We know their lifes, but what about their deaths?

I'm just curious about how was the death of some famous people of the ancient world, ie, we know about the deaths of julius caesar, viriathus, etc. But, could someone explain what were the ends of pirrhus, alexander the great, hannibal, iphikrates, xantippus or archimedes?

I read on this forum something related to pirrus death, and I know something about alexander's, but the inf is not clear. I know archimedes isn't a general, but a good part of his inventions are war related, and I personaly admire all of his work.

Alexander died poisioned or just ill, it's still unclrear. He was 33 when he died. Grave still not found, there are lot of gold there supposedly so some people keep searching.

After fall of Carthage cannibal were still fighting Rome joining various anti-rome coalitions but never picked his power up again. Don't know how he died.

Archimedes was stubbed in his home by Roman soldier durng the fall of Suracuses.

Pirrus... hm, as far as I remember (but I can confuse facts easily) his head was cut of and throw into barrel with blood by Massagatae. After his (obviously) unsecessful campaign against them. :-) Which was one one another message don't mess with northern nomads :-)

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Originally Posted by Arman

Pirrus... hm, as far as I remember (but I can confuse facts easily) his head was cut of and throw into barrel with blood by Massagatae. After his (obviously) unsecessful campaign against them. :-) Which was one one another message don't mess with northern nomads :-)

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Didn't Pyrrhus die from getting hit by a roof tile when he was in Argos?

Pyrrhus died in Argos, from a rooftile or in a small skirmish, not sure which.

Archimedes got killed by a Roman when the Romans took over Syracuse. He told the Roman not to touch his diagrams/work.

I think Hannibal commited suicide instead of going over to the Romans when it seemed that Antiochus wanted to hand him over to them.

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Originally Posted by R4P

Didn't Pyrrhus die from getting hit by a roof tile when he was in Argos?

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May be may be, I could confuse thim with other leader. As I said. Indeed I have confused him with Kir king of Persia. Lol... nothing common in name but confused. Wait there is something common Pir-Kir

Pyrrhus died in a streetbattle when retreating from a failing assault on Argos; a woman threw a rooftile on his head, whereupon her son killed him.

Alexander died of a fever; possibly due to drinking bad water, possibly due to his excessive alcohol abuse, possibly poisoned. In any case his refusal to initially acknowledge illness and lack of doctor didn't improve matters. He was on the verge of embarking on a campaign towards Carthage, I think.

Hannibal fled from Carthage several years after the war and joined Antiochus III of the Seleucids. He didn't hold any important commands, and after Antiochus' defeat fled once more. In Prusias' court at Bithynia he commanded a fleet against Eumenes of Pergamon, but was betrayed when the Romans (allies of Eumenes) arrived. Rather than being captured he poisoned himself.

Iphikrates retired after becoming unpopular in Athens. He died peacefully.

Xanthippus, don't know about his death. I vaguely remember him falling out of favour with the traditional Carthaginian nobility and left for the Ptolemies.

Archimedes died in the assault on Syracuse when a soldier lost his temper at him not moving from his work; this despite Marcellus explicitly ordering Archimedes to be taken alive.

People should keep in mind how large an ancient roof tile was, the idea of a little shingle killing him makes Pyrrhus look bad. :laugh4:

Well it didn't kill him. It merely caused him to be thrown from his horse and dazed. At the time he was involved in a melee with Argos soldiers. Once thrown from his horse they quickly killed him and cut off his head.

As I recall an Argonite soldier threw his javelin at Pyrrhos who was lightly wounded by it, but who then came at this Argonite soldier. The soldier's mother wasn't exactly going to let PYrrhos harm her boy so she threw a roof tile at him, knocking him off his horse and making him dazed and whereupon the soldier immidiately rushed forward and killed him. His head was then brought to Antigonos Gonates later.

Archimedes refused to go with the Roman soldier who was sent to capture him alive and when the Roman started to touch and trample on on Archimedes' diagrams, the inventor got mad and yelled at him, which made the Roman soldier mad in return.

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'm just curious about how was the death of some famous people of the ancient world, ie, we know about the deaths of julius caesar, viriathus, etc. But, could someone explain what were the ends of pirrhus, alexander the great, hannibal, iphikrates, xantippus or archimedes?

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Odd. I know of the details of Alexanders, Pyrrhus' and Archimedes death- but I haven't even heard of a fellow called Viriathus :dizzy2:

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Originally Posted by Geoffrey S

Alexander died of a fever; possibly due to drinking bad water, possibly due to his excessive alcohol abuse, possibly poisoned. In any case his refusal to initially acknowledge illness and lack of doctor didn't improve matters. He was on the verge of embarking on a campaign towards Carthage, I think.

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Arabia, actually. Would be interesting to know if he could have done it.
Another theory I've heard is that he died of malaria.

Alexander wasnt on a campaign, he was on his way back to Babylon. His soldiers refused to go any further. He was forced to turn back. No one knows for sure what he would have done next. But most likely he would have raised another army and marched back to india. I dont think alexander cared about carthage. He might have even sent an army to italy, because his uncle alexander died there. Just imagine if he would have kept going into india and beyond.

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Originally Posted by Dan1522

Alexander wasnt on a campaign, he was on his way back to Babylon. His soldiers refused to go any further. He was forced to turn back. No one knows for sure what he would have done next. But most likely he would have raised another army and marched back to india. I dont think alexander cared about carthage. He might have even sent an army to italy, because his uncle alexander died there. Just imagine if he would have kept going into india and beyond.

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He'd be destroyed by the Chinese?

If he would go towards china he would probably get destroyed by Chinese.

Wow, interesting. I din't know anything about hannibal after his campaigns in Italy.

Viriathus is the leader of the iberian resistance against rome. He was the king of the lusitani (I think), and commanded succesfull raids and ambushes against roman armies that kept them from conquering the iberian peninsula so quickly. The romans bribed some of his officials to kill him, and when they took his head to the romans, they said "Rome don't pay to traitors". I think that the roman general was cornelius scipio, but I'm not sure.

Another question: Has the spanish city of Barcelona something to do with the Barca family?

"Another question: Has the spanish city of Barcelona something to do with the Barca family?"

Yes I beleive it does. I think Barcalona means something akin to "The Lion of Barca" which is what Hannibal was known as? Not too sure about the facts but I think its along those lines. Not sure if he founded the city though.

Must say this is a very interesting thread. Good to hear the different accounts people have heard relating to the deaths of these great men. There all slightly different which is what you'd expect for something that happened so long ago.

According to the fourth paragraph in this article it does: Barcid Family.

Unfortunately, as tends to be the case with Wikipedia, it may not be accurate.

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Originally Posted by Dan1522

Alexander wasnt on a campaign, he was on his way back to Babylon. His soldiers refused to go any further. He was forced to turn back. No one knows for sure what he would have done next. But most likely he would have raised another army and marched back to india. I dont think alexander cared about carthage. He might have even sent an army to italy, because his uncle alexander died there. Just imagine if he would have kept going into india and beyond.

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Not quite. He reached Babylon before his death, even before falling ill, though I gather his constitution did suffer from his desert ordeal and the fighting that preceded it. But Alexander was not the type to sit still, so he planned another campaign. When his life-long friend and presumed lover Hephaistion died, he was so struck with grief that he ordered the walls of Babylon painted black and tried to get him deified. The cult of Hephaistion never really took off, I presume because Alex himself was quite quickly deified (and dead) afterwards and many people considered praying to him a better bet.

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Originally Posted by Nagarythe

Viriathus is the leader of the iberian resistance against rome. He was the king of the lusitani (I think), and commanded succesfull raids and ambushes against roman armies that kept them from conquering the iberian peninsula so quickly. The romans bribed some of his officials to kill him, and when they took his head to the romans, they said "Rome don't pay to traitors". I think that the roman general was cornelius scipio, but I'm not sure.

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I think it was one of the predecessors of Scipio the younger. As I recall it, Viriathus was part of a delegation of noblemen that had been attacked under truce by the Romans. Viriathus managed to survive and sought vengeances by rousing the Lusitanian tribes. He proved to be too elusive for the Romans to catch, so he was killed like you described. Unfortunatly for the Romans, Iberian resistance did not end with his death. IIRC yet another Roman general broke the peace treaty with the Numantines, but despite the initial suprise he was defeated and Rome was at war in Iberia once more. In the end, Scipio the Younger, the hero of the third Punic war, was sent to destroy Numantia.

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Originally Posted by Arman

If he would go towards china he would probably get destroyed by Chinese.

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Interesting - but I think most folks would have thought he would have been destroyed by the Persians too. Who knows what could have really happened. Not that I'm disagreeing, but I'm just saying we can't know really. :grin:

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Originally Posted by Teleklos Archelaou

Interesting - but I think most folks would have thought he would have been destroyed by the Persians too. Who knows what could have really happened. Not that I'm disagreeing, but I'm just saying we can't know really. :grin:

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Jurchen knows better since he knows all dates and has great memory he could even remember what was going on in China at that moment. But if China was in power and not splited on 7 kingdoms, then they would win. They were many plus might have very descent tacticians among generals at least not less educated in tactics than Greeks, they had their own poly-axe phalanx, horse archers, and excelent arbalesters. They would probably not have something adequate to fight Companions cavalry. But they use to deal with very strong cavalry already. In order to go into China, Alexander whould have to pass through Tibet which was full of agressive tribes which would be a bit problem. And only then he would face chinese army :-)))) Which shakes the ground when marching, disciplined soldiers great supply trains and artilery. If china was in power. If this was weak moment of Chinese history then they would make him Son of Haven and chinifized his army :-)
I wonder how would Alexander named his Chinese dinasty:-) All nomads conquering north china were picking Chines dynasty names Yuan, Zhao, Xia, Liao :-)
That would be very interesting to speculate what would happen if Hellenes would face Imperial Army.
Persians didn't had regular army and used all sort of millitia. Chinese had reguliar army, millitary ranks, code, and chain of command. I would say they were even more advanced in organization of army.

ive recently read a good book on alexanders death, and although we will never know for sure what killed him the aurthor determined that it must have been a poison called strychnine, it has similer affects as maleria. alexander sufferd the same syntomps as hephaestion who died a few months before him and it is odd that only these 2 people were the only ones who died, ruling out maleria. strychnine only grows in a latitude of 400 meters and in moist rain forests, and in such a place was a temple alexander and roxxane visited whilst the rest of the suspects (meleager, selucius, perdicas ect) were in the lowlands. roxanne was very educated and had a relationship with a hindu priest who joined alexanders "party" during and after the indian campaign, and would have been aware of the poison.
the reason why roxanne was because she was very jelous of hephaestion, whom she could have killed, and the new marriage of alex and statire could have forced her hand, as she was roughly 8 months pregnant with alex`s child.
as i said we will never know for sure but from what i have read i think that this is the most factual and very thought out book/text i have read on the matter.
for any who is interested it was "murder in babylon" by graham phillips

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Originally Posted by Cambel

ive recently read a good book on alexanders death, and although we will never know for sure what killed him the aurthor determined that it must have been a poison called strychnine, it has similer affects as maleria. alexander sufferd the same syntomps as hephaestion who died a few months before him and it is odd that only these 2 people were the only ones who died, ruling out maleria. strychnine only grows in a latitude of 400 meters and in moist rain forests, and in such a place was a temple alexander and roxxane visited whilst the rest of the suspects (meleager, selucius, perdicas ect) were in the lowlands. roxanne was very educated and had a relationship with a hindu priest who joined alexanders "party" during and after the indian campaign, and would have been aware of the poison.
the reason why roxanne was because she was very jelous of hephaestion, whom she could have killed, and the new marriage of alex and statire could have forced her hand, as she was roughly 8 months pregnant with alex`s child.
as i said we will never know for sure but from what i have read i think that this is the most factual and very thought out book/text i have read on the matter.
for any who is interested it was "murder in babylon" by graham phillips

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To kill Alexander who was her only protection from macedonians, that madness she were poisioned here seft and her kid after Alexanders death. She were understanding that, I would suspect somone else. But she were pregnant and women act irrational during such period.

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If he would go towards china he would probably get destroyed by Chinese

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Likely, if that is he had managed to make his way through India first, thick forest, the monsoon and climate would have proved problematic, plus there was the main kingdom in northern India to deal with, the fairly large and powerful Nandas not to mention many other kingdoms of varing strengths, the Pauravas were only a minor tribe and they gave him a heck of a fight before going down.

P.S: Hi, I'm a new member. ~:wave:

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Originally Posted by Arman

To kill Alexander who was her only protection from macedonians, that madness she were poisioned here seft and her kid after Alexanders death. She were understanding that, I would suspect somone else. But she were pregnant and women act irrational during such period.

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Perhaps it is just as well that there are so few women playing EB. :inquisitive:

Still, I agree that Phillips' book won't be the last word on this issue. Reconstructing historical murders usually makes for an exciting read, but given the limited, unrelaible or sometimes downright contradicting source material I don't set much store by it.

Neither mountain tribes, monsoons nor Indians had been able to stop Alexander so far. But I think the Himalaya's might. It's hard enough to cross them with a caravan, let alone with an army.

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Originally Posted by Arman

To kill Alexander who was her only protection from macedonians, that madness she were poisioned here seft and her kid after Alexanders death.

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alexander was`nt the only protection she had, she had his baby(not born by the time of his death), which was the only legitimate hier he had, and did'nt perdicas and meleager actuly rule as regents for the young baby.
i dont quite understand your second point there sorry. i think u mean "she poisned herself and her baby after alex`s death"
if so, although am not certain and their might be a few stories about her death but i remember that after he died roxana finally ended up in olympias(alex`s mother) protection untill cassander killed her and the baby. is this true? anyone know different?

@Alexander's Death: I've read some theories saying that Kassandros/Cassander could be one suspect.

Roxane and Alexander IV(Alexander the greats son) didnt die immediatly after his death young alexander didnt die until was around ten. Cassander killed Roxane, Alexander's son and Olympias all at the same time. Olympias was killed because he hated her and she was a thorn in his side. Roxane and Alexanders son were killed because they posed a threat to his throne. And yes Cassander is suspected to have been apart of Alexanders death. So was his father who sent Cassander on a diplomacy mission to Alexander. And Aristotle is supposed to have made the poison. There are a many theories to how Alexander died but unfortunatly we will never know.

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Originally Posted by stufer

Yes I beleive it does. I think Barcalona means something akin to "The Lion of Barca" which is what Hannibal was known as? Not too sure about the facts but I think its along those lines.

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I think his name ment the love of baal or somthing like that.But I'am not sure.