- 401 BC
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Events
By place
Persian empire
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Cyrus the Younger uses a quarrel withTissaphernes over theIonia n cities as a pretext for gathering a large army and also pretends to prepare an expedition toPisidia , in theTaurus Mountains . Cyrus starts out with about 20,000 men, of whom around 10,000 are Greekmercenaries . When he reaches theEuphrates River atThapsacus , he announces that he is marching againstArtaxerxes II . He advances unopposed intoBabylonia ; but Artaxerxes, warned at the last moment by Tissaphernes, hastily gathers an army. The two forces meet in theBattle of Cunaxa , north of Babylon, where Cyrus is slain.Greece
* The Greek mercenaries fighting for Cyrus are left stranded after Cyrus' defeat. They fight their way north through hostile Persians, Armenians, and Kurds to Trapezus on the coast of the Black Sea under
Xenophon , who becomes their leader when the Persiansatrap , Tissaphernes hasClearchus of Sparta and the other senior Greek captains captured and executed by Artaxerxes.
*Agesilaus II becomes king ofSparta on the death of his stepbrotherAgis II .China
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Zhou an wang becomes King of theZhou Dynasty ofChina .By topic
Literature
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Sophocles ' greatest tragic play "Oedipus at Colonus " is performed posthumously. It is produced by his grandson (also called Sophocles) at the Festival ofDionysus inAthens .Births
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Deaths
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Agis II ,Eurypontid king ofSparta
* Clearchus,Sparta n general andmercenary
*Cyrus the Younger , younger son of Darius II, King of Persia
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