In which Macedonian month did Alexander the Great die?

Alexander the Great died in the Macedonian month of Daesius, also written Daisios. Ancient accounts place his death at Babylon at the end of that month in 323 BCE.

The Macedonian calendar was lunisolar, so its months do not map perfectly onto fixed modern calendar months. Daesius generally corresponded to May and June. Plutarch, drawing on the royal diaries, says Alexander died on the thirtieth day of Daesius after a prolonged illness accompanied by fever and weakness.

Modern historians use Babylonian astronomical records to place his death around 10–11 June 323 BCE. The exact modern date varies because ancient calendars began days at sunset and because the surviving Greek and Babylonian records use different systems. Those date-conversion issues do not change the month: Daesius is the standard answer.

The name may appear as Daesius, Daisios, or Daisius in English-language histories. These are transliteration variants of the same Macedonian month, not different months. The month is therefore distinct from Panemos, Dystros, and Artemisios, which belonged to other parts of the Macedonian calendar.