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HI Marcus, Well, the fever is what caught my attention plus something else. There is a familiar romance story about Roxanne's having tried to stop Alexander from going to the river when he had wanted as he is supposed to have said something to the effect that she was robbing him of his immortality when she wouldn't let him go. I am a wee bit concerned that possibly he may have remembered his previous experience in which he had plunged into the icy water, and you are quite correct that the two rivers are totally unalike, but I am almost of the opinion that may have done it himself. I am certain that the River Euphrates has played a role in his contacting a "fever" as I think that he may have an allergy of some kind which is what may have killed him. I know that others think that a mosquito could have done it, but i don't think so. He had had a puncture wound in his lung supposedly from the Mallian experience, and a plunge into the dirty waters, for they would have been dirty no matter what, may have affected his lungs. Fever twice is what is convincing me that his system is what contracted the illness which caused his death. One could almost think that he subconsciously brought it upon himself. Despite his desire and drive to continue, he may have recognized that all the omens and portents were so negative that he may have unwittingly decided to plunge himself into the river, which I had read somewhere and can't recall now where, that he had done. I am convinced that his biological clock as well as his personal destinty were so controlled by soothsayers, omens, and the like that they all added up to his finding his own way out.It is just a thought, like all the rest, but I am fairly certain that the fever both times as a result of a plunge into the river seems too much a coincidence.and certainly his desire if the story about Roxanne is true is that he achieve his own immortality.

HI Marcus, Well, the fever is what caught my attention plus something else. There is a familiar romance story about Roxanne's having tried to stop Alexander from going to the river when he had wanted as he is supposed to have said something to the effect that she was robbing him of his immortality when she wouldn't let him go. I am a wee bit concerned that possibly he may have remembered his previous experience in which he had plunged into the icy water, and you are quite correct that the two rivers are totally unalike, but I am almost of the opinion that may have done it himself. I am certain that the River Euphrates has played a role in his contacting a "fever" as I think that he may have an allergy of some kind which is what may have killed him. I know that others think that a mosquito could have done it, but i don't think so. He had had a puncture wound in his lung supposedly from the Mallian experience, and a plunge into the dirty waters, for they would have been dirty no matter what, may have affected his lungs. Fever twice is what is convincing me that his system is what contracted the illness which caused his death. One could almost think that he subconsciously brought it upon himself. Despite his desire and drive to continue, he may have recognized that all the omens and portents were so negative that he may have unwittingly decided to plunge himself into the river, which I had read somewhere and can't recall now where, that he had done. I am convinced that his biological clock as well as his personal destinty were so controlled by soothsayers, omens, and the like that they all added up to his finding his own way out.It is just a thought, like all the rest, but I am fairly certain that the fever both times as a result of a plunge into the river seems too much a coincidence.and certainly his desire if the story about Roxanne is true is that he achieve his own immortality.

Which River are you referring to, because Roxana wasn't in the picture when Alexander was at Tarsus.

Which River are you referring to, because Roxana wasn't in the picture when Alexander was at Tarsus.

Hi Ruth,Jan's right - one story does have Alexander going off to the Euphrates in the depths of his fever, wishing to drown himself and disappear (supposedly as a sort of apotheosis); and he was discouraged by Roxane.ATBMarcus

Hi Ruth,Jan's right - one story does have Alexander going off to the Euphrates in the depths of his fever, wishing to drown himself and disappear (supposedly as a sort of apotheosis); and he was discouraged by Roxane.ATBMarcus

Hadn't heard the story about the Euphrates, one the one about him catching a chill in the River near Tarsus. Is the Euphrates story true or a legend? Which source does this come from?

Hadn't heard the story about the Euphrates, one the one about him catching a chill in the River near Tarsus. Is the Euphrates story true or a legend? Which source does this come from?

Me again ...I understand he spent some time before he fell gravely ill by the bathing pool (after that drinking party) and had his bed brought to the pool side. Would it have been the pool rather than the river that Roxana begged him not to plunge into knowing he would catch a chill as he was already suffering from fever?

Me again ...I understand he spent some time before he fell gravely ill by the bathing pool (after that drinking party) and had his bed brought to the pool side. Would it have been the pool rather than the river that Roxana begged him not to plunge into knowing he would catch a chill as he was already suffering from fever?

Ruth, the full details are only to be found in the Alexander Romance: This is from the Armenian translation by Albert M. Wolohohian:(268) And at nightfall, Alexander ordered everyone to leave the house. Among those he dismissed were Kombaphe and Roxiane, his wife. And from the house there was an exit toward the river called the Euphrates, which runs through Babylon. He ordered it opened and that no one be at the places they customarily stood guard. And when it was the middle of the night, he got up from his bed, put out the light, and crawled on all fours toward the river. And he saw his wife, Roxiane, advancing toward him. He had been planning to act in a manner worthy of his great courage. She followed his final journey in the dark. And Alexander, scarcely making a sound, would groan, and Roxiane was directed to the cry. And he stopped and was still. And his wife embraced him and said, "Are you abandoning and leaving me, Alexander, by committing suicide?" And he said: "Roxiane, it is a small deprivation for you that my glory be taken away from you. But still let no one hear about this." And he turned away from Roxiane and went back home in concealment.However, Arrian does comment on the story without affording it any credibility:Arrian VII.27.3. . . One writer has had the impudence to record that Alexander, feeling that he would not survive, went to thrown himself into the Euphrates, so that he might disappear from the world and make more credible to posterity the belief that his birth was by a god and that it was to the gods that he had departed, but that Roxane, his wife, noticed that he was going out and stopped him, when he groaned and said that she was really grudging him the everlasting fame accorded to one who had been born a god. So much for stories which I have set down to show that I know they are told rather than because they are credible enough.Best regards,Amyntoros

Ruth, the full details are only to be found in the Alexander Romance: This is from the Armenian translation by Albert M. Wolohohian:(268) And at nightfall, Alexander ordered everyone to leave the house. Among those he dismissed were Kombaphe and Roxiane, his wife. And from the house there was an exit toward the river called the Euphrates, which runs through Babylon. He ordered it opened and that no one be at the places they customarily stood guard. And when it was the middle of the night, he got up from his bed, put out the light, and crawled on all fours toward the river. And he saw his wife, Roxiane, advancing toward him. He had been planning to act in a manner worthy of his great courage. She followed his final journey in the dark. And Alexander, scarcely making a sound, would groan, and Roxiane was directed to the cry. And he stopped and was still. And his wife embraced him and said, "Are you abandoning and leaving me, Alexander, by committing suicide?" And he said: "Roxiane, it is a small deprivation for you that my glory be taken away from you. But still let no one hear about this." And he turned away from Roxiane and went back home in concealment.However, Arrian does comment on the story without affording it any credibility:Arrian VII.27.3. . . One writer has had the impudence to record that Alexander, feeling that he would not survive, went to thrown himself into the Euphrates, so that he might disappear from the world and make more credible to posterity the belief that his birth was by a god and that it was to the gods that he had departed, but that Roxane, his wife, noticed that he was going out and stopped him, when he groaned and said that she was really grudging him the everlasting fame accorded to one who had been born a god. So much for stories which I have set down to show that I know they are told rather than because they are credible enough.Best regards,Amyntoros

Hi Ruth,Well, I suppose that could be a plausible basis for what ended up as part of the legend. If I recall correctly (and without actually checking) was Alexander not totally confined to his bed by the time he was taken to the pool room? In which case, the issue I would take with your hypothesis is to question whether he would have been strong enough at that time to get out of bed and into the pool. But too little information to make more of an issue about it ... :-)ATBMarcus

Hi Ruth,Well, I suppose that could be a plausible basis for what ended up as part of the legend. If I recall correctly (and without actually checking) was Alexander not totally confined to his bed by the time he was taken to the pool room? In which case, the issue I would take with your hypothesis is to question whether he would have been strong enough at that time to get out of bed and into the pool. But too little information to make more of an issue about it ... :-)ATBMarcus

Thanks for clarifying, Marcus and Linda. I figured the Euphrates story was myth. I know he laid in his bed by the pool where it was cooling to his fever. And you're right, he probably didn't have the strength to bathe in it at that point in his illness.