The cause of his death remains a mystery

Alexander the Great became ill in 323 BC after spilling a bowl of wine while entertaining guests. The 32-year-old leader passed away two weeks later. However, the cause of his death remains a mystery to this day.

The general Antipater and Antipater's son Cassander, who would later command the murder of Alexander's wife and son, came under suspicion at the time since many believed that Alexander's father had been killed by his own guards. Aristotle, who had connections to the Antipater family, was even suggested by certain antiquity biographers as perhaps responsible for his demise.

Alexander's death has been attributed to various conditions in contemporary times, including liver failure, lung infections, typhoid fever, and malaria. His demise from progressive paralysis brought on by intestinal perforation from typhoid fever was linked to it in a 1998 New England Journal of Medicine article. Another recent research revealed meningitis or pyogenic spondyloarthritis. Acute pancreatitis, West Nile virus and Guillain-Barré syndrome are additional conditions having symptoms that are consistent with them. Natural cause hypotheses also frequently stress how Alexander's overall health may have worsened due to years of binge drinking and significant injuries. Alexander's downturn in health could possibly have been brought on by the sorrow he felt upon Hephaestion's passing.