculation behind Alexander’s manic desire to become a god for his subjects. Divine authority greatly simplified the management of his fragile empire, which was divided among sartraps (governors). But the personal factor also played an important role. In all the cities founded by Alexander, he was to be given honor on a par with the gods. In addition, his superhuman desire to conquer the whole world and unite Europe and Asia, which literally took possession of him in the last months of his life, suggests that he himself believed in the legend he created, considering himself more of a god than a man.

The mystery of Alexander's death

Death overtook Alexander in the midst of his grandiose plans. Despite his lifestyle, he died not during the battle, but on his bed, preparing for another campaign, this time against Carthage. At the beginning of June 323 BC. e., the king suddenly developed a severe fever. On June 7, he could no longer speak, and three days later he died in the prime of his life, at the age of 32. The reason for Alexander’s sudden death still remains one of the most important mysteries of the ancient world.

The Persians, whom he mercilessly defeated, claimed that the commander was punished by heaven for desecrating the tomb of King Cyrus. The Macedonians who returned home said that the great commander died of drunkenness and debauchery (sources brought to us information about his 360 concubines). Roman historians believed that he was poisoned with some kind of slow-acting Asian poison. The main argument in favor of this version is considered to be the poor health of Alexander, who, returning from India, allegedly often fainted, lost his voice and suffered from muscle weakness and vomiting. In 2013, British scientists in the journal Clinical Toxicology put forward a version that Alexander was poisoned with a drug made from a poisonous plant, White Cheremitsa, used by Greek doctors to induce vomiting. The most common version says that Alexander suffered from malaria.

Looking for Alexander

It is still unknown where Alexander is buried. Immediately after his death, the division of his empire began between his closest associates. In order not to waste time on a lavish funeral, Alexander was temporarily buried in Babylon. Two years later it was dug up to transport the remains to Macedonia. But on the way, the funeral cortege was attacked by Alexander’s half-brother, Ptolemy, who took the “trophy” by force and bribery and transported it to Memphis, where he buried it near one of the temples of Amon. But apparently Alexander was not destined to find peace.

Two years later, the new tomb was opened and transported with all appropriate honors to Alexandria. There the body was re-embalmed, placed in a new sarcophagus and installed in a mausoleum in the central square.

The next time Alexander's sleep was apparently disturbed by the first Christians, for whom he was the “king of the pagans.” Some historians believe that the sarcophagus was stolen and buried somewhere on the outskirts of the city. Then the Arabs poured into Egypt and erected a mosque on the site of the mausoleum. At this point, traces of the burial are completely lost; Muslims did not allow anyone into Alexandria for many centuries.

Today there are many versions about the tomb of Alexander the Great. A Persian legend from the beginning of the century says that Alexander remained in the lands of Babylon; The Macedonian claims that the body was taken to the ancient capital of Aegean, where Alexander was born. In the 20th century, archaeologists were “close” countless times to solving the mystery of Alexander’s final refuge - they looked for him in the dungeons of Alexandria, in the oasis of Sivi, in the ancient city of Amphipolis, but so far everything was in vain. However, scientists are not giving up. In the end, the game is worth the candle - according to one version, he was buried in a sarcophagus made of pure gold, along with numerous trophies from Asia and manuscripts from the legendary Library of Alexandria.