The 4th century BC started the first day of 400 BC and ended the last day of 301 BC. It is considered part of the Classical era, epoch, or historical period.

Overview[link]

Map of the world in 323 BC (at the death of Alexander the Great)

This century marked the height of Classical Greek civilization in all of its aspects. By the year 400 Greek philosophy, art, literature and architecture had spread far and wide, with the numerous independent Greek colonies that had sprung up throughout the lands of the eastern Mediterranean.

Arguably the most important series of political events in this period were the conquests of Alexander, bringing about the collapse of the once formidable Persian Empire and spreading Greek culture far into the east. Alexander dreamed of an east/west union, but when his short life ended, his vast empire was plunged into civil war as his generals each carved out their own separate kingdoms. Thus began the Hellenistic age, a period characterized by a more absolute approach to rule, with Greek kings taking on royal trappings and setting up hereditary successions. While a degree of democracy still existed in some of the remaining independent Greek cities, many scholars see this age as marking the end of classical Greece.

Events[link]

Bust of Alexander the Great in the British Museum.

• Mid-4th century BC: Priene, Western Turkey is rebuilt.
• Pectoral, from the tomb of a Scythian at Ordzhonikidze, Russia, is made. It is now at Historical Museum, Kiev.
• Late 4th century BC: Diadem, reputed to have been found in a tomb near the Hellespont. It is now at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
• Praxiteles or his followers makes Hermes and the infant Dionysos. A Hellenistic or Roman copy after a Late Classical original is at the Archaeological Museum of Olympia. Discovered in the rubble or the ruined Temple of Hera at Olympia in 1875.
• 399 BC: Socrates is executed in Athens on charges of impiety and corrupting Athenian youth.
• 387 BC: Battle of the Allia and subsequent Gaulish sack of Rome.
• 383 BC: Second Buddhist council at Vesali, 100 years after the Parinirvana.
• 373 BC: The Greek city of Helike sinks into the sea causing the death of its entire population.
• c. 360 BC: Theater of Tholos, at Epidauros is built.
• Mid-4th century BC: Skopas (?) makes Panel from the Amazon frieze, south side of the Mausoleum at Halikarnassos. It is now kept at The British Museum, London.
• 354 BC: the Battle of Guiling in China.
• 342 BC: the Battle of Maling in China.
• 330 BC: Alexander the Great conquers the Persian Empire, decline and depopulation of Ancient Greece with large migrations towards the conquered lands.
• 316 BC: The Chinese State of Qin conquers the State of Shu, located in modern-day Sichuan, the ultimate success of the conquest due large in part to the strategy of Zhang Yi.
• 312 BC: Seleucus I Nicator establishes himself in Babylon, founding the Seleucid Empire.
• Invasion of the Celts into Ireland.
• The Scythians are beginning to be absorbed into the Sarmatian people.
• The Romans conquer the Abruzzi region, decline of the Etruscan civilization.
• The Dalmatae push the Liburni west and the Daorsi and Ardiaei east

Inventions, discoveries, introductions[link]

A Han Dynasty Chinese crossbow from the 2nd century BC.

• Oldest Brahmi script dates from this period (Brahmi is the ancestor of Indic scripts).
• Romans build their first aqueduct.
• Chinese use the handheld trigger crossbow for the first time.
• The first crossbow, the gastraphetes, is invented at Syracuse. (? pre-421 BC)
• Burnt brick first used in Greece.^{[citation needed]}
• Donkey-powered mills first used in Greece.^{[citation needed]}
• Torque with lion's-head terminals, from Susa (modern Shush, Iran) was made. It is now in Musée du Louvre, Paris.
• Daric, a coin first minted under Darius I of Persia is made. It is now kept in Heberden Coin room, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.
• Second half of the 4th century BC – Tomb II, so called Tomb of Philip II of Macedon, Vergina, Macedonia is made.
• Starting in the year 309 BC, the later Chinese historian Sima Qian (145 BC–90 BC) wrote that the Qin-employed engineer Bi Ling of the newly conquered State of Shu in Sichuan had the shoulder of a mountain cut through, making the 'Separated Hill' that abated the Mo River, and excavated two canals in the plain of Chengdu. The significance of this was phenomenal, as it allowed the new Guanxian irrigation system to populate an area of some 40 by 50 miles (60 × 80 km) with over five million people, still in use today (Needham, Science and Civilization in China, Volume 4, Part 3, 288).
• The Chinese astronomer Gan De divides the celestial sphere into 365¼ degrees, and the tropical year into 365¼ days at a time when most astronomers used the Babylon division of the celestial sphere as 360 degrees (Deng, Yinke. [2005] (2005). Chinese Ancient Inventions. ISBN 7-5085-0837-8).

Decades and years[link]

Eastern Hemisphere at the beginning of the 4th century AD.

Eastern Hemisphere at the end of the 4th century AD.

As a means of recording the passage of time, the 4th century (per the Julian calendar and Anno Domini/Common era) was that century which lasted from 301 to 400.

Overview[link]

In the West, the early part of the century was shaped by Constantine I, who became the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. Gaining sole reign of the empire, he is also noted for re-establishing a single imperial capital, choosing the site of ancient Byzantium in 330 (over of the current capitals, which had effectively been changed by Diocletian's reforms to Milan in the West, and Nicomedia in the East) to build the city soon called Nova Roma (New Rome); it was later renamed Constantinople in his honor.

The last emperor to control both the eastern and western halves of the empire was Theodosius I. As the century progressed after his death it became increasingly apparent that the empire had changed in many ways since the time of Augustus. The two emperor system originally established by Diocletian in the previous century fell into regular practice, and the east continued to grow in importance as a centre of trade and imperial power, while Rome itself diminished greatly in importance due to its location far from potential trouble spots, like Central Europe and the East. Late in the century Christianity became the official state religion, and the empire's old pagan culture began to disappear.^{[citation needed]} General prosperity was felt throughout this period, but recurring invasions by Germanic tribes plagued the empire from AD 376 onward. These early invasions marked the beginning of the end for the Western Roman Empire.

According to archaeologists, sufficient archaeological correlates of state-level societies coalesced in the 4th century to show the existence in Korea of the Three Kingdoms (AD 300/400–668) of Baekje, Goguryeo, and Silla.

Events[link]

Contemporary bronze head of Constantine I.

• Early 4th century – Former audience hall now known as the Basilica, Trier, Germany, is built.
• 301: Armenia first to adopt Christianity as state religion, followed by Ethiopia, circa 320, San Marino is founded as a republic
• 306 – 337: Constantine I, ends persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire (see also Constantinian shift) and Constantinople becomes new seat of government (New Rome)
• 325: Constantine I calls the First Council of Nicaea to pacify Christianity in the grip of the Arian controversy.
• 337: Constantine I is baptized on his death bed
• 350: About this time the Huns begin to invade the Sassanid Empire.^[1]
• Mid-4th century – Dish, from Mildenhall, England, is made. It is now kept at The British Museum, London.
• Mid-4th century - Wang Xizhi makes a portion of a letter from the Feng Ju album. Six Dynasties period. It is now kept at National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.
• 376: Visigoths appear on the Danube and are allowed entry into the Roman Empire in their flight from the Huns.
• 378: Battle of Adrianople. Roman army is defeated by Visigoth cavalry. Emperor Valens is killed.
• 378 – 395: Theodosius I, Roman emperor, bans pagan worship, Christianity is made the official religion of the Empire.
• 381: First Council of Constantinople reaffirms the Christian doctrine of the Trinity by adding to the creed of Nicaea.
• 383: Battle of Fei River in China
• 395: Roman Emperor Theodosius I dies, causing the Roman Empire to split permanently.
• Late 4th century – See "The Historia" of Arbogast and Bauto.
• Late 4th century – Cubiculum of Leonis, Catacomb of Commodilla, near Rome, is made.
• Late 4th century – Atrium added in Old St. Peter's Basilica, Rome.

Significant people[link]

• Ambrose, Christian theologian, bishop of Milan whose preaching converted Augustine
• Augustine, Christian theologian, bishop of Hippo
• Basil the Great, Christian theologian, bishop in Cappadocia
• Constantine I (306-337), Roman Emperor
• Fa-Hsien, Chinese Buddhist monk
• Gregory of Nazianzus, Christian theologian, bishop
• Iamblichus (245-c. 325), Neoplatonist philosopher
• Jerome, Christian priest, monk, and translator of the Bible into Latin
• John Chrysostom, Syrian-born Patriarch of Constantinople
• Kumārajīva, (344-413), Buddhist monk from India, translator of sutras into Chinese
• Tao-un (312-385), Chinese Buddhist monk, translator who elimnates Taoist words from Buddhist writings
• Theodosius I (378-395), Roman Emperor
• Ulfilas, Arian priest and translator of the Bible into Gothic

Inventions, discoveries, introductions[link]

• The stirrup was invented in China, no later than 322^[2][3]
• Kama Sutra
• Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Vaticanus Graecus 1209, earliest Christian bibles
• Book of Steps, Syriac religious discourses

References[link]

• Greek Fire

External links[link]

• Fourth-Century Christianity Website

Decades and years[link]