4TH CENTURY BC

The '4th century BC' started the first day of 400 BC and ended the last day of 301 BC. It is considered part of the Classical era, epoch, or historical period.

Contents

Overview

Events

Significant People

Inventions, discoveries, introductions

Decades and Years

Overview

This century marks the height of Classical Greek civilization in all of its aspects.By the year 400 Greek philosophy, art, literature and architechture have spread with the numerous independent Greek colonies that have sprung up throughout the lands of the eastern Mediterranean. Arguably the most important series of political events in this period are the conquests of Alexander, bringing about the collapse of the once formidable Persian Empire and spreading Greek culture far into the east. Alexander dreams of an east/west union, but when his short life ends, his vast empire is plunged into civil war as his generals each carve out their own separate kingdoms. Thus begins the Hellenistic age, a period characterized by a more absolute approach to rule, with Greek kings taking on royal trappings and setting up hereditary successions. While a degree of democracy still exists in some of the remaining independent Greek cities, many scholars see this age as marking the end of classical Greece.

Events

★ Mid-4th century BC — Priene, Western Turkey is rebuilt.

★ 4th century BC — Pectoral, from the tomb of a Scythian at Ordzhonikidze, Russia, is made. It is now at Historical Museum, Kiev.

★ Late 4th century BC — Diadem, reputed to have been found in a tomb near the Hellespont. It is now at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

★ 399 BC Socrates is executed in Athens on charges of impiety and corrupting Athenian youth.

★ 383 BC Second Buddhist council at Vesali, 100 years after the Parimirvana.

★ 373 BC The quite important Greek city of Helike sinks into the sea with the loss of its whole population other than the animals, which had fled five days earlier.

★ c360 BC Theater of Tholos, at Epidauros is built

★ 354 BC, the Battle of Guiling in China

★ 342 BC, the Battle of Maling in China

★ 323 BC Alexander the Great conquers the Persian Empire, decline and depopulation of Ancient Greece with large migrations towards the conquered lands.

★ 316 BC The Chinese State of Qin conquers the State of Shu, located in modern-day Sichuan, the ultimate success of the conquest due large in part to the strategy of Zhang Yi.

★ 312 BC Seleucus I Nicator establishes himself in Babylon, founding the Seleucid Empire.

★ Invasion of the Celts into Ireland.

★ Battle of the Allia and subsequent Gaulish sack of Rome.

★ The Scythians are beginning to be absorbed into the Sarmatian people.

★ The Romans conquer the Abruzzi region, decline of the Etruscan civilization.

Significant People

★ Marcus Furius Camillus, Roman dictator (''c.'' 446–365 BC)

★ Plato, philosopher (''c.'' 427–347 BC)

★ Tollund Man, Human sacrifice victim on the Jutland Peninsula in Denmark, possibly the earliest known evidence for worship of Odin

★ Aristotle, philosopher and scientist (384–322 BC)

★ Philip II of Macedonia (born 382, reigned 359–336 BC)

★ Demosthenes (384–322 BC), a prominent Athenian statesman and orator, who became a fierce opponent of Philip II and Alexander of Macedon

★ Gan De, Chinese astronomer

★ Shi Shen, Chinese astronomer

★ Darius III of Persia, last King of the Achaemenid dynasty (born 380, reigned 359–330 BC)

★ Mencius, Chinese philosopher and sage (371–289 BC)

★ Yang Zhu (also Yang Chu), Chinese philosopher for egoism and intellectual rival of Mencius

★ Ptolemy I Soter, founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty (''c.'' 367–283 BC)

★ Shang Yang, Prime Minister of Qin, his reform helped Qin to become the strongest country and later unified China (term 361–338 BC)

★ Seleucus I Nicator, founder of the Seleucid Empire (''c.'' 358–281 BC)

★ Alexander the Great, King of Macedon, invades Asia Minor, Persia and reaches India (born 356, reigned 336–323 BC)

★ Brennus, Gaulish chieftain

★ Zhuangzi, Chinese philosopher

★ Archon of Pella, Babylonian satrap

★ Sun Bin, Chinese general and military strategist (d. 316 BC)

Inventions, discoveries, introductions

★ Oldest Brahmi script dates from this period (Brahmi is the ancestor of Indic scripts).

★ Romans build first aqueduct.

★ Chinese use the handheld trigger crossbow for the first time.

★ The first crossbow, the gastraphetes, is invented at Syracuse.

★ Burnt brick first used in Greece.

★ Donkey-powered mills first used in Greece.

★ Torque with lion's-head terminals, from Susa (modern Shush, Iran) was made. It is now in Musee du Louvre, Paris.

★ Daric, a coin first minted under Darius I of Persia was made. It is now in Heberden Coin room, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.

★ Starting in the year 309 BC, the later Chinese historian Sima Qian (145 BC-90 BC) wrote that the Qin-employed engineer Bi Ling of the newly conquered State of Shu in Sichuan had the shoulder of a mountain cut through, making the 'Separated Hill' that abated the Mo River, and excavated two canals in the plain of Chengdu. The significance of this was phenomenal, as it allowed the new Guanxian irrigation system to populate an area of some 40 by 50 miles (60 × 80 km) with over five million people, still in use today (Needham, ''Science and Civilization in China'', Volume 4, Part 3, 288).

Decades and Years