334 BC
Encyclopedia
Roman calendar
The Roman calendar changed its form several times in the time between the founding of Rome and the fall of the Roman Empire. This article generally discusses the early Roman or pre-Julian calendars...
. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Caudinus and Calvinus (or, less frequently, year 420 Ab urbe condita
Ab urbe condita
Ab urbe condita is Latin for "from the founding of the City ", traditionally set in 753 BC. AUC is a year-numbering system used by some ancient Roman historians to identify particular Roman years...
). The denomination 334 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini
Anno Domini
and Before Christ are designations used to label or number years used with the Julian and Gregorian calendars....
calendar era
Calendar era
A calendar era is the year numbering system used by a calendar. For example, the Gregorian calendar numbers its years in the Western Christian era . The instant, date, or year from which time is marked is called the epoch of the era...
became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Persian Empire
- The king of CariaCariaCaria was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Ionian and Dorian Greeks colonized the west of it and joined the Carian population in forming Greek-dominated states there...
, PixodarusPixodarus of CariaPixodarus was a prince or king of Caria.-Biography:He was the youngest of the three sons of Hecatomnus, all of whom successively held the sovereignty of their native country...
, dies and is succeeded by his son-in-law, OrontobatesOrontobatesOrontobates was a Persian, who married the daughter of Pixodarus, the usurping satrap of Caria, and was sent by the king of Persia to succeed him. On the approach of Alexander III of Macedon Orontobates and Memnon of Rhodes entrenched themselves in Halicarnassus...
. - As the Persian satrapSatrapSatrap was the name given to the governors of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as the Sassanid Empire and the Hellenistic empires....
s have gathered for a war council at ZeleiaZeleiaZeleia is the name of an ancient town or city, according to the Iliad, which was allied to Troy. It appears to have been located in the Troad and to have been inhabited by Trojans. Says Homer: "They who lived in Zeleia below the foot of Mount Ida, who drank the dark water of Aesepus, Trojans."...
, Memnon argues that it is preferable for the Persians to avoid a pitched battle and adopt a scorched earthScorched earthA scorched earth policy is a military strategy or operational method which involves destroying anything that might be useful to the enemy while advancing through or withdrawing from an area...
tactic. Arsites, the satrap of Hellespontine PhrygiaPhrygiaIn antiquity, Phrygia was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now modern-day Turkey. The Phrygians initially lived in the southern Balkans; according to Herodotus, under the name of Bryges , changing it to Phruges after their final migration to Anatolia, via the...
, will not allow his land to be burned and agrees with other satraps to reject this cautious advice.
Macedonia
- King Alexander III of MacedonMacedonMacedonia or Macedon was an ancient kingdom, centered in the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula, bordered by Epirus to the west, Paeonia to the north, the region of Thrace to the east and Thessaly to the south....
ia crosses the DardanellesDardanellesThe Dardanelles , formerly known as the Hellespont, is a narrow strait in northwestern Turkey connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. It is one of the Turkish Straits, along with its counterpart the Bosphorus. It is located at approximately...
, leaving AntipaterAntipaterAntipater was a Macedonian general and a supporter of kings Philip II of Macedon and Alexander the Great. In 320 BC, he became Regent of all of Alexander's Empire. Antipater was one of the sons of a Macedonian nobleman called Iollas or Iolaus and his family were distant collateral relatives to the...
, who has already faithfully served his father, Philip IIPhilip II of MacedonPhilip II of Macedon "friend" + ἵππος "horse" — transliterated ; 382 – 336 BC), was a king of Macedon from 359 BC until his assassination in 336 BC. He was the father of Alexander the Great and Philip III.-Biography:...
, as his deputy in Greece with over 13,000 men. Alexander himself commands about 30,000 foot soldiers and over 5,000 cavalry, of whom nearly 14,000 are Macedonians and about 7,000 are allies sent by the Greek League. - May – Alexander wins a major victory against the PersiansAchaemenid EmpireThe Achaemenid Empire , sometimes known as First Persian Empire and/or Persian Empire, was founded in the 6th century BCE by Cyrus the Great who overthrew the Median confederation...
commanded by the Greek mercenary Memnon of RhodesMemnon of RhodesMemnon of Rhodes was the commander of the Greek mercenaries working for the Persian king Darius III when Alexander the Great of Macedonia invaded Persia in 334 BC. He commanded the mercenaries at the Battle of the Granicus River, where his troops were massacred by the victorious Macedonians...
, in the Battle of the GranicusBattle of the GranicusThe Battle of the Granicus River in May 334 BC was the first of three major battles fought between Alexander the Great and the Persian Empire...
near the Sea of MarmaraSea of MarmaraThe Sea of Marmara , also known as the Sea of Marmora or the Marmara Sea, and in the context of classical antiquity as the Propontis , is the inland sea that connects the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea, thus separating Turkey's Asian and European parts. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Black...
. A large number of King Darius III's Greek mercenaries are massacred, but 2,000 survivors are sent back to Macedonia in chains. - Alexander accepts the surrender of the Persian provincial capital of SardisSardisSardis or Sardes was an ancient city at the location of modern Sart in Turkey's Manisa Province...
(and its treasury) and proceeds down the IoniaIoniaIonia is an ancient region of central coastal Anatolia in present-day Turkey, the region nearest İzmir, which was historically Smyrna. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Greek settlements...
n coast. - At HalicarnassusHalicarnassusHalicarnassus was an ancient Greek city at the site of modern Bodrum in Turkey. It was located in southwest Caria on a picturesque, advantageous site on the Ceramic Gulf. The city was famous for the tomb of Mausolus, the origin of the word mausoleum, built between 353 BC and 350 BC, and...
, Alexander successfully undertakes the first of many sieges, eventually forcing his opponents, the mercenary captain Memnon of RhodesMemnon of RhodesMemnon of Rhodes was the commander of the Greek mercenaries working for the Persian king Darius III when Alexander the Great of Macedonia invaded Persia in 334 BC. He commanded the mercenaries at the Battle of the Granicus River, where his troops were massacred by the victorious Macedonians...
and the Persian satrapSatrapSatrap was the name given to the governors of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as the Sassanid Empire and the Hellenistic empires....
of CariaCariaCaria was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Ionian and Dorian Greeks colonized the west of it and joined the Carian population in forming Greek-dominated states there...
, OrontobatesOrontobatesOrontobates was a Persian, who married the daughter of Pixodarus, the usurping satrap of Caria, and was sent by the king of Persia to succeed him. On the approach of Alexander III of Macedon Orontobates and Memnon of Rhodes entrenched themselves in Halicarnassus...
, to withdraw by sea. Alexander leaves Caria in the hands of AdaAda of CariaAda of Caria was satrap of Caria in the 4th century BC.Ada was the daughter of Hecatomnus, satrap of Caria, and sister of Mausolus, Artemisia, Idrieus, and Pixodarus. She was married to her brother Idrieus, who succeeded Artemisia in 351 BC and died in 344 BC...
, who was the ruler of Caria before being deposed by her brother-in-law, PixodarusPixodarus of CariaPixodarus was a prince or king of Caria.-Biography:He was the youngest of the three sons of Hecatomnus, all of whom successively held the sovereignty of their native country...
. - Alexander's victory exposes western Asia MinorAsia MinorAsia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
to the Macedonians, and most of the cities in the region hasten to open their gates. The Ionian city of MiletusMiletusMiletus was an ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia , near the mouth of the Maeander River in ancient Caria...
defies Alexander and he has to subdue it through a siege.
Italy
- Alexander of Epirus, at the request of colony of Taras (TarentumTarantoTaranto is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto and is an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base....
) crosses over into ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, to aid them against the Lucanians and BruttiiBruttiiThe Bruttii , were an ancient Italic people who inhabited the southern extremity of Italy, from the frontiers of Lucania to the Sicilian Straits and the promontory of Leucopetra, roughly corresponding to modern Calabria.-History:...
. He wins victories over the Italian SamniteSamniumSamnium is a Latin exonym for a region of south or south and central Italy in Roman times. The name survives in Italian today, but today's territory comprising it is only a small portion of what it once was. The populations of Samnium were called Samnites by the Romans...
tribes.
China
- The rulers of Wei and Qi agree to recognize each other as kings, formalizing the independence of the Warring StatesWarring States PeriodThe Warring States Period , also known as the Era of Warring States, or the Warring Kingdoms period, covers the Iron Age period from about 475 BC to the reunification of China under the Qin Dynasty in 221 BC...
and the powerlessness of the Zhou DynastyZhou DynastyThe Zhou Dynasty was a Chinese dynasty that followed the Shang Dynasty and preceded the Qin Dynasty. Although the Zhou Dynasty lasted longer than any other dynasty in Chinese history, the actual political and military control of China by the Ji family lasted only until 771 BC, a period known as...
.