Editing Callisthenes (section)

==Death==
During an incident during a royal boar hunt in which [[Hermolaus of Macedon]], one of Alexander’s royal pages and Callisthenes former pupil, broke royal protocol and assisted Alexander in killing the boar. For this Hermolaus was publicly humiliated by flogging as well as the removing of his horse. This led Hermolaus and several other royal pages to create a conspiracy to assassinate Alexander. Yet, the conspiracy was discovered, and the young nobles faced arrest, torture and interrogation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Carney |first=Elizabeth |date=1981 |title=The Conspiracy of Hermolaus |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3297324 |journal=The Classical Journal |volume=76 |issue=3 |pages=228 |jstor=3297324 |issn=0009-8353}}</ref>

While under torture, Hermolaus implicated Callisthenes as a part of the plot against Alexander. Because of Callisthenes’ previous opposition to Alexander, as well as his previous role as Hermolaus’s instructor, Alexander found Callisthenes guilty of treason and ordered his subsequent arrest. Callisthenes was subsequently thrown into prison where he died seven months later. There are several different accounts of how he died or was executed. [[Crucifixion]] is the method suggested by [[Ptolemy]], but [[Chares of Mytilene]] and [[Aristobulus of Cassandreia]] both claim that Callisthenes died of natural causes while in prison.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=William |url=http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0585.html |title=Dictionary of Greek & Roman Biography & Mythology |year=1870 |volume=1 |pages=576 |access-date=2017-12-07 |archive-date=2012-10-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019132956/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0585.html |url-status=usurped }}</ref>

Callisthenes's death was commemorated in a special treatise (''Callisthenes or a Treatise on Grief'') by his friend [[Theophrastus]], whose acquaintance he made during a visit to [[Athens]]. In this eulogy Theophrastus condemns Alexander for the torture and execution of Callisthenes. He also references the acts of mourning and grief enacted by those who were close to Callisthenes and advises the bereaved on how to cope with the loss. Theophrastus also upholds Callisthenes as a figure of traditional piety and civic freedom.<ref>{{Citation |last=White |first=Stephen A. |title=Chapter Twelve. Theophrastus And Callisthenes |date=2007-01-01 |url=https://brill.com/display/book/edcoll/9789047419525/Bej.9789004156685.i-286_015.xml |work=Influences on Peripatetic Rhetoric |pages=211–230 |access-date=2023-06-05 |publisher=Brill |language=en |doi=10.1163/ej.9789004156685.i-286.49 |isbn=978-90-474-1952-5}}</ref>