Death of Alexander the Great

At Babylon, Alexander married Roxana; eighty officers took Persian wives. Feasting went on for days—Hephaestion drank himself to death. Alexander had him buried with divine honors. Alexander resumed feasting and fell ill, weakened by excess. Doctors could not save him. Soldiers, who never expected to outlive their young king, filed past his bed in grief. Asked to name his successor, he gave his ring to Perdiccas and whispered, "the strongest." He died at thirty-three, master of nearly the known world. Even Sisygambis wept for the man who had treated her like a son. His body was carried to Alexandria in a golden coffin; Ptolemy had it worshipped as a god.