Alexander the Great's last will and testament may have been found 'hiding in plain sight' 2,000 years after his death
- London-based expert unearthed the his dying wishes in an ancient text
- 'Alexander Romance' text divulges his plans for the future of his vast empire
- It reveals his burial wishes and the beneficiaries to his vast fortune and power
- Military leaders had fought for centuries over who inherited Alexander's land
The fabled last will and testament of Alexander the Great may have finally been discovered more than 2,000 years after his death.
A London-based expert claims to have unearthed the Macedonian king's dying wishes in an ancient text that has been 'hiding in plain sight' for centuries.
The long-dismissed last will divulges Alexander's plans for the future of the Greek-Persian empire he ruled.
It also reveals his burial wishes and discloses the beneficiaries to his vast fortune and power.
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The fabled last will and testament of Alexander the Great, illustrated above, may have finally been discovered. A London-based expert claims to have unearthed Alexander the Great's dying wishes in an ancient text (pictured) that has been 'hiding in plain sight' for centuries
Likely compiled during the century after Alexander's death, the fables contain invaluable historical fragments about Alexander's campaigns in the Persian Empire.
Historians have long believed that the last chapter of the Romance housed a political pamphlet that contained Alexander's will, but until now have dismissed it as a work of early fiction.
But a ten-year research project undertaken by Alexander expert David Grant suggests otherwise.
The comprehensive study concludes that the will was based upon the genuine article, though it was skewed for political effect.
The revelation is detailed in Mr Grant's new book, 'In Search of the Lost Testament of Alexander the Great.'
He believes that Alexander's original will was suppressed by his most powerful generals, because it named his then unborn half-Asian son Alexander IV and elder son Heracles as his successors.
Rather than accepting the leadership of what the Macedonians saw as 'half-breed' sons, which would have been 'unthinkable', they fought each other for power in a bloody period of infighting and civil war known as the 'Successor Wars'.
The long-dismissed last will and testament divulges Alexander's (pictured) plans for the future of the Greek-Persian empire he ruled
If Mr Grant is correct his finding overturns 2,000 years of academic study on the issue.
The researcher came to the conclusion after studying various ancient texts about the leader over 10-year period.
'The propaganda and political slant of the pamphlet cast serious doubts on the authenticity of the will, which at some point was absorbed by a developing book of fables we know today as Greek Alexander Romance,' he said.
'Once it entered the Romance, its fate was relegated from truth to fairy tale.
'Yet my research brings me to the overwhelming conclusion that, though adulterated, this is based on an original last testament of Alexander the Great, and it was one of the most influential military and political mandates in the ancient world.'
As well as naming Alexander's chosen successors the leaflet contains detail of a conspiracy among his generals to poison Alexander.
Instead of being satisfied with the regions of the empire Alexander allotted to each of them to govern on behalf of his sons, they fought bitterly to control the whole empire.
Mr Grant said: 'The surviving texts make it quite clear that none of the generals with Alexander at Babylon would have accepted their authority being subordinated to a son bred from a race they had conquered.
Alexander the Great (pictured) is arguably one of history's most successful military commanders. Undefeated in battle, he had carved out a vast empire stretching from Macedonia and Greece in Europe, to Persia, Egypt and even parts of northern India
'The suppression of the will, and the claims that Alexander either died silent with no instructions, or he died encouraging his generals to slug it out for control of the empire with the famous words 'to the strongest', legitimized their own actions, aggressions and alliances in the years after Alexander's death.'
Alexander the Great is arguably one of history's most successful military commanders.
Undefeated in battle, he had carved out a vast empire stretching from Macedonia and Greece in Europe, to Persia, Egypt and even parts of northern India by the time of his death aged 32.
Only five barely intact accounts of his death at Babylon in 323 BCE survive to the present day.
None are from eyewitnesses and all conflict to varying degrees.
London-based Alexander expert David Grant's (pictured) research has spanned ten years and tens of thousands of hours considering 'every conceivable avenue of investigation' in order to put the record straight on Alexander's will once and for all
According to one account from the Roman era, Alexander died leaving his kingdom 'to the strongest' or 'most worthy' of his generals.
In another version, he died speechless in a coma, without making any plans for succession.
Based on these testimonies, historians have ignored the will in the final pages of Romance.
But Mr Grant, a classics graduate, considered the hypothesis to be 'highly suspect' given Alexander's attention to detail and the power-hungry nature of his generals.
He said: 'It is clear that the testament was most likely issued, as per the academic consensus, by one of the competing generals to win support over their rivals.
'Even so, there is a very basic logic that seems to have been consistently overlooked: recirculating a will that had never existed would have been dangerous and self-defeating for any one of proposed authors of the pamphlet, all high-ranking generals.
'It was only by calling upon the authority of the actual last will and testament that the author of the political pamphlet could ever hope to stake a claim to power.'
'In Search of the Lost Testament' is set for release later this week.
Mr Grant has written a book exploring the mythical leader's final demands before his death over 2,000 years ago and the resulting skirmish between Alexander's many military leaders
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