Alexander, still ailing, reads out his will, appointing as king any son born of him and his wife posthumously or, should none be born, his brother, a son of the late Philip of Macedon, until the Macedonians elect a new ruler. Alexander then dies. Historically, Alexander the Great died in Babylon in 323 BC after a night of heavy drinking. His intoxication might have masked the true cause of his death, which some believe was malaria, others alcohol-induced pancreatitis, and others still, poison.

THE CONSTELLATION OF THE MAIDEN

Phaenomena

Aratus

Translated by Douglas Kidd, 1997

The night sky inspired many stories in antiquity. Aratus (c. 315 BC/310 BC–240 BC), a poet from Asia Minor, wrote an entire book of Phaenomena or ‘Things That Appear’. Underpinned by Stoic philosophy and Greek myth, it describes the positions, and the rising and setting, of the constellations. In the seventh century BC, the poet Hesiod (see Stories 1 and 9) had described Justice (also known as ‘the Maiden’ or ‘Virgo’ in Latin) as abandoning mortals as they grew ever more violent and degenerate. His tale of the decline of man over five ages – Golden, Silver, Bronze, Heroic, and Iron – provides the backbone of Aratus’ story.