Nicky’s verdict

Despite the suspicions, Alexander’s best friend Hephaestion wasn’t murdered due to being a likely successor to his king. Instead, when I meditate on Hephaestion’s name, I am sent the word ‘Typhoid’.

As for Alexander, he may have had many enemies, but the people around him were also terrified. If they were identified as conspiring against their king, they’d soon lose their own lives. Those closest to Alexander could see he was ravaging his body with alcohol anyway, which it was felt would likely lead to his death sooner rather than later.

Having been led to believe he was the son of a god, Alexander fought and lived as though he was immortal. Unfortunately, the ‘conception by lightning bolt’ story had merely been a ruse by Alexander’s mother to impress upon people – and Alexander himself – that he was a force to be reckoned with. Alexander might have been viewed by many as a formidable and magical leader who had godlike qualities, but I can’t feel any celestial energy linked to him.

In the end Alexander had an all too human death, from alcohol poisoning. It was dehydration, both in his kidneys and the discs in his vertebrae, which caused the intolerable back pain. Alcohol poisoning also creates a blue tinge on the lips and fingernails, which is why Alexander was pronounced dead prematurely, when he was in fact only in a hyperthermic coma, with breath so shallow it was undetectable. This is why his body still appeared ‘fresh’ to the embalmers days later.

Calanus the monk was not an enemy plant but a genuine seer, who knew Alexander wouldn’t make old bones, hence his very accurate prophecy that he and Alexander would soon be reunited, in Babylon.