Alexander’s Last Days - Plutarch

1st June 323 BC
Daesius - 18th

• Alexander feverish. Sleeps in bathroom

2nd June 323 BC
Daesius - 19th

• Alexander bathes; is moved back to his bedchamber
• Spends day playing dice with Medius
• Late Evening Alexander bathes again, sacrifices to gods and dines
• Night Alexander remains feverish

3rd June 323 BC
Daesius - 20th

• Alexander bathes; sacrifices as normal
• He rests in bathroom; listens to to Nearchus’ account of voyage

4th June 323 BC
Daesius - 21st

• Alexander bathes, sacrifices and spends time with friends; his fever grows ‘more intense’
• Night Alexander doesn’t sleep well

5th June 323 BC
Daesius - 22nd

• Alexander’s fever is ‘very high’
• He has his bed moved to beside ‘great plunge bath’
• Discusses vacant army posts with senior officers

6th June 323 BC
Daesius - 23rd

• [No account given]

7th June 323 BC
Daesius - 24th

• Alexander’s fever grows ‘still worse’; he is now bedridden
• He is carried outside so he can sacrifice
• Alexander orders senior officers ‘to remain on call’ in palace courtyard; also orders company and regimental commanders ‘to spend the night outside’

8th June 323 BC
Daesius - 25th

• Alexander moved to palace ‘on the other side of the river’ to help the fever. He is able to sleep ‘a little’ but fever remains
• When Alexander’s senior officers visit him, they find him unable to speak

9th June 323 BC
Daesius - 26th

• Alexander remains feverous and unable to speak

9th and / or 10th June 323 BC
Daesius - 26th and/or 27th

• Macedonians believe Alexander has died. They demand access to him
• Macedonians file past Alexander ‘one by one, wearing neither cloak nor armour’
• Python (aka Python) and Seleucus ‘sent to the temple of Serapis’ to ask the god ‘whether Alexander should be moved there’
• Serapis tells them Alexander should be left where he is

11th June 323 BC
Daesius - 28th

• ‘Towards evening’ Alexander dies

Note
You’ll notice that I have written this post in a slightly more concise manner than its Arrian equivalent. That’s because I first wrote it for my Second Achilles Tumblr page. You can find the relevant post here. In case it is important, I have not changed any part of the timeline.
The edition of Plutarch that I used for this timeline was the Penguin Classics Age of Alexander (2011)
As can be seen, Plutarch (just about) agrees with Arrian that Alexander was ill for eleven days.
I mentioned in my Arrian post that Robin Lane Fox dates Alexander’s death to 10th June. The notes to my copy of Plutarch are equally certain that he died on 11th June, and they cite the authority of a Babylonian astronomical text; I suspect that those scholars who date his death to the 10th also cite the astronomical text, just in a different way.
I could choose a side in this dispute but I would have no rational reason for doing so. Instead, just as I respected Lane Fox in my Arrian post, I respect the writer of the notes here and so date Alexander’s death to the 11th.