Alexander Caught Typhoid From Hephaistion?

[Manny E]

Fellow Time Travellers---

As soon as Hephaistion died, Alexander was informed right away and he dashed right to his friend's death bed. I don't think I'll meet a lot of objections if I say that Alexander embraced Hephaistion's corpse while wailing like dog. Kissed Heph's face repeatedly, too, like how we expect someone to grieve a very very precious loved one. On the mouth, too, most probably. Now my question is: How communicable is Typhoid? Most historians and many physicians think Hephaistion was a textbook case----the high fever, the swift collapse after eating solid food and intake of alcohol. What's the incubation period of Typhoid? Are there variables? Hephaistion's illness seemed to have been better documented, as Alexander himself checked in on his friend's progress regularly. If we accept thyphoid, then we can begin to reject most, if not all, of the conflicting descriptions of Alexander's symptomatology days and hours before his supposed death, (even the exact day of which is still in question) and work from there. This is important because, for the sheer ambiguity of the circumstances behind Alexander's death, anything from malaria to arsenic to acute alcoholic intoxication can still be implicated as having killed Alexander, while there is little variation in the narratives surrounding Hephaistion's death.

Input on this will be greatly appreciated.

Manny E

[aleksandros]

They killed him cause he was a chilliarch

[Efstathios]

In situations like this there is some sort of epidemic. Had Hephaestion have had typhus or a similar disease, and then Alexander, other people would have had it too. And it would be known, so as Alexander's cause of death. So we are talking about isolated situations which point maybe to poisoning.

If it was poison that killed Hephaestion, it would have been too foolish for Alexander not to be carefull. Surely he must have made his research. I dont think we can talk about modern versions of poisons that can be passed through a handshake and all that. It would have had to be in the food or water or wine.. We dont know if Alexander had any security measures against poison, such as someone trying the food e.t.c. Probably not, because he would have died too, and it would have been known. And it is too risky for someone to have thrown something inside Alexanders food or wine during the feast.

Nevertheless only Hephaestion and Alexander duying in a short while is very suspicious, and we cannot exclude some type of poisoning.

[marcus]

Fellow Time Travellers---

As soon as Hephaistion died, Alexander was informed right away and he dashed right to his friend's death bed. I don't think I'll meet a lot of objections if I say that Alexander embraced Hephaistion's corpse while wailing like dog. Kissed Heph's face repeatedly, too, like how we expect someone to grieve a very very precious loved one. On the mouth, too, most probably. Now my question is: How communicable is Typhoid? Most historians and many physicians think Hephaistion was a textbook case----the high fever, the swift collapse after eating solid food and intake of alcohol. What's the incubation period of Typhoid? Are there variables? Hephaistion's illness seemed to have been better documented, as Alexander himself checked in on his friend's progress regularly. If we accept thyphoid, then we can begin to reject most, if not all, of the conflicting descriptions of Alexander's symptomatology days and hours before his supposed death, (even the exact day of which is still in question) and work from there. This is important because, for the sheer ambiguity of the circumstances behind Alexander's death, anything from malaria to arsenic to acute alcoholic intoxication can still be implicated as having killed Alexander, while there is little variation in the narratives surrounding Hephaistion's death.

Input on this will be greatly appreciated.

Manny E

Some time actually passed between Hephaistion and Alexander dying. If A had caught Typhus or typhoid from H, then he would have died a heck of a lot more quickly.

ATB

[ruthaki]

I have to agree that it doesn't seem he would have had something so serious as typhus and more people wouldn't have also died from it. I still believe Hephaestion's death was highly suspicious, as was Alexander's.