The 4th century BC

939 sourced entries across 100 documented years, grouped into 10 decades. A century here runs 1900–1999 rather than 1901–2000, so its decades sit inside it exactly.

Decades

By subject

A few of the years

  • 399 BCEFebruary 15 – The Greek philosopher Socrates is sentenced to death by Athenian authorities, condemned for impiety and the corruption of youth. He refuses to flee into exile and dies by drinking hemlock.
  • 387 BCEPlato founds the Platonic Academy in Athens, where he teaches Aristotle until 347 BC.
  • 375 BCEZhou Lie Wang becomes king of the Zhou dynasty of China.
  • 363 BCEThe Egyptian pharaoh Teos (or Tachos) succeeds his father Nectanebo I to the throne. Planning a great attack on Persia, he invites Sparta to help him.
  • 351 BCEThe Etruscans are badly defeated by the Romans and abandon their attacks on the city and sue for peace.
  • 339 BCEThe Roman consul Titus Manlius Imperiosus Torquatus defeats the Latins in the Battle of Trifanum.
  • 327 BCEAlexander the Great invades northern India. Recrossing the Hindu Kush, Alexander divides his forces. Half the army with the baggage under Hephaestion and Perdiccas, both cavalry commanders, are sent through the Khyber Pass, while Alexander leads the rest, together with his siege train, through the hills to the north. His advance through Swat and Gandhara is marked by the storming of the almost impregnable pinnacle of Aornos, a few miles west of the Indus.
  • 315 BCEThe Indian king Porus, ally of Alexander the Great, is killed by Eudemus, another general of Alexander. The son of Porus, Malayketu, seizes his territory back by killing Eudemus.