• Ever wonder what it would be like to appear dead yet still hear what people said? It’s possible that the celebrated figure known as Alexander the Great experienced that very phenomenon.
• Despite the 2,333 years that have passed since his passing, the enigma of Alexander the Great’s sudden death at 32 remains a lively subject of debate. Even more mysterious was the uncanny state of preservation that his body was said to retain.
• Moreover, eyewitnesses over the centuries have testified to the remarkable hardiness of Alex’s corpse after being mellified (embalmed in honey). Not many cadavers endure the vicissitudes of corpse-napping, thousand of miles of road travel, and multiple changes of address. After death, he was parked for long stretches of time in Babylon. And Memphis. And Alexandria. Furthermore, his body (while an object of veneration) was subjected to various indignities, including the loss of a nose to a too-nosy Roman emperor.
• But the cause-of-death conundrum remains an enduring fascination.
Historians, scientists, and writers have devoted years to solving it. Today, with more science to aid them, medical experts have suggested various culprits, from the West Nile virus to poisoning.
• Two theories have won the most serious attention, both closely matching the symptoms and rapid decline of Alexander. In addition, they address the bizarre “rosy fresh corpse” issue.
• Theory one: Alexander was felled by late-stage typhoid fever that led to ascending paralysis and coma. At the end of May, Alex’s inner circle and drinking companions were witnesses to his sharp abdominal pains that made their leader cry out. Two weeks of successively higher fevers, sweats, chills, and exhaustion followed. In his last days, Alexander was speechless, then delirious.
• Theory two: Alexander died of complications of cerebral malaria. The smoking gun? The time Alex spent in a mosquito-infested marsh about a month before his death. From Mesopotamia to Rome, many regions of the ancient world had swampy bits, their inhabitants seasonally subject to malaria. The Plasmodium falciparum parasite, nastiest and most fatal of the four, can cause attacks of fever that peak every 24 hours—a pattern observed and documented in Alex’s case. The parasite attacks the internal organs, often involving the brain or lungs, and leading to cerebral malaria.
• Whichever theory you fancy, the end result would have have been similar: someone who looked dead, did not appear to be breathing, could not speak, and could not move. Always a man who longed to see what was around the next corner, Alexander may have had the ultimate in-body, out-of-body experience, being alive while being mourned as dead.
• A wonderful mass of resource material (some invaluable, some fairytales) exists. On the links page of my companion website you’ll find a fuller bibliography on the entire Alexander saga. If you don’t find it, nag me.
Alexander’s last days were observed and written about by Macedonians, Greeks, and high-ranking Babylonians. Although Alexander’s own Royal Journal and other primary sources are not extant, they were consulted by men like Ptolemy I, who rerouted Alex’s corpse to Egypt. Those who compare extant sources and study Alexander in depth (Andrew Chugg for one) say that their adherence to the originals was often faithful.
Interesting that you’re looking at the science of the issue. I always chalked it up to people likening him to the great heroes of the Iliad. Hector’s body did not decompose, according to Homer, nor did Patroclus’s. The science makes more sense, though causes me involuntary shudders….