4th century BC

Millennia:

2nd millennium BC -

1st millennium BC -

1st millennium

The 4th century BC started the first day of 400 BC and ended the last day of 301 BC.

Overview

This century marks the height of the Classical Greek civilization in all of its aspects. With the conquests of Alexander and the civil war of his generals that followed his death the Hellenistic age began.

Events

Bust of Alexander the Great in the British Museum.

• 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 Councel at Vesali, 100 years after the Parimirvana.
• 373 BC The 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.
• 323 BC Alexander the Great conquers the Persian Empire, decline and depopulation of Ancient Greece with large migrations towards the conquered lands.
• 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

"The safest general characterisation of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato." (Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality, 1929).

• 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.
• 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
• Archon of Pella, Babylonian satrap

Inventions, discoveries, introductions

• Oldest Brahmi script dates from this period (Brahmi is the ancestor of Indic scripts).
• Romans build first aqueduct.
• Chinese use bellows.
• 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.