Editing Alexander the Great (section)

==Death and succession==
{{Main|Death of Alexander the Great}}
[[File:Babylonian astronomical diary recording the death of Alexander the Great (British Museum).jpg|thumb|A [[Babylonian astronomical diary]] (c.&nbsp;323–322&nbsp;BC) recording the death of Alexander ([[British Museum]], London)]]

On either 10 or 11 June 323&nbsp;BC, Alexander died in the palace of [[Nebuchadnezzar II]], in Babylon, at age 32.<ref>{{cite web |title=A contemporary account of the death of Alexander |url=https://www.livius.org/sources/content/oriental-varia/a-contemporary-account-of-the-death-of-alexander/ |access-date=5 November 2019 |publisher=[[Livius.org]]}}</ref><ref name="Depuydt" /> There are two different versions of Alexander's death, differing slightly in details. Plutarch's account is that roughly 14 days before his death, Alexander entertained admiral [[Nearchus]] and spent the night and next day drinking with [[Medius of Larissa]].<ref name="P75" /> Alexander developed a fever, which worsened until he was unable to speak. The common soldiers, anxious about his health, were granted the right to file past him as he silently waved at them.{{Sfn |Wood|2001|pp= 2267–70}} In the second account, Diodorus recounts that Alexander was struck with pain after downing a large bowl of unmixed wine in honour of Heracles followed by 11 days of weakness; he did not develop a fever, instead dying after some agony.<ref name="DSXVII117" /> Arrian also mentioned this as an alternative, but Plutarch specifically denied this claim.<ref name="P75" />

Given the propensity of the Macedonian aristocracy to assassination and Alexander's relatively young age,{{sfn|Green|2007|pp= 1–2}} foul play featured in multiple accounts of his death. Diodorus, Plutarch, Arrian and [[Justin (historian)|Justin]] all mentioned the theory that Alexander was poisoned. Justin stated that Alexander was the victim of a poisoning conspiracy, Plutarch dismissed it as a fabrication,<ref name="PA77" /> while both Diodorus and Arrian noted that they mentioned it only for the sake of completeness.<ref name="DSXVII117" /><ref name="AVII27" /> The accounts were nevertheless fairly consistent in designating [[Antipater]], recently removed as Macedonian viceroy, replaced by Craterus, as the head of the alleged plot.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pitt |first1=E. M. |last2=Richardson |first2=W. P. |date=May 2017 |title=Hostile inaction? Antipater, Craterus and the Macedonian regency |journal=[[The Classical Quarterly]] |volume=67 |issue=1 |pages=77–78 |doi=10.1017/S0009838817000301 |s2cid=157417151 }}</ref> Perhaps taking his summons to Babylon as a death sentence{{sfn|Green|2007|pp=23–24}} and having seen the fate of Parmenion and Philotas,<ref name="DSXVII118" /> Antipater purportedly arranged for Alexander to be poisoned by his son Iollas, who was Alexander's wine-pourer.<ref name="AVII27" /><ref name="DSXVII118" /> There was even a suggestion that Aristotle may have participated.<ref name="AVII27" /> The strongest argument against the poison theory is the fact that twelve days passed between the start of his illness and his death; such long-acting poisons were probably not available.{{Sfn |Lane Fox|2006|loc= chapter 32}} However, in a 2003 [[BBC]] documentary investigating the death of Alexander, Leo Schep from the New Zealand National Poisons Centre proposed that the plant white hellebore (''[[Veratrum album]]''), which was known in antiquity, may have been used to poison Alexander.<ref>{{cite news |date=16 October 2003 |url=http://www.royalsociety.org.nz/2003/10/16/alexander/ |title=NZ scientist's detective work may reveal how Alexander died |access-date=15 January 2014 |location=Dunedin |work=The Royal Society of New Zealand |url-status = dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116141707/http://www.royalsociety.org.nz/2003/10/16/alexander/ |archive-date=16 January 2014}}</ref>{{Sfn |Cawthorne|2004|p= 138}}<ref>{{cite journal |last=Bursztajn |first=Harold J |title=Dead Men Talking |journal=Harvard Medical Alumni Bulletin |year=2005 |issue=Spring |url=http://www.forensic-psych.com/articles/artDeadMenTalking.php |access-date=16 December 2011 |archive-date=29 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190329124207/http://www.forensic-psych.com/articles/artDeadMenTalking.php |url-status=live }}</ref> In a 2014 manuscript in the journal ''[[Clinical Toxicology]]'', Schep suggested Alexander's wine was spiked with ''Veratrum album'', and that this would produce poisoning symptoms that match the course of events described in the ''[[Alexander Romance]]''.<ref name="schep">{{cite journal |vauthors=Schep LJ, Slaughter RJ, Vale JA, Wheatley P |title=Was the death of Alexander the Great due to poisoning? Was it Veratrum album? |journal=[[Clinical Toxicology]] |volume=52 |issue=1 |pages=72–77 |date=January 2014 |pmid=24369045 |doi=10.3109/15563650.2013.870341|doi-access=free}}</ref> ''Veratrum album'' poisoning can have a prolonged course and it was suggested that if Alexander was poisoned, ''Veratrum album'' offers the most plausible cause.<ref name="schep" /><ref>{{cite news |last=Bennett-Smith |first=Meredith |date=14 January 2014 |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/13/alexander-the-great-poisoned-toxic-wine_n_4591553.html |title=Was Alexander The Great Poisoned By Toxic Wine? |access-date=15 January 2014 |work=The Huffington Post |archive-date=17 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170617050647/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/13/alexander-the-great-poisoned-toxic-wine_n_4591553.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Another poisoning explanation put forward in 2010 proposed that the circumstances of his death were compatible with poisoning by water of the river Styx (modern-day [[Mavroneri]] in Arcadia, Greece) that contained [[calicheamicin]], a dangerous compound produced by bacteria.<ref>{{cite news |last=Squires |first=Nick |date=4 August 2010 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/greece/7924855/Alexander-the-Great-poisoned-by-the-River-Styx.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/greece/7924855/Alexander-the-Great-poisoned-by-the-River-Styx.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Alexander the Great poisoned by the River Styx |access-date=12 December 2011 |location=London |work=The Daily Telegraph}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Several [[natural causes]] (diseases) have been suggested, including [[malaria]] and [[typhoid fever]]. A 1998 article in the ''[[New England Journal of Medicine]]'' attributed his death to typhoid fever complicated by [[bowel perforation]] and ascending [[paralysis]].<ref name="AMD" /> A 2004 analysis suggested pyogenic (infectious) [[spondylitis]] or [[meningitis]].<ref name="ashrafian" /> Other illnesses fit the symptoms, including [[acute pancreatitis]], [[West Nile virus]],<ref name="ref1" /><ref>{{cite journal |last=Sbarounis |first=CN |title=Did Alexander the Great die of acute pancreatitis? |journal=J Clin Gastroenterol |volume=24 |pages=294–96 |year=2007 |doi=10.1097/00004836-199706000-00031 |pmid=9252868 |issue=4}}</ref> and [[Guillain-Barré syndrome]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.livescience.com/64676-alexander-the-great-declared-dead-prematurely.html|title=Why Alexander the Great May Have Been Declared Dead Prematurely (It's Pretty Gruesome)|author=Owen Jarus|website=[[Live Science]]|date=4 February 2019|access-date=3 November 2021|archive-date=27 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210727002144/https://www.livescience.com/64676-alexander-the-great-declared-dead-prematurely.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Natural-cause theories also tend to emphasize that Alexander's health may have been in general decline after years of heavy drinking and severe wounds. The anguish that Alexander felt after Hephaestion's death may also have contributed to his declining health.<ref name="AMD" />

===Post-death events===
{{see also|Tomb of Alexander the Great}}
Alexander's body was laid in a gold anthropoid [[sarcophagus]] that was filled with honey, which was in turn placed in a gold casket.<ref name="sarco1" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://casswww.ucsd.edu/archive/personal/ron/CVNC/byline/bugs_96mar.html |date=Mar 1996 |title=Bayfront Byline Bug Walk |publisher=UCSD |access-date=25 March 2013 |archive-date=3 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121203070121/http://casswww.ucsd.edu/archive/personal/ron/CVNC/byline/bugs_96mar.html |url-status=live }}</ref> According to [[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]], a seer called Aristander foretold that the land where Alexander was laid to rest "would be happy and unvanquishable forever".<ref name="Aelian" /> Perhaps more likely, the successors may have seen possession of the body as a symbol of legitimacy, since burying the prior king was a [[royal prerogative]].{{Sfn |Green|2007|p= 32}}

[[File:Mid-nineteenth century reconstruction of Alexander's catafalque based on the description by Diodorus.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|left|19th-century depiction of Alexander's funeral procession, based on the description by [[Diodorus Siculus]]]]
While Alexander's funeral cortege was on its way to Macedon, Ptolemy seized it and took it temporarily to Memphis.<ref name="sarco1" /><ref name="Aelian" /> His successor, [[Ptolemy II Philadelphus]], transferred the sarcophagus to Alexandria, where it remained until at least [[late antiquity]]. [[Ptolemy IX Lathyros]], one of Ptolemy's final successors, replaced Alexander's sarcophagus with a glass one so he could convert the original to coinage.<ref name="sarco2" /> The 2014 discovery of an [[Kasta Tomb|enormous tomb]] in northern Greece, at [[Amphipolis]], dating from the time of Alexander the Great<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-29239529 |title=Greeks captivated by Alexander-era tomb at Amphipolis |publisher=BBC News |date=22 September 2014 |last1=Christides |first1=Giorgos |access-date=21 June 2018 |archive-date=21 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140921235011/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-29239529 |url-status=live }}</ref> has given rise to speculation that its original intent was to be the burial place of Alexander. This would fit with the intended destination of Alexander's funeral cortege. However, the memorial was found to be dedicated to the dearest friend of Alexander the Great, Hephaestion.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2015/09/30/excavator-ancient-grave-in-greece-honored-alexanders-pal |title=Archaeologist claims opulent grave in Greece honored Alexander the Great's best friend |website=usnews.com |date=30 September 2015 |access-date=15 April 2020 |archive-date=5 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305153254/http://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2015/09/30/excavator-ancient-grave-in-greece-honored-alexanders-pal |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://greece.greekreporter.com/2015/09/30/hephaestions-monogram-found-at-amphipolis-tomb/ |title=Hephaestion's Monogram Found at Amphipolis Tomb |newspaper=Greekreporter.com |date=30 September 2015 |access-date=15 April 2020 |archive-date=1 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001135401/http://greece.greekreporter.com/2015/09/30/hephaestions-monogram-found-at-amphipolis-tomb/ |url-status=live |last1=Papapostolou |first1=Anastasios }}</ref>

[[File:Alexander Sarcophagus Battle of Issus.jpg|thumb|Detail of Alexander on the [[Alexander Sarcophagus]]]]
[[Pompey]], [[Julius Caesar]] and [[Augustus]] all visited the tomb in Alexandria where Augustus, allegedly, accidentally knocked the nose of Alexander's mummified body off. [[Caligula]] was said to have taken Alexander's breastplate from the tomb for his own use. Around AD 200, Emperor [[Septimius Severus]] closed Alexander's tomb to the public. His son and successor, [[Caracalla]], a great admirer, visited the tomb during his own reign. After this, details on the fate of the tomb are hazy.<ref name="sarco2" />

The so-called "[[Alexander Sarcophagus]]", discovered near [[Sidon]] and now in the [[Istanbul Archaeology Museum]], is so named not because it was thought to have contained Alexander's remains, but because its [[bas-relief]]s depict Alexander and his companions fighting the Persians and hunting. It was originally thought to have been the sarcophagus of [[Abdalonymus]] (died 311 BC), the king of Sidon appointed by Alexander immediately following the [[Battle of Issus]] in 332.<ref>{{harvnb|Studniczka|1894|pp=226ff}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Bieber |first=M |title=The Portraits of Alexander |journal=Greece & Rome |series=Second Series |year=1965 |pages=183–88 |volume=12 |issue=2 |doi=10.1017/s0017383500015345|s2cid=163858858 }}</ref> However, in 1969, it was suggested by [[Karl Schefold]] that it may date from earlier than Abdalonymus's death.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Sismondo Ridgway |first=Brunilde |year=1969 |title=Review: Der Alexander-Sarkophag by Karl Schefold |journal=[[American Journal of Archaeology]] |volume=73 |page=482 |doi=10.2307/504019 | url=https://repository.brynmawr.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1006&context=arch_pubs| jstor=504019}}</ref>

[[Demades]] likened the Macedonian army, after the death of Alexander, to the blinded [[Cyclops]] due to the many random and disorderly movements that it made.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0045:chapter=1:section=4|title=Plutarch, Galba, chapter 1, section 4|website=perseus.tufts.edu|access-date=20 February 2021|archive-date=27 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227032246/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0045%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D4|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0116:chapter=1:section=4|title=Plutarch, Galba, chapter 1, section 4|website=perseus.tufts.edu|access-date=20 February 2021|archive-date=24 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224185759/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0116%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D4|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0191:chapter=27|title=Plutarch, Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata, Ἀλέξανδρος|website=perseus.tufts.edu|access-date=20 February 2021|archive-date=24 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224161752/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0191%3Achapter%3D27|url-status=live}}</ref> In addition, Leosthenes also likened the anarchy between the generals, after Alexander's death, to the blinded Cyclops "who after he had lost his eye went feeling and groping about with his hands before him, not knowing where to lay them".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0007.tlg087.perseus-grc1:2.4|title=Plutarch, De Alexandri magni fortuna aut virtute, chapter 2, section 4|website=perseus.tufts.edu|access-date=20 February 2021|archive-date=24 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224150622/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0007.tlg087.perseus-grc1:2.4|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Division of the Macedonian Empire===
{{Main|Partition of Babylon|Diadochi}}
[[File:Diadochi EN.png|thumb|upright=1.4|Kingdoms of the [[Diadochi]] in 301&nbsp;BC: the [[Ptolemaic Kingdom]] (dark blue), the [[Seleucid Empire]] (yellow), [[Lysimachus|Kingdom of Lysimachus]] (orange), and [[Kingdom of Macedon]] (green). Also shown are the [[Roman Republic]] (light blue), the [[Carthaginian Republic]] (purple), and the [[Kingdom of Epirus]] (red).]]

Alexander's death was so sudden that when reports of his death reached Greece, they were not immediately believed.<ref name="Roisman 2010 199" /> Alexander had no obvious or legitimate heir, his son Alexander IV by Roxane being born after Alexander's death.{{sfn|Green|2007|pp=24–26}} According to Diodorus, Alexander's companions asked him on his deathbed to whom he bequeathed his kingdom; his laconic reply was "tôi kratistôi"—"to the strongest".<ref name="DSXVII117" /> Another theory is that his successors wilfully or erroneously misheard "tôi Kraterôi"—"to Craterus", the general leading his Macedonian troops home and newly entrusted with the regency of Macedonia.<ref name=Shipley>{{cite book |title=The Greek World After Alexander 323–30 BC |author=Graham Shipley |page=40 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sAoiAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA40 |isbn=978-1-134-06531-8 |date=2014 |publisher=Routledge |access-date=9 November 2017}}</ref> Arrian and Plutarch claimed that Alexander was speechless by this time, implying that this was an apocryphal story.<ref>{{harvnb|Green|2007|p=20}}</ref> Diodorus, Curtius and Justin offered the more plausible story that Alexander passed his [[Seal (emblem)|signet ring]] to [[Perdiccas]], a bodyguard and leader of the companion cavalry, in front of witnesses, thereby nominating him.<ref name="DSXVII117" />{{sfn|Green|2007|pp=24–26}}

Perdiccas initially did not claim power, instead suggesting that Roxane's baby would be king, if male, with himself, [[Craterus]], Leonnatus, and Antipater as guardians. However, the infantry, under the command of [[Meleager (general)|Meleager]], rejected this arrangement since they had been excluded from the discussion. Instead, they supported Alexander's half-brother Philip Arrhidaeus. Eventually, the two sides reconciled, and after the birth of Alexander IV, he and Philip III were appointed joint kings, albeit in name only.{{sfn|Green|2007|pp=26–29}} Dissension and rivalry soon affected the Macedonians. The satrapies handed out by Perdiccas at the [[Partition of Babylon]] became power bases each general used to bid for power. After the assassination of Perdiccas in 321&nbsp;BC, Macedonian unity collapsed, and 40&nbsp;years of war between "The Successors" (''[[Diadochi]]'') ensued before the Hellenistic world settled into three stable power blocs: [[Ptolemaic Egypt]], [[Seleucid Empire|Seleucid Syria and East]], and [[Antigonid dynasty|Antigonid Macedonia]]. In the process, both Alexander IV and Philip III were murdered.{{sfn|Green|2007|pp=29–34}}

===Last plans===

[[Diodorus]] stated that Alexander had given detailed written instructions to [[Craterus]] some time before his death, which are known as Alexander's "last plans".<ref name="DSXVIII4" /> Craterus started to carry out Alexander's commands, but the successors chose not to further implement them, on the grounds they were impractical and extravagant.<ref name="DSXVIII4" /> Furthermore, [[Perdiccas]] had read the notebooks containing Alexander's last plans to the Macedonian troops in Babylon, who voted not to carry them out.<ref name="Roisman 2010 199" />

According to Diodorus, Alexander's last plans called for military expansion into the southern and western Mediterranean, monumental constructions, and the intermixing of Eastern and Western populations. It included:
* Construction of 1,000 ships larger than triremes, along with harbours and a road running along the African coast all the way to the [[Pillars of Hercules]], to be used for an invasion of [[Ancient Carthage|Carthage]] and the western Mediterranean;<ref name=Bad/>
* Erection of great temples in [[Delos]], [[Delphi]], [[Dodona]], [[Dium]], [[Amphipolis]], all costing 1,500 [[Attic talent|talents]], and a monumental temple to [[Athena]] at [[Troy]]<ref name="Roisman 2010 199" /><ref name=Bad/>
* Amalgamation of small settlements into larger cities ("[[synoecism]]s") and the "transplant of populations from Asia to Europe and in the opposite direction from Europe to Asia, in order to bring the largest continent to common unity and to friendship by means of intermarriage and family ties"<ref>{{harvnb|McKechnie|1989|p=54}}</ref><ref name=Bad/>
* Construction of a monumental tomb for his father Philip, "to match the greatest of the [[pyramids of Egypt]]"<ref name="Roisman 2010 199" /><ref name=Bad/>
* Conquest of [[Arabia]]<ref name="Roisman 2010 199" />
* Circumnavigation of Africa<ref name="Roisman 2010 199" />

The enormous scale of these plans has led many scholars to doubt their historicity. [[Ernst Badian]] argued that they were exaggerated by Perdiccas in order to ensure that the Macedonian troops voted not to carry them out.<ref name=Bad>{{cite journal |last1=Badian |first1=Erns |title=A King's Notebooks |journal=Harvard Studies in Classical Philology |date=1968 |volume=72 |pages=183–204|doi=10.2307/311079 |jstor=311079 }}</ref> Other scholars have proposed that they were invented by later authors within the tradition of the [[Alexander Romance]].{{sfn|Tarn|1979|p=378}}