The Romance suggests that his inner circle conspired to assassinate him upon his return to Babylon.[20] A theory proposed by Schep in 2013 suggests that Veratrum album was used to kill Alexander the Great.[21] Schep argues that the usual suspects thought to be the culprit, such as arsenic and strychnine, would have acted too quickly to correlate with historical accounts. Alexander was ill for twelve days and suffered symptoms synonymous with Veratrum album poisoning. Notably, the theory is furthered by the proposal that Alexander drank wine poisoned with Veratrum album.