The 4th century BCE

Asia

1. 🇰🇿KAZ

   Kazakhstan · Culture & Ideas · c. 4th century BCE

   The Saka 'Golden Man' of Issyk

   A high-status Saka warrior is buried in the Issyk kurgan near Almaty in a costume of thousands of gold plaques, a celebrated emblem of the Iron Age nomad cultures that dominated the Kazakh steppe in the first millennium BCE.

   The Saka and the Turkic Steppe

   Sources: Ancient Sakas: All You Need to Know (The Astana Times) · History of Kazakhstan (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇧🇬BGR

   Bulgaria · Culture & Ideas · 4th–3rd c. BCE

   Thracian royal tombs of Kazanlak and Sveshtari

   The painted tholos tomb at Kazanlak and the richly sculpted tomb at Sveshtari, among the finest monuments of the Thracian civilisation, were later inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979 and 1985.

   Thracians, Asparukh's Khanate and the First Bulgarian Empire

   Sources: Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Thracian Tomb of Sveshtari (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

Europe

1. 🇲🇰MKD

   North Macedonia · Politics & Power · 359–336 BCE

   Reign of Philip II of Macedon

   Philip II reformed the Macedonian army and won mastery over the Greek city-states at Chaeronea, laying the foundations for the empire his son Alexander the Great would build across Asia.

   Ancient Macedon and the Classical Legacy

   Sources: Philip II, king of Macedonia (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Macedonia (region, Europe): Map, History & Facts (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇬🇷GRC

   Greece · War & Rupture

   Battle of Chaeronea

   Philip II of Macedon defeated an alliance of Greek city-states led by Athens and Thebes, ending the era of fully independent poleis and establishing Macedonian dominance over Greece.

   The Hellenistic Age: Alexander and His Successors

   Sources: Battle of Chaeronea (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Battle of Chaeronea (World History Encyclopedia)

Europe

1. 🇲🇰MKD

   North Macedonia · War & Rupture · 336–323 BCE

   Conquests of Alexander the Great

   Alexander III led Macedonian and Greek forces in the conquest of the Persian empire, carrying Hellenistic civilization from Egypt to the Indus before his death at Babylon in 323 BCE.

   Ancient Macedon and the Classical Legacy

   Sources: Alexander the Great (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇬🇷GRC

   Greece · War & Rupture

   Alexander invades the Persian Empire

   Alexander the Great crossed into Asia and began the campaign that, over a decade, toppled the Persian Empire and carried Greek arms and culture as far as India.

   The Hellenistic Age: Alexander and His Successors

   Sources: Alexander the Great (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Alexander the Great (World History Encyclopedia)

Africa

1. 🇪🇬EGY

   Egypt · War & Rupture

   Alexander the Great conquers Egypt

   Alexander expels Persian rule, is hailed as pharaoh and founds Alexandria, opening the Hellenistic age in Egypt.

   Greco-Roman and Byzantine Egypt

   Sources: Ptolemaic Dynasty (World History Encyclopedia) · Ancient Egypt: The Old Kingdom and the First Intermediate Period (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇯🇴JOR

   Jordan · War & Rupture

   Alexander the Great and the end of Persian rule

   The conquests of Alexander brought the region into the Hellenistic world, hastening the eclipse of the old Iron Age kingdoms and opening the way to Greek and later Roman cities.

   The Kingdoms East of the Jordan: Ammon, Moab and Edom

   Sources: Jordan: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇱🇧LBN

   Lebanon · War & Rupture

   Alexander the Great takes Tyre

   After a long siege and the building of a causeway to the island city, Alexander captures Tyre, ending the independence of the Phoenician city-states.

   Phoenicia: Byblos, Sidon and Tyre

   Sources: Tyre (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Phoenicia (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

3. 🇵🇸PSE

   Palestine · War & Rupture

   Hellenistic conquest

   Alexander the Great's conquest brought the region into the Hellenistic world of the Ptolemaic and Seleucid kingdoms.

   Roman, Byzantine, and the Name "Palaestina"

   Sources: Palestine - region, history (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Europe

1. 🇬🇷GRC

   Greece · Formation

   Foundation of Alexandria

   Alexander founded Alexandria in Egypt, which became the greatest city of the Hellenistic world and a centre of Greek learning, home to its famous Library and Museum.

   The Hellenistic Age: Alexander and His Successors

   Sources: Alexander the Great (World History Encyclopedia)

Asia

1. 🇮🇷IRN

   Iran · War & Rupture

   Alexander conquers Persia and burns Persepolis

   After defeating Darius III at Gaugamela (331 BCE), Alexander the Great enters and burns Persepolis and the last Achaemenid king is killed, ending the empire in 330 BCE.

   Elam and the Achaemenid Empire

   Sources: Alexander the Great & the Burning of Persepolis (World History Encyclopedia) · Cyrus the Great (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇦🇫AFG

   Afghanistan · War & Rupture · 329–327 BCE

   Alexander the Great conquers Bactria

   Alexander of Macedon overruns Bactria and the lands of modern Afghanistan in a gruelling campaign, leaving Greek garrisons and settlers that seeded later Hellenistic kingdoms.

   Bactria, Gandhara and the Buddhist Age

   Sources: Bactria (World History Encyclopedia) · Afghanistan — history (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

2. 🇹🇯TJK

   Tajikistan · War & Rupture · c. 329 BCE

   Alexander the Great in Sogdiana and Bactria

   After overthrowing the Achaemenid Persians, Alexander the Great campaigns through Sogdiana and Bactria, the Iranian lands of Transoxania that later peoples would regard as the Tajik homeland.

   Sogdiana, Bactria and the Silk Road

   Sources: Sogdiana — Central Asia, Silk Road, Persian Empire (Encyclopædia Britannica) · History of Tajikistan (Encyclopædia Britannica)

3. 🇺🇿UZB

   Uzbekistan · War & Rupture

   Alexander the Great conquers Sogdiana

   Alexander the Great captures Maracanda (Samarkand) and advances to the Jaxartes, overcoming two years of fierce Sogdian resistance under Spitamenes.

   Sogdiana, Bactria and the Silk Road

   Sources: Samarkand — Uzbekistan, Map, History & Facts (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Alexander the Great (World History Encyclopedia)

Asia

1. 🇺🇿UZB

   Uzbekistan · Politics & Power

   Alexander marries Roxana of Bactria

   To cement his conquest, Alexander marries Roxana, daughter of the Bactrian chieftain Oxyartes, symbolising the union of Macedonian and Central Asian peoples.

   Sogdiana, Bactria and the Silk Road

   Sources: Roxana — Macedonian queen, Bactrian princess (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇵🇰PAK

   Pakistan · War & Rupture

   Alexander defeats Porus at the Hydaspes

   Alexander the Great crosses the Indus passes and defeats King Porus on the Jhelum, marking the easternmost reach of his empire before his army turns homeward.

   Gandhara and the Ancient Empires

   Sources: Taxila (Encyclopædia Britannica) · Pakistan: A Country Study (Library of Congress, Federal Research Division)

Asia

1. 🇰🇼KWT

   Kuwait · Peoples & Migration · late 4th century BCE

   Alexander's fleet names the island Ikaros

   During the exploration of the Gulf by Alexander the Great's navy, the admiral Nearchus is credited with naming Failaka 'Ikaros' after an Aegean island.

   Failaka: Dilmun and the Greek Island of Ikaros

   Sources: Failaka Island: A Palimpsest of Human Civilizations (Tentative List) (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Ikaros of the Gulf: Failaka Island (Archaeology Magazine (Archaeological Institute of America))

Europe

1. 🇬🇷GRC

   Greece · Politics & Power

   Death of Alexander and the Hellenistic kingdoms

   Alexander died at Babylon, and his generals divided his empire into the Ptolemaic, Seleucid and Antigonid kingdoms, beginning the Hellenistic age of Greek-ruled states across the East.

   The Hellenistic Age: Alexander and His Successors

   Sources: Alexander the Great (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Hellenistic Age (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Asia

1. 🇮🇳IND

   India · Formation · c. 322 BCE

   Chandragupta Maurya founds the Maurya Empire

   Chandragupta Maurya overthrows the Nanda dynasty and builds the first empire to unify most of the subcontinent, with its capital at Pataliputra.

   Classical Empires: Maurya and the Gupta Golden Age

   Sources: Mauryan Empire (Encyclopaedia Britannica) · Chandragupta Maurya (Wikipedia)

Asia

1. 🇯🇴JOR

   Jordan · Formation

   The Nabataeans resist the Greeks at Petra

   The Nabataean Arabs, established around Petra, repelled campaigns by the Hellenistic successors of Alexander, marking their emergence as a distinct desert power controlling the caravan trade.

   The Nabataeans and the Rose-Red City of Petra

   Sources: Petra (UNESCO World Heritage Centre) · Jordan: History (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Africa

1. 🇪🇬EGY

   Egypt · Politics & Power

   Ptolemy I founds the Ptolemaic dynasty

   Alexander's general Ptolemy takes the royal title in Egypt, founding a Macedonian dynasty that rules from Alexandria for nearly three centuries.

   Greco-Roman and Byzantine Egypt

   Sources: Ptolemaic Dynasty (World History Encyclopedia)