320s BC

This article concerns the period 329 BC – 320 BC.

Map of the Eastern Hemisphere in 323 BC, after the passing of Alexander the Great.

329 BC

This section is transcluded from 329 BC. (edit | history)

By place

Macedonian Empire

• From Phrada, Alexander the Great presses on up the valley of the Helmand River, through Arachosia, and over the mountains past the site of modern Kabul into the country of the Paropamisade, where he founds Alexandria by the Caucasus.
• In Bactria, Bessus raises a national revolt in the eastern satrapies using the title of King Artaxerxes V of Persia.
• Crossing the Hindu Kush northward, probably over the Khawak Pass,^[1] Alexander brings his army, despite food shortages, to Drapsaka. Outflanked, Bessus flees beyond the Oxus river.
• Marching west to Bactra (Zariaspa), Alexander appoints Artabazus of Phrygia as the satrap of Bactria.
• Crossing 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.
• From Maracanda, Alexander advances through Cyropolis to the Jaxartes river, the boundary of the Persian Empire. There he breaks the opposition of the Scythian nomads by his use of catapults and, after defeating them in a battle on the north bank of the river, pursues them into the interior. On the site of modern Khujand on the Jaxartes, he founds a city, Alexandria Eschate, "the farthest."

Births

Transcluding articles: 329 BC, 328 BC, 327 BC, 326 BC, 325 BC, 324 BC, 323 BC, 322 BC, 321 BC, and 320 BC

327 BC

• Heracles, illegitimate son of Alexander the Great by his mistress Barsine, daughter of Satrap Artabazus of Phrygia and later claimant to the throne of Macedon (d. 309 BC)
• Moggaliputta-Tissa, Indian Buddhist monk, scholar and philosopher (approximate date)

326 BC

• Pharnavaz I of Iberia, later King of Iberia

325 BC

• Euclid, Greek mathematician who will come to live in Alexandria (d. c. 275 BC)
• Gongsun Long, Chinese scholar and philosopher (approximate date)
• Zhaoxiang of Qin, Chinese king of the Qin State (d. 250 BC)

324 BC

• Antiochus I Soter, King of the Seleucid dynasty (d. 261 BC)^[5]

323 BC

• Alexander IV of Macedon, son of Alexander the Great and Roxana (d. 309 BC).

320 BC

• Timocharis of Alexandria, Greek astronomer responsible for the first recorded observation of Mercury and the first star catalogue (d. 260 BC)
• Bindusara, the heir to the throne of the Mauryan Empire, is born. (d. 272 BC)

Deaths

Transcluding articles: 329 BC, 328 BC, 327 BC, 326 BC, 325 BC, 324 BC, 323 BC, 322 BC, 321 BC, and 320 BC

329 BC

• Bessus (Artaxerxes V), Persian nobleman and satrap of Bactria, and later the last claimant to the Achaemenid throne of Persia

328 BC

• Cleitus, lieutenant and friend of Alexander the Great (b. c. 375 BC)
• Spitamenes, Persian nobleman (b. 370 BC)

327 BC

• Callisthenes of Olynthus, Greek historian, great nephew and pupil of Aristotle (b. c. 360 BC)^[6]

326 BC

• Coenus, son of Polemocrates and son-in-law of Parmenion and one of Alexander the Great's generals in his Persian and Indian expeditions

324 BC

• October – Hephaestion, son of Amyntor, a Macedonian general, soldier, aristocrat, and possibly lover of Alexander the Great (b. c. 356 BC).^[7]

323 BC

• June 13 – Alexander the Great, king of Macedonia and conqueror of the Persian Empire died in Babylon (b. 356 BC)^[8]
• Diogenes of Sinope, Greek philosopher (b. c. 412 BC)
• Meleager, Macedonian general who has served with Alexander the Great

322 BC

• October 12 – Demosthenes, Athenian statesman, recognized as the greatest of ancient Greek orators (b. 384 BC)
• Ariarathes I of Cappadocia, Achaemenid satrap, founder of the Iranian Ariarathid dynasty
• Aristotle, Greek philosopher and scientist (b. 384 BC)^[9]
• Cleomenes of Naucratis, Greek deputy to the Macedonian ruler of Egypt, Ptolemy
• Hypereides, Athenian orator (b. 390 BC)
• Leonnatus, Macedonian officer under Alexander the Great and one of the diadochi (b. 356 BC)

321 BC

• Craterus, Macedonian general (b. c. 370 BC)
• Perdiccas, Macedonian general and regent after the death of Alexander the Great (b. c. 365 BC)
• Zhou Xian Wang, King of the Zhou Dynasty of China

320 BC

• Anaximenes of Lampsacus, Greek rhetorician and historian (b. c. 380 BC)
• Menaechmus, Greek mathematician and geometer

• Zoilus, Greek grammarian, cynic philosopher and literary critic from Amphipolis in Macedon (b. c. 400 BC)

References

1. Smith, Vincent A. (1908) The Early History of India, p. 45. Oxford. The Clarendon Press.
2. Pomeroy, Sarah B.; et al. (1999). Ancient Greece: a political, social, and cultural history. Oxford University Press. p. 434. ISBN 0-19-509742-4.
3. "Mauryan Empire". August 20, 2020.
4. "Geography at about.com". Archived from the original on August 18, 2016. Retrieved March 1, 2006.
5. "Antiochus I Soter". Encyclopædia Britannica. February 13, 2024. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
6. "Callisthenes of Olynthus | Greek historian". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
7. Wasson, Donald L. "Hephaestion". World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
8. Walkbank, Frank W. (February 21, 2024). "Alexander the Great". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
9. Amadio, Anselm H.; Kenney, Anthony J.P. (January 5, 2024). "Aristotle". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved February 24, 2024.