text: Eurydice II, Macedonian queen and mother of Philip II of Macedon


year_label: 365 BCE

section: Deaths

text: Marcus Furius Camillus, Roman soldier and statesman. (b. c. 446 BC)

source_section: Deaths


text: Antisthenes, Athenian philosopher (b. c. 445 BC)


year_label: 366 BCE

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: The use of military tribunes with consular power is abandoned permanently and the dual consulship is restored. A new magistracy is established, which is called the praetorship. Its holder, the praetor, is elected annually by the Assembly and takes charge of civil matters, thus relieving the consuls of this responsibility. The praetor is regarded as a junior colleague of the consuls. Nevertheless, the praetor can command an army, convene a Senate or an assembly, as well as exercise the consular functions.

source_section: Events › By place › Roman Republic


section: Conflict & Security

text: In Persia, a number of satraps of King Artaxerxes II begin a revolt, in alliance with Athens, Sparta, and Egypt, that lasts until 358 BC.

source_section: Events › By place › Persian Empire


text: Theban leader, Epaminondas, returns to the Peloponnesus for a third time, seeking to secure the allegiance of the states of Achaea. Although no army dares to challenge him in the field, the democratic governments he establishes there are short-lived, as pro-Spartan aristocrats soon return to the cities, reestablish the oligarchies, and bind their cities ever more closely to Sparta.

source_section: Events › By place › Greece


text: Thebes captures the city of Oropus.


text: Thebes makes peace with Sparta and then turns its attention on Athens, which is trying to revive its maritime empire and is interfering in Macedonian dynastic quarrels.


section: Exploration & Expansion

text: Athens founds the town of Kos on the island of Kos in the Aegean Sea.


section: Religion & Belief

text: The experiment by Dion (brother-in-law of Dionysius I) and Plato to educate the new ruler of Syracuse, Dionysius II, in the practical application of Plato's philosophical principles fails and Dion and Plato are banished from Syracuse.

source_section: Events › By place › Sicily


text: Two additional aediles, called curule ("higher") aediles, are created in the Roman hierarchy. These are at first patricians; but those of the next year are plebeians and so on year by year alternately. They are elected in the assembly of the tribes, with the consul presiding.


section: Crime & Justice

text: The Abduction of Persephone, detail of a wall painting in Tomb I (Small Tomb) in Vergina, Macedonia, is made (approximate date).

source_section: Events › By topic › Arts


year_label: 367 BCE

text: Theban leader Pelopidas goes on an embassy to the Persian king Artaxerxes II and induces him to propose a settlement of the Greek states' disputes according to the wishes of the Thebans. Artaxerxes II issues an edict consisting of peace terms for the Greeks, but his edict is not obeyed by any of the Greek states.


text: Aristotle arrives in Athens and teaches at Plato's Academy.


text: During the ten-year period that Gaius Licinius (Calvus) Stolo is tribune in Rome (376 BC to 367 BC) he does much to reduce the enmity between patricians and plebs by reforming a number of laws. During his term, he proposes the Lex Licinia Sextia, which restores the consulship to the plebs, requires a plebeian consul seat, limits the amount of public land that one person can hold, and regulates debts. The patricians oppose these laws, though they are now finally passed and take effect from 366 BC.


text: The Theban general, Epaminondas, again invades the Peloponnesus, but this time achieves little beyond winning Sicyon over to an alliance with Thebes. When he returns to Thebes, he is again put on trial, and again acquitted.


text: Dionysius II makes peace with Carthage on the same terms established after his father's defeat by Carthage in the previous decade.


text: Archidamus III, son of Agesilaus II of Sparta, commands a Spartan army which scores a victory over the Arcadians.


text: The temple to Concordia on the Forum Romanum in Rome is built by Marcus Furius Camillus.


section: Science & Discovery

text: The Greek philosopher and scientist, Aristotle, goes to Athens as a pupil at Plato's Academy.

source_section: Events › By topic › Philosophy


section: Births

text: Ptolemy, Macedonian general, later founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt (d. 282 BC)

source_section: Births


text: Dionysius I of Syracuse dies and is succeeded as tyrant of the city by his son Dionysius II. As the younger Dionysius is weak and inexperienced, Dion, brother-in-law of the elder Dionysius, assumes control and persuades Plato, whose friendship he has acquired, to train the new tyrant in the practical application of his philosophical principles.


text: Dionysius I, tyrant of Syracuse (b. 430 BC)


year_label: 368 BCE

text: Plato's Republic is completed. It lays down the rules for an ideal, righteous society and suggests that kings ought to be philosophers (or at least taught by philosophers).


text: Zhou Xian Wang becomes king of the Zhou dynasty of China.

source_section: Events › By place › China


text: While the previous year's intervention by the Macedonians in Thessaly is successful, after the Macedonian troops withdraw, Alexander of Pherae treats his subjects as cruelly as before. So the Thessalians seek Thebes' support. Pelopidas is sent to their assistance, but is treacherously seized and imprisoned.


text: In response, Epaminondas is reinstated in command of Theban troops and leads the Theban army into Thessaly, where he outmanoeuvres the Thessalians and secures the release of Pelopidas without a fight.


section: Culture & Society

text: At the instigation of Alexander's brother-in-law, Ptolemy of Aloros, Alexander II of Macedon is assassinated during a festival. Although Alexander's brother, Perdiccas III becomes the next king, he is under age, and Ptolemy is appointed regent.


text: Alexander II, King of Macedonia (assassinated)


year_label: 369 BCE

text: Cleomenes II succeeds his brother Agesipolis II as Agiad king of Sparta.


text: In a search for a balance of power against the now powerful Thebes, Athens responds to an appeal for help from Sparta and allies itself with its traditional enemy.


text: After driving off the Spartan army that has threatened Mantinea, Epaminondas of Thebes moves south and crosses the Evrotas River (the frontier of Sparta), which no hostile army has breached in historical memory. The Spartans, unwilling to engage the massive Theban army in battle, remain inside their city while the Thebans and their allies ravage Laconia.


text: Pelopidas forces Alexander to abandon his alliance with Athens in favour of Thebes by threatening to support Alexander's brother-in-law, Ptolemy of Aloros. As part of this new alliance, Alexander is compelled to hand over hostages, including his younger brother Philip, the future conqueror of Greece.


text: Epaminondas briefly returns to Arcadia, then marches south to Messenia, a territory which the Spartans had conquered some 200 years before. There, Epaminondas starts the rebuilding of the ancient city of Messene on Mount Ithome, with fortifications that are among the strongest in Greece. He then issues a call to Messenian exiles all over Greece to return and rebuild their homeland. The loss of Messenia is particularly damaging to the Spartans, since the territory comprises one-third of Sparta's territory and contains half of their helot population.


text: On returning to Thebes, Epaminondas is put on trial by his political enemies who charge that he has retained his command longer than constitutionally permitted. While this charge is considered to be true, Epaminondas persuades the Thebans that this has been necessary to protect Thebes and its allies and reduce the power of Sparta. As a result, the charges against him are dropped.


text: Zhuang Zhou, Chinese Taoist philosopher


text: Alexander of Pherae becomes tyrant of Thessaly following the death of his father. Alexander's tyranny causes the Aleuadae of Larissa to seek the help of Alexander II of Macedon. Alexander II successfully gains control of Larissa and several other cities but, betraying a promise he has made, put garrisons in them. This provokes a hostile reaction from Thebes. The Theban general Pelopidas drives the Macedonians from Thessaly.


text: Amyntas III, king of Macedonia


text: Theaetetus, Athenian mathematician (b. c. 417 BC)


text: Zhou Lie Wang, king of the Zhou dynasty


text: On the death of the Macedonian King Amyntas III, his eldest son Alexander II becomes king. The young king is simultaneously faced with an Illyrian invasion from the north-west and an attack from the east by the pretender of the Macedonian throne, Pausanias (who quickly captures several cities and threatens the queen mother, Eurydice). Alexander defeats his enemies with the help of the Athenian general Iphicrates, who has been sailing along the Macedonian coast on the way to recapture Amphipolis.


year_label: 370 BCE

text: The Spartans under King Agesilaus II invade Arcadia. After appealing in vain to the Athenians for help, Arcadia turns to the Thebans. Epaminondas of Thebes arrives with an army, finds that the Spartans have retired and follows them.


text: Eudoxus of Cnidus develops the method of exhaustion for mathematically determining the area under a curve.

source_section: Events › By topic › Mathematics


text: With the support of Thebes, the Arcadian capital city of Megalopolis is completed and a democratic system is set up with an Assembly of Ten Thousand and a Council of fifty.


text: The sculptor Praxiteles begins his active career in Athens (approximate date).

source_section: Events › By topic › Art


text: Marcus Valerius Corvus, Roman hero (d. c. 270 BC)


text: Theophrastus, Greek philosopher, a native of Eressos in Lesbos, the successor of Aristotle in the Peripatetic school (d. c. 285 BC) Chanakya


text: Democritus of Abdera, Greek philosopher (approximate date) (b. c. 460 BC)


text: The tagus of Thessaly, Jason of Pherae, dies, after making Thessaly a powerful force in Greek politics.


text: Agesipolis II, Agiad king of Sparta


text: Jason of Pherae, ruler of Thessaly


text: Hippocrates of Cos, Greek physician (b. c. 460 BC)


year_label: 38 BCE

date: January 1

text: January 1 – Beginning of the Hispanic era.

source_title: 38 BC


text: Octavian appoints Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa governor of Transalpine Gaul, where he puts down an uprising of the Aquitanians. He also fights successfully against the Germanic tribes, and becomes the next Roman general to cross the Rhine after Julius Caesar.


date: January 17

text: January 17 – Octavian marries Livia while she is still pregnant from a recently broken marriage. Octavian gained permission from the College of Pontiffs to wed her while she is still pregnant from another husband. Three months after the wedding she gives birth to a second son, Nero Claudius Drusus, while he and his elder brother, the four-year-old Tiberius, are living in Octavian's household.


date: January 14

text: January 14 – Nero Claudius Drusus, Roman politician and military commander, future stepson of Augustus Caesar (d. 9 BC)


text: Lucius Volusius Saturninus, Roman suffect consul (or 37 BC)


text: Pacorus I, crown prince of Parthia (b. c. 63 BC)


text: Antiochus I, king of Commagene (b. c. 86 BC)


year_label: 371 BCE

text: Agesipolis II succeeds his father Cleombrotus I as king of Sparta.


text: A fresh peace congress is summoned at Sparta. At the peace conference, the Spartan King Agesilaus II (with the support of Athens) refuses to allow the Thebans to sign the treaty on behalf of all Boeotia. The Theban statesman Epaminondas, who is boeotarch (one of the five magistrates of the Boeotian federation), maintains Thebes' position, even when it leads to the exclusion of Thebes from the peace treaty.


text: 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.


text: Athens does not welcome the Theban victory, fearing the rising aggressiveness of Thebes. After the Theban victory, the old alliance between the Persians and the Thebans is restored.


text: 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.

source_section: Events › By topic › Astronomy


text: Theophrastus, Greek philosopher


text: Chanakya, Indian philosopher and advisor (approximate date)


text: Cleombrotus I, king of Sparta (killed in the Battle of Leuctra)


year_label: 372 BCE

text: Jason of Pherae, the ruler of Thessaly, allies himself first with Athens and then with Macedon.


text: Troilus of Elis wins two equestrian events at the Olympic Games, which leads to referees being banned from competing in the Games.

source_section: Events › By topic › Sports


text: Mencius, Chinese philosopher (d. c. 289 BC)


year_label: 373 BCE

text: 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.


text: Iphicrates leads an Athenian expedition which successfully relieves Corcyra of a Spartan siege.


section: Climate & Environment

text: The ancient Greek city of Helike is destroyed by a massive earthquake and tsunami.


text: The Temple of Apollo in Delphi is destroyed by an earthquake.


year_label: 374 BCE

text: Athens tries to retire from the Theban-Spartan war and makes peace with Sparta. However, the peace is quickly broken.


text: Pharnabazus II, Satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia, ends his reign.

source_section: Events › By place › Persia


text: 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).


text: 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.

source_section: Events › By place › Cyprus


text: Evagoras, king of Salamis in Cyprus (assassinated)


year_label: 375 BCE

text: Zhou Lie Wang becomes king of the Zhou dynasty of China.


text: The Theban general, Pelopidas, is made the leader of the Sacred Band, a selected infantry body of 300.


text: Chanakya, ancient Indian teacher, author, strategist and royal advisor.


text: Cleitus the Black, Macedonian general of Alexander the Great (approximate date)


text: Hippocrates, Greek physician (approximate year)


year_label: 376 BCE

text: The Thracian city of Abdera is sacked by the Triballi.


text: 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.


text: Olympias, wife of king Philip II of Macedon and mother of Alexander the Great (d. 316 BC)


text: Zhou An Wang, king of the Chinese Zhou dynasty


year_label: 377 BCE

text: Timotheus wins over the Acarnanians and Molossians as friends of Athens.


text: Athens, in preparing for participation in the Spartan-Theban struggle, reorganises its finances and its taxation, inaugurating a system whereby the richer citizens are responsible for the collection of taxes from the less rich.


text: 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.


text: Mausolus is appointed as the Persian satrap of Caria.


year_label: 378 BCE

text: The Theban general and statesman, Epaminondas, takes command of Thebes. Pelopidas is elected boeotarch, or chief magistrate, of the city.


text: Timotheus, the son of the Athenian general Conon, is elected strategos of Athens.


text: 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.


text: Dionysius I's third war with Carthage proves disastrous. He suffers a crushing defeat at Cronium and is forced to pay an indemnity of 1,000 talents and cede the territory west of the Halycus River to the Carthaginians.


section: Technology & Infrastructure

text: 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.


year_label: 379 BCE

text: 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.


text: Sparta suppresses the Chalcidian League and imposes terms favourable to King Amyntas III of Macedonia.


text: 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.

source_section: Events › By place › Italy


year_label: 380 BCE

text: Cleombrotus I succeeds his brother Agesipolis I as king of Sparta.


text: 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.

source_section: Events › By place › Persian empire


section: Economy & Finance

text: What some historians call the Rich style in Greece comes to an end.


text: Menaechmus, Greek mathematician and geometer (d. 320 BC)


text: Darius III, king of (Achaemenid) Persia (approximate date)


text: Nectanbo II last Native ruler of Ancient Egypt (approximate date)


text: Pytheas, Greek explorer, who will explore northwestern Europe, including the British Isles (d. c. 310 BC) (approximate date)


text: 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.

source_section: Events › By place › Egypt


text: Hakor, king of the Twenty-ninth dynasty of Egypt

source_section: Deaths


text: Philoxenus of Cythera, Greek dithyrambic poet (b. 435 BC)


text: Nepherites II, son of Hakor and last king of the Twenty-ninth dynasty


year_label: 39 BCE

text: Marcus Antonius dispatches Publius Ventidius Bassus with 11 legions to the East and drives Quintus Labienus out of Asia Minor. Labienus retreats into Syria, where he receives Parthian reinforcements. Ventidius finally defeats him in the battle at the Taurus Mountains.

source_title: 39 BC

source_section: Events › By place › Roman Republic


text: Publius Ventidius defeats Pharnastanes with his cataphracts at the Amanus Gates, and goes on to reclaim Syria, Phoenicia and Judea. Labienus flees to Cilicia, where he is captured and executed.


text: Julia the Elder, daughter of Caesar Augustus (d. AD 14)


text: Antonia the Elder, daughter of Mark Antony, grandmother of Nero and Messalina (d. bef. AD 25)


text: Quintus Labienus, Roman general (murdered)


year_label: 381 BCE

text: Sparta increases its hold on central Greece by reestablishing the city of Plataea, which Sparta formerly destroyed in 427 BC.

source_section: Events › By place › Greece


text: 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.

source_section: Events › By place › Persian Empire


text: 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.


text: Duke Xiao of Qin, Chinese ruler of the Qin state. (died in 338 BC)


text: King Dao of Chu, Chinese king of the state of Chu (unknown birth)


text: Wu Qi, Chinese military general, Prime Minister of the State of Chu, also a servant of the State of Lu (born in Wei, 440 BC)


year_label: 382 BCE

text: 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.


text: 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.


text: Pelopidas, a Theban general and statesman, flees to Athens and takes the lead in attempts to liberate Thebes from Spartan control.


text: Evandrus takes over being Archon of Athens from Demonstrates.


text: Philip II, king of Macedon (d. 336 BC), son of Amyntas III of Macedon and Eurydike of Lynkestis


text: Antigonus I Monophthalmus (d. 301 BC), Macedonian general under Alexander the Great and king of Macedon 306-301


text: Orontes I of Armenia (b. 425 BC), son of Artasyrus


year_label: 383 BCE

text: 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.


text: The second Buddhist council is convened by king Kalasoka and held at Vaisali.

source_section: Events › By topic › Religion


text: The 19 year lunar cycle is introduced into the Babylonian calendar.


year_label: 384 BCE

text: 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.


text: 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.


text: Aristotle, Greek philosopher (d. 322 BC)


text: Demosthenes, Greek statesman and orator (d. 322 BC)


year_label: 385 BCE

text: Bardyllis becomes king of Illyria and the Dardani and establishes the Bardyllian Dynasty.


text: Mantinea gets destroyed by Sparta and their subdued thebans allies.


text: Jason of Pherae becomes tyrant of Thessaly.


text: Democritus announces that the Milky Way is composed of many stars.


text: 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.

source_section: Events › By topic › Education


text: Dionysius I of Syracuse attempts to restore Alcetas I of Epirus to the throne.


text: Mentor of Rhodes, Greek mercenary and satrap (approximate date)

source_section: Births


text: Chuzi II, Chinese ruler of the Zhou Dynasty (approximate date)


text: Camissares, Persian satrap of Cilicia


year_label: 386 BCE

text: Dionysius I of Syracuse extends the influence and trade of Syracuse to the Adriatic, establishing colonies at Adria, Ancona and Issa.

source_section: Events › By place › Sicily


text: The Chinese city of Handan is founded by the State of Zhao.

source_section: Events › By place › China


text: 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.


text: Mithridates II of Cius, ruler of Cius in Mysia from 337 to 302 BC


text: Aristophanes, Greek playwright (b. c. 456 BC)


year_label: 387 BCE

text: Plato is forced by Dionysius to leave Syracuse after having exercised the right of free speech too broadly. Plato returns to Athens, outside which he founds a school.

source_section: Events › By place › Sicily and Adriatic


text: 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).


text: Rome begins to rebuild after being invaded by the Gauls under Brennus.


text: Plato founds the Platonic Academy in Athens, where he teaches Aristotle until 347 BC.


text: Marcus Furius Camillus introduces the Capitoline Games (Ludi Capitolini) in honour of Jupiter Capitolinus, and in commemoration of Rome's Capitol not being captured by the Gauls.


text: Rhydondis, Greek mercenary (b. c. 386 BC)


text: Wen, marquis of the State of Wei, China


year_label: 388 BCE

text: Concerned about the revival of Athenian imperialist ambitions, the Persian King Artaxerxes II and King Agesilaus II of Sparta enter into an alliance. Sparta also seeks and gains the support of Dionysius I of Syracuse.


text: 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.


text: 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.

source_section: Events › By topic › Art


text: 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.


text: Aristophanes' play Plutus is performed.


text: Aristophanes, Greek playwright (approximate year)


text: Thrasybulus, Athenian general who helped overthrow the Thirty Tyrants


year_label: 389 BCE

text: Wu Qi, the prime minister of the State of Chu, enacts his first series of political, municipal, and martial reforms. Wu Qi gains the ire and distrust of Chu officials and aristocratic elite who are against his crusades to sweep up corruption in the state and limit their power. He is eventually assassinated in 381 BC at the funeral of King Diao of Chu, although his assassins are executed shortly after by the newly enthroned King Su of Chu.


text: Battle of the Elleporus and the capture of Kroton by Dionysius I of Syracuse

source_section: Events › By place › Magna Grecia


text: Due to threats of attack from Akarnania, Kalydon garrisons the Achaeans.


text: The Athenian general, Thrasybulus, leads a force of triremes to levy tribute from cities around the Aegean and support Rhodes, where a democratic government is struggling against Sparta. On this campaign, Thrasybulus captures Byzantium, imposes a duty on ships passing through the Hellespont, and collects tribute from many of the Aegean Islands.


text: 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.


text: The orator Isaeus gives his earliest known speech, the Dicaeogenes.


text: This is the latest possible date for the compilation of the historical text Zuo Zhuan, attributed to a blind historian known as Zuo Qiuming.


text: Aeschines, Greek statesman and orator (d. 314 BC)


year_label: 390 BCE

text: The Pharaoh of Egypt, Hakor (Akoris), concludes a tripartite alliance with Evagoras, king of Cyprus, and Athens.


date: July 18

text: July 18 – Battle of the Allia: Brennus, a chieftain of the Senones of the Adriatic coast of Italy, leads an army of Cisalpine Gauls in their attack on Rome. They capture the entire city of Rome except for the Capitoline Hill, which is successfully held against them. However, seeing their city devastated, the Romans attempt to buy their salvation from Brennus. The Romans agree to pay one thousand pounds weight of gold.


text: The Temple of Asclepius is built at Epidaurus.

source_section: Events › By topic › Architecture


text: The Tollund Man (approximate date, based on his being forty years old at the time of death)


text: Hypereides, Athenian orator and politician (approximate date)


text: Andocides, Athenian orator and politician (b. 440 BC)


year_label: 40 BCE

text: Treaty of Brundisium: The Triumvirs agrees to divide the Roman Republic into spheres of influence. Gaius Octavian styles himself "Imperator Caesar" and takes control of the Western provinces. Mark Antony is given the Eastern provinces; the River Drin, the boundary between the provinces Illyricum and Macedonia, is to serve as their frontier. Marcus Aemilius Lepidus controls Hispania and Africa. The treaty is cemented by the marriage of Antony and Octavia the Younger.

source_title: 40 BC


text: Ogiso Igodo dissolves the Ik’edionwere Council (western Africa). establishes the Royal Council with members of the disbanded Ik’edionwere Council and the Odibo-Ogiso group. He names his combined territories, Igodomigodo with its capital at Ugbekun.

source_section: Events › Asia minor › Igodomigodo Kingdom


text: Quintus Labienus occupies Cilicia and marches, with an army, into Anatolia. Most cities surrender without resistance, except for Alabanda and Mylasa. The Parthians restore their territory to nearly the limits of the old Achaemenid Empire. Labienus proclaims himself "Parthian Emperor" of Asia Minor.

source_section: Events › Asia minor


text: Sextus Pompey dispatches Menas with four legions and captures Sardinia, driving out Octavian's governor Marcus Lurius. He seizes the capital, Caralis and occupies Corsica. Sextus besieges Cosenza in Bruttium and Thurii in Lucania, ravaging the territory with his cavalry.


text: Sextus' fleet raids the ports of Puteoli and Ostia. The populace hold the Triumvirs responsible for prolonging the war, provoking a riot on the Forum. Octavian, with the Praetorian Guard, goes to intercept the riot, and only escapes with his life because Antony summons troops to rescue his junior colleague.


text: Pacorus crosses, with the help of Quintus Labienus, the Euphrates and invades Syria. The capital Antioch surrenders, and the Parthians take Phoenicia and Judea. However, they cannot besiege the fortified city of Tyre, because they have no fleet.

source_section: Events › Asia minor › Parthia


text: Parthians conquer Jerusalem. Hyrcanus II is removed from power, while Antigonus the Hasmonean becomes king of Judea under Parthian rule. Herod the Great flees Jerusalem to Rome. There he is titled king of Judea by Mark Antony.


text: Mark Antony leaves Alexandria. After receiving news of the outcome at Perusia while en route to Phoenicia, he sets sail for Italy meeting the ambassadors of Sextus Pompey in Athens.

source_section: Events › Asia minor › Egypt


text: Consuls: Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus and Gaius Asinius Pollio.


text: The Ji Jiu Pian dictionary, published about this year during the Han dynasty, is the earliest known reference to the hydraulic-powered trip hammer device.

source_section: Events › Asia minor › China


text: Athenodorus, a philosopher, encounters a ghost in Athens. This popular story is one of the first poltergeist stories in history.

source_section: Events › Asia minor › Greece


text: Cleopatra Selene (d. AD 6) and Alexander Helios (d. between 29 and 25 BC), twins of Cleopatra VII and Mark Antony


text: Ariobarzanes II, Roman client king of Armenia (d. 4 AD)


date: May

text: May – Gaius Claudius Marcellus, a distinguished member of the Claudii, dies. He leaves Octavia the Younger (the elder sister of Octavian) widowed. She will later marry Mark Antony.

source_section: Events › By place › Roman Republic


text: Fulvia, wife of Publius Clodius Pulcher and Mark Antony (b. 77 BC)

source_section: Deaths


text: Siege of Perusia: trying a last attempt to break the siege, which fails; Lucius Antonius surrenders to Octavian. His life is spared, but the citizens are executed or sold into slavery. Fulvia flees with her children and is exiled to Sicyon, where she dies of a sudden illness.


text: Tigellius, Sardinian lyric poet (close friend of Julius Caesar)


text: Gaius Claudius Marcellus, Roman consul (b. 88 BC)


text: Phasael, prince of the Herodian dynasty of Judea


text: Simeon ben Shetach, Pharisee scholar and prince (Nasi)


text: Quintus Fufius Calenus, Roman general and consul


text: Lucius Decidius Saxa, Roman general and governor


text: Spring – Quintus Salvidienus Rufus marches to Transalpine Gaul to take command of the eleven legions, after the death of Quintus Fufius Calenus. Octavian divorces Claudia and marries Scribonia, a sister of Lucius Scribonius Libo and a follower of Sextus.


text: Quintus Salvidienus Rufus, Roman general and advisor


year_label: 391 BCE

text: Quintus Fabius Ambustus and two other Fabii are sent as ambassadors by Rome to a wandering tribe of Celts (whom the Romans call Gauls), under Brennus, who are advancing down the Tiber while the Celtic army is besieging Clusium. After Quintus Fabius' group becomes involved in a skirmish with the Gauls and kill one of the Gauls' leaders, the offended Gauls demand that Rome surrender the Fabii members to them. The Romans refuse, so the Gauls advance on Rome.


text: The Persian satrap, Struthas, pursues an anti-Spartan policy, prompting the Spartans to order Thibron, their governor, to the Greek cities of Ionia to attack him. Thibron successfully ravages Persian territory for a time, but is killed, along with a number of his men, when Struthas ambushes them.

source_section: Events › By place › Persian Empire


text: Iphicrates also campaigns against Phlius and Arcadia, decisively defeating their armies and plundering the territory of the Arcadians when they refuse to engage his troops. After this victory, an Argive army marches to Corinth, and, seizing the Acrocorinth, effectively merges Argos and Corinth.

source_section: Events › By place › Greece


text: Evagoras of Salamis and the Persians battle each other for control of Cyprus. Aided by the Athenians and the Egyptians, Evagoras extends his rule over the greater part of Cyprus and to several cities of Anatolia.


text: Dionysius I, tyrant of Syracuse, begins an attempt to extend his rule to the Greek cities of southern Italy. He unsuccessfully besieges Rhegium.


text: The Athenian general, Iphicrates, with a force composed almost entirely of light troops and peltasts (javelin throwers), wins a decisive victory against the Spartan regiment that has been stationed at Lechaeum in the Battle of Lechaeum. This is the first time that a force of light infantry defeats a unit of Greek hoplites.


text: The Roman dictator Marcus Furius Camillus is accused of making an unfair distribution of the spoils of his victory at Veii. He goes into voluntary exile.


text: Mozi, Chinese philosopher (approximate date) (b. c. 470 BC)


year_label: 392 BCE

text: The Persian general, Struthas is dispatched by King Artaxerxes II to take command of the satrapy of Sardis, replacing Tiribazus, and to pursue an anti-Spartan policy.


text: A peace conference between the Greek city-states is held in Sparta. Andocides, Athenian orator and politician, goes with three colleagues to negotiate peace with Sparta. The conference is unsuccessful and Athens rejects the terms and exiles the ambassadors.


text: Dionysius I of Syracuse, having increased his power over the native Sicilians (Sicels), is now attacked by a second Carthaginian expedition. He is forced to ally himself with the Sicels. The Carthaginian army, under Mago II, is defeated, makes peace, and returns to Carthage. The treaty with Carthage is advantageous to Dionysius.


text: Isocrates sets up a school of rhetoric in Chios.


text: During the Corinthian War, the Spartans dispatch an ambassador, Antalcidas, to the Persian satrap Tiribazus, hoping to turn the Persians against the allies by informing them of Conon's use of the Persian fleet to begin rebuilding the Athenian empire. Learning of this, the Athenians send an embassy led by Conon to present their case to the Persians at Sardis. Alarmed by Conon's actions, Tiribazus arrests him, and secretly provides the Spartans with money to equip a fleet. Although Conon quickly escapes, he dies in Cyprus without returning to Athens.


text: Conon, Athenian general (approximate date)


year_label: 393 BCE

text: Pharnabazus dispatches Conon with substantial funds and a large part of the fleet to Attica, where he joins in the rebuilding of the long walls from Athens to Piraeus, a project that had been initiated by Thrasybulus in the previous year. The construction is soon completed and Athens quickly takes advantage of its walls and its fleet to seize the islands of Scyros, Imbros, and Lemnos, on which it establishes cleruchies (citizen colonies).


text: Hakor overthrows his predecessor, Psammuthes, as King of Egypt claiming to be the grandson of Nepherites I, founder of the 29th Dynasty.

source_section: Events › By place › Egypt


text: Fighting breaks out in Corinth between the democratic and oligarchic parties. The democrats, supported by Argos, launch an attack on their opponents, and the oligarchs are driven from the city. These exiles go to the Spartans, based at this time at Sicyon, for support, while the Athenians and Boeotians support the democrats.


text: In a night attack, the Spartans and exiles succeed in seizing Lechaeum, Corinth's port on the Gulf of Corinth, and defeat an army that comes out to challenge them the next day.


text: The Athenian general Conon and the Persian satrap Pharnabazus sail to mainland Greece, where they raid the coast of Laconia and seize the island of Cythera, where they leave a garrison and an Athenian governor.


text: Aristophanes' play, a new comedy called The Ecclesiazusae, is performed.

source_section: Events › By topic › Literature


text: Emperor Kōshō of Japan, according to legend.


text: Nepherites I or Nefaarud I, Pharaoh of Egypt


text: Upon the death of King Nepherites I, two rival factions fight for the throne; one backing Muthis, son of Nepherites I, and the other supporting Psammuthes. Psammuthes is successful, but he only manages to reign as King of Egypt for part of the year.


text: Amyntas III, a great grandson of Alexander I, becomes king of Macedonia following the disorders that have plagued the country following the death of the powerful King Archelaus I in 399 BC.

source_section: Events › By place › Macedonia


year_label: 394 BCE

text: The allies, Athens, Thebes, Corinth and Argos, gather a large army at Corinth. A sizable army is sent out from Sparta to challenge this force. The two sides meet on the dry bed of the Nemea River, in Corinthian territory. In the resultant Battle of Nemea, the Spartans win a major victory over the allies.


text: The Athenian general Conon, the Persian satrap Pharnabazus and Evagoras, King of Salamis, win an overwhelming naval victory over the Spartans under Peisander in the Battle of Cnidus (near Rhodes). Following this victory, Conon and Pharnabazus sail along the coast of Ionia, expelling Spartan governors and garrisons from the cities, although they fail to reduce the Spartan bases at Abydos and Sestos. With the Spartan bid for building an empire crumbling, Persia gains mastery of the Aegean.


text: The two sides' armies meet each other again at Coronea, in Theban territory in the Battle of Coronea. Once more, the Spartans under King Agesilaus II are successful in battle. After this victory, Agesilaus sails with his army across the Gulf of Corinth and returns to Sparta.


section: Disasters & Accidents

text: The temple of Athena Alea in Tegea is burned down, but is however soon rebuilt to the designs of Scopas of Paros.


year_label: 395 BCE

text: Tithraustes replaces Tissaphernes. An armistice is concluded between Tithraustes and Agesilaus. Tithraustes bribes the Spartans to move north into the satrapy of Pharnabazus.


text: Unable to defeat Agesilaus's army, Pharnabazus decides to force Agesilaus to withdraw by stirring up trouble on the Greek mainland. He dispatches Timocrates of Rhodes to visit Athens, Thebes, Corinth, and Argos to incite and bribe them to act against Sparta. Timocrates succeeds in persuading powerful factions in each of those states to pursue an anti-Spartan policy.


text: The Spartans arrange for two armies, one under the Spartan general Lysander and the other under the Spartan King Pausanias, to rendezvous at and attack the Boeotian city of Haliartus. Lysander, arriving before Pausanias, persuades the city of Orchomenus to revolt from the Boeotian confederacy, and then advances to Haliartus with his troops. There, he is killed after bringing his forces too near the walls of the city.


text: The Battle of Haliartus between the Spartans and the Thebans ends inconclusively. Pausanias, arriving a day later, takes back the bodies of the Spartan dead under a truce, and returns to Sparta. There, he is put on trial for his life and flees to Tegea before he can be convicted. Pausanias is replaced as king of Sparta by his son Agesipolis I.


text: After spending the winter in organizing a cavalry force, Agesilaus II, the King of Sparta, makes a successful incursion into Lydia in the spring.


text: The "Corinthian War" begins, with Athens, Thebes, Corinth and Argos (with the backing of Persia) against Sparta. The Spartans prepare to send out an army against this new alliance, and order Agesilaus to return to Greece. Agesilaus sets out for Sparta with his troops, crossing the Hellespont and marching west through Thrace.


text: The Persian satrap Tissaphernes' enemy Parysatis, mother of Cyrus, succeeds in persuading Persian King Artaxerxes II to have him executed at Colossae, Phrygia (now Turkey). Parysatis cannot forgive Tissaphernes for the rough treatment he has handed out to her favourite son, the late Cyrus.


text: Lysander, Spartan general and admiral


text: Shishunaga, founder of the Shishunaga dynasty of South Asia


year_label: 396 BCE

text: Agesilaus II, the King of Sparta, campaigns successfully in Asia Minor against the Persian satraps Pharnabazus and Tissaphernes and inflicts a major defeat on Tissaphernes at Sardis. Agesilaus agrees to a three months' truce with the Persians under Tissaphernes, the satrap of Lydia and Caria. Negotiations conducted during that time prove fruitless, and on its termination, Agesilaus raids Phrygia, where he easily captures an immense amount of booty, since Tissaphernes has concentrated his troops in Caria.


text: The Carthaginians are forced to abandon their siege of Syracuse (begun in 398 BC) due to a plague, but destroy Messina. Dionysius' first war with Carthage ends with a notable victory for Dionysius, who confines his enemy's power to an area of northwest Sicily. On his return home, the Carthaginian general, Himilco, commits suicide.

source_section: Events › By place › Carthage


text: Marcus Furius Camillus is made dictator by the Romans. Camillus finally destroys the Etruscan city of Veii in southern Etruria as the town falls to Roman forces after what is said to be a 10 year siege. The capture of Veii and its surrounding territories marks the first major expansion of Rome which doubles its territory after this victory.


text: The Persians assemble a joint Phoenician, Cilician, and Cypriot fleet, under the command of the experienced Athenian admiral, Conon, and seize Rhodes.


text: Plato publishes his Apologia, which is a defence of his mentor Socrates. (Approximate date.)


text: Kyniska becomes the first woman to win an event at the Olympic Games when the horse-drawn chariot she sponsors crosses the finish line first, even though the prohibition on women competing forces her to hire a man to drive it.

source_section: Events › By topic › Sports


text: Xenocrates, Greek philosopher and scholarch (or rector) of the Academy (d. 314 BC)

source_section: Births


text: Himilco, Carthaginian general.


year_label: 397 BCE

text: Siege of Syracuse: A Carthaginian expeditionary army (some 50,000 men) under Himilco crosses to Sicily. They conquer the north coast and put Dionysius I, tyrant of Syracuse, on the defensive and besiege Syracuse. However, the Carthaginian army suffers from the plague. The Syracuse counterattacked and completely defeat Himilco's army. Himilco has to escape back to Carthage.


text: Called on by the Ionians to assist them against the Persian King Artaxerxes II, King Agesilaus II of Sparta launches an ambitious campaign in Asia Minor.


text: The Carthaginians establish the town of Lilybaeum in Sicily to replace Motya.


text: Dionysius II, son of Dionysius I, tyrant of Syracuse (d. 343 BC)


year_label: 398 BCE

text: Dionysius, tyrant of Syracuse, breaks his peace treaty with Carthage and strikes at Carthaginian cities in the western corner of Sicily which have been weakened by the plague. There is a massacre of Carthaginians in many of these cities. Motya, with its fine harbour, is attacked and captured.

source_section: Events › By place › Sicily


text: The ‘Panke Baobab’ tree would have sprouted this during this year.


year_label: 399 BCE

text: The Spartan admiral, Lysander, tries to effect a political revolution in Sparta by suggesting that the king should not automatically be given the leadership of the army. He also suggests that the position of king should be elective. However, he is unsuccessful in achieving these reforms, and earns the disfavour of King Agesilaus II of Sparta.


text: Sparta forces Elis to surrender in the spring.


text: King Amyrtaeus of Egypt is defeated in battle by his successor, Nepherites I of Mendes, and executed at Memphis. King Nepherites I, or Nefaarud I, founds the Twenty-ninth dynasty of Egypt. He makes Mendes his capital.


text: King Archelaus I of Macedon is killed during a hunt, by one of the royal pages, his lover Craterus.


date: February 15

text: February 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.


text: Socrates, Greek philosopher (b. c. 470 BC)


year_label: 400 BCE

text: Amyrtaeus of Sais successfully completes a revolt against Persian control by gaining control of all of Upper Egypt.

source_section: Events › By place


text: War breaks out between Sparta and Elis.


text: Xenophon's "Ten Thousand" make their way back to Greece, with most of the men enlisting with the Spartans. Xenophon's successful march through the Persian Empire encourages Sparta to turn on the Persians and begin wars against the Persians in Asia Minor.


text: When the Greek cities of Ionia heard about Cyrus' defeat they knew Artaxerxes would want to exact his revenge on them for supporting Cyrus. They sent several embassies to Sparta to request the Lacedaemonians assistance. The Spartans sent Thibron who recruits 5,000 soldiers to aid the Ionian Greeks.


text: Artaxerxes II, king of Persia, appoints Tissaphernes to take over all the districts in Asia Minor over which Artaxerxes II's brother Cyrus had been governor before his revolt.


text: London has its origins on a rise above marshy waters at the point where the Walbrook joins the River Thames. The Celtic king, Belin, rebuilds an earth wall surrounding a few dozen huts and orders a small landing place to be cut into the south side of the wall, along the river front, where a wooden quay is built (approximate date).


text: Thibron embarks his army at the Isthmus of Corinth and sails to Ephesus on the Ionian coast. Upon arrival, he recruits an additional 2,000 soldiers and starts his campaign against Tissaphernes.


text: Brahmanism starts evolving in Hinduism, a process which takes place over the following 200 years (approximate date).

source_section: Events › By topic


text: Theodorus from Phokaia in Asia Minor, builds the Tholos of Delphi, the sanctuary of Athena Pronaia in Delphi (approximate date).


text: Zoroastrianism becomes the faith of many Persians. The Zoroastrians believe in a struggle between their god, Mazda, and the devil. They believe that the birth of their founder, the prophet Zarathustra, was the beginning of a final epoch that is to end in an Armageddon and triumph of good over evil.


text: India had the biggest epic on earth - The Mahabharata.


text: Dionysius I, Greek tyrant of Syracuse, confiscates gold and silver coins and re-mints them, keeping the weight the same but changing the denomination from one to two drachmae — the first known official devaluation at the expense of the general population. A virulent inflation ensues (approximate date).


text: The catapult is invented by Greek engineers.


section: Health & Medicine

text: With the outbreak of the war between Sparta and the Persians, the Athenian admiral, Conon, obtains joint command, with Pharnabazus, of a Persian fleet.


text: San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán is abandoned (approximate date).


text: Tamõs, the satrap of Ionia, fled from his satrapy in fear of the king's retribution. He loaded his possessions onto his satrapy's fleet of triremes and sailed to Egypt seeking the protection of Psammetichus, the King of the Egyptians. Psammetichus executed Tamõs and his family and took his possessions and fleet for himself.


text: The Bianzhong of the Marquis Yi of Zheng are cast.


text: The Olmec culture in Mesoamerica comes to an end as its city of La Venta is abandoned (approximate date).


text: The Mature classical period of sculpture ends in Ancient Greece and is succeeded by the fourth-century (Late Classical) period (approximate date).


text: Parmenion, Macedonian general under Alexander the Great (d. 330 BC).


text: Antipater, a Macedonian general (d. 319 BC).


text: Aspasia of Miletus, widow of Pericles of Athens (approximate date) (b. c. 470 BC)


text: Thucydides, Greek historian (approximate date) (b. c. 460 BC)


text: Siddhārtha Gautama (also known as Buddha), founder of Buddhism (approximate date)


year_label: 5 BCE

date: March

text: March – Probable nova in the constellation Aquila.

source_title: 0s BC

source_section: Events › 5 BC › Astronomy


text: c.December – Probable supernova in the constellation Capricornus.


date: January 15

text: January 15 – Guang Wu, Chinese emperor of the Han Dynasty (d. AD 57)

source_section: Births › 5 BC


text: Aemilia Lepida, Roman noblewoman and fiancée of Claudius (d. AD 43)


text: Domitia Lepida, daughter of Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus and Antonia Major (d. AD 54)


text: Lucius Vitellius the Elder, Roman consul and governor of Syria (d. AD 51)


text: Acme (enslaved woman), Jewish slave and personal maid in the service of the Empress Livia Drusilla, wife of Augustus

source_section: Deaths › 5 BC


text: Curia, Roman noblewoman and wife of Quintus Lucretius Vespillo


year_label: 41 BCE

text: Consuls: Lucius Antonius and Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus.

source_title: 41 BC


text: Perusine War: An armed resistance breaks out across Italy; the Umbrian city of Sentinum is captured and destroyed by Quintus Salvidienus Rufus.


text: Lucius Antonius occupies Perusia. He accepts the appeal of the local population. Lucius and Fulvia are defeated by Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian in the Battle of Perugia.


text: Mark Antony meets Cleopatra VII in Tarsus (Cilicia) and forms an alliance. He returns to Alexandria with her and they become lovers in the winter of 41–40 BC. To safeguard herself and Caesarion, she has Antony order the execution of her (half) sister Arsinoe IV, who is living at the temple of Artemis in Ephesus.


text: Gaius Asinius Gallus Saloninus, Roman consul under Caesar Augustus (d. AD 33)


text: Pasherienptah III, Egyptian High Priest of Ptah (b. 90 BC)


text: Serapion, Egyptian general (strategos) and governor


text: Arsinoe IV, Egyptian princess and (half) sister of Cleopatra VII (b. 68 or 67 BC)


year_label: 401 BCE

text: Zhou an wang becomes king of the Zhou dynasty of China.

source_section: Events › By place › China


text: The Greek mercenaries fighting for Cyrus are left stranded after Cyrus' defeat. They fight their way north through hostile Persians, Armenians, and Kurds to Trapezus on the coast of the Black Sea under Xenophon, who becomes their leader when the satrap of Lydia, Tissaphernes, has Clearchus of Sparta and the other senior Greek captains captured and executed.


text: Cyrus the Younger uses a quarrel with Tissaphernes over the Ionian cities as a pretext for gathering a large army and also pretends to prepare an expedition to Pisidia, in the Taurus Mountains. Cyrus starts out with about 15,220 men, of whom 10,400 are Greek mercenaries. When he reaches the Euphrates River at Thapsacus, he announces that he is marching against Artaxerxes II. He advances unopposed into Babylonia; but Artaxerxes, warned at the last moment by Tissaphernes, hastily gathers an army. The two forces meet in the Battle of Cunaxa, north of Babylon, where Cyrus is slain.

source_section: Events › By place › Persian empire


text: Sophocles' tragic play Oedipus at Colonus is performed posthumously. It is produced by his grandson (also called Sophocles) at the Festival of Dionysus in Athens.


text: Agis II, Eurypontid king of Sparta

source_section: Deaths


text: Clearchus, Spartan general and mercenary


text: Cyrus the Younger, younger son of Darius II, King of Persia


text: Agesilaus II becomes king of Sparta on the death of his stepbrother Agis II.


year_label: 402 BCE

text: Archelaus I, King of Macedonia, helps establish a pro-Macedonian oligarchy in Larissa in Thessaly.


text: Phocion, Athenian statesman and general (d. c. 318 BC)


text: Zhou wei lie wang, king of the Zhou dynasty of China


year_label: 403 BCE

text: Marquis Wen of Wei ascends to power in Wei. He sponsors Confucianism and employs able political advisors such as Li Kui, Wu Qi, and Ximen Bao.


text: Thrasybulus restores democratic institutions to Athens and grants amnesties to all except the oligarchic extremists. He is helped by Lysias, the Athenian orator, in arguing the case against the oligarchy.


text: The states of Han, Zhao and Wei receive official recognition as Marquesses from the Eastern Zhou dynasty, confirming the Partition of Jin. This is one of the traditional starting points of the Warring States period.


text: Marquis Lie of Zhao becomes the ruler of the state of Zhao.


text: Thrasybulus leads the democratic resistance to the new oligarchic government, known as the Thirty Tyrants, that the victorious Spartans have imposed on Athens. He commands a small force of exiles that invades Attica and, in successive battles, defeats first a Spartan garrison and then the forces of the oligarchic government (which includes the Spartan general, Lysander) in the Battle of Munychia. The leader of the Thirty Tyrants, Critias, is killed in the battle.


text: The Battle of Piraeus is fought between Athenian exiles, who have defeated the government of the Thirty Tyrants and occupied Piraeus, and a Spartan force sent to combat them. In the battle, the Spartans narrowly defeat the exiles, with both sides suffering large numbers of casualties. After the battle, the Agiad King of Sparta, Pausanias arranges a settlement between the two parties which allows the reunification of Athens and Piraeus, and the re-establishment of democratic government in Athens. The remaining oligarchic Thirty Tyrants are allowed to flee to Eleusis.


text: Marquis Jing of Han ascends to power in Han.


text: Andocides, Athenian orator and politician, who has been implicated in the mutilation of the Herms on the eve of the departure of the Athenian expedition against Sicily in 415 BC, returns from exile under the general amnesty.


text: Rome elects eight military tribunes with consular power; Manlius Aemilius Mamercus, Lucius Valerius Potitus, Appius Claudius Crassus, Marcus Quinctilius Varus, Lucius Julius Julus, Marcus Postumius, Marcus Furius Camillus, and Marcus Postumius

source_section: Events › By place › Rome


text: Under archon Eucleides, the Athenians accept a spelling reform, adopting the Ionian alphabet, which includes eta and omega. The new alphabet came to be known as the Euclidean alphabet.


text: Critias, leading member of the Athenian Thirty Tyrants oligarchy (b. 460 BC)


year_label: 404 BCE

text: The Spartan general, Lysander, puts in place a puppet government in Athens with the establishment of the oligarchy of the "Thirty Tyrants" under Critias and including Theramenes as a leading member. This government executes a number of citizens and deprives all but a few of their rights.

source_section: Events › By place › Greece


text: Theramenes secures terms that save the city of Athens from destruction. The Spartans allow Athens to retain its independence. However, Athens loses all its foreign possessions and what is left of its fleet and is required to become an ally of Sparta. The Long Walls around Athens are pulled down. Greek towns across the Aegean Sea in Ionia are again the subjects of the Persian Empire.


text: A split develops between Theramenes and Critias who has Theramenes killed (by drinking poison) on charges of treason.


text: Emerging after the Spartan victory at Aegospotami, the former Athenian leader, Alcibiades, takes refuge in Phrygia in northwestern Asia Minor with the Persian satrap, Pharnabazus, and seeks their assistance for the Athenians. The Spartans discover his plans and arrange with Pharnabazus to have him assassinated.


text: Many of Athens' former allies are now ruled by boards of ten (decarchy), often reinforced with garrisons under a Spartan commander (Harmost).


text: The Athenian general Thrasybulus is exiled by the Thirty Tyrants, and he retires to Thebes.


text: Amyrtaeus of Sais successfully leads a revolt against the Persian Empire's control of the Egyptian delta. He becomes the first (and only) pharaoh of the Twenty-eighth Dynasty.

source_section: Events › By place › Egypt


text: Lysander sails to Samos and conquers it for Sparta.


text: Athens, full of refugees and weakened by plague and hunger, capitulates and the Peloponnesian War ends.


text: Darius II's younger son, Cyrus, is accused by Tissaphernes, the satrap of Caria, of plotting his brother Artaxerxes II's murder. On the intercession of Artaxerxes II and Cyrus's mother, Parysatis, however, Cyrus is pardoned and sent back to his satrapy.

source_section: Events › By place › Persian Empire


text: The Athenian leader Cleophon continues to urge resistance against the Peloponnesians, but the situation becomes desperate and he is arrested, condemned to death and executed.


text: Alcibiades, Athenian statesman (b. c. 450 BC)


text: The Persian King Darius II dies of an illness in Babylon. He is succeeded by his son Artaxerxes II (Memnon—'the Mindful').


text: Darius II Ochus, King of the Persian Empire


text: Theramenes, Athenian statesman


text: Cleophon, Athenian politician and demagogue


year_label: 405 BCE

text: The Spartan king Pausanias lays siege to Athens while Lysander's fleet blockades Piraeus. This action closes the grain route through the Hellespont, thereby starving Athens.


text: While the Peloponnesians besiege Athens, Theramenes tries to negotiate with Lysander. He is away for three months while Athens is being reduced to starvation. Then he heads the embassy that negotiates the terms of capitulation to the Spartans.


text: After their victory in the Battle of Arginusae over the Spartans, the Athenian fleet follows the reappointed Spartan admiral, Lysander, to the Hellespont. The Athenian fleet under Admiral Conon is destroyed by the Spartans under Lysander in the Battle of Aegospotami in the Sea of Marmara and Conon flees to Cyprus.


text: Dionysius the Elder ruthlessly consolidates and expands his power. He builds a wall around Syracuse and fortifies Epipolae. The Greek citizens of Naxos, Catana, and Leontini are removed from their cities; many of them are enslaved and their homes are given to Sicilian and Italian mercenaries. Dionysius prepares his army to fight against Carthage, which now occupies western and southern Sicily.


text: Dionysius the Elder rises to power as the tyrant of Syracuse. He makes peace with the Carthaginian general, Himilco (whose army has been weakened by the plague), and fortifies Syracuse. This treaty leaves Carthage in control of most of Sicily.


date: January

text: January – Aristophanes' The Frogs is first performed, winning first prize at the Lenaia festival.

source_section: Events › By topic › Drama


text: March/April – Euripides' The Bacchae and Iphigeneia at Aulis are performed posthumously as part of a tetralogy at the City Dionysia festival and win first prize.


text: The Erechtheum, which includes The Porch of Maidens (Caryatid Porch), is completed in the Ionian style on the Acropolis in Athens after 16 years of construction.

source_section: Events › By topic › Art


text: Philolaus, Greek mathematician and philosopher (approximate date) (b. c. 480 BC)


year_label: 406 BCE

text: Alcibiades is replaced by a board of generals. Athens sends a member of the board, Admiral Conon, to relieve the siege of Mytilene. To defend Lesbos, Conon is forced to move his numerically inferior fleet from Samos to the Hekatonnesi islands near Methymna. When Callicratidas attacks him, Conon is forced back to Mytilene, where he is blockaded by Callicratidas' Spartan fleet.


text: Athens wins the Battle of Arginusae, near Lesbos, and the blockade of Conon is broken. To relieve Conon, the Athenians assemble a new fleet composed largely of newly constructed ships crewed by inexperienced sailors. This inexperienced fleet is inferior to the Spartans, but its commanders employ new and unorthodox tactics, which allow the Athenians to secure a dramatic and unexpected victory. The Spartan force is soundly defeated, and Callicratidas is killed.


text: Sparta sues for peace, which the Athenian leader Cleophon rejects. Sparta yields to demands by the Persian satrap Cyrus that Lysander command a fleet in the Hellespont.


text: The Roman forces begin a decade-long siege against Veii.

source_section: Events › By place › Roman Republic


text: Returning to Athens after the battle, Theramenes leads Athenian agitation against the eight generals who have commanded in the engagement; the six who have returned to Athens are condemned for negligence in not having picked up survivors from the ships disabled in the battle. The Athenian generals (including Pericles' son) are put to death.


text: Callicratidas is appointed as the navarch of the Spartan fleet, replacing Lysander. Callicratidas assembles a fleet and sails to Methymna, on Lesbos, to which he lays siege. This move threatens the Athenian grain supply.


text: Euripides, Athenian playwright (b. c. 480 BC)


text: Sophocles, Athenian dramatist and politician (b. c. 495 BC)


text: Hannibal Mago, Carthaginian general


text: The Carthaginians again invade Sicily and attack Agrigentum (Acragas). Plague breaks out in their camp and Hannibal Mago dies. Himilco assumes command and captures Agrigentum (Acragas), Gela and Camarina. Gela is destroyed and its treasures sacked. The survivors take refuge in Syracuse. The plague is carried back to Carthage by its soldiers.

source_section: Events › By place › Carthage


year_label: 407 BCE

text: The defeat gives the enemies of Alcibiades an excuse to strip him of his command. He never returns again to Athens. He sails north to land he owns in the Thracian Chersonese. Except for a brief appearance at Aegospotami, Alcibiades' involvement in the Peloponnesian War is over.


text: The Spartan admiral Lysander refuses to be lured out of Ephesus to do battle with Alcibiades. However, while Alcibiades is away seeking supplies, the Athenian squadron is placed under the command of Antiochus, his helmsman, who is routed by the Spartan fleet (with the help of the Persians under Cyrus) in the Battle of Notium (or Ephesus).


text: The Athenian general Thrasybulus recaptures Abdera and Thasos.


text: The exiled former leader of the moderate democrats of Syracuse, Hermocrates, is killed while attempting to force his way back into Syracuse.

source_section: Events › By place › Sicily


text: Speusippus, Greek philosopher (d. 339 BC)

source_section: Births


text: Hermocrates, leader of the moderate democrats of Syracuse


year_label: 408 BCE

text: In 408 BC, the three city-states of the island of Rhodes (Ialysos, Kamiros, Lindos) unite and create the homonymous city on the northernmost part of the island.


text: King Darius II of Persia decides to continue the war against Athens and give support to the Spartans. His wife, Parysatis, persuades him to appoint his younger son, Cyrus, as satrap (governor) of Lydia, Phrygia, and Cappadocia and commander in chief of the Achaemenian forces in Asia Minor in place of Tissaphernes.


text: Tissaphernes' influence is limited to the satrapy of Caria. Darius II also gives Cyrus funds to re-create the Spartan fleet and sends him to Sardis with instructions to increase Persian support for Sparta. Cyrus begins to collect an army of mercenaries (including Greeks) for his own ends.


text: At the Panhellenic gathering at Olympia, the philosopher Gorgias speaks out against the Spartan alliance with Persia.


text: Alcibiades enters Athens in triumph after an absence of 7 years. He leads the religious procession from Athens to Eleusis, thus atoning for his alleged impiety in 415 BC when he was held to have joined in profaning the Sacred Mysteries. Alcibiades is appointed commander-in-chief with autocratic powers and leaves for Samos to rejoin his fleet.


text: The Spartan admiral Lysander arrives at Ephesus in autumn and builds up a great fleet with help from the new Persian satrap, Cyrus.


text: Euripides' plays Orestes and The Phoenician Women are performed. Euripides then leaves Athens in dissatisfaction and travels to the court of Archelaus I of Macedon at the King's invitation.

source_section: Events › By topic › Literature


text: Dion, tyrant of Syracuse (d. c. 354 BC)


text: Eudoxus of Cnidus, Greek astronomer, mathematician, physician, scholar and adherent of Pythagoras (d. c. 355 BC)


text: Hippodamus of Miletus, Greek urban planner and polymath (b. 498 BC)


year_label: 409 BCE

text: The city of Rhodes is founded.


text: The Athenian general, Thrasyllus, sails out from Athens with a sizable force to campaign in Ionia. There, he quickly captures Colophon and raids the Ionian countryside, but is defeated outside Ephesus by a combined Ephesian, Persian, and Syracusan force.


text: Sophocles' play Philoctetes is performed, with the theme of the Trojan War.


text: Pausanias succeeds his father Pleistoanax as Agiad king of Sparta.


text: Alcibiades recaptures Byzantium, ending the city's rebellion from Athens. This action completes Athenian control of the Bosporus which secures the Athenian supply route for grain from the Bosporan Kingdom in the Black Sea region.


text: Taking advantage of the quarrels between the Greek cities in Sicily and of the mutual exhaustion of Athens and Syracuse, Carthage seeks to reimpose its influence over the island. Hannibal Mago, grandson of Hamilcar, invades Sicily with a strong force. He defeats the Sicilian Greeks and avenges his grandfather through the torture and killing of 3,000 Greek prisoners. In the Battle of Selinus and Battle of Himera he captures and destroys both cities before returning triumphantly to Carthage with the spoils of war.


text: Pleistoanax, king of Sparta since 458 BC


year_label: 410 BCE

text: Alcibiades installs a garrison at Chrysopolis under Theramenes to exact a tithe from all shipping that comes from the Black Sea. This revenue enables the Athenians to put an end to the regime of the Five Thousand and restore their traditional institutions in full. Democracy is restored in Athens. The new demagogue Cleophon dismisses peace overtures made by Sparta.


text: Evagoras re-establishes his family's claim as kings of Salamis which has been under Phoenician control for a number of years.

source_section: Events › By place › Cyprus


text: An Oligarchic revolt in Corcyra is unsuccessful.


text: Commanding 20 ships, the Athenian generals Theramenes and Thrasybulus collaborate with Alcibiades and the main Athenian fleet in inflicting a major defeat on the Spartan navy commanded by Mindarus and its supporting Persian land army near Cyzicus on the shore of the Propontis (Sea of Marmara). As a result of its victory in the Battle of Cyzicus, Athens regains control over the vital grain route from the Black Sea.


text: A relief decoration from the parapet (now destroyed), Nike (Victory) adjusting her sandal is constructed in the Temple of Athena Nike on the Acropolis in Athens and is ready in 407 BC. It is now preserved at the Acropolis Museum in Athens.

source_section: Events › By subject › Art


text: The grave stele of Hegeso is made and is finished about ten years later (approximate date). It is now preserved at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.


text: Hippocrates of Chios, Greek mathematician and astronomer (approximate date)


year_label: 42 BCE

text: January – Publius Vatinius, governor of Illyricum, seizes Dyrrachium and is forced to surrender his army (three legions) to Marcus Junius Brutus.

source_title: 42 BC


date: July

text: July – Mark Antony lands with an army (28 legions) in Illyria, leaving Octavian ill at Dyrrachium, and marches to Amphipolis. Admiral Ahenobarbus, with the Republican fleet (130 warships), blockades the Adriatic Sea.


text: Marcus Brutus begins to plunder the cities of Asia Minor, in order to obtain money and soldiers. The inhabitants of Lycia refuse to submit to Rome, and Brutus besieges Xanthus. After destroying their suburbs, the Xanthians withdraw into the heavily fortified city. The Roman legionaries (2,000 men) force the gate and fight their way into the forum. The citizens make a last stand by the temple of Sarpedon and, as night falls, the Roman army conquers the city.


text: The confederation of Lycia sends ambassadors to Brutus, promising to form a military league and contribute money for building ships. Gaius Cassius Longinus occupies Rhodes, and orders all the other cities of Asia to pay a tribute for 10 years.


text: Saxa retreats to link up with Norbanus at the Sapaei Pass. The Republicans outflank the enemy, forging an alternate route through the mountains in the north.


date: August

text: August – Lucius Decidius Saxa and Gaius Norbanus Flaccus are appointed by Mark Antony, to lead an advanced force of eight legions to Macedonia along the Via Egnatia into Thrace.


date: September

text: September – Brutus and Cassius cross the Hellespont. They march to Doriscus but further progress is blocked by Saxa's occupation of the Corpili Pass.


text: In Sicily, Sextus Pompeius leads the naval operations in the Mediterranean Sea against the triumvirs. He blockades the grain routes from Spain and Africa.


text: Brutus and Cassius advance to Philippi and build fortifications. Antony links up with Norbanus and Saxa at Amphipolis, Octavian arrives on a litter 10 days later.


text: Octavian returns to Rome and arranges for ± 40,000 veterans' settlements in Campania, Etruria, Picenum, Samnium, Umbria, and in northern Italy.


date: November 16

text: November 16 – Tiberius, Roman emperor (d. 37 AD)


text: Marcus Claudius Marcellus, nephew of Augustus (d. 23 BC)


date: October 3

text: October 3 – Gaius Cassius Longinus, Roman nobleman (assassin of Julius Caesar) (suicide)


text: Marcus Junius Brutus, Roman politician (assassin of Julius Caesar) (b. 85 BC)


text: Pacuvius Labeo, Roman jurist (assassin of Julius Caesar) (suicide)


text: Porcia, wife of Brutus (suicide) (approximate date) (b. c. 70 BC)


text: Gaius Antonius, Roman general and brother of Mark Antony (murdered)


text: Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus, Roman nobleman and supporter of Brutus (suicide)


text: Publius Servilius Casca Longus, Roman nobleman (assassin of Julius Caesar)


text: Lucius Tillius Cimber, Roman nobleman (assassin of Julius Caesar)


text: Marcus Porcius Cato, Roman nobleman and son of Cato the Younger (killed in battle)


year_label: 411 BCE

text: When a mutiny breaks out amongst the troops who are fortifying Piraeus (the harbour for Athens), the Council sends Theramenes to quell it. Instead, he puts himself at the head of the mutineers. After Phrynichus, the leader of the extremists, is assassinated, an ensuing meeting of the Athenian Assembly deposes the Council and restores the traditional constitution, but restricts some of the privileges of citizenship to a body called the Five Thousand. The Assembly resumes its old form in being a committee of all citizens.


text: The Athenian navy under Thrasybulus recalls Alcibiades from Sardis. Alcibiades' election is confirmed by the Athenians at the request of Theramenes. A Spartan fleet in the Hellespont at Cynossema is then defeated by an Athenian fleet commanded by Thrasybulus and Alcibiades.


text: Antiphon defends himself in a speech Thucydides describes as the greatest ever made by a man on trial for his life. Nevertheless, Antiphon is unable to persuade his accusers and he is executed for treason.


text: Euripides' play Iphigenia in Tauris is performed.


text: Aristophanes' plays Lysistrata and Women Celebrating the Thesmophoria are performed.


text: Timoleon, Greek statesman and general (approximate date) (d. 337 BC)


text: Antiphon, Athenian politician and orator (b. 480 BC)


text: Phrynichus, Athenian general (assassinated)


year_label: 412 BCE

text: The Athenians vote to use their last reserves to build a new fleet.


text: The Spartans sign a treaty of mutual help with the Persian satrap of Lower Asia, Tissaphernes. By the treaty of Miletus, Persia is given complete freedom in western Asia Minor in return for agreeing to pay for seamen to man the Peloponnesian fleet.


text: Clazomenae revolts against Athens. After a brief resistance, however, it again acknowledges the Athenian supremacy.


text: Alcibiades helps stir up revolts amongst Athens' allies in Ionia, on the west coast of Asia Minor. However, Alcibiades loses the confidence of the Spartans and antagonises their king Agis II. As a result, he flees to the court of the Persian satrap Tissaphernes. Alcibiades advises Tissaphernes to withdraw his support from Sparta while conspiring with the oligarchic party in Athens, as Sparta's allied cities break away in a series of revolts.


text: The Persians under Darius II see their opportunity to play off one Greek city-state against another and to recover control of the Greek cities of Asia Minor, which have been under Athenian control since 449 BC. The satraps of Asia Minor, Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus, are ordered to collect overdue tribute.


text: An epidemic of an unknown disease hits Northern Greece.


text: The epidemic hits the Roman Republic and causes a food shortage.


year_label: 413 BCE

text: Tissaphernes, the Persian satrap of Lydia and Caria, forms an alliance with Sparta. The Spartans, with strategic advice from Alcibiades and limited assistance from the Persians under Pharnabazus, advance almost to the gates of Athens. King Agis II leads the Spartan force that occupies Decelea in Attica.


text: Euripides' play Electra is performed.


text: Archelaus I becomes King of Macedonia following the death of his father, King Perdiccas II. Archelaus seizes the throne after murdering his uncle, his cousin, and his half brother, the legitimate heir.


text: Nicias, Athenian soldier and statesman (b. 470 BC)


year_label: 414 BCE

text: The Athenian army moves to capture Syracuse while the larger fleet of Athenian ships blocks the approach to the city from the sea. After some initial success, the Athenian troops become disorganised in the chaotic night operation and are thoroughly routed by Gylippus, the Spartan commander. The Athenian commander Lamachus is killed. Nicias, although ill, is left in sole charge of the siege of Syracuse.


text: Athens responds to appeals from its general, Nicias, by sending out 73 vessels to Sicily under the command of Demosthenes to assist Nicias and his forces with the siege of Syracuse.


text: Aristophanes' play The Birds is performed.


year_label: 415 BCE

text: Alcibiades openly joins with the Spartans and persuades them to send Gylippus to assist Syracuse and to fortify Decelea in Attica. He also encourages Ionia to revolt against Athens. As a result, a Spartan fleet soon arrives to reinforce their allies in Syracuse and a stalemate ensues.


text: Euripides' play The Trojan Women is performed shortly after the massacre by Athenians of the male population of Melos.


text: Athenian orator and politician, Andocides is imprisoned on suspicion of having taken part in the mutilation of the sacred busts called "Hermae" shortly before the departure of Athens' military expedition to Sicily. These mutilations cause a general panic, and Andocides is induced to turn informer. Andocides' testimony is accepted, and those whom he implicates, including Alcibiades, are condemned to death. Andocides is sent into exile.


text: After learning that he has been condemned to death in absentia, Alcibiades defects to Sparta and Nicias is placed in charge of the Sicilian expedition. The Athenian forces land at Dascon near Syracuse but with little result. Hermocrates heads the Syracusan defence.


text: The Athenian expedition to Sicily sets sail under Nicias, Lamachus and Alcibiades. After his departure with the armada, Alcibiades is accused of profanity and is recalled to Athens to stand trial.


text: Construction of the Temple of Hephaestus in Athens is completed. Construction had begun in 449 BC.


year_label: 416 BCE

text: With the encouragement of Alcibiades, the Athenians take the island of Melos (which has remained neutral during the Peloponnesian War). Its inhabitants are treated with great cruelty by the Athenians, with captured adult men being killed and the women and children made slaves.


text: In Sicily, the Ionian city of Segesta asks for Athenian help from the Dorian city of Selinus (which is supported by the powerful Sicilian city of Syracuse). The people of Syracuse are ethnically Dorian (as are the Spartans), while the Athenians, and their allies in Sicily, are Ionian. The Athenians feel obliged to assist their ally and therefore prepare an armada to attack Sicily.


text: According to Plato's Symposium, the tragedian Agathon wins first prize at the Lenaia.


text: Agathon along with Alcibiades and Socrates and Aristophanes and others attend a symposium described by Plato.


year_label: 417 BCE

text: The second battle of Hysiae is fought between the armies of Sparta and Argos during the Peloponnesian War. The Spartan King Agis II was seeking to restore the pro-Spartan faction evicted from Argos by Alcibiades. While he failed to take the city of Argos, he did capture and subsequently destroy the town of Hysiae, killing all its male inhabitants.


text: Following the loss by Athens and its allies in the Battle of Mantinea, a political "tug of war" takes place in Athens. Alcibiades joins forces with Nicias against Hyperbolus, the successor of the demagogue politician Cleon as champion of the common people. Hyperbolus tries to bring about the ostracism of either Nicias or Alcibiades, but the two men combine their influence and induce the Athenian people to expel Hyperbolus instead.


year_label: 418 BCE

text: The Battle of Mantinea is the largest land battle of the Peloponnesian War (with as many as 10,000 troops on each side). Sparta under King Agis II has a major victory over Argos (and its allies Athens, Ellis and Mantinea), which has broken its treaty with Sparta's King Agis II at the insistence of Alcibiades. Agis II's major victory makes amends with the Spartans for his earlier truce with Argos. The commander of the Athenian forces, Laches, is killed in the battle.


text: Alcibiades urges the Athenians to conquer Syracuse, subdue Sicily and Carthage and thus gain added forces that will enable them to finish the war against Sparta. His bold offensive plan wins the support of the Athenians.


text: Impressed with the Spartan victory, the inhabitants of Argos change their government from democracy to oligarchy and end their support for Athens in favour of an alliance with Sparta. Many of Argos' allies do the same. Athens becomes increasingly isolated.


text: King Agis II of Sparta escapes being fined 10,000 drachmae and having his house razed for his failure to press his advantage by promising more successful outcomes in the future.


text: Iphicrates, Athenian general (approximate date) (d. c. 353 BC)


text: Epaminondas of Thebes, Theban general and statesman (d. 362 BC)


text: Laches, Athenian aristocrat and general (b. c. 475 BC)


year_label: 419 BCE

text: Despite the Peace of Nicias still being in effect, Sparta's King Agis II gathers a strong army at Philus and descends upon Argos by marching at night from the north. His allied Boeotian forces fail him, but he is able to conclude a treaty with Argos. In 419 BC, the Argives, at the instigation of Alcibiades, attacked Epidaurus; and Agis with a large force from Lacedaemon set out and marched to the frontier city of Leuctra. No one, Thucydides tells us, knew the purpose of this expedition. It was probably to make a diversion in favour of Epidaurus.


text: Sophocles' play Electra is performed. The play takes its theme from The Libation Bearers by Aeschylus.


text: Euripides' play Andromache is performed.


year_label: 420 BCE

text: The young and popular Alcibiades is elected "Strategos" (one of a board of ten generals) and begins to dominate Athenian life and politics. A Quadruple Alliance of Athens, Argos, Mantineia and Elis, which has been organised by Alcibiades (in opposition to Nicias) confronts a Spartan-Boeotian alliance.


text: 17 Boedromion (Epidauria): The cult of Asclepius is introduced at Athens.


text: Euripides' play The Suppliant Women is performed.


text: Euripides' play Phaethon is performed.


text: Around 420 BC, Spartans were excluded from participating in the Olympic Games due to their ongoing conflicts with other Greek city-states, violating a peace treaty. This exclusion was part of a broader effort to maintain the peaceful atmosphere of the games.


text: Protagoras, Greek presocratic philosopher (b. c. 490 BC)


year_label: 43 BCE

date: January 7

text: January 7 – Octavian is given imperium, marking the start of his public career.

source_title: 43 BC


date: November 26

text: November 26 – Octavian meets Antony and Lepidus in Bononia and the three enter into an official five-year autocratic pact, the Second Triumvirate (see lex Titia). To cement their reconciliation Octavian agrees to marry Claudia, a daughter of Antony's wife Fulvia by her former husband Publius Clodius Pulcher.


text: Lugdunum (modern-day Lyon) is founded.

source_section: Events › By place › Gaul


text: March – Vibius Pansa set out to link up with Hirtius and Octavian, bringing four legions of recruits, having left one, the legio urbana, to defend Rome.


date: April 14

text: April 14 – Battle of Forum Gallorum: Mark Antony, besieging Caesar's assassin Decimus Brutus Albinus in Mutina, defeats the forces of the consul Pansa, but is then immediately defeated by the army of the other consul, Hirtius. Both consuls are killed (Hirtius does not die until after the Battle of Mutina).


date: April 21

text: April 21 – Antony is again defeated in the Battle of Mutina by a coalition of Octavian, Decimus Brutus, and the two consuls of the year.


text: July–August – Antony is again at the head of a large army; Octavian enters Rome in force without opposition. It is clear that Cicero's plan to divide them against each other has failed.


text: Marcus Junius Brutus proceeds to secure his position in Thrace and Macedonia. Gaius Cassius Longinus campaigns in Syria and defeats the army of Publius Cornelius Dolabella at Laodicea.


text: Summer – Gaius Cassius captures Rhodes after they refuse to pay tribute. Their fleet is defeated by Roman galleys in the Aegean Sea. He lands a military force on the island and plunders the city. Cassius puts to death 50 of the leading citizens and seizes all the gold he can lay hands on.


text: Consuls: Gaius Vibius Pansa Caetronianus and Aulus Hirtius. The Roman Senate confirms Octavian as propraetor with joint responsibility for the campaign against Antony. Hirtius and Octavian mobilize troops for the march to Mutina, while Pansa continues the levy. Embassy dispatched to treat with Antony.


text: According to legend, Nagasena creates the Emerald Buddha figurine in Patna, India.

source_section: Events › By place › Asia


text: First reference to Cularo (Grenoble).


text: April 21 – Cicero's 14th and last Philippic.


date: April 16

text: April 16 – Octavian is first proclaimed imperator by his troops.


date: November

text: November – The triumvirs introduce proscriptions in which allegedly 130 senators and 2,000 equites are branded as outlaws and deprived of their property.


date: August 19

text: August 19 – Octavian takes office as consul. He's prevailed to pass the lex Pedia, a law establishing the murder of Caesar as a capital crime.


date: December 7

text: December 7 – The orator Cicero is killed in Formiae in a litter going to the seaside, by a party led by Herennius (a centurion) and Popilius (a military tribune). His head and hands are displayed on the Rostra in the Forum Romanum.


text: Antony marches to Parma (which is sacked) and Placentia. He then crosses the Ligurian Alps to Vada Sabatia, 50 km 0 south-west of Genoa, and joins with Aemilius Lepidus, soon after Decimus Brutus is killed by brigands. The Senate declares Antony a hostis, an enemy of the state. Sextus Pompey becomes supreme commander of the Roman navy and Gaius Cassius proconsul of Syria.


text: Mount Okmok volcano in the Aleutian Islands erupts with a volcanic explosivity index of 6, with climatic effects extending as far as Egypt.

source_section: Events › By place › North America


date: March 20

text: March 20 – Ovid, Roman poet (d. AD 17/18)


text: Iullus Antonius, Roman consul (son of Mark Antony) (suicide 2 BC)


text: Iotapa, princess of Media Atropatene (daughter of Artavasdes I)


date: April 22

text: April 22 – Gaius Vibius Pansa, Roman consul and general (killed in battle)

source_section: Deaths


text: December 7 – Cicero, Roman statesman and orator (murdered) (b. 106 BC)


text: Quintus Pedius, suffect consul after the assassination of Julius Caesar


text: Gaius Verres, Roman politician and governor (b. c. 120 BC)


text: Antipater the Idumaean, Jewish founder of the Herodian dynasty (murdered)


text: Servius Sulpicius Rufus, Roman politician and jurist (b. c. 106 BC)


text: Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus, Roman statesman (murdered) (b. c. 81 BC)


text: Quintus Tullius Cicero, Roman statesman and general (b. 102 BC)


text: Lucius Calpurnius Piso, Roman consul and governor (b. c. 100 BC)


text: Publilius Syrus, Syrian comic dramatist and Latin writer


text: Publius Cornelius Dolabella, suffect consul after the assassination of Julius Caesar (b. 70 BC)


text: Pontius Aquila, Roman politician (assassin of Julius Caesar)


text: Gaius Trebonius, Roman politician (assassin of Julius Caesar)


text: Atia, niece of Julius Caesar and mother of Augustus (b. 85 BC)


year_label: 421 BCE

text: Alcibiades engineers an anti-Spartan alliance between Athens and the democracies of Argos, Mantinea and Elis.


text: The city of Cumae, the most northerly of the Greek colonies in Italy, falls to the Samnites.

source_section: Events › By place › Italy


text: The construction of the Porch of the Maidens (the Caryatid Porch) commences at the Erechtheion which is part of the Acropolis in Athens.


text: Aristophanes' play Peace is performed.


text: Cratinus, Greek comedy author (approximate date) (b. 520 BC)


year_label: 422 BCE

text: Alcibiades takes over the leadership of the pro-war party in Athens.

source_section: Events › By place › Greece


text: Athenian leader, Cleon, ends the truce between Athens and Sparta after he resolves to rescue the town of Amphipolis in Macedonia. However, through skillful generalship by Brasidas, the Spartans rout the Athenians in the Battle of Amphipolis. Both Brasidas and Cleon are killed in the battle, thereby removing the key members of the pro-war factions on both sides.


text: Aristophanes' play The Wasps is performed.


text: Cleon, Athenian politician and general


year_label: 423 BCE

text: Gaius Sempronius Atratinus and Quintus Fabius Vibulanus are elected as consuls

source_section: Events › By place › Rome


text: The Athenian general, Laches, successfully moves in the Athenian Assembly for an armistice with Sparta to check the progress of Sparta's most effective general, Brasidas. However, the "Truce of Laches" has little impact on Brasidas and collapses within a year.


text: Ochus, satrap of Hyrcania and son of Artaxerxes I and a Babylonian concubine, seizes the Persian throne from his half brother Secydianus (or Sogdianus), whom he has executed. The new king rules as Darius II.

source_section: Events › By place › Persian empire


text: Brasidas ignores the proposed year-long truce and proceeds to take Scione and Mende in the hope of reaching Athens and freeing Spartan prisoners. Athens sends reinforcements under Nicias who retakes Mende.


text: Sextus Tempanius, Aulus Sellius, Sextus Antistius, and Spurius Icilius are chosen by the commons as tribunes


text: Aristophanes' play The Clouds is performed as is Sophocles' play Maidens of Trachi and The Putine (The Bottle), by Cratinus.

source_section: Events › By topic › Drama


text: Sogdianus, King of Persia (assassinated)


year_label: 424 BCE

text: Brasidas' capture of the city of Amphipolis is a major reverse for Athens, for which the Athenian general (and future historian) Thucydides is held responsible and banished. This gives Thucydides the opportunity for undistracted study for his History and travel and wider contacts, especially on the Peloponnesian side (Sparta and its allies).


text: At the Congress of Gela, the statesman Hermocrates of Syracuse persuades the cities of Sicily to agree to make peace and urges the exclusion of foreign powers. As a result, the three-year war between his city and Sicily's pro-Athenian town ends and the Athenian forces, which had been sent to Sicily to support Greek settlements, are forced to withdraw.


text: Demosthenes and Hippocrates attempt to capture Megara, but they are defeated by the Spartans under their general Brasidas. Demosthenes then marches to Naupactus to assist in a democratic revolution, and to gather troops for an invasion of Boeotia. However, Demosthenes and Hippocrates are unable to coordinate their attacks and Hippocrates is defeated at the Battle of Delium by Pagondas of Thebes. During the battle, Socrates is said to have saved the life of Alcibiades. Demosthenes attacks Sicyon and is defeated as well.


text: Nicias captures the Peloponnesian island of Cythera, from which to harry the Spartans.


text: After he frustrates the Athenian attack on Megara, Brasidas marches through Boeotia and Thessaly to Chalcidice at the head of 700 helots and 1000 Peloponnesian mercenaries to join the Macedonian king Perdiccas II. Refusing to be made a tool for the furtherance of Perdiccas' ambitions, Brasidas wins over the important cities of Acanthus, Stagirus, Amphipolis, and Torone as well as several minor towns. An attack on Eion is foiled by the arrival of Thucydides at the head of an Athenian squadron.


text: Xerxes II rules as King of Persia for only about 45 days until he is killed. He is reportedly murdered, while drunk, by Pharnacyas and Menostanes on the orders of Sogdianus, the son of one of Artaxerxes I's concubines, Alogyne of Babylon.


text: The temple to Athena Nike (also known as the Wingless Victory) on the Athenian Acropolis is completed. It has been designed by the Athenian architect Callicrates.

source_section: Events › By topic › Architecture


text: Aristophanes produces the comedy, Knights


text: The Achaemenid king Artaxerxes I and his wife Damaspia


year_label: 425 BCE

text: Artaxerxes I, Achaemenid king of Persia, is succeeded by his son Xerxes II.

source_section: Events › By place › Persian Empire


text: Demosthenes captures and fortifies the port of Pylos in the Peloponnesus, giving Athens a strong base close to Sparta. Meanwhile, a Spartan army, commanded by Brasidas, lands on the nearby island of Sphacteria, but is repulsed by the Athenians. An Athenian fleet summoned by Demosthenes bottles up the Spartan navy in Navarino Bay.


text: Cleon joins Demosthenes in the invasion by Athenian troops of Sphacteria. The resulting Battle of Pylos results in an Athenian victory leading to the surrender of many of the Spartan troops. Pylos remains in Athenian hands, and is used as a base for raids into Spartan territory and as a refuge for fleeing Spartan helots.


text: Following the failure of peace negotiations between Athens and Sparta, a number of Spartans stranded on the island of Sphacteria after the Battle of Pylos are attacked by an Athenian force under Cleon and Demosthenes. The resulting Battle of Sphacteria leads to a further victory by the Athenians over the Spartans. The Spartans sue for peace, but the Athenian leader Cleon persuades Athens to refuse.


text: Zhou wei lie wang becomes king of the Zhou dynasty of China.

source_section: Events › By place › China


text: What some historians call the Rich style begins in Greece.

source_section: Events › By topic › Art


text: Callicrates starts to build the Temple of Athena Nike on the Acropolis in Athens (approximate date). Between 410 and 407 BC the temple is surrounded by a parapet.


text: Aristophanes produces the comedy, Archanians.


text: Euripides' play Hecuba is performed.


text: Aristophanes' play The Acharnians is performed. Produced by Callistratus, it wins Aristophanes a first prize at the Lenaea.


text: Artaxerxes III, king of the Persian Empire (approximate date)

source_section: Births


text: Artaxerxes I, king of the Persian Empire


text: Herodotus of Halicarnassos, Dorian Greek historian (b. 484 BC)


year_label: 426 BCE

text: An Athenian army under Nicias, Hipponicus and Eurymedon defeats a combined Tanagran and Theban army in the Battle of Tanagra.


text: The Athenian leader Cleon and Athenian general Demosthenes revitalise the city's military and naval forces despite opposition from Nicias, a rich merchant and soldier, and his supporters.


text: Eurylochus, Spartan general (killed in battle)


text: Zhou kao wang, king of the Zhou dynasty of China


year_label: 427 BCE

text: The Quaestorship is opened to the Plebs.

source_section: Events › By place › Roman Republic


text: Following the surrender of Mytilene to Athens, the Athenian leader Cleon insists that the city be destroyed. In response to the pleadings of a number of Athenian citizens, Cleon's decree to destroy the population of Mytilene is reversed with only the ringleaders of the Mytilenean revolt being executed.


text: Sparta's King Archidamus II is succeeded by his son Agis II.


text: In an effort to blockade Sparta from access to Sicilian corn, Athens responds to a plea for help from a delegation from the city of Leontini led by Gorgias, the sophist and rhetorician. Leontini is being threatened by Syracuse which is allied to Sparta. However, the Athenian mission led by the Athenian general Laches is unable to offer much help. Laches is later prosecuted by Cleon for his unsuccessful mission to support Athenian interests in Sicily.


text: The civil war in Corcyra, in which the Athenians and the Spartans have interfered ineffectually, results in a victory of the democrats (who support an alliance with Athens) over the oligarchs.


text: Plataea surrenders to the Spartans and Thebans after its garrison comes close to death from starvation. Over 200 prisoners are put to death and Plataea is destroyed.


text: Aristophanes produces Daitaleis (The Banqueters)


text: Plato, Greek philosopher (d. c. 347 BC)


year_label: 428 BCE

text: The Greek colony of Cumae in Italy falls to the Samnites, who begin to take control of the Campanian plain.


text: The chief city of Lesbos, Mytilene, revolts against Athenian rule. The Spartan admiral, Alcidas, leads 40 Peloponnesian alliance ships with the aim of assisting the inhabitants of Mytilene. However, the rebellion by Mytilene is crushed before his forces can arrive.


text: Despite encouragement from the Ionian leaders to engage the Athenians, Alcidas declines. Rather, Alcidas leads his fleet to Cyllene where the Spartans resolve to strengthen the fleet and send it to Corcyra where a revolution has broken out. Spartan leaders, Brasidas and Alcidas, then defeat a fleet of Corcyran ships. However, they retire when word reaches them that 60 Athenian ships from Leucas under the command of Eurymedon have been dispatched to intercept them.


text: Euripides' play Hippolytus is performed in the Dionysia competition, the famous Athenian dramatic festival. The play is awarded first prize.

source_section: Events › By topic › Literature


text: Archytas, Greek philosopher, mathematician, astronomer, statesman, and strategist (d. 347 BC)


text: Anaxagoras, Greek philosopher (b. c. 500 BC)