On: The Death of Alexander the Great: One of History's...

[the_reformation]

I'm going to posit that 92% of what we think we know about Alexander the Great is wrong, not just his death.

[nkozyra → the_reformation]

Based on what, though? There are historical figures whose lives are greatly documented and cross documented by others from disparate places.

We know a great deal about Socrates, Plato and Aristotle this way, why not Alexander?

[goto11 → nkozyra]

Because of the lack of contemporary sources. We know a lot about Plato and Aristotle because their writings are preserved. For Socrates we have several independent contemporary accounts.

This is just not the case for Alexander. The sources we have are hundreds of years removed. Presumably they are are based on now-lost contemporary accounts, but who knows how much is embellishments.