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4th century BC

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.

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

This century marked the height of  Classical Greek civ-

ilization   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, bringingabout 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.

In   India, the   Mauryan Empire   was founded in 322BCE by Chandragupta Maurya, who had overthrown the

Nanda Dynasty  and rapidly expanded his power west-

wards across central and western India, taking advantage

of the disruptions of local powers in the wake of the with-

drawal westward by the Hellenic armies of Alexander.

China in the 4th century BCE entered an era of con-

stant warfare known as the Warring States period. The

period saw the rapid rise of large states (such as Chu)

over smaller ones thanks to technological advancement.

Though the period has usually been characterize by histo-

rians as being excessively violent compared to the  Spring

and Autumn period it was also punctured by several cul-tural and social growth through the expansion of several

different sects of Confucianism and Taoism.

1 Inventions, discoveries, introduc-

tions

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

•   Oldest Brāhmī script dates from this period. Brāhmī 

is the ancestor of Brahmic scripts, used in much of

India and Southeast Asia.

•   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.

•   Donkey-powered mills first used in Greece.

•   In Greece Aristotles proposes the division of the

known sciences.

•   Torque with lion’s-head terminals, from Susa (mod-ern Shush, Iran) was made. It is now in Musée du

Louvre, Paris.

1

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2   2 SIGNIFICANT PEOPLE 

•   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 his-

torian Sima Qian (145 BC–90 BC) wrote that the

Qin-employed engineer Bi Ling of the newly con-

quered 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 tropi-

cal year into 365¼ days at a time when most as-

tronomers used the Babylon division of the celestial

sphere as 360 degrees (Deng, Yinke. [2005] (2005).

Chinese Ancient Inventions .  ISBN 7-5085-0837-8).

2 Significant people

Alexander the Great 

•   Agnodice, female Athenian physician and midwife

Demosthenes 

Plato

•   Alexander the Great, king of Macedon

•  Antigonus I Monophthalmus, Macedonian diadoch

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2.1 Visual arts    3

Aristotle

Epicurus 

•   Antipater, Macedonian statesman

•   Atropates, Persian nobleman

•   Bessus, Persian satrap of Bactria

•   Cassander, King of Macedon

•   Craterus, Macedonian diadoch

•   Chandragupta Maurya, Founder of the "Mauryan

Dynasty"

•  Darius III, king of the Achaemenid Empire

•   Demetrius Poliocretes, King of Macedon

•   Demosthenes, Athenian statesman and orator

•  Manius Curius Dentatus, Roman statesman

•   Nakhthorheb, last native Pharaoh of Egypt

•   Epaminondas, Theban statesman

•   Hephaestion, Macedonian general

•   Parmenion, Macedonian general

•   Pelopidas, Theban statesman

•   Perdiccas, Macedonian diadoh

•  Ptolemy I Soter, Macedonian diadoh and king of

Egypt

•  Seleucus I Nicator, Macedonian diadoh and founder

of the Seleucid Empire

•   Lysimachus, Macedonian diadoh and king ofThrace

•  Philip II, King of Macedon

2.1 Visual arts

•   Apelles, Greek painter

•  Cephisodotus the Elder, Greek sculptor

•   Leochares, Greek sculptor

•   Lysippos, Greek sculptor

•   Praxiteles, Greek sculptor

•   Scopas, Greek sculptor and architect

2.2 Literature

•   Menander, Greek playwright

•   Onesicritus, Greek historical writer

•  Simonides of Ceos, Greek lyric poet

•  Qu Yuan, Chinese poet

•   Xenophon, Greek historian and writer

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4   4 DECADES AND YEARS 

2.3 Science and philosophy

•  Anaximenes of Lampsacus,  Greek rhetorician and

historian.

•   Antisthenes, Greek philosopher

•   Archytas, Greek philosopher

•   Aristippus, Greek philosopher

•   Aristotle, Greek philosopher

•   Callisthenes, Greek historian

•   Chanakya, Indian economist and political advisor

•  Crates of Thebes, Greek philosopher

•  Demetrius of Phalerum, Greek orator

•

 Diogenes of Sinope, Greek philosopher•   Epicurus, Greek philosopher

•   Mencius, Chinese philosopher

•   Plato, Greek philosopher

•   Pyrrho, Greek philosopher

•   Panini, Indian philosopher and writer

•   Speusippus, Greek philosopher

•  Theophrastus, Greek philosopher

•  Wu Qi, Chinese military strategist & philosopher

•   Xenocrates, Greek philosopher

•  Zeno of Citium, Greek philosopher

•   Zhuangzi, Chinese philosopher

3 Sovereign States

See: List of sovereign states in the 4th century BC.

4 Decades and years

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5

5 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

5.1 Text

•   4th century BC Source:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4th%20century%20BC?oldid=661558373Contributors:  AxelBoldt, MichaelTinkler,Tarquin, Andre Engels, Noises, XJaM, Christian List, Deb, Ktsquare, EvanProdromou, Llywrch, Liftarn, IZAK, Yann, Egil, Pratyeka,Hectorthebat, Vargenau, Hashar, Alex S, Furrykef, Dimadick, Robbot, Fredrik, Arkuat, Ojigiri~enwiki, Rick Block, Danohuiginn, Wurk-

wurk, Rdsmith4, D6, DanielCD, Rich Farmbrough, Guanabot, Dbachmann, K4 pacific, Briséis~enwiki, Art LaPella, Jojit fb, Jonathunder,Ranveig, Eric Kvaalen, Arthena, Suruena, Katyare, DpG, Paxsimius, Graham87, Yurik, Amire80, Prasanthr, Filipvr, FlaBot, Turbinator,Gareth E Kegg, Chobot, YurikBot, Jimp, RussBot, Anomalocaris, Rick Norwood, Mlouns, Xaxafrad, GrinBot~enwiki, DVD R W, Uny-oyega, KocjoBot~enwiki, Jagged 85, Eskimbot, Gilliam, Cullentw2000, Hmains, Akanemoto, Colonies Chris, Skoglund, AMK152, Tlusťa,Thumbelina, RafaelG, Wizardman, CIS, SashatoBot, Yannismarou, TastyPoutine, Neddyseagoon, Aherunar, WeggeBot, Future Perfect atSunrise, Khatru2, Nickleus, Thijs!bot, Wikid77, Mojo Hand, Ludde23, Nick Number, RoboServien, Escarbot, AntiVandalBot, EngineGone Loco, Avjoska, Ling.Nut, Robotman1974, Hoverfish, STBot, Gkklein, 1121331a, Squids and Chips, Ariobarzan, VolkovBot, TXiK-iBoT, Rei-bot, JhsBot, AlleborgoBot, PericlesofAthens, EmxBot, SieBot, StAnselm, BotMultichill, Gerakibot, JosephineBrooks, Flyer22,Byrialbot, KathrynLybarger, Kotniski, Shir-El too, DumZiBoT, BodhisattvaBot, SilvonenBot, ElMeBot, Addbot, SamatBot, Numbo3-bot,Sheredot, Luckas-bot, Ptbotgourou, Limttado, AnomieBOT, Xqbot, TakenakaN, J04n, SassoBot, Paine Ellsworth, Wikipe-tan, FoxBot,RjwilmsiBot, EmausBot, WikitanvirBot, ZéroBot, Jack-ONeill55, ChuispastonBot, Petrb, ClueBot NG, Etertingt, Navops47, Vagobot,The Empire of History, Anastomoses, JYBot, Makecat-bot, Mabarlabin, Opalraava, Plumpy Humperdinkle and Anonymous: 64

5.2 Images

•   File:AlexandreLouvre.jpg  Source:  http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/AlexandreLouvre.jpg License:   CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors:  ?  Original artist:  ?

•   File:Aristotle_Altemps_Inv8575.jpg   Source:    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Aristotle_Altemps_Inv8575.jpgLicense:  Public domain Contributors:   Jastrow (2006) Original artist:  Copy of Lysippus

•  File:ChineseCrossbow.JPG  Source:  http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/ChineseCrossbow.JPG License:  Public do-main Contributors:  Transfered from  en.wikipedia Original artist:  Original uploader was PHG at en.wikipedia

•   File:Delphi_Platon_statue_1.jpg Source:  http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/Delphi_Platon_statue_1.jpgLicense:  ?Contributors:  ?  Original artist:  ?

•   File:Demosthenes_orator_Louvre.jpg   Source:    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Demosthenes_orator_Louvre.jpg License:  CC BY-SA 2.5 Contributors:  Eric Gaba (User:Sting), July 2005 Original artist:   English:  Copy of Polyeuktos

•   File:Epikouros_BM_1843.jpgSource:  http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Epikouros_BM_1843.jpgLicense:  Publicdomain Contributors:  Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) Original artist:  Unknown

•  File:World_323_BCE.png  Source:  http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/World_323_BCE.png  License:   CC BY 2.5Contributors:  ?  Original artist:  ?

5.3 Content license

•   Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0