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The 380s BC

67 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.

389 BCE8 entries

  • This is the latest possible date for the compilation of the historical text Zuo Zhuan, attributed to a blind historian known as Zuo Qiuming.
  • A Spartan expeditionary force under King Agesilaus II crosses the Gulf of Corinth to attack Acarnania, an ally of the anti-Spartan coalition. Agesilaus is eventually able to draw them into a pitched battle, in which the Acarnanians are routed.
  • Due to threats of attack from Akarnania, Kalydon garrisons the Achaeans.

388 BCE7 entries

  • The Athenian general, Thrasybulus, sails to Lesbos, where, with the support of the Mytileneans, he defeats the Spartan forces on the island and wins over a number of cities. While still on Lesbos, however, Thrasybulus is killed by raiders from the city of Aspendus where his financial exactions have made him unpopular.
  • Plato, having left Athens on Socrates' death to visit Megara and possibly Egypt, travels to Syracuse at the invitation of Dionysius I's brother-in-law Dion.
  • King Agesipolis I leads a Spartan army against Argos. Since no Argive army challenges him, he plunders the countryside for a time, and then, after receiving several unfavorable omens, returns to Sparta.

387 BCE7 entries

  • Plato founds the Platonic Academy in Athens, where he teaches Aristotle until 347 BC.
  • With the aid of the Lucanians, Dionysius I of Syracuse devastates the territories of Thurii, Crotone, and Locri in mainland Italy. When Rhegium falls, Dionysius becomes the chief power in Greek Southern Italy. He then turns his attention to the Adriatic and founds the colonies of Ancona (Ankon) and Adria (Adrìa).
  • Rome begins to rebuild after being invaded by the Gauls under Brennus.

386 BCE5 entries

  • Freed from Spartan attacks by the Peace of Antalcidas ("King's Peace") of the previous year, Persia turns to quieting Cyprus and Egypt. Owing to the skill of King Evagoras of Cyprus and of Egypt's Greek mercenary general Chabrias, these wars drag on for the rest of the decade.
  • Dionysius I of Syracuse extends the influence and trade of Syracuse to the Adriatic, establishing colonies at Adria, Ancona and Issa.
  • The Chinese city of Handan is founded by the State of Zhao.

385 BCE9 entries

  • Bardyllis becomes king of Illyria and the Dardani and establishes the Bardyllian Dynasty.
  • Jason of Pherae becomes tyrant of Thessaly.
  • Plato forms his Academy, teaching mathematics, astronomy and other sciences as well as philosophy. It is dedicated to the Attic hero Academus. Philanthropists bear all costs; students pay no fees.

384 BCE4 entries

  • Lysias, the Athenian orator, on the occasion of the Olympiad, rebukes the Greeks for allowing themselves to be dominated by the Syracusan tyrant Dionysius I and by the barbarian Persians.
  • The Greeks found the colony of Pharos at the site of today’s Stari Grad on the island of Hvar, defeating Iadasinoi warriors brought in for its defense.

383 BCE3 entries

  • The second Buddhist council is convened by king Kalasoka and held at Vaisali.
  • King Amyntas III of Macedon, forms a temporary alliance with the Chalcidian League, a confederation of cities of the Chalcidice peninsula, east of Macedonia. Sparta, whose policy is to keep Greeks disunited, sends an expedition northwards to disrupt the Chalcidian League.
  • The 19 year lunar cycle is introduced into the Babylonian calendar.

382 BCE7 entries

  • The Spartan commander Phoebidas, who is passing through Boeotia on campaign, takes advantage of civil strife within Thebes to gain entrance to the city for his troops. Once inside, he seizes the Cadmeia (the citadel of Thebes), and forces the anti-Spartan party to flee the city. The government of Thebes is placed in the hands of the pro-Spartan party, backed by a Spartan garrison based in the Cadmeia. Many of the previous leaders of Thebes are driven into exile. Epaminondas, although associated with the anti-Spartan faction, is allowed to remain.
  • In punishment for his unauthorized action in the previous year of taking over Thebes, Phoebidas is relieved of his command, but the Spartans continue to hold Thebes. The Spartan king Agesilaus II argues against punishing Phoebidas, on the grounds that his actions had benefited Sparta, and this was the only standard against which he ought to be judged.
  • Evandrus takes over being Archon of Athens from Demonstrates.

381 BCE6 entries

  • Sparta increases its hold on central Greece by reestablishing the city of Plataea, which Sparta formerly destroyed in 427 BC.
  • The Persian generals Tiribazus and Orontes I invade Cyprus, with an army far larger than any King Evagoras I of Cyprus could raise. However, Evagoras manages to cut off this force from being resupplied, and the starving troops rebel. However, the war then turns in the Persians' favour when Evagoras' fleet is destroyed at the Battle of Citium (Larnaca, Cyprus). Evagoras flees to Salamis, where he manages to conclude a peace which allows him to remain nominally king of Salamis, though in reality he is a vassal of the Persian king.
  • The district of Tusculum is pacified after a revolt against Rome, and then conquered. After an expression of complete submission to Rome, Tusculum becomes the first "municipium cum suffragio", and thenceforth the city continues to hold the rank of a municipium.

380 BCE11 entries

  • The Egyptian Pharaoh Hakor dies and is succeeded by his son Nepherites II, but the latter is overthrown by Nectanebo I within the year, ending the Twenty-ninth dynasty of Egypt. Nectanabo (or more properly Nekhtnebef) becomes the first Pharaoh of the Thirtieth Dynasty of Egypt.
  • Cleombrotus I succeeds his brother Agesipolis I as king of Sparta.
  • Persia forces the Athenians to withdraw their general Chabrias from Egypt. Chabrias has been successfully supporting the Egyptian Pharaohs in maintaining their independence from the Persian Empire.