The death of Alexander the Great

Abstract

The circumstances of Alexander's death are reviewed. Since contemporary sources vary in their accounts of the reason for his death, they are briefly reviewed and assessed. The account of Alexander's final illness is then as recorded by the two major sources, namely the King's Journal and the Liber de Morte Testamentumque Alexandri Magni. The theory that he was poisoned is rejected, as is the hypothesis chat he drank himself co death. His final illness shows symptoms characteristic of malignant tertian mala[ia (Plasmodium falciparum), possibly precipitated by recent wounds, exhaustion and heavy drinking.