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| Mosaic showing Alexander the Great fighting King Darius III of Persia |
King of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon, Alexander the Great was renowned as one of history's most successful military commanders as he went undefeated in battle. He'd created one of the largest empires of the ancient world by his early thirties. In the space of eight years he conquered Syria and Egypt and the whole of Middle East as far as India, which he believed was the edge of the world so his men persuaded him to turn back.
On an expedition seeking a potion guaranteeing immortal life, Alexander came across some apples which supposedly prolonged the lives of priests who fed on them and nothing else up to 400 years. It didn't work for him. The Macedonian conqueror died probably of typhoid fever in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II, in Babylon, aged 32 on June 10, 323BC.
Some modern historians believe that Alexander the Great may have been accidentally buried alive up to six days before his death, after succumbing to Guillain-Barré Syndrome. This would have left him unable to speak or move, and his breath so shallow that he was pronounced dead.
Alexander's body was laid in a gold anthropoid sarcophagus that was filled with honey, which was in turn placed in a gold casket. While Alexander's funeral cortege was on its way to Macedon, Ptolemy seized it and took it temporarily to Memphis. His successor, Ptolemy II Philadelphus, transferred the sarcophagus to Alexandria, where it remained until at least late Antiquity. Its whereabouts now is unknown.
The rise of Alexander was prophesied 250 years before he was born in the Old Testament Book of Daniel (Daniel 8 v5-8 and 20-22). It predicts the kingdom of Medo Persia being overthrown by King of Greece. Then the kingdom is divided on his death between his four generals but they will not have the same power.
On an expedition seeking a potion guaranteeing immortal life, Alexander came across some apples which supposedly prolonged the lives of priests who fed on them and nothing else up to 400 years. It didn't work for him. The Macedonian conqueror died probably of typhoid fever in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II, in Babylon, aged 32 on June 10, 323BC.
Some modern historians believe that Alexander the Great may have been accidentally buried alive up to six days before his death, after succumbing to Guillain-Barré Syndrome. This would have left him unable to speak or move, and his breath so shallow that he was pronounced dead.
Alexander's body was laid in a gold anthropoid sarcophagus that was filled with honey, which was in turn placed in a gold casket. While Alexander's funeral cortege was on its way to Macedon, Ptolemy seized it and took it temporarily to Memphis. His successor, Ptolemy II Philadelphus, transferred the sarcophagus to Alexandria, where it remained until at least late Antiquity. Its whereabouts now is unknown.
The rise of Alexander was prophesied 250 years before he was born in the Old Testament Book of Daniel (Daniel 8 v5-8 and 20-22). It predicts the kingdom of Medo Persia being overthrown by King of Greece. Then the kingdom is divided on his death between his four generals but they will not have the same power.
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