By 323BC Alexander the Great had forged an empire that stretched over most of the known world by conquering many different kingdoms and people groups. While it was a remarkable feat, his empire ultimately proved short lived. Since Alexander did not have a clear successor, his empire died with him. The destruction of that mighty empire had a significant impact on the course of Eurasian history. Thus, the untimely death of Alexander the Great was one of the most important events of the ancient world.
After conquering Western India in 323BC, Alexander’s army refused to go any further. The surviving Macedonian troops had been fighting almost none-stop for over ten years, and they were ready to return home. Unrest in the various parts of the empire and the beginnings of mutiny also influenced his decision to begin the long journey home. Alexander never made it home, however. In June of 323BC, Alexander the Great died after a twelve day illness.
What caused Alexander’s death remains something of a mystery. Some say that he was poisoned while some say he died of natural illness. Those who believe he was poisoned can find support in the ancient sources and the fact that several individuals could have profited from his death. Those like Plutarch who believe he died of natural causes, however, point out the fact that the Macedonian warrior culture would have looked down on poisoning as a cowardly way of killing someone, so it is unlikely that any of Alexander’s officers would have resorted to it.
There is also the question of how he could have been poisoned. Although there were many poisons in the ancient world, none of them acted slowly enough that it would have taken the king more than a week to die. That means that the poison would have had to have been delivered in several small doses and it seems unlikely that the conspirators would have had the courage or the opportunity to do that. Therefore, many believe the accounts that say he died of natural causes and conclude that malaria or some such disease or Alexander’s alcoholism were responsible for that mysterious fever.
Whatever caused Alexander’s death, it was unexpected. At the time, Alexander had one child, but it was not by a concubine, not a wife so the child could not rule. His queen, Roxane, was pregnant with a child who would become Alexander the IV, but it would be many years before the child would be fit to rule. Unsurprisingly, the child never reached the age at which he would be fit to rule because he was assassinated as a child in the subsequent power struggle.
Tradition says that while Alexander was dying, his generals asked who should succeeded him. He is reported to have said either, “to Craterus” or “to the stronger.” There is some confusion on this point because in Greek, the two phrases are almost identical. The only difference between “to Caterus” (Krater’oi) and “to the stronger” (Krat’eroi) is in which syllable one stresses. Obviously, Craterus, who was one of Alexander’s leading generals, chose to believe that the dying king had chosen him to rule the empire. The other generals, however, chose to believe that Alexander had bequeathed it to whoever was strong enough to take it and keep it by force.
Shortly after Alexander’s death, a civil war broke out with many different factions each trying to gain power. In the struggle, many of the pretenders to the throne were killed while all sides claimed to be acting in the name of the king who had been assassinated by one of the other factions. In the end, no one was strong enough to take control of the whole empire and it was divided into four different parts controlled by four of the most powerful generals. Some of these kingdoms fell apart fairly quickly while others lasted for some time. Sooner or later, however, they were all eventually conquered by some foreign power.
If Alexander had lived long enough to produce a legitimate heir, Eurasian history might have developed quite differently. His empire might have lasted for hundreds of years and the Roman Empire might never have come into existence, or at least been relegated only to Western Europe. Who knows how much more Alexander could have conquered if he had lived past his 33rd year. Since his empire included territory far to East of what the Romans ever managed to conquer, it would have provided for much more cultural interaction between East and West than there has been since the collapse of the Macedonian Empire. What effect that interaction would have had on those two disparate parts of the world, it anybody’s guess.
