Conflict & Security in the 4th century BC

415 sourced entries, 399 BCE to 300 BCE, oldest first. Also see Conflict & Security across every century or everything else in the 4th century BC.

• 399 BCESparta forces Elis to surrender in the spring.source
• 399 BCEKing 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.source
• 398 BCEDionysius, 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
• 397 BCESiege 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.source
• 397 BCECalled 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.source
• 396 BCEAgesilaus 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.source
• 396 BCEThe 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
• 396 BCEMarcus 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.source
• 395 BCETithraustes replaces Tissaphernes. An armistice is concluded between Tithraustes and Agesilaus. Tithraustes bribes the Spartans to move north into the satrapy of Pharnabazus.source
• 395 BCEUnable 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.source
• 395 BCEThe 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.source
• 395 BCEThe 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.source
• 395 BCEAfter spending the winter in organizing a cavalry force, Agesilaus II, the King of Sparta, makes a successful incursion into Lydia in the spring.source
• 395 BCEThe "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.source
• 394 BCEThe 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.source
• 394 BCEThe 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.source
• 394 BCEThe 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.source
• 393 BCEUpon 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.source
• 393 BCEFighting 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.source
• 393 BCEIn 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.source
• 392 BCEThe 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.source
• 392 BCEDuring 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.source
• 392 BCEA 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.source
• 391 BCEQuintus 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.source
• 391 BCEThe 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
• 391 BCEIphicrates 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
• 391 BCEEvagoras 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.source
• 391 BCEDionysius I, tyrant of Syracuse, begins an attempt to extend his rule to the Greek cities of southern Italy. He unsuccessfully besieges Rhegium.source
• 391 BCEThe 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.source
• 390 BCEJuly 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.source
• 389 BCEWu 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.source
• 389 BCEBattle of the Elleporus and the capture of Kroton by Dionysius I of Syracusesource
• 389 BCEDue to threats of attack from Akarnania, Kalydon garrisons the Achaeans.source
• 389 BCEThe 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.source
• 388 BCEKing 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.source
• 387 BCERome begins to rebuild after being invaded by the Gauls under Brennus.source
• 387 BCEUnder the threat of Spartan intervention, Thebes disbands its league, and Argos and Corinth end their shared government. Corinth is incorporated back into Sparta's Peloponnesian League.source
• 386 BCEFreed 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.source
• 385 BCEMantinea gets destroyed by Sparta and their subdued thebans allies.source
• 385 BCEJason of Pherae becomes tyrant of Thessaly.source
• 384 BCELysias, 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.source
• 382 BCEThe 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.source
• 382 BCEIn 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.source
• 382 BCEPelopidas, a Theban general and statesman, flees to Athens and takes the lead in attempts to liberate Thebes from Spartan control.source
• 381 BCESparta increases its hold on central Greece by reestablishing the city of Plataea, which Sparta formerly destroyed in 427 BC.source
• 381 BCEThe 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
• 381 BCEThe 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.source
• 380 BCECleombrotus I succeeds his brother Agesipolis I as king of Sparta.source
• 380 BCEPersia 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
• 379 BCESparta suppresses the Chalcidian League and imposes terms favourable to King Amyntas III of Macedonia.source
• 379 BCEA small group of Theban exiles, led by Pelopidas, infiltrate the city of Thebes and assassinates the leaders of the pro-Spartan government. Epaminondas and Gorgidas lead a group of young men who break into the city's armories, take weapons, and surround the Spartans on the Cadmea, assisted by a force of Athenian hoplites. In the Theban assembly the next day, Epaminondas and Gorgidas bring Pelopidas and his men before the audience and exhort the Thebans to fight for their freedom. The assembly responds by acclaiming Pelopidas and his men as liberators. Fearing for their lives, the Spartan garrison surrenders and are evacuated. The Thebans of the pro-Spartan party are also allowed to surrender; they are subsequently executed.source
• 378 BCEA Spartan attempt to seize Piraeus brings Athens closer to Thebes. The Athenian mercenary commander Chabrias successfully faces off the larger army of Agesilaus II near Thebes. At the advance of Agesilaus' forces, instead of giving the order to charge, Chabrias famously orders his men at ease—with the spear remaining pointing upwards instead of towards the enemy, and the shield leaning against the left knee instead of being hoisted against the shoulder. The command is followed immediately and without question by the mercenaries under his command, to be copied by their counterparts beside them, the elite Sacred Band of Thebes under the command of Gorgidas. This "show of contempt" stops the advancing Spartan forces, and shortly afterwards Agesilaus withdraws.source
• 378 BCETimotheus, the son of the Athenian general Conon, is elected strategos of Athens.source
• 378 BCEAthens allies itself with Thebes and forms the Second Athenian League. The confederacy includes most of the Boeotian cities and some of the Ionian islands.source
• 378 BCEDionysius 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.source
• 377 BCETimotheus wins over the Acarnanians and Molossians as friends of Athens.source
• 377 BCEAthens, 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.source
• 377 BCEThe 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.source
• 376 BCEThe Thracian city of Abdera is sacked by the Triballi.source
• 376 BCEThe 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.source
• 375 BCEZhou Lie Wang becomes king of the Zhou dynasty of China.source
• 374 BCEAthens tries to retire from the Theban-Spartan war and makes peace with Sparta. However, the peace is quickly broken.source
• 374 BCEPharnabazus II, Satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia, ends his reign.source
• 374 BCESparta 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).source
• 373 BCEThe 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.source
• 372 BCEJason of Pherae, the ruler of Thessaly, allies himself first with Athens and then with Macedon.source
• 371 BCEAthens 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.source
• 371 BCEThebes' actions at the peace congress lead to a war between Sparta and Thebes. The Spartans have an army stationed on Thebes' western frontier, waiting to follow up their diplomatic success by a crushing military attack. However, at the Battle of Leuctra, the Theban generals, Epaminondas and Pelopidas, win a decisive victory over the Spartans under the other Spartan king, Cleombrotus I (who is killed in the battle). Epaminondas wins the battle with a tactical innovation which involves striking the enemy first at their strongest, instead of their weakest, point, with such crushing force that the attack is irresistible. As a result of this battle, the Boeotian federation is saved.source
• 370 BCEThe 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.source
• 369 BCECleomenes II succeeds his brother Agesipolis II as Agiad king of Sparta.source
• 369 BCEIn 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.source
• 369 BCEAfter 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.source
• 369 BCEAlexander 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.source
• 369 BCEPelopidas 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.source
• 369 BCEOn 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.source
• 369 BCEEpaminondas 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.source
• 368 BCEZhou Xian Wang becomes king of the Zhou dynasty of China.source
• 368 BCEWhile 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.source
• 368 BCEIn 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.source
• 367 BCEThe 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.source
• 367 BCEDionysius II makes peace with Carthage on the same terms established after his father's defeat by Carthage in the previous decade.source
• 367 BCEArchidamus III, son of Agesilaus II of Sparta, commands a Spartan army which scores a victory over the Arcadians.source
• 366 BCEIn 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
• 366 BCETheban 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
• 366 BCEThebes captures the city of Oropus.source
• 366 BCEThebes 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.source
• 365 BCEPerdiccas III of Macedon, son of Amyntas III and Eurydice II, kills Ptolemy of Aloros, who has been the regent of Macedon since he arranged the assassination of Perdiccas III's brother Alexander II in 368 BC. With Ptolemy's death, Perdiccas III becomes King of Macedon in his own right.source
• 365 BCEThe Athenian forces under general Timotheus overrun Samos, then occupied by a Persian garrison, after a 10-month siege.source
• 364 BCEThe Athenian general, Iphicrates, fails in attempts to recover Amphipolis. Retiring to Thrace, Iphicrates fights for his father-in-law, the Thracian king Cotys I, against Athens for the possession of the Thracian Chersonese. Cotys I is victorious and controls the whole Chersonese peninsula by 359 BC.source
• 364 BCEPhilip II of Macedon, brother of the reigning king of Macedonia, returns to his native land after having been held as a hostage in Thebes since 369 BC.source
• 364 BCETimophanes, along with a number of colleagues, including his brother Timoleon, takes possession of the acropolis of Corinth and Timophanes makes himself master of the city. Later, Timoleon, after ineffectual protests, tacitly acquiesces to his colleagues putting Timophanes to death for his actions.source
• 364 BCEThe Spartans under Archidamus III are defeated by the Arcadians at Cromnus.source
• 364 BCEOn the advice of the city's military leader, Epaminondas, Thebes builds a fleet of 100 triremes to help combat Athens. Thebes destroys its Boeotian rival Orchomenus.source
• 363 BCEThe Egyptian pharaoh Teos (or Tachos) succeeds his father Nectanebo I to the throne. Planning a great attack on Persia, he invites Sparta to help him.source
• 363 BCEThe Theban general, Epaminondas, makes a bold attempt to challenge Athens' naval empire. With a new Boeotian fleet, he sails to Byzantium, with the result that a number of cities in the Athenian Empire rebel against their now threatened masters.source
• 362 BCEThe outbreak of civil war in the Arcadian league leads to Mantinea fighting alongside Sparta and Athens, while Tegea and other members of the league side with Thebes. The Theban general, Epaminondas leads the large allied army into the Peloponnesus, he is met by the Spartans (led by the Agiad Spartan king Agesilaus), Mantineans, Athenians, and their allies in the Battle of Mantinea. In the battle, Epaminondas is victorious, but is killed. His dying command to make peace with the enemy is followed by all sides and a general peace is established in Greece. The period of Theban domination of Greece comes to an end.source
• 362 BCEThe states of Qin, Han and Zhao defeat the state of Wei and Qin captures the prince of Wei. The Battle of Shaoliang is then fought between Qin and Wei, which Wei loses, whereupon Qin captures the prime minister of Wei.source
• 362 BCEKing Agesilaus II of Sparta arrives with 1,000 men to assist Egypt in its fight with Persia.source
• 362 BCEMausolus of Caria joins the revolt of the satraps of Anatolia against the Persian king Artaxerxes II.source
• 361 BCEThe Egyptians under their King Teos and the Spartans under King Agesilaus II, with some Athenian mercenaries under their general Chabrias, set out to attack the Persian King's Phoenician cities. However, they have to return almost at once due to revolts back in Egypt. Subsequently, Agesilaus II quarrels with the Egyptian king and joins a revolt against him.source
• 361 BCEWith the Persian empire weakening, revolts occur in many parts of the empire, including Sidon, a prosperous and rich Phoenician city.source
• 361 BCEPlato returns once more to Syracuse to teach the young Syracusan tyrant Dionysius II. He fails to reconcile the tyrant to Dion, who Dionysius II banished in 366 BC. Because of this, Plato is forced to flee Syracuse to save his life.source
• 361 BCECallistratus of Aphidnae, an Athenian orator and general, and the Athenian general, Chabrias, are brought to trial in Athens on account of the refusal of the Thebans to surrender the city of Oropus, which on Callistratus' advice the Thebans have been allowed to occupy temporarily. Despite his magnificent oration in his defence (which so impresses Demosthenes that he resolves to study oratory), Callistratus is condemned to death. He flees to Methone in Macedonia, where he is accommodated by King Perdiccas III who draws on his financial expertise. Chabrias is acquitted and then accepts a command under the King of Egypt, Teos, who is defending his country against Persian attempts at reconquest.source
• 360 BCEWith the help of King Agesilaus II of Sparta, Nectanebo II deposes Teos and becomes king of Egypt. Teos flees to Susa and makes peace with the Persians. Nectanebo II pays the Spartans 230 talents for their help.source
• 360 BCEAs the Illyrians attack the Molossians, the Molossian king Arymbas brings his non-combatant people to safety elsewhere. When the Illyrians have finished looting, they are burdened with booty and are thus easily defeated by the Molossians.source
• 360 BCEThe Gauls again reach the gates of Rome, but are beaten back.source
• 359 BCEThe Illyrians prepare to close in, the Paeonians raid from the north and two claimants to the Macedonian throne are supported by foreign powers. Philip II buys off his dangerous neighbours and, with a treaty, cedes Amphipolis to Athens.source
• 358 BCEPhilip II of Macedonia invades the hill tribes of Paeonia and decisively beats them.source
• 357 BCERhodes falls to the Persian satrap Mausolus of Halicarnassus.source
• 357 BCEThe Macedonian general, Parmenion, wins a great victory over the Illyrians. King Philip II of Macedon, having disposed of an Illyrian threat, occupies the Athenian city of Amphipolis (which commands the gold mines of Mount Pangaion). Philip II now has control of the strategic city which secures the eastern frontier of Macedonia and gives him access into Thrace.source
• 357 BCEEuboean mercenary Charidemus recaptures the Thracian Chersonese for Athens. He receives, from Athens, a golden crown for his part in the victory.source
• 357 BCEThe brother-in-law of Dionysius I, Dion, exiled from Syracuse in 366 BC by Dionysius II, assembles a force of 1,500 mercenaries at Zacynthus and sails to Sicily. Dion wrests power from the weak Dionysius II, who is exiled and flees to Locri.source
• 356 BCEChares is given sole command of the Athenian fleet and withdraws to the Hellespont to move against Byzantium. The generals Timotheus, Iphicrates and his son Menestheus are sent with 60 ships to help him when the enemy fleet is sighted on the Hellespont. Timotheus and Iphicrates refuse to engage due to a severe gale, but Chares does engage and lose many of his ships. Timotheus and Iphicrates are accused by Chares and put on trial, however only Timotheus is condemned to pay a fine.source
• 356 BCEThe Athenian generals Chares and Chabrias are given command of the Athenian fleet with the aim of defeating the rebellious cities. However, Chabrias' fleet is defeated and he is killed in its attack on the island of Chios, off the coast of Ionia.source
• 356 BCEThe Achaemenid King Artaxerxes III orders all the satraps (governors) of his empire to dismiss their mercenaries. The Athenians, who have originally approved their mercenaries' collaboration with Artabazus of Phrygia, order them to leave due to their fear of Achaemenid support for the rebellion of Chios, Rhodes, and Cos. Thebes follows suit and withdraws its mercenaries.source
• 356 BCEPhilip II of Macedon secretly offers the city of Amphipolis back to the Athenians in exchange for the valuable port of Pydna. Despite the Athenians being willing to comply, both Pydna and Potidaea are conquered by the Macedonians (along with other Athenian strongholds in Thessaly and Chalcidice) despite being defended by Athenian forces led by general and mercenary commander, Chares, as well as generals Iphicrates and Timotheus.source
• 356 BCEThe Phocians capture and sack Delphi in whose territory the famous temple and oracle stand. A sacred war is declared against them by the other members of the Great Amphictyonic League. The Phocians, led by two capable generals, Philomelus and Onomarchus, use Delphi's riches to hire a mercenary army to carry the war into Boeotia and Thessaly.source
• 356 BCEArtabazus is also supported by the Thebans, who send him 5,000 men under one of their generals Pammenes. With the assistance of these and other allies, Artabazus defeats his Achaemenid enemies in two great battles.source
• 356 BCEWith King Artaxerxes III succeeding in depriving Artabazus of his Athenian and Theban allies, Artabazus is defeated by the Persian King's general, Autophradates.source
• 356 BCEHaving blamed their defeats to Philip II in Thessaly and Chalcidice on his colleagues (Iphicrates and Timotheus), Chares is left in sole command of the Athenian fleet. Chares, in need of money for his war effort, frowns upon asking it from Athens, so, partly compelled by his mercenaries, he enters the service of the insurgent Achaemenid satrap of Phrygia Artabazus who rewards Chares very generously.source
• 356 BCEThe Social War begins between the Second Athenian League, led by Athens, and its revolting allies of Chios, Rhodes, and Kos as well as the independent state Byzantium. Mausolus, the tyrant of Caria, instigates the rebellion against the Athenian control of these states. The revolting allies ravage the islands of Lemnos and Imbros which are loyal to Athens.source
• 356 BCEWith Pydna and Potidaea occupied, Philip II decides to keep Amphipolis anyway. He also takes the city of Crenides from the Odrysae and renames it Philippi.source
• 355 BCEChares' war party in Athens is replaced by one under Eubulus which favours peace. Eubulus restores the economic position of Athens without increasing the burden of taxation and improves the Athenian fleet while its docks and fortifications are repaired.source
• 355 BCEKing Artaxerxes III of Persia forces Athens to conclude a peace which requires the city to leave Asia Minor and to acknowledge the independence of its rebellious allies.source
• 355 BCEKing Archidamus III of Sparta supports Phocis against Thebes in the "Sacred War".source
• 354 BCEPhilip II of Macedon takes and destroys Methone, a town which has belonged to Athens. During the siege of Methone, Philip loses an eye.source
• 354 BCERome allies itself with the Samnites and they agree on a mutual defence pact.source
• 354 BCERome defeats the Etruscans of the city of Caere.source
• 354 BCEThe State of Qi is victorious over the State of Wei in the Battle of Guiling, a conflict which involves the military strategy of Sun Bin.source
• 354 BCEThe Phocians suffer a defeat in the Sacred War against Athens.source
• 353 BCEThe Phocians threaten Thessaly to their north. Philip II of Macedon saw his opportunity to penetrate south.source
• 352 BCEAfter two initial efforts, Philip II of Macedon drives the Phocians south after a major victory over them in the Battle of Crocus Field. Athens and Sparta come to the assistance of the Phocians and Philip is checked at Thermopylae. Philip does not attempt to advance into central Greece with the Athenians occupying this pass. With this victory, Philip accrues great glory as the righteous avenger of Apollo, since the Phocian general Onomarchos has plundered the sacred treasury of Delphi to pay his mercenaries. Onomarchos' body is crucified, and the prisoners are drowned as ritual demanded for temple-robbers.source
• 351 BCEThe Etruscans are badly defeated by the Romans and abandon their attacks on the city and sue for peace.source
• 351 BCEFirst use of the heavy throwing spear, the pilum, (according to Livy) in battle against the Gauls.source
• 351 BCEEncouraged by a failed effort at invasion of Egypt by King Artaxerxes III, Phoenicia and Cyprus revolt against Persia.source
• 351 BCEDemosthenes tries to get the Athenians to cease depending on paid mercenaries and return to the old concept of a citizen army. He also delivers his First Philippic, warning Athenians of the folly of believing that Philip's ill health will save Athens from the Macedonians. In response, Athens' citizens vote for increased armaments.source
• 350 BCEThe Gauls, once more threatening Rome, are decisively beaten by an army comprising Rome and its allies.source
• 350 BCEIdrieus, the second son of Hecatomnus, succeeds to the throne of Caria on the death of Artemisia II, the widow of his elder brother Mausolus. Shortly after his accession, at the request of the Persian king, Artaxerxes III, Idrieus equips a fleet of 40 triremes and assembles an army of 8,000 mercenary troops and despatches them against Cyprus, under the command of the Athenian general Phocion.source
• 350 BCEPhilip II has Abdera in Thrace sacked.source
• 350 BCESidon, the centre of the revolt against Persia, seeks help from its sister city of Tyre and from Egypt but gets very little.source
• 350 BCEAlexander I becomes king of Epirus after his brother-in-law, Philip II of Macedon, aids him in ousting the previous king, Arymbas.source
• 349 BCESidon is besieged by Persian forces. The Persian Empire reasserted its dominance over Egypt after Nectanebo II was forced to flee following the Persian military campaign under Artaxerxes III. The native Egyptian rule briefly came to an end, and the Persians regained control. This was just a precursor to the later events that would lead to Alexander the Great's conquest of Egypt in the early 4th century BCE, ultimately ending Persian rule and ushering in the Hellenistic period.source
• 348 BCEAfter being besieged by the Persian forces of King Artaxerxes III, Sidon is taken and its population is punished with great cruelty.source
• 348 BCEThe Athenian help to its cities in Macedonia is diverted by a revolt in Euboea which Philip II of Macedon has fomented. He conquers the city of Olynthus in the Chalcidice and he annexes Chalcidice to Macedonia.source
• 346 BCEFollowing the conclusion of the Peace of Philocrates, Philip II's army moves through the pass of Thermopylae and subdues Phocis. Athens makes no move to support the Phocians.source
• 346 BCEThe Athenian politicians, Demosthenes and Timarchus, prepare to prosecute Aeschines for treason after he has sought to reconcile the Athenians to Macedonia's expansion into Greece. Eubulus loses his influence on Athenian affairs.source
• 345 BCECarthaginians ravage and blockade Entella.source
• 344 BCEThe aristocracy of Syracuse appeal to their mother city of Corinth against their tyrant Dionysius II. The Corinthian general Timoleon is chosen to lead a liberation force to Sicily. Landing at Tauromenium (Taormina) on March 21st, Timoleon faces two armies, one under Dionysius and the other under Hicetas (tyrant of nearby Leontini), who has also called in Carthaginian forces. By shrewd tactics Timoleon defeats his enemies and occupies Syracuse.source
• 344 BCEPhilip divides his army, leaving one part to besiege Perinthus and taking the other to besiege Byzantium.source
• 344 BCEPhilip II of Macedon besieges Perinthus, which had defied him and was inclining towards his opponents the Athenians, the Perinthian's allies Byzantium and the Achaemenid Empire support Perinthus in their defence of the city.source
• 344 BCEDionysius II goes into exile once more after the successful invasion by Timoleon of Corinth.source
• 343 BCEPhalaikos unsuccessfully lays siege to Kydonia on the island of Crete.source
• 343 BCEThe King of Persia, Artaxerxes III, personally leads the Persian forces invading Egypt. The Persians are keen to access Egypt's gold and corn supplies. The town of Pelusium in the Nile Delta puts up resistance, but Pharaoh Nectanebo II is forced to retreat to Memphis. As the situation deteriorates, Nectanebo II leaves for exile in Nubia. His departure marks the end of the 30th Dynasty, the last native house to rule Egypt.source
• 343 BCEWith Nectanebo II's flight, all organised resistance to the Persians collapses, and Egypt is once again reduced to a satrapy of the Persian Empire. A Persian satrap is put in place in Egypt. The walls of the country's cities are destroyed and its temples are plundered. Artaxerxes and his commander-in-chief, General Bagoas, leave Egypt loaded with treasure.source
• 343 BCEKing Philip II of Macedon again marches against Cersobleptes, King of Thrace, defeats him in several battles, and reduces him to the condition of being a tributary.source
• 343 BCEFirst Samnite War began when Rome fought the confederated Samnites over disputed territory in the Middle Liris Valley.source
• 342 BCEPhilip begins a series of campaigns in Thrace with the aim of annexing it to be a province of Macedonia. When the Macedonian army approaches Thracian Chersonese (the Gallipoli Peninsula), an Athenian general named Diopeithes ravages this district of Thrace, thus inciting Philip's rage for operating too near one of his towns in the Chersonese. Philip demands his recall. In response, the Athenian Assembly is convened. Demosthenes convinces the Athenians not to recall Diopeithes.source
• 342 BCEThe Battle of Mount Gaurus is fought between the Romans and the Samnites. The battle is a success for the Romans, who, it is said, are led by Marcus Valerius Corvus. Fought at the foot of Mount Gaurus, near Cumae, it is the most notable engagement of the First Samnite War.source
• 342 BCEIn the course of the Warring States period, the army of the state of Qi defeats the army of the state of Wei in the Battle of Maling. This battle involves the military strategy of the general Sun Bin (descendant of Sun Tzu), and is the first battle in recorded history to give a reliable account of the handheld crossbow with trigger mechanism.source
• 342 BCEThe Corinthian general Timoleon spreads his rule over Sicily, removing a number of other tyrants and preparing Sicily for another threatened Carthaginian invasion.source
• 341 BCEThe First Samnite War ends with Rome triumphant and the Samnites willing to make peace.source
• 340 BCERhodes falls to Persian forces.source
• 340 BCEPhilip II fails in his siege of Byzantium and is forced to respond to attacks by the Scythians near the mouth of the Danube. His son, Alexander is regent while his father fights against Byzantium and the Scythians.source
• 340 BCEThe Athenians give Demosthenes a public vote of thanks after Philip's unsuccessful siege of Byzantium.source
• 340 BCEThe Roman-Samnite army under consuls Publius Decius Mus and Titus Manlius Torquatus attack and defeat the Latins and Campanians near Mount Vesuvius in the Battle of Vesuvius.source
• 340 BCEWhen King Philip II of Macedon invaded Perinthus and Byzantium, King Artaxerxes III of Persia sent support to those cities.source
• 340 BCEHicetas, the tyrant of Leontini, again persuades Carthage to send a large army to Sicily, which lands at Lilybaeum. Timoleon of Syracuse meets this large Carthaginian army in the Battle of the Crimissus in the west of Sicily and achieves a brilliant victory against superior odds. Despite this victory, the Carthaginians continue to occupy the western half of Sicily, with a treaty being concluded that confines the Carthaginians to the area west of the Halycus (Platani) River.source
• 339 BCEThe Roman consul Titus Manlius Imperiosus Torquatus defeats the Latins in the Battle of Trifanum.source
• 339 BCEPhilip II of Macedon decides to attack the Scythians, using as an excuse their reluctance to allow Philip to dedicate a statue of Heracles at the Danube estuary. The two armies clash on the plains of modern-day Dobruja. The ninety-year-old King of the Scythians, Ateas, is killed during the battle and his army is routed.source
• 339 BCEDuring a meeting of the Amphictyonic Council, Philip accuses the citizens of the town of Amfissa, in Locris, of intruding on consecrated ground. The Amphictyonic Congress, with the initial support of the Athenian representative, Aeschines, decides to inflict a harsh punishment upon the Locrians. After the failure of a first military excursion against the Locrians, the summer session of the Amphictyonic Council gives command of the league's forces to Philip and asks him to lead a second excursion. Philip acts at once, and his forces pass through Thermopylae, enter Amfissa and defeat the Locrians who are led by Chares, the Athenian general and mercenary commander.source
• 338 BCEAugust 2 – Philip II of Macedon defeats the Athenians and Thebans in the Battle of Chaeronea in western Boeotia. His son, Alexander, commands the left wing of the Macedonian army during the battle. In victory, Philip II is harsh on Thebes, but merciful on Athens, thanks to the efforts of the Athenian orator and diplomat, Demades, who helps negotiate a peace agreement between Macedonia and Athens.source
• 338 BCEWith peace finally achieved with Carthage, Timoleon of Syracuse is able to depose two more tyrants in Sicily and then retires into private life.source
• 338 BCEThe Latin War ends with the Latin League being dissolved and the individual Latin cities having to accept Rome's terms. Many of the cities are incorporated into the Roman state. In making peace with the cities of the defeated Latin League, Rome offers liberal terms. The men of many of these cities are granted citizenship and, as a result, Rome gains friends rather than enemies.source
• 338 BCEWith the fall of their chief city, Antium, to the Romans, the Volsci finally abandon their resistance against the Romans and accept an alliance with Rome.source
• 338 BCECarthage makes another effort to conquer all of Sicily. The Carthaginians dispatch some mercenaries to extend the conflict between Timoleon and the Sicilian tyrants. But this effort ends in the defeat of Hicetas, the tyrant of Leontini, who is taken prisoner and put to death. By a treaty between Syracuse and Carthage, the dominion of Carthage in Sicily is confined to the lands west of the Halycus (Platani) River.source
• 338 BCEAfter his significant victory over the Locrians, Philip II of Macedon swiftly enters Phocis. He then turns southeast down the Cephissus valley, seizes Elateia and restores the fortifications of the city.source
• 338 BCEPhilip II invaded and devastated much of Laconia, turning the Spartans out, though he did not seize Sparta itself.source
• 338 BCEKing Archidamus III is succeeded as the Eurypontid King of Sparta by his son, Agis III.source
• 337 BCEOlympias is put aside by her husband Philip II, following Philip's marriage to a girl named Cleopatra (who is renamed Eurydice). Their son, Alexander, is effectively disowned by Philip's actions. Philip II has Ptolemy, along with other companions of his son, exiled.source
• 336 BCEAlexander puts down a rebellion in Macedonia and crushes the rebellious Illyrians. He then appears at the gates of Thebes and receives the city's submission. After that he advances to the Corinthian isthmus and is elected by the assembled Greeks as their commander against Persia.source
• 336 BCEFollowing his assassination, Philip II of Macedon is succeeded by his son Alexander III. Suspecting the princes of the Lynkestis region of killing Phillip II, Alexander executes them all. The League of Corinth promotes Alexander to general of a unified Greek army for its planned invasion of Asia Minor.source
• 336 BCEMacedonian troops, commanded by Parmenion, trusted lieutenant of Philip II, arrive in Asia Minor, but are driven back by Persian forces under the command of the Greek mercenary Memnon of Rhodes.source
• 335 BCEReturning to Macedonia by way of Delphi (where the Pythian priestess acclaims him "invincible"), King Alexander III of Macedonia advances into Thrace in order to secure the Danube as the northern boundary of the Macedonian kingdom. After forcing the Shipka Pass and crushing the Triballi, he crosses the Danube to disperse the Getae. Turning west, he then defeats and shatters a coalition of Illyrians who are invading Macedonia.source
• 335 BCEAfter conquering Thebes, Alexander demands the surrender of the mercenary commanders, Chares and Charidemus, among others. Chares escapes to the Troad while Charidemus is banished and flees to Persia.source
• 335 BCEThe admiration of Alexander for the Athenian orator and diplomat, Demades, leads the conqueror to treat Athens leniently despite its involvement in the rebellion. A special Athenian embassy led by Phocion, an opponent of the anti-Macedonian faction, is able to persuade Alexander to give up his demand for the exile of the leaders of the anti-Macedonian party, particularly Demosthenes.source
• 334 BCEMay – Alexander wins a major victory against the Persians commanded by the Greek mercenary Memnon of Rhodes, in the Battle of the Granicus near the Sea of Marmara. A large number of King Darius III's Greek mercenaries are massacred, but 2,000 survivors are sent back to Macedonia in chains.source
• 334 BCEAs the Persian satraps have gathered for a war council at Zeleia, Memnon argues that it is preferable for the Persians to avoid a pitched battle and adopt a scorched earth tactic. Arsites, the satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia, will not allow his land to be burned and agrees with other satraps to reject this cautious advice.source
• 334 BCEAlexander's victory exposes western Asia Minor to the Macedonians, and most of the cities in the region hasten to open their gates. The Ionian city of Miletus defies Alexander and he has to subdue it through a siege.source
• 334 BCEAt Halicarnassus, Alexander successfully undertakes the first of many sieges, eventually forcing his opponents, the mercenary captain Memnon of Rhodes and the Persian satrap of Caria, Orontobates, to withdraw by sea. Alexander leaves Caria in the hands of Ada, who was the ruler of Caria before being deposed by her brother-in-law, Pixodarus.source
• 334 BCEAlexander accepts the surrender of the Persian provincial capital of Sardis (and its treasury) and proceeds down the Ionian coast.source
• 334 BCEKing Alexander III of Macedonia crosses the Dardanelles, leaving Antipater, who has already faithfully served his father, Philip II, as his deputy in Greece with over 13,000 men. Alexander himself commands about 30,000 foot soldiers and over 5,000 cavalry, of whom nearly 14,000 are Macedonians and about 7,000 are allies sent by the Greek League.source
• 333 BCEAlexander has a great victory over the Persians in the Battle of the Issus River in Cilicia, but the Persian Emperor Darius III escapes. Darius leaves behind his wife, his two daughters, his mother Sisygambis.source
• 333 BCEKing Darius III of Persia executes Charidemus, a Greek mercenary leader living in exile in Persia, for criticising preparations taken for the Battle of Issus.source
• 333 BCENastasen king of kush repelled an invasion by a Egyptian leader named "Kambustan", likely the rebel leader khabash and won many valuable war spoils including river faires.source
• 333 BCEIn reply to a letter from Darius offering peace, Alexander demands Darius' unconditional surrender.source
• 333 BCEKing Alexander of Macedonia conquers western Asia Minor, subduing the hill tribes of Lycia and Pisidia.source
• 333 BCEFrom Issus, Alexander marches south into Syria and Phoenicia, his object being to isolate the Persian fleet from its bases and so to destroy it as an effective fighting force. The Phoenician cities of Marathus and Aradus do not resist Alexander's armies. Parmenion is sent ahead to try to secure Damascus and its rich booty, including Darius' war chest.source
• 333 BCEAfter taking Byblos and Sidon, Alexander lays siege to Tyre.source
• 333 BCEAlexander makes one of his officers, Nearchus, satrap of the newly conquered Lycia and Pamphylia in Anatolia and he appoints his general, Antigonus, satrap of Phrygia.source
• 332 BCEThe Persian King Darius III twice sends on horseback to Alexander letters of friendship. The second time he offers a large ransom for his family, the ceding of all of the Persian Empire west of the Euphrates River, and the hand of his daughter in return for an alliance. Alexander rejects both letters and marches into Mesopotamia.source
• 332 BCEAlexander spends the winter organizing the administration of Egypt. He employs Egyptian governors, while keeping the army under a separate Macedonian command.source
• 332 BCEAlexander the Great occupies Damascus and, after a siege lasting seven months, destroys Tyre during which there is great carnage and the sale of the women and children into slavery.source
• 332 BCEAlexander conquers Egypt from the Persians. The Egyptians welcome him as their deliverer, and the Persian satrap Mazaces wisely surrenders. Alexander's conquest of Egypt completes his control of the whole eastern Mediterranean coast.source
• 332 BCELeaving Parmenion in Syria, Alexander advances south without opposition until he reaches Gaza where bitter resistance halts him for two months, and he sustains a serious shoulder wound during a sortie.source
• 331 BCEOctober 1 – Alexander is victorious in the Battle of Gaugamela (near ancient Ninevah) over the Persian King Darius III. Alexander pursues the defeated Persian forces to Arbela, Darius moves his Bactrian cavalry and Greek mercenaries into Media.source
• 331 BCEAlexander departs from Egypt and leads his forces towards Phoenicia. He leaves Cleomenes of Naucratis as the ruling nomarch to control Egypt.source
• 331 BCEWhile Alexander is fighting in Asia, Agis III of Sparta, profiting from the Macedonian king's absence from Greece, leads some of the Greek cities in a revolt. With Persian money and 8,000 Greek mercenaries, he holds Crete against Macedonian forces. In the Peloponnesus he routs a force under the Macedonian general Coragus and, although Athens stays neutral, he is joined by Elis, Achaea (except Pellene) and Arcadia, with the exception of Megalopolis, the staunchly anti-Spartan capital of Arcadia, which Agis III's forces besiege.source
• 331 BCEFrom Thapsacus on the Euphrastes River, Alexander led the Greek army toward the Tigris River, leading to a victory over the Persians on October 31 at Gaugamela, after which Darius fled and escaped.source
• 331 BCEAlexander's regent Antipater leads the Macedonians to victory over King Agis III in the Battle of Megalopolis.source
• 331 BCETarentum turns against Alexander of Epirus when they realize that he intends to create a kingdom of his own in southern Italy. Alexander is defeated and killed in the Battle of Pandosia on the banks of the Acheron.source
• 331 BCEFor the first time, Alexander encounters war elephants after the battle in Darius' camp. In the capital, Susa, Alexander gains access to huge treasures amounting to 50,000 gold talents (equivalent of today circa 77 billion USD).source
• 330 BCEJanuary 20 – Alexander the Great defeats the Persians, led by satrap Ariobarzanes, at the Persian Gates. In this battle, Ariobarzan, supported by only 700 Persian Immortals, holds the vast Macedonian army of 17,000 men at bay for 30 days. At the end, his troops are surrounded by Alexander's army, because of a Persian shepherd, who leads it around the Persian defenses. However, instead of surrendering, Ariobarzan and his 700 Immortals fight to the last man. Some historians consider him to be the Leonidas of Persia.source
• 330 BCEJanuary 30 – After gaining the Pass of the Persian Gates, Alexander enters Persepolis. There he ceremonially burns down the palace of Xerxes I, as a symbol that the Panhellenic war of revenge is at an end.source
• 330 BCEAlexander's regent in Macedonia, Antipater, makes peace with the Thracians (with whom he has been warring) and then marches south with a large force of over 40,000 men. He wins a hard-fought Battle of Megalopolis in Arcadia against Agis III of Sparta and his Greek mercenaries. Agis III is killed, and Spartan resistance is broken.source
• 330 BCEThe Italian cities of Fondi and Privernum, led by Vitruvius Vaccus, launch a failed revolt against Rome.source
• 330 BCECrossing the Elburz Mountains to the Caspian Sea, Alexander seizes Zadracarta in Hyrcania and receives the submission of a group of satraps and Persian notables, some of whom he confirms in their offices. He then travels westward and defeats the Mardi, a mountain people who inhabit the Elburz Mountains. He also accepts the surrender of Darius' Greek mercenaries.source
• 330 BCEFollowing his defeat in the courts by Demosthenes, Aeschines leaves Athens for Rhodes, to teach rhetoric.source
• 330 BCEIn Aria, Alexander's army defeats the satrap Satibarzanes, who initially offers to submit, only to later revolt. Alexander then founds the town of Alexandria of the Arians (modern Herat).source
• 330 BCEAt Phrada, in Drangiana, Philotas, Parmenion's son and commander of the elite Macedonian companion cavalry, is implicated in an alleged plot against Alexander's life. He is condemned by the army, and executed. A secret message is sent by Alexander to Cleander, Parmenion's second in command, who obediently kills Parmenion at Ecbatana in Media for fear that he will rise up in revolt at the news of his son's death. All of Parmenion's adherents are now eliminated and men close to Alexander are promoted.source
• 329 BCEMacedonian expeditionary corps in Central Asia is defeated in the Battle of the Polytimetus.source
• 329 BCECrossing the Oxus, Alexander sends his general Ptolemy in pursuit of Bessus. In the meantime, Bessus is overthrown by the Sogdian Spitamenes. Bessus is captured, flogged, and sent to Ptolemy in Bactria with the hope of appeasing Alexander. In due course, Bessus is publicly executed at Ecbatana. With the death of Bessus (Artaxerxes V), Persian resistance to Alexander the Great ceases.source
• 328 BCEDecember – Spitamenes is badly defeated by Alexander's general Coenus. At this point Spitamenes' allies, feeling the situation desperate, kill their leader and send his head as a gift to Alexander.source
• 328 BCESpitamenes raises all Sogdiana in revolt behind him, bringing in the Massagetae, a people of the Scythian confederacy. He besieges the Macedonian garrison in Maracanda. Alexander the Great sends an army under the command of Pharnuches of Lycia which is promptly annihilated with a loss of more than 2,000 infantry and 300 cavalry.source
• 328 BCEUnderstanding now the danger represented by his enemy, Alexander moves personally to relieve Maracanda, only to learn that Spitamenes has left Sogdiana. Spitamenes then attacks Bactra, from where he is repulsed with great difficulty by the satrap of Bactria, Artabazus of Phrygia.source
• 328 BCEAlexander attacks Oxyartes and the remaining Bactrian barons who are holding out in the hills of Paraetacene (modern Tajikistan). The Macedonians seize the crag on which Oxyartes has his stronghold (the Sogdian Rock), and among the captives is his daughter, Roxana. In the reconciliation that follows the battle, Alexander marries Roxana. The rest of Oxyartes' opponents are either won over or crushed.source
• 327 BCEAlexander the Great invades northern India. Recrossing the Hindu Kush, Alexander divides his forces. Half the army with the baggage under Hephaestion and Perdiccas, both cavalry commanders, are sent through the Khyber Pass, while Alexander leads the rest, together with his siege train, through the hills to the north. His advance through Swat and Gandhara is marked by the storming of the almost impregnable pinnacle of Aornos, a few miles west of the Indus.source
• 327 BCEThe relations between Alexander and Aristotle are embittered by the execution of Aristotle's nephew, the historian Callisthenes of Olynthus, who is charged with treason. Callisthenes has been accompanying Alexander to write a chronicle of the campaign.source
• 327 BCEThe Samnite army captures Neapolis (present-day Naples). The Romans, who are meanwhile moving south while the Samnites are occupied with Tarentum, take the opportunity to recover Neapolis and, after a long siege, evict the Samnite garrison from the city and make it an ally of Rome.source
• 326 BCEOn the left bank of the Hydaspes, Alexander fights his last great battle, the Battle of the Hydaspes River. He and his general Craterus defeat the Indian King Porus. Alexander founds two cities there, Alexandria on the Indus or Alexandria Nicaea (to celebrate his victory) and Alexandria Bucephalous or Bucephala (named after his horse Bucephalus, which dies there); and Porus becomes his friend and ally.source
• 326 BCEAlexander continues on to conquer all the headwaters of the Indus River. East of Porus' kingdom, near the Ganges River, Alexander faces the powerful empire of Magadha ruled by the Nanda dynasty. Fearing the prospects of facing another powerful Indian army and exhausted by years of campaigning, his army mutinies at the Hyphasis River (the modern Beas River) and refuses to march further east, thus making this river mark the easternmost extent of Alexander's conquests.source
• 326 BCESpring – Alexander the Great crosses the Indus near Attock and enters ancient Taxila, whose ruler, Taxiles (or Ambhi), furnishes 130 war elephants and troops in return for aid against his rival Porus, who rules the lands between the Hydaspes (modern Jhelum River) and the Acesines (modern Chenab River).source
• 326 BCEFollowing their defeat by the Roman forces in Naples, the Samnites declare war on Rome starting the Second Samnite War. To help defeat the Samnites, the Romans make alliances with the peoples of Central Italy to the north of Samnium and with the Apulians to the southeast.source
• 326 BCEFollowing the mutiny of his army at the Hyphasis River, Alexander is persuaded by his army leaders to abandon his plans for invading the Ganges Valley. Alexander appoints Nearchus, a Cretan with naval experience, as admiral and places under his command all in the ranks of his army with any knowledge of seafaring. Nearchus has Indian shipwrights build 800 vessels, some as large as 300 tons, to take the army through Persian Gulf waters to Babylon. Alexander the Great begins the return march down the Indus to the sea.source
• 325 BCEWhile returning to Persia, Alexander's army runs into the Malli clans (in modern day Multan). The ensuing battle severely weakens his army. Alexander sends much of his remaining army to Carmania (modern southern Iran) with his general Craterus, while he leads the rest of his forces back to Persia by the southern route through the Gedrosian Desert (now part of southern Iran and Makran in southern Pakistan).source
• 325 BCEKing Wuling ascends to the throne of Zhao.source
• 325 BCEBy the end of the year, Alexander's army reaches Persepolis, while his navy, under Nearchus, reaches Susa at around the same time.source
• 325 BCEGoing against his loyalty to the figurehead monarch of the Zhou dynasty, the Qin ruler, Duke Huiwen, takes on the title of King Huiwen, claiming royal title and sparking a trend amongst other Warring States rulers to do the same.source
• 324 BCEAlexander the Great's treasurer, Harpalus, fearing arrest, flees from Susa to Athens. On arriving in Athens, he is imprisoned by the Athenians after a proposal of Demosthenes and Phocion, despite Hypereides' opposition, who wanted an immediate uprising against Alexander. Harpalus brings with him considerable wealth collected from the spoils of Alexander's conquest of Asia. This money is entrusted to a committee led by Demosthenes.source
• 323 BCESome Greek cities, including Athens, revolt against the Macedonian regent, Antipater, following the news of Alexander's death. Athens' actions are incited by the speeches of the Athenian general Leosthenes and the Athenian orator Hypereides. Joined by cities in central and south Greece, the Athenians defeat Antipater in battle. They force him to take refuge in Lamia, where he is besieged for several months by the Greek allies.source
• 323 BCELaomedon governing Syria and Phoenicia;source
• 323 BCEPhrataphernes rules Parthia and Hyrcania;source
• 323 BCEAlexander orders demolition of the ziggurat at Etemenanki.source
• 323 BCEArcesilas rules northern Mesopotamia.source
• 323 BCEArchon of Pella controls Babylonia; andsource
• 323 BCEThe Greek philosopher and scientist, Aristotle, faces a strong anti-Macedonian reaction in Athens following the death of Alexander the Great. Aristotle is accused of impiety by the Athenians. However, he escapes to Chalcis in Euboea.source
• 322 BCESeptember 5 – Craterus arrives to defeat the Athenians in the Battle of Crannon. This battle marks a complete victory for Antipater in the Lamian War.source
• 322 BCESpring/summer – The Macedonian admiral Cleitus the White defeats the Athenian navy at the Battle of the Echinades and the Battle of Amorgos, ending Athenian thalassocracy in the Aegean.source
• 322 BCEPtolemy, taking advantage of internal disturbances, acquires the African Hellenic towns of Cyrenaica without the authority of Perdiccas.source
• 322 BCEDemosthenes flees from the Macedonians who demand his surrender. Upon being arrested, he takes poison and dies.source
• 322 BCEThe League of Corinth is dissolved.source
• 322 BCEThe Athenians and their allies' siege of the Macedonian ruler, Antipater, in Lamia is relieved by Leonnatus with an army of 20,000 infantry and 1,500 cavalry. Leonnatus is killed in the action.source
• 322 BCEPtolemy executes his deputy, Cleomenes of Naucratis, on the suspicion that Cleomenes favours Perdiccas. This action removes the chief check on his authority, and allows Ptolemy to obtain the sizable funds that Cleomenes has accumulated.source
• 322 BCEChandragupta Maurya captures Magadha: Chandragupta, with the help of Chanakya (Kautilya), who is also known as the Indian Machiavelli, destroys the Nanda rulers of Magadha and establishes the Maurya Empire. It is said that Chanakya met Chandragupta in the Vindhya forest, after being insulted by the Nanda king.source
• 321 BCEAntipater appoints Antigonus commander in chief of his army in Asia Minor and sends him with Craterus to fight against Eumenes, the satrap of Cappadocia and a supporter of Perdiccas.source
• 321 BCEAntigonus and Craterus defeat Eumenes in battle but Eumenes escapes. Antigonus and Craterus then besiege him unsuccessfully in the mountain fortress of Nora on the border between Cappadocia and Lycaonia. Craterus is killed during the fighting against Eumenes when his charging horse (Diodorus) falls over him.source
• 321 BCETwo Roman consuls, Spurius Postumius Albinus and Titus Veturius Calvinus, leading an invading force into Samnium, are trapped in a mountain pass known as the Caudine Forks (Caudium) near Beneventum, where they can neither advance nor retire, and after a desperate struggle, they are forced to submit to the humiliating terms imposed by the Samnite victor, Gaius Pontius. The captured consuls pledge themselves to a five-year treaty on terms most favourable for the Samnites.source
• 321 BCEContinuing successes by Rome's armies against the Samnites forces the Samnites to sue for peace. However, the terms offered by Rome are so stringent that they are rejected by the Samnites and the war goes on.source
• 320 BCEAlexander the Great's various generals control different parts of Alexander's empire. Ptolemy controls Egypt, Seleucus controls Babylon and Syria, Antipater and his son Cassander control Macedon and Greece, Antigonus controls Phrygia and other parts of Asia Minor, Lysimachus controls Thrace and Pergamum and Eumenes controls the Cappadocia and Pontus areas.source
• 320 BCEEudemus makes himself master of the territories of the Indian king Porus, and treacherously puts that monarch to death.source
• 320 BCEAlexandria in Macedonian Egypt becomes the largest city of the world, taking over the lead from Babylon in Macedonian Babylonia.source
• 319 BCEEumenes retreats to the fortress of Nora. Antigonus follows him there and starts a siege.source
• 319 BCEPolyperchon's authority is challenged by Antipater's son Cassander, who refuses to acknowledge the new regent. With the aid of Antigonus, ruler of Phrygia, and with the support of Ptolemy and Lysimachus, Cassander seizes most of Greece including Macedonia.source
• 319 BCEBattle of Cretopolis: Antigonus leaves a small force to besiege Eumenes, marches with the rest of his army against the remnants of the Perdiccan faction and defeats them at Cretopolis.source
• 319 BCEBattle of Orkynia: Antigonus marches his army against Eumenes in Cappadocia and defeats him in battle at Orkynia.source
• 319 BCEEumenes allies himself with the regent Polyperchon. He manages to escape from the siege of Nora, and his forces soon threaten Syria and Phoenicia. Polyperchon recognises Eumenes as the royal general in Asia Minor.source
• 318 BCEAlthough Polyperchon is initially successful in securing control of the Greek cities, whose freedom he proclaims, his fleet is destroyed by Antigonus.source
• 318 BCEAntigonus resolves to become lord of all Asia, and in conjunction with Cassander and Ptolemy. He enters into negotiations with Eumenes; but Eumenes remains faithful to the royal house. He raises an army and forms a coalition with the satraps of the eastern provinces. He then captures Babylon from Antigonus.source
• 318 BCEAntigonus marches against Eumenes, so Eumenes withdraws east to join the satraps of the provinces beyond the Tigris River.source
• 318 BCECassander, who has allied himself with Ptolemy and Antigonus, declares war on the regent, Polyperchon. Most of the Greek states support him, including Athens. Cassander further effects an alliance with Eurydice, the ambitious wife of King Philip III Arrhidaeus of Macedon.source
• 318 BCEIn a power struggle in Athens after the death of Antipater, Phocion is deposed as the ruler of Athens, convicted of treason, and executed by those Athenians hoping to restore democracy to the city. Shortly afterward, the Athenians decree a public burial and a statue in his honor.source
• 317 BCEBattle of Byzantium: At the start of the year, Antigonus Monophthalmus sends Nicanor with a large fleet to do battle with Cleitus the White at the Hellespont. The two fleets meet in near Byzantium, Cleitus wins a victory in which some 70 ships of Nicanor are captured, sunk or disabled, the remnant escaping to Chalcedon, where they are joined by Antigonus and his army. Antigonus orders the remaining 60 ships to be readied for renewed action, and assigns his strongest and most loyal soldiers as marines to these ships. Meanwhile, the Byzantines transport his archers, slingers and peltast to the European shore, where Cleitus's victorious forces were encamped. At dawn the next day Antigonus launches an assault by land and sea and catches Cleitus completely by surprise; Cleitus’s entire force is captured or killed.source
• 317 BCEBattle of Paraitacene: The first battle of Western armies each with an elephant corps who fight for control over Alexander's empire. The armies of Antigonus and Eumenes fight each other near today's Isfahan in Persia with no clear victor.source
• 317 BCESeleucus joins Antigonus against Eumenes and recaptures Babylon.source
• 316 BCEThe Romans, with an eye to capturing Apulia, send an army (led by dictator Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus) to seize the town of Lucera from the Samnites. They are badly beaten in the Battle of Lautulae and the Samnites go on to reach within 32 kilometres of Rome.source
• 316 BCECassander returns from the Peloponnesus and defeats Macedonia's regent Polyperchon in battle. Cassander blockades Olympias, mother of the late Alexander the Great, in Pydna, where she surrenders. Cassander takes Roxana and her son Alexander IV of Macedon into his custody.source
• 316 BCEEumenes and Antigonus, rivals to Cassander for control of Macedonia, meet in the Battle of Gabiene in Media to the northeast of Susa. Antigonus defeats Eumenes, with the aid of Seleucus and Peithon (the satraps of Babylonia and Media, respectively). The result is inconclusive. However, some of Eumenes' soldiers take matters into their own hands. Learning that Antigonus has captured many of their wives, children and the cumulative plunder of nearly 40 years of continuous warfare, they secretly open negotiations with Antigonus for their safe return. They hand over Eumenes and his senior officers to Antigonus in return for their baggage and families. Eumenes is put to death by Antigonus after a week's captivity.source
• 316 BCEKing Hui of Qin decides, on the advice of General Sima Cuo, to invade and annex the ancient states of Ba and Shu in Sichuan, in order to increase Qin's agricultural output and obtain a strategic platform from which to defeat the state of Chu.source
• 315 BCEAgathocles, the tyrant of Syracuse, seizes the city of Messina.source
• 315 BCEPtolemy's armies fight supporters of Antigonus in Cyprus. Ptolemy is able to re-conquer the island.source
• 315 BCECassander sends Prepelaus to Alexander (son of Polyperchon) and he convinces Alexander to desert Antigonus by offering command of all the Peloponnesus and making him general of an armysource
• 315 BCEPeithon consolidates his power base in the eastern part of the Empire.source
• 315 BCEThe Samnites defeat a Roman army led by dictator Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus at the Battle of Lautulae.source
• 315 BCEAntigonus claims authority over most of Asia, seizes the treasury at Susa and enters Babylon, where Seleucus is governor. Seleucus flees to Ptolemy in Egypt and enters into a league with him, Lysimachus (the ruler of Thrace) and Cassander, against Antigonus. This leads to the First Coalition War.source
• 315 BCEThe Romans take Ferentum, a city of Apulia, and this pushes the citizens of Nuceria to end their friendship with Rome.source
• 315 BCEAntigonus drives out Cassander's Macedonian forces of occupation from the Greek islands and forms the island cities in the Aegean into the "League of the Islanders", preparatory to his invasion of Greece. His ally, the city of Rhodes, furnishes him with the necessary fleet.source
• 314 BCEWhile the consuls are fighting the Samnites at Tarracina, the Romans elect Gaius Maenius as Dictator with Marcus Foslius Flaccinator as his Magister Equitum (Master-of-Horse, Second-in-Command) and send them into Campania at the head of a large army. When Maenius and Foslius arrive near Capua, the Campanians, hearing about the defeat of the Samnites at Tarracina, start negotiating terms with the Romans; they surrender those who are guilty of the uprising and in turn are reinstated in their alliance with Rome.source
• 314 BCEThe Aetolians enter into an alliance with Antigonus, and the League of the Islanders is established under Antigonus' hegemony. Cassander marches against them with his allies Lysimachus, Ptolemy and Seleucus and destroys the city of Agrinio.source
• 314 BCEThe Roman consuls march their combined army to Tarracina and defeat a Samnite army there; killing 10,000 Samnites in the battle and the subsequent pursuit.source
• 314 BCEZhou Nan Wang becomes King of the Zhou dynasty of China.source
• 314 BCEAntigonus invades Syria, then under Ptolemy's control, and besieges and captures Tyre. Antigonus then occupies Syria, proclaiming himself regent.source
• 314 BCEAntigonus, the ruler of the Asian parts of the late Alexander the Great's empire, faces a coalition consisting of Cassander, the Macedonian regent; Lysimachus, the satrap of Thrace; and Ptolemy, the satrap of Egypt, who have taken the side of the ousted satrap of Babylon, Seleucus.source
• 314 BCESuccess seems to be going the Samnites' way in their ongoing battles against the Romans. Campania is on the verge of deserting Rome. Peace is established between Rome and some Samnite towns.source
• 314 BCEAs Cassander fights to retain control over central Greece, Antigonus promises freedom to the Greek cities in a bid to gain support from them against Cassander.source
• 313 BCECassander, hearing of Aristodemus' success with the Aetolians, marches south in force, persuades the Acarnanians to ally with him, and campaigns successfully along the Adriatic coast; capturing Apollonia and defeating the Illyrian king Glaucius. At the end of the year Cassander returns to Macedon.source
• 313 BCEDeinocrates, the leader of the Syracusan exiles, sends envoys to the Carthaginians to ask them for help against Agathocles, the tyrant of Syracuse. The Carthaginians, fearing for their own possessions in Sicily, send a large force to the island.source
• 313 BCEBecoming tired of Macedonian rule, the people of Epirus recall their former king Aeacides (who until then had been campaigning with his old ally Polyperchon in the Peloponnese). Cassander immediately sends an army against him under his brother Philip, who is diverted from invading Aetolia.source
• 313 BCEAristodemus and his mercenary army (recruited the year prior) cross over to the Peloponnese and fight Alexander, the son of Polyperchon, at Cyllene, and liberate Patrae and Aegium from Cassander's garrisons. Aristodemus then returns to Aetolia, leaving a sizeable force in the Pelopponese who help the city of Dyme eject its garrison, despite a failed intervention by Alexander.source
• 313 BCEWith his western border thus strengthened, Cassander sends Prepelaus, one of his top generals, with an army to Asia Minor to aid his ally Asander.source
• 313 BCEPhilip marches into Acarnania to prevent Aeacides from linking up with the Aetolians. Philip defeats Aeacides in battle, killing many Epirotes and capturing 50 leading supporters of Aeacides, sending them as prisoners to Macedon. Aeacides, with the remnant of his forces, joins the Aetolians. Philip catches up to Aeacides and the Aetolians at Oeniadae and defeats them in battle. Aeacides, who was wounded in the Battle of Oeniadae, dies a few days later. The remaining Aetolian army takes refuge in the surrounding mountains.source
• 313 BCEThe Samnites take Fregellae in Latium, the Roman dictator Gaius Poetelius Libo Visolus marches his army from Rome and moves to retake it, but the Samnites leave at night; Visolus places a garrison in the city.source
• 313 BCEPrepelaus arrives in Caria and starts making plans with Asander. They decide on a surprise attack on Ptolemy, the commander of Antigonus' forces in western Asia Minor. Eupolemus, one of Prepelaus' lieutenants, is sent with 8,000 infantry and 200 cavalry. However, some deserters from Eupolemus' strike force betray their plans to Ptolemy who quickly gathers 8,300 infantry and 600 cavalry from their winter quarters and marches against Eupolemus. In the middle of the night Ptolemy launches a surprise attack on Eupolemus' camp capturing the entire force with ease.source
• 313 BCEA revolt in Cyrene is also crushed.source
• 313 BCEPtolemy, whose Egyptian kingdom includes Cyprus, puts down a revolt there.source
• 313 BCEAsander agrees to send all his soldiers to Antigonus to help keep Greek cities autonomoussource
• 313 BCEIn the spring of 313 a revolt against Lysimachus is under way in the Greek cities of the northwestern Black Sea coast. Callatis, Istria and Odessus rebel. The latter two are quickly taken by Lysimachus, but Callatis holds out. Antigonus sends a fleet and an army under a general named Pausanias to aid the city, he also persuades the Thracian king Seuthes to rebel. Lysimachus leaves part of his army to continue the siege, while he himself marches against Pausanias. He fights his way past Seuthes through the Haemus Mountains and captures Pausanias' force, enrolling them in his army. Pausanias is killed in battle, but most of his officers are ransomed back to Antigonus.source
• 313 BCEAntigonus sends Telesphorus to the Peloponnesus to free the cities.source
• 313 BCECassander orders Dionysius (the commander of his garrison in Athens) and Demetrius of Phalerum (the tyrant of Athens) to send a fleet of 20 warships to try and recapture Lemnos. An Athenian strategos named Aristoteles is sent, ravaging the island in conjunction with Seleucus (who was sent into the Aegean by Ptolemy). After Seleucus sails away, Aristoteles is attacked by the Antigonid fleet, most of his ships being captured.source
• 312 BCEAgathocles, fearing Gela would turn against him, took over the city, executed 4,000 leading Geloans he suspected of treason, and confiscated their property.source
• 312 BCECassander receives reinforcements from Athens (under Thymochares the Sphettian, descendant of Thymochares) and defeats Telesphoros' squadron.source
• 312 BCECassander abandons the siege of Oreus, concentrating his forces at Chalcis to counter Ptolemy who has landed at Bathys in Boeotia and has been reinforced by the Boeotian League with 2,200 infantry and 1,300 cavalry.source
• 312 BCEAntigonus arrives at the Propontis and tries to negotiate an alliance with Byzantium, but the city, at the urging of Lysimachus, remains neutral; without it Antigonus gives up on the idea of crossing over into Europe.source
• 312 BCEAlcetas advances on the Macedonian garrison of Acarnania under Lyciscus, a general of Cassander. Three battles are fought and a defeated Alcetas flees to a fortress in Epirus. Cassander marches the main Macedonian field army into Epirus and forces Alcetas to ally with him.source
• 312 BCEAntigonus sends his nephew Telesphoros with an army of 5,000 infantry and 500 cavalry to mainland Greece to carry on the war against Cassander.source
• 312 BCEAt the end of the year, Ptolemy invades Antigonus' territories in Palestine with an army of 18,000 infantry and 4,000 cavalry. The resulting Battle of Gaza leads to a triumph for Ptolemy over Antigonus' son, Demetrius.source
• 312 BCEPtolemy captures Chalcis, removes Cassander's garrison, but does not install a garrison of his own. Eretria and Carystus, both on Euboea as well, join Antigonus' alliance. Ptolemy crosses over to mainland Greece and captures Oropos, again removing Cassander's garrison, he then hands it over to Antigonus' ally, the Boeotian League. After Oropos he invades Attica putting pressure on Athens to negotiate a truce. From Attica he marches on Thebes, captures it and removes Cassander's garrison. He moves on to Phocis, drives out Cassander's garrisons in that region as well, and moves into Opuntian Locris, where he besieges Opus.source
• 312 BCESeleucus ceases his service to Ptolemy and returns to his former province, Babylonia. This event takes place on October 1 and becomes the starting point of the Seleucid era.source
• 312 BCETelesphorus arrives in to the Peloponnese and starts expelling Cassander's garrisons. He successfully liberates all cities and towns that are being held for Cassander by Polyperchon and his son Alexander; all except Sicyon and Corinth who are being defended by Polyperchon and Alexander themselves.source
• 312 BCECassander sails against the city of Oreus on Euboea with a fleet of 30 ships. He blockades its port trying to force the city's surrender.source
• 312 BCEAntigonus marches his main field army to the Hellespontine region threatening to invade Europe and attack Macedon, forcing Cassander to retreat to Macedon to prepare its defences.source
• 312 BCETelesphorus enters Elis, fortifies its citadel, and enslaves the city. He then marches on Olympia and plunders its sacred precinct collecting 500 talents; with his booty Telesphorus stars hiring mercenaries.source
• 312 BCEAt the start of the year, Asander (Antigonus' governor of Caria) rebels, forcing Antigonus (wintering with his main army in Phrygia) to invade Caria. Calling all his forces from their winter quarters, he divides them into four columns: the first is sent to take Miletus; the second, under his nephew Ptolemy, campaigns through central Caria from east to west; a third marches to and takes Theangela; Antigonus himself with the main army campaigns from north to south capturing Tralles, Iasus and Kaunos. Caria is taken in the space of weeks.source
• 312 BCECassander marches on Apollonia, which people had driven out his garrison with the help of the Illyrians, but the Appolonians and Illyrians defeat him in battle, driving him out of western Greece for the time being.source
• 312 BCECarthage, concerned with Agathocles' increasing powers, decided to send 130 warships and 14,200 soldiers under the command of a general named Hamilcar (son of Gisco, grandson of Hanno the Great).source
• 312 BCEPtolemy soon restores the situation and persuades Telesphorus to give up his revolt.source
• 312 BCETelesphorus comes to the aid of Oreus from the Peloponnese with 20 ships and 1,000 infantry, while Antigonid admiral Medius sails to relieve Oreus with a 100 ships from Asia Minor; they break Cassander's blockade.source
• 312 BCEAntigonus sends his nephew Ptolemy, whom he has made Strategos of Greece, with 5,000 infantry, 500 cavalry and 150 warships (he had recalled and reinforced Medius' fleet) to take command of all Antigonid forces and affairs in Greece.source
• 312 BCEThe people of Cyrene in the Cyrenaica rise up in a revolt against Ptolemy, putting the Ptolemaic garrison, which occupies their citadel, under siege. After they execute Ptolemy's envoys, who came to bade them to cease their sedition, he sends Agis (one of his generals) with an army and Epaunetus (another general) with a fleet to put down the rebellion. Agis storms the city, captures the rebels, and sends the ringleaders to Alexandria.source
• 312 BCETelesphorus, who had been subordinated to Antigonus' other nephew Ptolemy considered this an insult and ends his friendship with Antigonus through betrayal.source
• 312 BCEThe Second Samnite War continues: there are rumours of a mobilisation of the Etruscans; since the consul Marcus Valerius Maximus Corvus is campaigning in Samnium and his consular colleague Publius Decius Mus is to ill to lead an army, the people appoint Gaius Sulpicius Longus as dictator. Sulpicius appoints Gaius Junius Bubulcus Brutus as his Magister Equitum (Second-in-command). Sulpicius ' mission is to defend against the Etruscan invasion which never materialize; Sulpicius and Brutus remain in camp at Rome until the end of the campaigning season.source
• 312 BCEThe Corcyraeans come to the aid of Apollonia and Epidamus and help the Apollonians and the people of Epidamus to remove the garrisons Cassander put there. They free Apollonia, but give the city of Epidamus to the Illyrian king Glaucias.source
• 312 BCEAfter putting down the revolt in Cyrene, Ptolemy sails to Cyprus with a great force. He arrests the rulers of Kition, Lapethus, Kyrenia, and Marion for being too friendly towards Antigonus and/or too hostile towards himself, he then establishes his friend Nicocreon of Salamis as strategos (governor-general) of Cyprus .source
• 311 BCEThe Second Samnite War continues, the Roman consuls Gaius Junius Bubulcus Brutus and Quintus Aemilius Barbula divide their command.source
• 311 BCEDuring the winter of 312/11 Antigonus' nephew Telesphorus, who had been subordinated to Antigonus' other nephew Ptolemy in 312, decides to rebel, considering his subordination to be insulting. Ptolemy is able to keep the situation under control and persuades Telesphorus to return to the fold.source
• 311 BCEThe peace agreement between the diadochi is soon violated. On the pretext that garrisons have been placed in some of the free Greek cities by Antigonus. Ptolemy and Cassander renew hostilities against him.source
• 311 BCEIn view of the threat by Seleucus to his control of the East, Antigonus decides to make peace with all of his adversaries, except Seleucus, who now holds Babylon. All of the diadochi confirm the existing boundaries and the freedom of the Greek cities. Ptolemy and Lysimachus are confirmed as satraps of Egypt and Thrace, respectively, and Antigonus and Cassander are confirmed as commanders of the army in Asia and Europe. Antigonus, no longer regent but now titled the strategos (officer in charge) of the whole of Asia, rules in Syria from the Hellespont to the Euphrates, including Asia Minor.source
• 311 BCEThe Carthaginian general Hamilcar crosses the Mediterranean with an army and wins the Battle of Himera against Agathocles, the tyrant of Syracuse.source
• 311 BCEHamilcar then proceeds with laying siege to Syracuse, where Agathocles had retreated.source
• 311 BCEBarbula campaigns against the Etruscans.source
• 311 BCEThrough clever diplomacy Antigonus is able to lull the Nabateans into a false sense of security. Demetrius, with a force of 4,000 light infantry and 4,000 cavalry, is sent to make another raid on Petra. The Nabateans, reacting quickly, are able to foil the attack. Demetrius negotiates terms with the Nabateans and returns to his father with hostages and gifts (including 700 camels)source
• 311 BCEThe Etruscans are besieging Sutrium, an ally which the Romans see as their key to Etruria. Barbula marches to their aid, and a battle is fought; the Romans start to gain the upper hand, but darkness stops the battle. Barbula's campaign ends indecisive.source
• 311 BCEThe Samnites take the Roman garrison of Cluviae and scourge their prisoners. Junius liberates the city and then moves on Bovianum and sacks it. The Samnites try to ambush the Romans, but the Romans are able to overcome their assailants.source
• 311 BCEAntigonus sends one of his generals, Athenaeus, with 4,000 light infantry and 600 cavalry to make a raid on Petra, the capital city of the Nabateans, to carry off hostages and possessions. The raid is initially successful, but a surprise attack by the Nabateans destroys Athenaeus' raiding force, only 50 horsemen escaping.source
• 311 BCESeleucus manages to persuade Polyarchus, the Antigonid commander of one of the local districts, to join his cause. Polyarchus joins Seleucus with 1,000 soldiers.source
• 311 BCENicanor, Antigonus' commander of the Upper Satrapies, marches against Seleucus from Media (where he was stationed) with 10,000 infantry and 7,000 cavalry. Seleucus hides his much smaller army (3,000 infantry and 400 cavalry) along Nicanor's line of march and launches a night attack on his camp, catching his opponent by surprise; Nicanor flees the ensuing battle while his army quickly surrenders.source
• 311 BCEThe remaining Antigonid loyalists in Babylonia retreat to the citadel of Babylon. They also put Seleucus' remaining friends in Babylon there (under a strong guard). Seleucus besieges the citadel and manages to take it by storm.source
• 311 BCEBrutus campaigns against the Samnites.source
• 311 BCEPtolemy tries to occupy Syria; he himself campaigns in Coele Syria (southern Syria) while he sends Killes, one of his generals, into northern Syria to finish off the remnants of Demetrius Poliorcetes' army. Demetrius defeats Killes at Myus and Antigonus enters Syria in force. So, after only a few months, Ptolemy evacuates his forces from Syria.source
• 310 BCEThe tyrant of Syracuse, Agathocles, escapes from the siege of the city by the Carthaginians with a fleet and carries the war with the Carthaginians back into his enemy's territory. He defeats the Carthaginians in the Battle of White Tunis.source
• 310 BCEThe cities of Antigonia Troas (later known as Alexandria Troas) and Antigoneia (later known as Nicaea) are founded by Antigonus I Monophthalmus.source
• 310 BCEAntigonus orders Nicanor, one of his generals, to invade Babylonia from the east and his son Demetrius Poliorcetes to attack it from the west. Nicanor assembles a large force but is surprised and defeated by Seleucus at the river Tigris, and his troops are either cut to pieces or defect to the enemy. Similarly, Demetrius Poliorcetes fails to oust Seleucus.source
• 310 BCEPtolemy attacks Cilicia, territory held by Antigonus, but is driven out by Demetrius.source
• 310 BCEAntigonid general Ptolemy forms an alliance with Cassander revolting against his uncle Antigonussource
• 310 BCERome deals with renewed trouble from the Etruscans, who are persuaded by the Samnites to cease their alliance with the Romans. In the Battle of Lake Vadimo, the Romans under Fabius Maximus Rullianus defeat the Etruscans.source
• 309 BCEPtolemy arrives at Kos and sends for Ptolemaeus (the nephew of Antigonus – who has revolted against Antigonus) to join him to discuss strategy. After finding out Ptolemaeus plans to take over his army and fleet, Ptolemy forces him to commit suicide.source
• 309 BCEAreus I succeeds his grandfather Cleomenes II as king of Sparta.source
• 309 BCELeaving his brother Antander to continue the defence of Syracuse, Agathocles lands in North Africa with the aim of distracting the Carthaginians from their siege of Syracuse. Agathocles concludes a treaty with Ophellas, ruler of Cyrenaica. He then takes advantage of the civil unrest in Carthage and nearly succeeds in conquering the city.source
• 308 BCEThe Carthaginians send the Numidians to harass Agathocles' strike force, the skirmishing draws in more and more troops until it eventually leads to a battle which is won by Agathocles.source
• 308 BCEThe Carthaginians send out an army to coerce the Zuphones, a Numidian tribe, back into their alliance with Carthage; they are successful in their endeavour.source
• 308 BCEAgathocles leaves his main army under the command of his son Archagathus encamped before Tunis while he, with a strikeforce of 8,000 infantry, 800 cavalry and 50 chariots, marches after the Carthaginian army.source
• 308 BCEAntigonus marches his main army east to confront Seleucus. The Antigonid and Seleucid armies meet somewhere in southern Mesopotamia or northern Babylonia and a battle is fought to a draw. The next morning Seleucus launches a surprise attack on Antigonus' camp and wins a simple victory. After his defeat Antigonus gives up on his ambitions to reconquer the eastern provinces.source
• 308 BCEThe Second Samnite War escalates when the tribes of the central Apennines, the Umbrians, Picentes, and Marsians join the war against Rome. However, Rome is able to control the uprising.source
• 308 BCEAfter an arduous march from Cyrenaica to Carthaginian Libya Ophellas' forces link up with Agathocles' army.source
• 308 BCEAgathocles lures Ophellas into a false sense of security and launches a surprise attack on his camp. Ophellas is killed in the fighting and Agathocles takes over Ophellas' army, adding its numbers to his own.source
• 308 BCEAgathocles sends Orthon the Syracusan to Cyrene to request aid in subduing Carthage from Ophellas (Ptolemy's governor of Cyrenaica).source
• 308 BCEOphellas recruits an army of 10,000 infantry, 600 cavalry and 100 chariots for his campaign in support of Agathocles.source
• 308 BCEWhile the Carthaginian army is away from the city, Bomilcar tries to make himself tyrant of Carthage. He fails and is executed.source
• 308 BCEWhile Agathocles was in pursuit of the defeated Carthaginian army, the Numidians (who had retreated from the battle earlier on) attack his camp and ride off with a part of his army's booty. Agathocles returns to his camp, divides what is left of the booty (so no one can complain) and sets up a victory trophy.source
• 308 BCEPtolemy makes peace with Cassandersource
• 307 BCEAgathocles besieges and takes a town called Hippu Acra. After capturing Hippu Acra several towns and cities come over to his side; even some Numidian tribes start sending their warriors to join Agathocles.source
• 307 BCEAgathocles puts in at Selinus, marches on Heraclea (probably Heraclea Minoa) and forces its people to submit once more. He then marches across the island on the city of Therma, makes a treaty with its people and removes its Carthaginian garrison. After taking Cephaloedium (near Therma), he marches back south taking the cities of Centuripa and Sicily.source
• 307 BCELeptines, one of Agathocles' generals, defeats Xenodocus for the second time.source
• 307 BCEDuring a victory ceremony involving human sacrifice (the Carthaginians sacrificed prisoners of war by burning them alive) the Carthaginian camp catches fire, in the ensuing panic the Carthaginian army breaks and flees back to Carthage.source
• 307 BCEAt the beginning of June (the 26th day of the Attic month of Thargelion: Plut. Dem. 8,3) Demetrius, son of Antigonus, launches a surprise attack on Pireaus, Athens' harbour; his forces are able to secure control of the entire port city, except the fortress on the Munychia which remains in the hands of Dionysius, the commander of Cassander's garrison in Athens.source
• 307 BCECarthage musters (30,000 soldiers in total) and sends out three armies; one inland, one into the midlands, and one against the cities along the coast.source
• 307 BCEReceiving word of the losses that had been inflicted on his expeditionary army (commanded by his son Archagathus) in Africa, Agathocles equips 17 warships to go to his son's aid. While breaking through the Carthaginian blockade, he is able to defeat his opponents' fleet.source
• 307 BCEAfter the lost battle and the night-time panic, all his Libyan allies desert. With his army in no condition to fight on, Agathocles decides to return to Sicily.source
• 307 BCEDemetrius captures the fortress on the Munychia and razes it to the ground. The old democracy, with the old constitution, is re-established in Athens under the leadership of Stratocles and Demochares. The grateful Athenians honour Antigonus and Demetrius as divine saviours (theoi soteres).source
• 307 BCEThe Chinese King Wuling of Zhao reforms the military of the State of Zhao by putting more emphasis on cavalry over charioteers.source
• 307 BCEDeinocrates, the leader of the exiles, proclaims himself the champion of common liberty and uses this to gather the bulk of Agathocles' enemies into one army. After mustering an army of 20,000 infantry and 1,500 cavalry, he marches on Agathocles, who refuses to do battle and retreats to Syracuse.source
• 307 BCEAgathocles assaults the walls of Utica. The Uticans, despite having to inflict death and injury on their fellow citizens, fiercely defend their city. Eventually, Agathocles' army is able to break into the city, they sacked the city and left behind a garrison.source
• 307 BCEArchagathus sends Eumachus, one of his father's generals, on two successful inland campaigns. On both occasions Eumachus gained a lot of war booty.source
• 307 BCEAgathocles, the tyrant of Syracuse, (who has been campaigning in North Africa for several years) launches a surprise attack on Utica. He captures around 300 citizens outside the walls and tries to negotiate a surrender of the city; Utica refuses. Agathocles then uses the prisoners as human shields by binding them to his siege engines.source
• 307 BCEArchagathus counters by dividing his army in three and sending them against the Carthaginian armies. Unfortunately for the Greeks, one army (commanded by Aeschrion) gets ambushed and another (commanded by Eumachus) is defeated in battle. Archagathus retreats to Tunis, regroups his army and sends messengers to his father in Sicily to inform him on the situation. The Carthaginians concentrate their forces at Tunis as well and start a blockade of the city.source
• 307 BCE5,000 Libyans deserters, who came fleeing back to Agathocles' camp, cause panic in the Greek camp, scattering the army.source
• 307 BCEAgathocles abandons his army and his sons and secretly sails back to Sicily. His soldiers kill his sons in anger.source
• 307 BCEXenodocus, a general from Acragas, leads an army of 10,000 infantry and 1,000 cavalry against Agathocles' generals on Sicily. Leptines and Demophilus, two of Agathocles' generals, oppose Xenoducus with 8,200 infantry and 1,200 cavalry. Xenoducus is defeated and retreats to Acragas. As a result of this defeat the people of Acragas give up the fight against Agathocles.source
• 307 BCEAfter meeting disaster in Africa (losing his army and two of his sons), Agathocles returns to Sicily. In dire need of cash, he razes the city of Segesta.source
• 307 BCEAgathocles returns to his expeditionary army. Trying to restore his army's moral, he fights a battle under less than ideal conditions and suffers a bloody defeat (losing 3,000 soldiers).source
• 306 BCEDemetrius Poliorcetes lands on Cyprus and besieges Menelaus, brother of Egypt's ruler, Ptolemy I Soter, at Salamis. Ptolemy Soter, coming to his brother's aid, is decisively defeated in the Battle of Salamis. The battle completely destroys the naval power of Egypt and results in the capture of Cyprus by Demetrius. This gives Demetrius' father, Antigonus I Monophthalmus, control of the Aegean and the eastern Mediterranean.source
• 306 BCEThe Romans invade Iapygia and begin a siege of Silvium (garrisoned by the Samnites). Eventually, they take the city by storm, taking 5,000 prisoners. After the Siege of Silvium they invade Samnium itself, pillaging the countryside for five months.source
• 306 BCEAntigonus I Monophthalmus proclaims himself king of Asia Minor and northern Syria thus commencing the Antigonid dynasty. He appoints his son Demetrius king and co-regent.source
• 306 BCEAgathocles tries to negotiate a settlement with Deinocrates, the leader of the exiles, but the latter refuses, forcing Agathocles to continue the war for dominance over eastern Sicily.source
• 306 BCEAntigonus Monophthalmus tries to follow up his victory in Cyprus by invading Egypt with a large army and a formidable fleet, but Ptolemy Soter successfully holds the frontier against him. However, the year's events mean that Ptolemy no longer engages in overseas expeditions against Antigonus.source
• 306 BCEThe Samnites take Sora and Calatia, cities allied to the Romans, and enslave their inhabitants.source
• 305 BCEAgathocles, unable to come to terms with Deinocrates and the exiles, takes to the field with the remnants of his forces; at the Battle of Thorgium Agathocles defeats the much larger army of the exiles.source
• 305 BCEThe Roman consuls, Marcus Fulvius Curvus Paetinus and Lucius Postumius Megellus, decisively defeat the Samnites in the Battle of Bovianum to end the Second Samnite War.source
• 305 BCEDeinocrates comes to terms with Agathocles who appoints him a general over a part of his army.source
• 305 BCEAntigonus I Monophthalmus sends his son Demetrius to initiate the Siege of Rhodes, as the city has refused him armed support against Ptolemy.source
• 304 BCEThe second Samnite war formally ends with a peace agreement in which the Samnites obtain peace on terms that are severe but not as crushing as those agreed by the Romans with the Etruscans four years earlier. Under the peace, Rome gains no territory, but the Samnites renounce their hegemony over Campania. Rome is also successful in ending the revolts amongst the tribes surrounding Roman territory.source
• 304 BCEDemetrius Poliorcetes and the Rhodians come to a truce, with the agreement that the city should be autonomous, should keep its own revenue and that the Rhodians should be allies of Antigonus unless he is at war with Ptolemy.source
• 304 BCECassander invades Attica and besieges Athens. He captures the island of Salamis off the coast of Athens.source
• 304 BCEThe Mauryan emperor Chandragupta defeats Seleucus I Nicator as he tries to invade India.source
• 304 BCEThe Siege of Rhodes ends after a year.source
• 304 BCEDemetrius Poliorcetes invades mainland Greece for Asia-Minor, drives Cassander out of central Greece and liberates Athens. In return, the Athenians bestow on him a new religious honour, synnaos (meaning "having the same temple") of the temple of the goddess Athena.source
• 303 BCEDemetrius Poliorcetes invades the Peloponnese and occupies Corinth, Sicyon, and Argos in the Peloponnese, and Achaea, Elis and almost all of Arcadia join his side.source
• 303 BCECassander and Lysimachus persuade Seleucus and Ptolemy to join them in trying to destroy Antigonus.source
• 303 BCEThe citizens of Tarentum seek the help of the Spartan general, Cleonymus. He is able to pacify the Lucanians with the agreement of the Romans.source
• 302 BCEPyrrhus is dethroned as King of Epirus by an uprising and joins Demetrius while in exile.source
• 302 BCEFollowing their agreement to work together to defeat Antigonus, Seleucus invades Asia Minor from Babylonia, while Ptolemy attacks Syria and Lysimachus moves into the western part of Asia Minor.source
• 302 BCEAs Antigonus is finding his enemies closing in on him, a truce is made and the gains by Demetrius have to be abandoned. Demetrius reaches Ephesus to support his father.source
• 302 BCEThe Macedonian general, Philetaerus, moves his allegiance from Antigonus to Antigonus' rival, Lysimachus. In return, Lysimachus makes Philetaerus guardian of the fortress of Pergamum with its treasure of some 9,000 talents.source
• 301 BCEAntigonus' defeat and death secures Cassander's control of Macedonia. Through this victory, Lysimachus is able to add the greater part of Asia Minor to his European possessions while Seleucus now controls most of Syria. However, Demetrius is able to keep a foothold in Greece.source
• 301 BCEThe southern part of Syria is occupied by Ptolemy.source
• 301 BCEIn the Battle of Ipsus in Phrygia, the armies of Antigonus, the ruler of Syria, Asia Minor, Phoenicia and Judea, and his son Demetrius Poliorcetes are defeated by the forces of Lysimachus and Seleucus. Antigonus is killed in the battle.source
• 300 BCEPyrrhus, the King of Epirus, is taken as a hostage to Egypt after the Battle of Ipsus and makes a diplomatic marriage with the princess Antigone, daughter of Ptolemy and Berenice.source