Quite persistent rumors

In the archives of my web analytics company I read an intriguing ancient story related to sudden and unexpected death of Alexander the Great. Alexander's death has been reinterpreted many times over the centuries. And the debate surrounding the cause of Alexander's sudden death has never been clearly resolved. Here are some clues from the ancient sources.

In the fourth century BC there were quite persistent rumors claiming that Alexander the Great did not die of illness but was poisoned by one of his generals. Well, many had powerful motivations for seeing Alexander gone. Yet, people whispered to each other only one name of the alleged assassin: "Antipater". The latter was a famous Macedonian general, supporter of Phillip II of Macedon and his son - future Alexander the Great. So, how close to truth were these rumours?

Antipater was a great friend to both the little Alexander and his mother, Olympias. In fact, Olympias and Antipater were so close that there was a gossip at the time that he was the real father of Alexander. Later Antipater aided Alexander in his struggle to secure his succession after Philip's death.

After Alexander left to conquer the world, Antipater remained in Greece serving as the regent of Macedon in his absence. He successfully won many battles against other Greek states and subdued them. Plutarch even mentions, that Alexander the Great became jealous when he heard of Antipater's victories.

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