__NOTOC__ Year 440 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Macerinus and Lanatus (or, less frequently, year 314 ''

Ab urbe condita ''Ab urbe condita'' ( 'from the founding of the City'), or ''anno urbis conditae'' (; 'in the year since the city's founding'), abbreviated as AUC or AVC, expresses a date in years since 753 BC, the traditional founding of Rome. It is an exp ...

''). The denomination 440 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Events

By place

Greece

* Samos, an autonomous member of the

Delian League The Delian League, founded in 478 BC, was an association of Greek city-states, numbering between 150 and 330, under the leadership of Athens, whose purpose was to continue fighting the Persian Empire after the Greek victory in the Battle of Pl ...

and one of Athens' principal allies with a substantial fleet of its own, quarrels with

Miletus Miletus (; gr, Μῑ́λητος, Mī́lētos; Hittite transcription ''Millawanda'' or ''Milawata'' (exonyms); la, Mīlētus; tr, Milet) was an ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia, near the mouth of the Maeander River in a ...

and appeals to Athens for assistance. Pericles decides in favour of Miletus, so Samos revolts. Pericles then sails to Samos with a fleet to overthrow its

oligarchic Oligarchy (; ) is a conceptual form of power structure in which power rests with a small number of people. These people may or may not be distinguished by one or several characteristics, such as nobility, fame, wealth, education, or corporate, r ...

government and install a democratic one. Sparta threatens to interfere. However, at a congress of the

Peloponnesian League The Peloponnesian League was an alliance of ancient Greek city-states, dominated by Sparta and centred on the Peloponnese, which lasted from c.550 to 366 BC. It is known mainly for being one of the two rivals in the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC ...

, its members vote not to intervene on behalf of Samos against Athens.

Roman Republic

* A

famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, Demographic trap, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. Th ...

strikes in Rome.

China

Zhou Kao Wang King Kao of Zhou (), alternatively King Kaozhe of Zhou (周考哲王), personal name Jī Wéi, was the thirty first king of the Chinese Zhou dynasty and the nineteenth of the Eastern Zhou. He reigned from 440 BC to 426 BC. King Kao's father was ...

becomes King of the Zhou Dynasty of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

By topic

Physics

* Democritus proposes the existence of indivisible particles, which he calls atoms.

Art

* Polykleitos completes one of his greatest statues, the ''

Doryphorus The ''Doryphoros'' (Greek Δορυφόρος Classical Greek , "Spear-Bearer"; Latinised as ''Doryphorus'') of Polykleitos is one of the best known Greek sculptures of Classical antiquity, depicting a solidly built, muscular, standing warrior, o ...

'' (''The Spear Bearer'') (approximate date). * The stela, ''Demeter, Persephone and Triptolemos'', from

Eleusis Elefsina ( el, Ελευσίνα ''Elefsina''), or Eleusis (; Ancient Greek: ''Eleusis'') is a suburban city and Communities and Municipalities of Greece, municipality in the West Attica regional unit of Greece. It is situated about northwest ...

, is made (approximate date). It is now kept at the

National Archaeological Museum of Athens The National Archaeological Museum ( el, Εθνικό Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο) in Athens houses some of the most important artifacts from a variety of archaeological locations around Greece from prehistory to late antiquity. It is ...

. * A temple for Poseidon is erected in Sounion.

Births

* Cynisca, Greek princess of Sparta

Deaths

* Ducetius, a Hellenized leader of the

Sicels The Sicels (; la, Siculi; grc, Σικελοί ''Sikeloi'') were an Italic tribe who inhabited eastern Sicily during the Iron Age. Their neighbours to the west were the Sicani. The Sicels gave Sicily the name it has held since antiquity, bu ...

and founder of a united Sicilian state * Ezra, Jewish scribe and priest (b. c.

480 BCE __NOTOC__ Year 480 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Vibulanus and Cincinnatus (or, less frequently, year 274 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 480 BC for this year ...

)

References

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