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A key ancient source for the manner of the death of Alexander is his own Royal Journal (the Ephemerides), which was compiled by members of his staff.
Extracts from this work are cited by Arrian and Plutarch in their descriptions of his demise. The Ephemerides gives a classic account of death through disease (probably malaria), so those who believe that Alexander was poisoned have usually tried to claim that it is a forgery. Andrew has now had a paper accepted for publication in the Ancient History Bulletin, in which he aims to show that the Ephemerides is an authentic document, mainly by revealing the true identities of two mysterious ancient authors. Firstly, the Ephemerides is said to have partly been written by Diodotus of Erythrae.
Andrew suggests that this is probably an error for Diognetus of Erythrae, one of the surveyors (bematists) who worked for Alexander. Secondly, a certain Strattis of Olynthus is said to have written a lost commentary on the Ephemerides. Andrew argues that this is an error for Ephippus of Olynthus, who also wrote a book about the death of Alexander in the generation after his death. It is virtually impossible that the Ephemerides was a forgery, if it was published within living memory of the death of Alexander, because the events it describes were matters of public knowledge and the document would have been denounced, if it had given a false account at such an early date.
Andrew Chugg’s paper on The Journal of Alexander the Great has been published in volume 19.3-4 (2005) of the Ancient History Bulletin: see www.alexanderstomb.com/main/booksandarticles/ahbull/19.3-42005.html for further information http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/faculty/classics/ahbcontributors.html
An article about the new theories has been published in The Independent on Sunday on 7 August 2005.
Andrew has published a more general account of the death of Alexander in the first chapter of his book, The Lost tomb of Alexander the Great.
Andrew was also the author of an article on the death of Alexander published in Minerva in the September 2004 edition.
An outline of the death of Alexander is given in an article by Andrew on this site here.
Imaginative reconstructions of the death of Alexander
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| Andre Castaigne 1899 | After Karl von Piloty 1886 | Archaeological reconstruction of the palace in Babylon where Alexander died |
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| From a 1696 edition of Curtius |
In a recent straw poll on the web Alexander enthusiasts decided that the most interesting question about the king's life is the manner of his death and that the second most burning issue is the location of his tomb and remains, to see poll click here.