Final answer:
Alexander the Great faced leadership challenges related to his health, traditional expectations, and succession, which led to conflict after his mysterious death. His last words, 'the strongest', prompted a power struggle, known as the Wars of the Successors. His death mirrored the life he led and could be seen as appropriate, tragic, ironic, or absurd.
Step-by-step explanation:
Alexander the Great continued to face leadership problems upon his return to Persia and Babylon due to his failing health, the demand of traditional practices, and the lack of a clear successor. Despite his extraordinary military and political abilities, evident through his conquests which spread Greek culture, his death in 323 BCE is marked by mystery and two main accounts from Plutarch and Arrian. Plutarch suggests the possibility of poisoning, while Arrian generally agrees with the theory that Alexander died of natural causes, possibly exacerbated by excessive drinking and a severe fever.
Upon Alexander's deathbed, when asked about his successor, his enigmatic last words, "the strongest", created a power vacuum that led to the inevitable Wars of the Successors. Considering Alexander's character and life as a warrior and conqueror, his death could be interpreted through various lenses: as appropriate due to his living on the edge, tragic for its abruptness and the ensuing chaos, ironic given his quest for glory and immortality, or absurd in its suddenness removing a legendary figure from his own narrative abruptly.
His death and the subsequent division of his empire raise important questions about the role of individual leaders within history's grand tapestry and the fragile nature of empires bound by the will of a single charismatic ruler.