There is a work of history called "Philippica." It was written by a contemporary of Alexander the Great and Philip of Macedon, a Greek historian called Theopompus. The work is meant to be a history of the Macedonian Empire, but the author seems to have gone on various tangents, causing it to be a universal history of the world. It's 58 books long and naturally would be an invaluable source for the ancient world; it's also completely lost. But a later, written Latin work succinctly called "Philippic Histories and the Origin of the Whole World and the Places of the Earth (Historiae Philippicae et Totius Mundi Origines et Terrae Situs)" by Pompeius Trogus likely draws heavily from it. It's somewhat shorter, 44 books long, so perhaps it is a kind of Latin summary of the work of Theopompus. Also like Theopompus' work, it's lost as well. But an abridgment of this Latin version of the Greek history was made in the second century: "Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus" by Justin. It's "one-sixth the length of the original" and has been described as a "capricious anthology." Naturally, "the work was very popular at the time of its release, quickly overtaking the principal," and survives to this day.

Biographical epitaph of an Egyptian priest, Somtutefnakht, who was at the Battle of Issus alongside Darius III when he was defeated by Alexander the Great.

Most Achaemenid kings died from assassination. As Xenophon warns on the dangers of the Persian court: "nowhere are so many men killed or ruined because of poisonous drugs [than at the Persian court]"