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The 370s BC

52 sourced entries across 10 years, inside the 4th century BC. Each year below opens its own page; the lines under it are that year’s highest-ranked entries.

379 BCE3 entries

  • Sparta suppresses the Chalcidian League and imposes terms favourable to King Amyntas III of Macedonia.
  • Rome sends colonists to Setia, the inhabitants complain that their numbers are too small. Publius and Gaius Manlius are assigned to the Volsicans for campaign. A defeat follows for the Romans after having been attacked in their camp and foraging parties being killed. The Roman soldiers do not waver even when they have no leader. A dictator is soon afterwards requested but the Volsicans do not know how to follow up a victory. At the end of the year the Parenestines inspire the Latin peoples to revolt.
  • The Thebans are able to reconstitute their old Boeotian confederacy in a new, democratic form. The cities of Boeotia unite as a federation with an executive body composed of seven generals, or Boeotarchs, elected from seven districts throughout Boeotia.

378 BCE5 entries

  • The Servian Wall is constructed around Rome to prevent the city from being captured or sacked (see 390 BC). This is the first fortification that the Romans build around their home city.
  • Athens allies itself with Thebes and forms the Second Athenian League. The confederacy includes most of the Boeotian cities and some of the Ionian islands.
  • The Theban general and statesman, Epaminondas, takes command of Thebes. Pelopidas is elected boeotarch, or chief magistrate, of the city.

377 BCE4 entries

  • Timotheus wins over the Acarnanians and Molossians as friends of Athens.
  • Mausolus is appointed as the Persian satrap of Caria.
  • The Peace of Antalcidas (387 BC), includes a clause guaranteeing the Greek cities their independence. The Spartan King Agesilaus II uses this clause as an excuse to force the dissolution of Thebes' Boeotian League. In two sieges, he reduces Thebes to near starvation.

376 BCE4 entries

  • The Thracian city of Abdera is sacked by the Triballi.
  • The Athenian admiral Chabrias wins a naval victory for Athens over the Spartan fleet, off the island of Naxos (the Battle of Naxos). The battle is brought on by the Athenians to break the Spartans' blockade of Athens' corn-ships from the Black Sea.

375 BCE5 entries

  • Zhou Lie Wang becomes king of the Zhou dynasty of China.
  • The Theban general, Pelopidas, is made the leader of the Sacred Band, a selected infantry body of 300.

374 BCE5 entries

  • Pharnabazus II, Satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia, ends his reign.
  • Sparta attacks Corcyra, enlisting Syracusan help. Athens comes to the island's aid. The Athenian general, Timotheus, captures Corcyra and defeats the Spartans at sea off Alyzia (Acarnania).
  • The King of Salamis, Evagoras, is assassinated. He is succeeded by his son, Nicocles, who continues his father's liberal Hellenising policy in Cyprus, encouraged by Isocrates, who writes his Exhortation to Nicocles.

373 BCE4 entries

  • The ancient Greek city of Helike is destroyed by a massive earthquake and tsunami.
  • The Persian King Artaxerxes II launches an invasion of Egypt to bring that country back under Persian rule. The invasion is led by Pharnabazus. After initial successes, the Greek mercenaries fighting for the Persians push on towards Memphis. However, King Nectanebo I is able to gather his forces and repulse the Persian invasion.
  • Iphicrates leads an Athenian expedition which successfully relieves Corcyra of a Spartan siege.

372 BCE3 entries

  • Troilus of Elis wins two equestrian events at the Olympic Games, which leads to referees being banned from competing in the Games.
  • Jason of Pherae, the ruler of Thessaly, allies himself first with Athens and then with Macedon.

371 BCE8 entries

  • Agesipolis II succeeds his father Cleombrotus I as king of Sparta.
  • It is suggested that the original comet associated with the Kreutz Sungrazers family of comets passes perihelion at this time. It is thought to have been observed by Aristotle and Ephorus during this year.
  • With the unexpected defeat of Sparta by the Thebans, the Arcadians decide to re-assert their independence. They rebuild Mantinea, form an Arcadian League and build a new federal city, Megalopolis.

370 BCE11 entries

  • Eudoxus of Cnidus develops the method of exhaustion for mathematically determining the area under a curve.
  • The tagus of Thessaly, Jason of Pherae, dies, after making Thessaly a powerful force in Greek politics.
  • The sculptor Praxiteles begins his active career in Athens (approximate date).