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I read somewhere that Alexander had a sweet body odor. Can anyone elaborate on that? Why did he smell good? Was it natural?

So they say. I imagine him to smell like sandalwood. What do you think? If we knew, we could bottle up the fragrance and make a lot of money!

Plutarch, Alexander 4.4: "Moreover, that a very pleasant odour exhaled from his skin and that there was a fragrance about his mouth and all his flesh, so that his garments were filled with it, this we have read in the Memoirs of Aristoxenus."Please note that this is in fact not about Alexander's smell. The ancients believed that a man's character was created by the balance of the four elements and the four bodily fluids (blood, water, white and black bile). If a man had a really strong character, this would be "smellable", and Plutarch implies that a sweet smell meant a sweet character.Jona

Oh, sweet character?!
Soooo sweet!Hey --- what do you think Plutarc meant with 'sweet character' for a man like Alexander?Was it the same concept of 'sweet' we apply now a days?

I was going to suggest that he smelled of Brut(e), but I won't

Somewhere I read that Kassandros died of internal parasites. Now I imagine that would cause him to be very stinky (in particular his breath.)Jona, I liked your reply (from Plutarch). This makes sense. So you certainly couldn't say of Alexander "I smell a rat close by!"

Somewhere I read that Kassandros died of internal parasites. Now I imagine that would cause him to be very stinky (in particular his breath.)Jona, I liked your reply (from Plutarch). This makes sense. So you certainly couldn't say of Alexander "I smell a rat close by!"

I suspect he chewed on spearmint leaves to cleanse his mouth, and wouldn't that be kissing sweet?

Hi, How are you, are you allright,
...I am fine thankyou.......What about scent of some holly persons, and even their remains after earthly life, yes- of holly persons- Saints ..., "who" are still "producing" myrrho/ miro, (in Makedonian Mir=Peace...), i.e. liquid with pleasent scent, ... ("did they have copy rights for chewing gums")..., or do you/somebody, questioning something, or rather is making "cheap" in miserable way and fashion, what was/is fact (even with no scientific explanation about same), and is faith of millions arround the globe for thousands of years..., what about it, ...... Pure fact is that- this is/was true and reality, but official science together with religions is/ are working to find explanation about this and other phenomena,, not interfiering with original teching of religions, for objectivity and some other reasons... So if one has no explanation about somthing, that doesn't give him/her any rights to "play" with words in cheap way, making all what was core of the moral-ethic ...and in fact survival of mankind until now, pure miserry...
who want that...The Light 7000