The 4th century (per the
Julian calendar and
Anno Domini
The terms (AD) and before Christ (BC) are used to label or number years in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The term is Medieval Latin and means 'in the year of the Lord', but is often presented using "our Lord" instead of "the Lord", ...
/
Common era
Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...
) was the time period which lasted from
301
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Year 301 ( CCCI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Postumius and Nepotianus (or, less frequently, year 1054 ...
(
CCCI) through
400
__NOTOC__
Year 400 ( CD) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Stilicho and Aurelianus (or, less frequently, year 11 ...
(
CD). In the West, the early part of the century was shaped by
Constantine the Great, who became the
first Roman emperor to adopt Christianity. Gaining sole reign of the empire, he is also noted for re-establishing a single imperial capital, choosing the site of ancient
Byzantium
Byzantium () or Byzantion ( grc, Βυζάντιον) was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name ''Byzantion'' and its Latinization ''Byzantium'' con ...
in 330 (over the current capitals, which had effectively been changed by
Diocletian's reforms to
Milan in the West, and
Nicomedeia 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
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...
. 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. General prosperity was felt throughout this period, but recurring invasions by
Germanic tribes plagued the empire from 376
CE onward. These early invasions marked the beginning of the end for the
Western Roman Empire.
In
China, the
Jin dynasty, which had united the nation prior in 280,
began to quickly face troubles by the start of the century due to political infighting, which
led to the opportunistic insurrections of the northern barbarian tribes (starting the
Sixteen Kingdoms
The Sixteen Kingdoms (), less commonly the Sixteen States, was a chaotic period in Chinese history from AD 304 to 439 when northern China fragmented into a series of short-lived dynastic states. The majority of these states were founded by ...
period), which quickly overwhelmed the empire, forcing the Jin court to retreat and entrench itself in the south past the
Yangtze
The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flows ...
river, starting what is known as the Eastern Jin dynasty around 317.
Towards the end of the century, Emperor of the
Former Qin,
Fu Jiān, united the north under his banner, and planned to conquer the Jin dynasty in the south, so as to finally reunite the land, but was decisively defeated at the
Battle of Fei River
The Battle of Fei River, also known as the Battle of Feishui (), was a battle in AD 383 in China, where forces of the Di-led Former Qin dynasty was decisively defeated by the outnumbered army of the Eastern Jin dynasty. The location of the bat ...
in 383, causing massive unrest and civil war in his empire, thereby leading to the fall of the Former Qin, and the continued existence of the Eastern Jin dynasty.
According to archaeologists, sufficient archaeological evidence correlates of state-level societies coalesced in the 4th century to show the existence in Korea of the
Three Kingdoms (300/400–668 CE) of
Baekje
Baekje or Paekche (, ) was a Korean kingdom located in southwestern Korea from 18 BC to 660 AD. It was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla.
Baekje was founded by Onjo, the third son of Goguryeo's founder Jumon ...
,
Goguryeo, and
Silla.
Long Fourth Century
Historians of the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...
refer to the "Long Fourth Century" to the period spanning the fourth century proper, but starting earlier with the accession of the Emperor
Diocletian in
284
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Year 284 ( CCLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Carinus and Numerianus (or, less frequently, year 1037 ...
and ending later with the death of
Honorius in
423
__NOTOC__
Year 423 ( CDXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Marinianus and Asclepiodotus (or, less frequently, year ...
or of
Theodosius II in
450.
Events
* Early 4th century – Former audience hall now known as the Basilica,
Trier
Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also Names of Trier in different languages, names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle (river), Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley b ...
, Germany, is built.
*
301
__NOTOC__
Year 301 ( CCCI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Postumius and Nepotianus (or, less frequently, year 1054 ...
:
Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...
first to adopt
Christianity as
state religion.
*
304
Year 304 ( CCCIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. It was known in the Roman Empire as the Year of the Consulship of Diocletian and Maximian (or, less frequently, year 1057 ''Ab ...
–
439
__NOTOC__
Year 439 ( CDXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Theodosius and Festus (or, less frequently, year 1192 ' ...
: The
Sixteen Kingdoms
The Sixteen Kingdoms (), less commonly the Sixteen States, was a chaotic period in Chinese history from AD 304 to 439 when northern China fragmented into a series of short-lived dynastic states. The majority of these states were founded by ...
in China begins.
*
306
__NOTOC__
Year 306 ( CCCVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Constantius and Valerius (or, less frequently, year 1059 ...
–
337
__NOTOC__
Year 337 ( CCCXXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Felicianus and Titianus (or, less frequently, year ...
:
Constantine the Great, ends persecution of Christians in the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...
(see also
Constantinian shift
''Constantinian shift'' is used by some theologians and historians of antiquity to describe the political and theological changes that took place during the 4th-century under the leadership of Emperor Constantine the Great. Rodney Clapp claims t ...
) and
Constantinople becomes new seat of government (
New Rome
New Rome (Greek: Νέα Ῥώμη, ''Nea Rhomē''; ; Latin: ''Nova Roma''; ) was the original name given by the Roman emperor Constantine the Great in 330 CE to his new imperial capital, which was built as an expansion of the city of Byzantium o ...
).
*
320
__NOTOC__
Year 320 ( CCCXX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Constantinus and Constantinus (or, less frequently, year 10 ...
: Butuan Boat One, the oldest known
Balangay
A Balangay, or barangay is a type of lashed-lug boat built by joining planks edge-to-edge using pins, dowels, and fiber lashings. They are found throughout the Philippines and were used largely as trading ships up until the colonial era. The ...
, a multi-purpose ship native to the
Philippines is built.
*
325
__NOTOC__
Year 325 ( CCCXXV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Proculus and Paulinus (or, less frequently, year 1078 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 3 ...
–
328: The
Kingdom of Aksum
The Kingdom of Aksum ( gez, መንግሥተ አክሱም, ), also known as the Kingdom of Axum or the Aksumite Empire, was a kingdom centered in Northeast Africa and South Arabia from Classical antiquity to the Middle Ages. Based primarily in wha ...
adopts Christianity.
* 325: Constantine the Great calls the
First Council of Nicaea
The First Council of Nicaea (; grc, Νίκαια ) was a council of Christian bishops convened in the Bithynian city of Nicaea (now İznik, Turkey) by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD 325.
This ecumenical council was the first effort ...
to pacify Christianity in the grip of the
Arian controversy
The Arian controversy was a series of Christian disputes about the nature of Christ that began with a dispute between Arius and Athanasius of Alexandria, two Christian theologians from Alexandria, Egypt. The most important of these controversies ...
.
*
335
__NOTOC__
Year 335 ( CCCXXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Constantius and Albinus (or, less frequently, year 1 ...
–
380
Year 380 ( CCCLXXX) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Augustus and Augustus (or, less frequently, year 1133 ''Ab urbe ...
:
Samudragupta expands the
Gupta Empire.
*
337
__NOTOC__
Year 337 ( CCCXXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Felicianus and Titianus (or, less frequently, year ...
: Constantine the Great is baptized on his death bed.
*
350
__NOTOC__
Year 350 ( CCCL) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sergius and Nigrinianus (or, less frequently, year 1103 '' ...
: About this time the Kingdom of Aksum conquers the
Kingdom of Kush.
* 350–400: At some time during this period, the
Huns began to attack the
Sassanid Empire.
[Roberts, J: "History of the World". Penguin, 1994.]
*
350
__NOTOC__
Year 350 ( CCCL) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sergius and Nigrinianus (or, less frequently, year 1103 '' ...
: The
Kutai Martadipura
Kutai is a historical region in what is now known as East Kalimantan, Indonesia on the island of Borneo and is also the name of the native ethnic group of the region (known as ''Urang Kutai'' or "the Kutai people"), numbering around 300,000 who ...
kingdom in
eastern Borneo produced the earliest known
stone inscriptions in
Indonesia known as the
Mulavarman inscription written in the
Sanskrit language using
Pallava scripture.
* Mid-4th century – Dish, from
Mildenhall, England, is made. It is now kept at the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It documen ...
, 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.
*
365
365 may refer to:
* 365 (number), an integer
* a common year, consisting of 365 calendar days
* AD 365, a year of the Julian calendar
* 365 BC, a year of the 4th century BC
Media outlets
* 365 (media corporation), Icelandic TV company
* 365 M ...
: An
earthquake with a
magnitude
Magnitude may refer to:
Mathematics
*Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction
*Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object
*Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector
*Order of ...
of at least eight strikes the Eastern
Mediterranean. The following tsunami causes widespread destruction in Crete, Greece, Libya, Egypt, Cyprus, and Sicily.
*
376:
Visigoths
The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is kno ...
appear on the
Danube and are allowed entry into the Roman Empire in their flight from the
Huns.
*
378
__NOTOC__
Year 378 ( CCCLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Valens and Augustus (or, less frequently, year 1131 ...
:
Battle of Adrianople
The Battle of Adrianople (9 August 378), sometimes known as the Battle of Hadrianopolis, was fought between an Eastern Roman army led by the Eastern Roman Emperor Valens and Gothic rebels (largely Thervings as well as Greutungs, non-Gothic ...
: Roman army is defeated by the Visigoth cavalry. Emperor
Valens is killed.
*
378
__NOTOC__
Year 378 ( CCCLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Valens and Augustus (or, less frequently, year 1131 ...
–
395
__NOTOC__
Year 395 ( CCCXCV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Olybrius and Probinus (or, less frequently, year 1148 ...
:
Theodosius I, Roman emperor, bans
pagan worship, Christianity is made the official religion of the Empire.
*
378
__NOTOC__
Year 378 ( CCCLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Valens and Augustus (or, less frequently, year 1131 ...
:
Siyaj K'ak' conquers
Waka
Waka may refer to:
Culture and language
* Waka (canoe), a Polynesian word for canoe; especially, canoes of the Māori of New Zealand
** Waka ama, a Polynesian outrigger canoe
** Waka hourua, a Polynesian ocean-going canoe
** Waka taua, a Māori ...
on (
January 8),
Tikal (
January 16
Events Pre-1600
* 27 BC – Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus is granted the title Augustus by the Roman Senate, marking the beginning of the Roman Empire.
* 378 – General Siyaj K'ak' conquers Tikal, enlarging the domain of King Sp ...
) and
Uaxactun
Uaxactun (pronounced ) is an ancient sacred place of the Maya civilization, located in the Petén Basin region of the Maya lowlands, in the present-day department of Petén, Guatemala. The site lies some north of the major center of Tikal. Th ...
.
*
381
__NOTOC__
Year 381 ( CCCLXXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Syagrius and Eucherius (or, less frequently, year 1134 ...
:
First Council of Constantinople reaffirms the Christian doctrine of the
Trinity by adding to the
creed of Nicaea.
*
383:
Battle of Fei River
The Battle of Fei River, also known as the Battle of Feishui (), was a battle in AD 383 in China, where forces of the Di-led Former Qin dynasty was decisively defeated by the outnumbered army of the Eastern Jin dynasty. The location of the bat ...
in China.
*
395
__NOTOC__
Year 395 ( CCCXCV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Olybrius and Probinus (or, less frequently, year 1148 ...
: The
Battle of Canhe Slope
Battle of Canhe Slope () refers to a battle in 395 where the Chinese/Xianbei state Later Yan, then ruling over northern and central China, had launched a punitive campaign against its former vassal Northern Wei, also of Xianbei extraction.
Lat ...
occurs.
* 395:
Roman emperor Theodosius I dies, causing the Roman Empire to split permanently.
* Late 4th century: Cubiculum of Leonis,
Catacomb of Commodilla
The Catacombs of Rome ( it, Catacombe di Roma) are ancient catacombs, underground burial places in and around Rome, of which there are at least forty, some rediscovered only in recent decades. Though most famous for Christian burials, either ...
, near Rome, is made.
* Late 4th century: Atrium added in the
Old St. Peter's Basilica
Old St. Peter's Basilica was the building that stood, from the 4th to 16th centuries, where the new St. Peter's Basilica stands today in Vatican City. Construction of the basilica, built over the historical site of the Circus of Nero, began duri ...
, Rome.
Inventions, discoveries, introductions
* The
Stirrup was invented in China, no later than 322.
*
Kama Sutra
The ''Kama Sutra'' (; sa, कामसूत्र, , ; ) is an ancient Indian Sanskrit text on sexuality, eroticism and emotional fulfillment in life. Attributed to Vātsyāyana, the ''Kama Sutra'' is neither exclusively nor predominantly ...
, dated between c. 400 BC to c. 300 AD.
*
Iron pillar of Delhi, India is the world's first Iron Pillar.
*
Trigonometric functions: The trigonometric functions
sine and versine originated in Indian astronomy.
*
Codex Sinaiticus
The Codex Sinaiticus (Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), designated by siglum [Aleph] or 01 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 2 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts) ...
and the
Codex Vaticanus Graecus 1209
The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), designated by siglum B or 03 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1 ( von Soden), is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old ...
, are the earliest Christian bibles.
*
Book of Steps
The ''Book of Steps'' ( syr, ܟܬܒܐ ܕܡܣ̈ܩܬܐ, ''Kṯāḇâ ḏ-Masqāṯâ''; also known by the Latin name ''Liber Graduum'') is an anonymous Syriac treatise on spiritual direction, probably written in the late fourth century AD (or poss ...
,
Syriac religious discourses.
References
{{Authority control
1st millennium
04th century