An alternative theory arose about the cause of death of Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great, one of the most celebrated warriors and conquerors in history, died in Babylon in the year 323 BC, when he was only 32 years old. The cause of death has always been the subject of debate among scholars, but, according to historical records, the young Macedonian suffered terribly for 12 long days before finally succumbing, leading to theories that he may have been poisoned by one of his own. rivals, contracted malaria or fallen victim to typhoid, for example.

(Wikimedia Commons / Walters Art Museum)

Another interesting piece of information left by historians is that his corpse would not have shown any signs of decay for 6 days - which would have helped to consolidate rumors of the time that Alexander was not an ordinary man but a demigod. For now a new story began to circulate about the death of this illustrious figure: that his death was not correctly identified and that he only died several days after he was registered.

Wrong diagnosis

Dr. Katherine Hall, a professor at the Dunedin School of Medicine at the University of Otago, New Zealand, proposed this alternative, and for her Alexander's death may be the most famous case of “pseudothanate” - that is, misdiagnosis of death - of history.

Analyzing the historical records, Katherine found reports that the Macedonian began to fall ill after a night of spree - in which he had drunk an absurd amount of wine. According to the records, the next day, Alexander would have begun to complain of tiredness and body aches, but he continued to drink anyway, and it was not long before he began to suffer from severe abdominal pain and high fever.

Scene from the 2004 movie “Alexandre” (YouTube / Kings and Generals)

Then, over the 12 days preceding his death, the pain picture worsened greatly and Alexander would have developed a gradual paralysis until he could no longer get out of bed and only move his eyes and hands, though everyone said the warrior maintained his mental faculties until the end.

Tragic end

With these descriptions in mind and considering the time it took Alexander's body to begin to show signs of decomposition, the doctor concluded that one possibility is that he developed Guillain-Barre Syndrome, an autoimmune disease in which the immune system begins. attacking healthy cells of the nervous system.

In its early stages, GBS, as it is also known, has symptoms such as gastrointestinal or respiratory infection, and the condition progresses to muscle weakness, leg pain, arrhythmia, poor feeding, facial paralysis, breathing problems, loss of movement and tenderness, and intestinal dysfunction.

(Pixels)

The syndrome can be triggered by the spread of viruses and bacteria such as cytomegalovirus, human herpesvirus 4 (HHV-4), Salmonella typhi, Campylobacter jejuni and Zika virus. But in Alexander's case, Katherine believes he contracted Campylobacter pylori bacteria, which was common in his day, and began to show symptoms of GBS - which are consistent with those described in the historical accounts.

Then as the paralysis progressed and his organs went bankrupt, his body needed less and less oxygen, which may have made his breathing less noticeable. It turns out that in antiquity, rather than checking the pulse of the dying to determine if they were still alive or not, people checked their breathing - and even if they had checked their pulse rate, their heartbeat would be quite weak.

If so with Alexander, it may be that he was pronounced dead several days before he actually died. This does not mean, however, that he was buried alive or something. However, because his faculties were unaffected, it could be that even though he was incredibly weak and sick, he was aware of everything that was happening around him - which must have been horrible. So, dear reader, what do you think of the theory?