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Subject: Who/What killed Alexander the Great
Commander    6/22/2005 12:29:40 AM
The most powerful man in his time died at the peak of his power. If he survived for decade who knows what history will be right know. Alexander died a thousand years ago and there are still rumours to what the cause of his death. Alexander himself was by far reckless in nature. In battle he almost got killed a number of times. Alexander is a heavy drinker, he destroyed a city and killed one of his own men. And that man once saved Alexander in battle. Poison, Alexander had many enemies. There is new evidence that is surfacing that Alexander died from an overdose of his own drug. Alexander's best friend died and Alexander needed something to fight his depression.
 
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Pars    RE:Who/What killed Alexander the Great   6/25/2005 7:40:58 PM
Ancient resources said Antipater house killed him as they feared they would be his next targets. Several months before his death Alexander ordered the replacement of Craterus in place of Antipater to be Strategos of Europe. And Antipater ordered to bring reinforcements from Europe to Asia. That might be the moment Antipater and his son Craterus have tought their end would come shortly.
 
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Witzig    RE:Who/What killed Alexander the Great   1/10/2006 8:31:53 AM
Sorry, Alexander died in 323BC aged 32. That was 2328 years ago. Anyway.... Alexander has few, if any equals in history. Not only that, Alexanders army has few equals in history. His generals ruled most of the known world after his demise. They too where great and as a group had it well within thier powers to kill Alexander. Alexander was born a Macedonian nobleman and therefore even when king he was essentially first among equals within the other noblemen, the companions. This may have given his generals enough access to his personal day to day affairs to kill him using poison. The major obstacle in their way would have been Hephaistion ( Alexanders best friend as you put it ) had Alexander been killed in such suspicious circumstances and Hephaistion still walked the earth. Hephaistion would have slaughtered every last one of them and probably not stopped there. After years of campaigning and the prospect of years more ( Arabia, Rome ) the only choice for the companions was to oppose Alexander ( risky ) or kill him! Whatever they did they had to be united. For if the group splintered the winners would be those who stayed loyal to Alexander and they would stay loyal even if only to rid themselves of the other companions. The losers would join Parmenion, Philotas and Cleitus companions who all died because of opposition or percieved opposition to Alexander. This need for unity would have automatically excluded Hephaistion and therefore made his death necessary. None of this can be proven. Yet the possibility is there. In the same way that the world sought to eliminate nuclear weapons the nearest thing that the ancient world had to this ( Alexander himself ) may have had to go simply for reasons of self presevation or then agin it could have been greed. Who knows?
 
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Pars    I think it was Antipater faction.   1/10/2006 7:47:16 PM
No conspiracy can survive if it is known by too many men. One of them will surely talk. To be successful a conspiracy must be known minumum amount of men. So best guess is still Antipater faction. Facts: 1. Antipater had been recently removed from duty. He would have been replaced by Craterus as soon as Craterus arrived Macedonia. Antipater would lose his position of Startegos of Europe which was the 3rd most important position in the Macedonian Empire after Alexander and Hephaiston. And Alexander generally killed the generals that he replaced. He is the one who gained most by the death of Alexander. Here we have motive. 2. Antipater had 2 sons (Iolaos and Philippos) serving as pages to Alexander at the time of his death. Pages are the ones who serve the King his foot. So here we have the oppurtunity. 3. The conspiracy needed only these 3 men to succeed. Maybe also Antipater's oldest surviving son Kassander for finding and carrying poison. All these 4 are father and sons so no chance for betrayal. There is no need for a 5th to know what was going on.
 
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Witzig    RE:I think it was Antipater faction.   1/10/2006 8:30:54 PM
Very valid point! I think the romance of a big conspiracy blinded me to this. Maybe i'm ignorant but how was the plot comunicated to the men involved when the distance was so great. Would this not need the involvment of more men? Any risk would be worth taking if the men beleived their numbers were up anyway. Thinking more about it however the 'big conspiracy' could not have worked. After Alexanders death the remaining companions fought each other. So if they had all plotted to kill Alexander, one or more would be sure to inform Alexander and gain profit in favour against the others. Maybe they all would and left Alexander with no choice but to kill all of them. The big conspiracy is very unlikely. Thanks
 
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Pars    RE:I think it was Antipater faction.   1/11/2006 7:04:25 AM
Cassander was at Babylon. Maybe he did not even ask his father what to do. He might use his own iniative. When Antipater died he did not left his kingdom to Cassander. There was an old custom. The one who killed a King should not be a King. That could be the reason.
 
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Malleus    RE:I think it was Antipater faction.   3/9/2006 6:12:48 PM
Maybe Alexander just died of excess. The companions all had a reason to murder him im sure, but on the other hand im certain that after six months in babylon they ;being soldiers,would have become bored and quiet eager to campaign in Arabia and the Mediterranean, more land and gold for themselves. then again thats probably too romantic and they murdered him just like Julius Ceasar was.
 
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brit cadet    malaria or typhoid   2/23/2009 5:01:16 PM
the odds are he died of malaria or typhoid due to the marshy surroundings of babylon
 
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