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Afterwards, Alexander travelled to Ecbatana to retrieve the bulk of the Persian treasure. There, his closest friend, Hephaestion, died of illness or poisoning.<ref name="AVII14" /> Hephaestion's death devastated Alexander and he ordered the preparation of an expensive [[funeral pyre]] in Babylon along with a decree for public mourning.<ref name="AVII14" /> Back in Babylon, Alexander planned a series of new campaigns, beginning with an invasion of Arabia, but he would not have a chance to realize them, as he died shortly after Hephaestion.<ref name="AVII19" />
[[File:Alexander and Hephaestion.jpg|left|thumb|Busts of Alexander the Great and his general [[Hephaestion]], at the Getty Villa in the [[Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles|Pacific Palisades,]] CA ]]
On the evening of May 29, Alexander organized a banquet for his army to celebrate the end of the campaign of India and the onset of the invasion of the Arabian Peninsula. There is a tradition that they would only start serious drinking after everyone was done with their meals, but the wine was usually heavily watered.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gately|first1=Iain|title=Drink: A Cultural History Of Alcohol|date=2008|publisher=Penguin Group|location=New York|isbn=978-1-592-40464-3|page=21 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0FpnqTGxykIC&pg=PT24 }}</ref>
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