Dipartimento di Scienze biomediche, Scuola di Medicina, Università di Padova. E-mail:
Department of Historical and Geographic Sciences and the Ancient World, School of Human and Social Sciences and Cultural Heritage, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
Acta Med Hist Adriat. 2021 Jan 20;18(2):201-228. doi: 10.31952/amha.18.2.1.
Even though the absence of the body prevents sure conclusions, the death of Alexander the Great remains a hot topic of retrospective diagnosis. Due to the serious mishandling of ancient sources, the scientific literature had Alexander dying of every possible natural cause. In previous works, the hypothesis that typhoid fever killed Alexander was proposed, based on the presence of the remittent fever typical of this disease in the narrations of Plutarch and Arrian. Here we provide additional evidence for the presence of stupor, the second distinctive symptom of typhoid fever. In fact, based on the authority of Caelius Aurelianus and Galen, we demonstrate that the word ἄφωνος, used to describe the last moments of Alexander, is a technical word of the lexicon of the pathology of Hippocrates. Used by him, the word defines a group of diseases sharing a serious depression of consciousness and motility. The association of stupor with the remittent fever strengthens the typhoid fever hypothesis.
尽管亚历山大的遗体已经不在，但他的死因仍是人们回溯诊断的热门话题。由于古代资料被严重误读，科学文献中亚历山大的死因涵盖了所有可能的自然原因。在之前的研究中，曾基于普鲁塔克和阿里安的叙述中出现了这种疾病典型的间歇热，提出伤寒热导致亚历山大大帝死亡的假说。在这里，我们提供了更多证据证明存在昏睡这一致命症状。事实上，根据盖伦和塞尔萨斯的权威著作，我们证明了用来描述亚历山大大帝最后时刻的 ἄφωνος 是希波克拉底病理学词汇中的一个专业术语。希波克拉底使用这个词来定义一组具有严重意识和运动功能障碍的疾病。昏睡与间歇热的关联进一步支持了伤寒热假说。
