The Macedonian king, the greatest military leader in history, the creator of the world power, Alexander the Great (356 -323 BC) sincerely believed in magic and trusted only one person - a personal magician and oracle named Aristander (Aristander of Telmes). He trusted him so much that he consulted with him on any occasion and, according to some historians, became a victim of manipulation by the mystic.
Aristander always and everywhere accompanied the Macedonian during all his amazing campaigns, which made him the ruler of Persia and Egypt and brought his army to India. Oddly enough, the magician left a lot of information about himself for posterity and, having studied it, one can come to the conclusion that his magic was in the gift of foresight.
In his dreams and secret omens, he could see the events in the implementation of which he was interested, and describe them so colorfully that this prompted a person to take immediate action.
A personal magician appeared in the life of Alexander the Great even before his birth. King Philip the Great saw in a dream that he had sealed the vagina of his beautiful wife Olympia; the wax seal depicted the figure of a lion. Other commentators feared complications in the conjugal union, but when Philip summoned Aristander, his divination was more reassuring. He told Philip that the queen was pregnant, and predicted that the boy she was carrying would be like a lion in strength and courage.
After Alexander the Great inherited the kingdom at the age of twenty, the magician Aristander reappeared as his closest advisor. Ancient records contain records of how the soothsayer Alexander performed his work, including observing the flight of birds, interpreting dreams, divining through the entrails of sacrificed animals, and tracking secret signs in the world around him.
Most of the divinations of the magician Aristander were positive, but there were also warnings (for example, the message about a conspiracy to attempt on the life of Alexander the Great). Once, when the army of Alexander the Great passed through Pieria, the homeland of Orpheus and the Muses, people noticed that the cypress statue of Orpheus was covered with droplets of moisture, and this caused alarm among his soldiers.
The magician Aristander immediately uttered a prediction: since Orpheus is the patron saint of music and song, this sign says that the victories of Alexander the Great of Macedon will make musicians and poets sweat, writing songs of praise in his honor. And so it happened.
But the magician failed to guess something. Once a group of soldiers led by Macedon set up their camp on the banks of the Oxus River (Amu Darya). While digging trenches, the soldiers stumbled upon something completely unfamiliar to European peoples.
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“When he was camped near Oks, not far from Alexander's tent, a water source was clogged and next to it another oil spring. This diva was reported to Ptolemy, son of Lagus, the bodyguard, and Ptolemy told Alexander. Alexander made all the sacrifices indicated by the soothsayers on this occasion. Aristandre said that the oil spring foreshadows work, but also portends victory after work."
Arrian. Alexander's hike. Book IV.15. (6).
He recommended leaving the place, calling it cursed. How could he then have thought that the people of Alexander the Great discovered an oil field that would be of colossal importance for all mankind many years later?
Macedonian died in Babylon in 323 BC. e. It happened unexpectedly - the tsar was not yet 33 years old! What caused the death of a young and strong enough man is a huge question. The earliest sources report that he fell ill after another feast: according to the assurances of contemporaries, the emperor was simply poisoned, moreover, by his own wife Roxana.
No matter what happened, after the death of Macedon, serious strife began around his considerable inheritance. Those close to the king began to argue with each other and share the royal goods. As a result, the corpse lay unburied on its deathbed for a whole week. In the end, the commanders and nobles caught themselves and remembered the deceased. The body was embalmed, a royal crown was put on its head and a large cortege was equipped on the way - it was decided to bury it in Palestine.
However, the caravan did not reach its destination. Ptolemy I, the closest comrade-in-arms and commander of Alexander the Great, gathered his army and went out to meet the funeral procession, ostensibly to pay tribute to the king. But instead, he boldly attacked the funeral cortege, took the "trophy" and rushed with him to Egypt. Where did the body and the coffin go - another mystery for posterity.
She does not give rest to the mystics because of one prediction made during Alexander's lifetime by his personal magician. It says that after death, each undead bone of the commander will have colossal strength and the oracles of the whole world will hunt for it.
In addition, things and jewelry that Macedonian once possessed will have magical power. Perhaps because of this prophecy, the body and wealth of the Macedonian were hunted at all times. But so far - to no avail.