Posted on 08/03/2004 11:38:37 AM PDT by blam
Alexander the Great's Death Debated
Aug. 2, 2004 What killed ancient world conqueror Alexander the Great is still a mystery, pitting scientists who favor West Nile virus against those who lean toward a death from typhoid.
History says that Alexander, king of Macedonia, died at 32 in 323 B.C. after several days of fever in Babylon. However, the cause of the fever was always unclear.
Alexander In The Fog
Several hypotheses have been advanced: poisoning, malaria, or cirrhosis of the liver caused by Alexander's penchant for drink, as well as typhoid or west Nile virus.
The dispute resurfaced in the July issue of "Emerging Infectious Diseases," published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which published several arguments disputing the West Nile virus theory.
In a December 2003 article in the same publication, two U.S. scientists, John Marr, epidemiologist at the Virginia department of health, and Charles Calisher of Colorado State University, argued that Alexander's death as recounted by Greek biographer Plutarch several centuries later showed that he had encephalitis from West Nile virus.
The virus infects wild birds but can be transmitted to humans by infected mosquitos. The infection generally goes undetected or has influenza-like symptoms. In some cases, the disease becomes complicated by a menengoencephalitis.
Marr and Calister lean on Plutharch's account of the deaths of a flock of ravens as Alexander entered Babylon.
"The inexplicable behavior of ravens is reminiscent of avian illness and death weeks before the first human cases of West Nile virus infection were identified in the United States. We posit that Alexander may have died of West Nile virus encephalitis," said Marr and Calisher.
David Oldach of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, said Plutarch never meant to write a history and that Marr and Calisher were "perhaps unaware of the magnitude of Plutarch's obsession with avian auguries."
Six years ago, Oldach and his colleagues at the University of Maryland published an article in which they concluded that Alexander died of typhoid, also based on symptoms described by Plutarch.
Burke Cunha, of Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola, New York, also has his doubts. "West Nile encephalitis begins acutely, with initial signs and symptoms of mental confusion and muscle weakness. Fevers are not usually the most conspicuous feature of West Nile encephalitis, and in most cases the fever does not usually increase or last more than a two-week period.
"Alexander's final illness is more characteristic of typhoid fever than West Nile encephalitis," he concluded.
Finally, Massimo Galli, of the University of Milan, Italy, said, "West Nile Virus is a relatively young virus and reduces the probability of incidental infections of humans before 1,000 years ago.
"Encephalitis itself became a frequent complication of West Nile Virus fever in 1996, which suggests the recent appearance of more pathogenic viral strains."
In response to his detractors, John Marr said, "We agree that typhoid fever remains high on the list of probable causes.
"Although individual cases of this disease usually occur in a camp setting, one would expect reports of other similar cases (the same for malaria), which was apparently not the case."
The dispute, already far from over, should get a new life in a few months, with the release of a film on Alexander, by director Oliver Stone and starring Irish actor Colin Farrell.
My wife got that video for me for my birthday many years ago. I still watch it, absolutely fascinated every time.
>>You mean he's still alive???<<
Dam.
You beat me to the wise-crack.
Here goes mine:
I'm pretty sure he's dead. But you know the media pundits. They don't even know that John Kerry is dead.
Dammit, Jim.
Made in 1998
I want to get it eventually. Hated returning it to the library and watched it twice before it had to go "home."
You know, when I first saw the headline, that's exactly what popped into my head.
He's dead Jim!
We should monitor you, nonetheless.
I CAN ASSURE HE IS DEAD... END OF DEBATE
Reuters: probably Bush's fault
Exactly. The elitist professor types (whose salaries we pay) will never go against one of their own and take the side of an 'outsider.' However, their sneering denial of your brilliant "Fatal Tractor Pull Injury" theory fell apart when amateur archaeologist Konstantin Zjurkenofonous discovered a 2,400-year old wooden Macedonian Harvester while digging near Corfu.
The dating of the tractor, the location in the heart of the Greek/Macedonian world, and the oft-ignored footnotes in the writings of Plutarch, the historian of record regarding the death of Alexander, describing the "broken breast-cage, shattered limbs which will carry him to no more victories on the field of battle nor the pulling of the great vehicles, and the loss of his great and glorious head, which shall slow his endeavors to the rate of we mere mortals..." is the most compelling evidence as to the actual cause of the warrior's death.
The silliness of the West Nile virus v. typhoid debate is infantile given Alexander the Great's widely-known natural immunities to all illnesses and STDs, inherited from his father, Cronos, the Greek god of time and agriculture. As any real historian knows, the god-men of the ancient world were only susceptible to death if inflicted by another equal being, if lured to impending doom by a Siren, or the tragic and usually-fatal, but oft-ignored, fatal tractor pull injury.
Your soon-to-be-published essay in the Fall 2004 issue of the Eastern Pennsylvania Quarterly of Ancient Motorized Agricultural Equipment should put to rest any debate on this subject.
Please inform the title of the video.
Thanks.
As good as any Michael Moore set of facts. If he came out with that how many people would cite it as authority.
Thanks for the ping!
"He's dead, Jim"
In the Footsteps of Alexander The Great:
A Journey from Greece to Asia
by Michael Wood
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Was that the show where they traced Hellenic civilization well into central asia? I was surprised how far the outposts actually got. Seemed like the Silk Road was active even then.
Thanks. It just got on my Wish List.
Why do these headlines look like my grade-schooler wrote them?
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