Hephæstion died soon after, at Ecbatana, of a fever he had not taken care of in time.  Alexander caused his corpse to be brought to Babylon, and burnt on a funeral pile; while he himself was in an agony of grief, and sent to ask the oracle of Ammon whether his friend might not be worshipped as a hero-god.  He himself had already demanded divine honours from the Greeks.  The Athenians obeyed, but secretly mocked; and the Spartans grimly answered, “If Alexander will be a god, let him.”