His wounds, plus overwork, weakened him. He went on a boating trip while at Babylon, in summer, when the marshes of the river were full of fever. To add to all this, he had engaged in another of his notorious drinking bouts the night before.
Alexander the Great died of a fever 13 June 323. For four days there was silence in Babylon, in shock and mourning. His body was conveyed to Alexandria in Egypt, where it was buried.
As he lay dying, his comrades and generals came to him. Alexander had made no provision for his succession, for what reason we do not know. In any case, it now being clear that he would die, the issue had become pressing.
They asked him the question that tormented them all. Who would get the empire? To whom would Alexander leave his conquests?
His answer was eminently Greek and classic Alexander. He would leave his empire, he said, to the strongest.
His empire fell apart almost immediately. It was, perhaps, too vast and too diverse for any political system to rule; it was most certainly beyond the capabilities of Macedonian monarchy.
Alexander's empire did not go to the strongest, after all. Instead, pieces of it fell to various individuals, each of whom chose to be strongest in his own neighborhood. Most of these were Alexander's generals.
Thus, Seleucus won a reduced portion of the Persian Empire. Certainly the largest in terms of physical size, yet his prize was the least likely to prosper. Antigonus won Greece, or more precisely, Macedonia and the league of Greek cities that were subject to the crown. The Antigonids would rule until the coming of Rome.
The richest prize, Egypt, went to Ptolemy. He founded a dynasty that lasted until the Caesars conquered them. The last descendant of Ptolemy, and the last direct inheritor of Alexander's legacy, was a Macedonian princess who was also Pharoah: Cleopatra.
Lesser states, especially in Asia Minor, were also ruled by Greeks. Alexander had founded Greek cities all over the Near East (there are over 20 Alexandrias), so that Greek culture was not merely spread but was deeply embeded within the cultures of the region. This created no little tension with the local cultures, as Greek language and art, etc. vied with and sometimes overwhelmed the indigenous cultures.
Evidence of this tension can be seen in the split in Jewish culture in the 200s and 100s, between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The one group represented "progress" and openly adopted Greek habits. The other group opposed this, holding out for traditional Israelite values. This pattern was repeated elsewhere, although not all peoples were able to retain their native traditions in the face of Greek influence.
The Near Eastern cultures, in turn, influenced Greece. This is most notable in the area of religion, with the advent of various mystery religions, but the Egyptians especially had a strong effect on Greek philosophy and science.
So deeply was Greek embedded that it became the dominant culture throughout the Middle East. It was inherited, preserved and perpetuated by the Byzantine Empire and by the Muslims as well.
This is the true legacy of Alexander--the dissemination of Greek culture.
