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December 26, 1886
- He was considered a front runner for the 1888 Republican presidential nomination, and likely would have been the 23rd US President had he not unexpectedly died on December 26, 1886 of rheumatism.
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Feb 5, 2024 · On 10 June 323 BCE, Alexander the Great died. Rumors of Poisoning Immediately after his death, rumors began to circulate that Alexander had not died of old wounds or a fever but was poisoned.
- Donald L. Wasson
- Overview
- Theories on Alexander the Great's Cause of Death
- Challenging the Timing of Alexander's Death
- HISTORY Vault: Ancient History
“His death may be the most famous case of pseudothanatos, or false diagnosis of death, ever recorded.”
When Alexander the Great died in Babylon in 323 B.C., his body didn’t begin to show signs of decomposition for a full six days, according to historical accounts.
To the ancient Greeks, this confirmed what they all thought about the young Macedonian king, and what Alexander believed about himself—that he was not an ordinary man, but a god.
History Lists: Ancient Empire Builders
But in one theory, a scholar and practicing clinician suggests that Alexander may have suffered from the neurological disorder Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS), which caused his death. She also argues that people might not have noticed any immediate signs of decomposition on the body for one simple reason—because Alexander wasn’t dead yet.
As Dr. Katherine Hall, a senior lecturer at the Dunedin School of Medicine at the University of Otago, New Zealand, wrote in a 2018 article published in The Ancient History Bulletin, most other theories of what killed Alexander have focused on the agonizing fever and abdominal pain he suffered in the days before he died.
In fact, she points out, he was also known to have developed a “progressive, symmetrical, ascending paralysis” during his illness. And though he was very sick, he remained compos mentis (fully in control of his mental faculties) until just before his death.
Hall argues that GBS, a rare but serious autoimmune disorder in which the immune system attacks healthy cells in the nervous system, can explain this combination of symptoms better than the other theories advanced for Alexander’s death. She believes he may have contracted the disorder from an infection of Campylobacter pylori, a common bacterium at the time. According to Hall, Alexander likely got a variant of GBS that produced paralysis without causing confusion or unconsciousness.
The death of Alexander the Great at Babylon in 323 B.C.
While historians have long speculated over what exactly killed Alexander, Hall suggests he might not even have died when people thought he did.
She argues that the increasing paralysis Alexander suffered, as well as the fact that his body needed less oxygen as it shut down, would have meant that his breathing was less visible. Because in ancient times, doctors relied on the presence or absence of breath, rather than a pulse, to determine whether a patient was alive or dead, Hall believes Alexander might have been falsely declared dead before he actually died.
"I wanted to stimulate new debate and discussion and possibly rewrite the history books by arguing Alexander's real death was six days later than previously accepted,” Hall said in a statement from the University of Otago. “His death may be the most famous case of pseudothanatos, or false diagnosis of death, ever recorded.”
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- Sarah Pruitt
25 May 1847. Edinburgh, Scotland. Died. 7 March 1907. (1907-03-07) (aged 59) Zion, Illinois, United States. John Alexander Dowie (25 May 1847 – 9 March 1907) was a Scottish-Australian minister known as an evangelist and faith healer. He began his career as a minister of religion in South Australia.
Mar 15, 2024 · The Real Meaning Of Masters Of The Air's Ending. The final episode of Masters of the Air brings to light the major themes of the series. Rosenthal's discovery of the concentration camp, highlights the horrors of World War II and the long-lasting effects that should not be forgotten. Through Buck and Bucky's POW storyline, Masters of the Air ...
- Senior Features Writer
Jul 9, 2023 · Alexander the Great ascended the Macedonian throne at age 20 and died just 12 years later, having conquered one of the largest empires in the ancient world. During that time, did he father...
Aug 6, 2021 · Between the evenings of the 10th and 11th of June, 323 BCE, Alexander died after an illness that began two weeks earlier.
Jan 12, 2014 · Read Later. Print. In June 323 BC, Alexander the Great died in Babylon aged 32, having conquered an empire stretching from modern Albania to eastern Pakistan. The question of what, or who, killed the Macedonian king has never been answered successfully. However, new research may have finally solved the 2,000-year-old mystery.
