Olynthus, a Greek city on the Khalkidhikí (Chalcidice) Peninsula has become, as the leader of the Chalcidian (or Chalcidic) League, the center of Greek resistance to the power of Athens and Sparta by the fourth century BCE.

Founded by Olynthus as a league with complete equality and identical citizenship, commerce, and marriage laws among the member states, it includes almost all the cities on the Macedonian coast by 382 BCE, by which time the league's power has aroused the hostility of Sparta.

Grown populous and powerful since its synoecism in 432 at the instance of Perdiccas II of Macedon, the city has survived the military reorganization of Macedon by …

…Acanthus and …

…Apollonia, which are resisting forcible incorporation, in an appeal to Sparta against Olynthus.

Sparta responds to the invitation, surely welcome in view of its previous involvement in northern and central Greek, to interfere against the rising power of Olynthus.

The Spartans send Phoebidas north, but in a momentous development, …

…the general is invited into Thebes en route by a small pro-Spartan faction here.

Without reference (naturally) to the authorities at home, Phoebidas aids them in a sudden coup and installs a garrison on the Cadmeia, the Theban acropolis, in 382.

Thracian society is tribal in structure, with little inclination toward political cohesion.

In what is to become a persistent phenomenon in Balkan history, unity is brought about mostly by external pressure.

The Persian invasions of the sixth and fifth centuries BCE have brought the Thracian tribes together in the Odrysian kingdom, in which members of the Odrysae tribe briefly unify their fellow Thracians into an empire.

The Middle East: 381–370 BCE

Evagoras’ Final Struggle and Persian Reassertion

The conflict between Evagoras of Salamis and the Persian Empire under Artaxerxes II continues, turning decisively against Evagoras in 381 BCE. At the critical Battle of Citium, Evagoras' fleet suffers a devastating defeat, forcing him to retreat to Salamis, where he is effectively besieged by Persian forces. Despite these setbacks, Evagoras exploits internal Persian discord, notably disagreements between Persian generals, to negotiate peace terms in 376 BCE. Under this settlement, Evagoras retains nominal kingship over Salamis but is compelled to acknowledge Persian sovereignty and pay annual tribute, effectively becoming a Persian vassal.

Celebrated in contemporary Greek literature, notably Isocrates’ panegyric, Evagoras is portrayed as an exemplary ruler committed to fostering Greek culture and civilization within Cyprus. His reign sees the adoption of the Greek alphabet in place of the traditional Cypriot syllabary, marking a significant cultural shift that integrates Cyprus more firmly into the Greek cultural sphere.

Despite his achievements, Evagoras meets an untimely end when he is assassinated in 374 BCE by a eunuch motivated by personal vengeance. He is succeeded by his likely son, Nicocles, who continues the delicate balance of nominal independence under Persian oversight.

A rebellion of several satraps in the Achaemenid Empire against the authority of the Great King Artaxerxes II Mnemon begins in 372 BCE.

Evagoras of Salamis, according to Isocrates's panegyric, is a model ruler, whose aim is to promote the welfare of his state and of his subjects by the cultivation of Greek refinement and civilization.

Isocrates also states that many people migrated from Greece to Cyprus because of the noble rule of Evagoras.

Other sources of this period—Diodorus Siculus 14.115, 15.2-9; Xenophon, Hellenica 4.8—are not as unrestrainedly complimentary.

Evagoras has been called a pioneer of the adoption of the Greek alphabet in Cyprus in place of the older Cypriot syllabary.

Although Cypriots are Greeks and their language a dialect of Greek, the Arcadocypriot, they formerly wrote in an older and more difficult system, called Cypriot syllabary.

The war between Evagoras and Artaxerxes turns in the Persian favor in 381 BCE, when Evagoras' fleet is destroyed at the Battle of Citium, and he is compelled to flee to Salamis.

Here, although closely blockaded, Evagoras manages to hold his ground, and takes advantage of a quarrel between the two Persian generals to conclude peace in 376.

Evagoras is allowed to remain nominally king of Salamis, but in reality a vassal of Persia, to which he is to pay a yearly tribute.

The chronology of the last part of his reign is uncertain.

In 374, he is assassinated by a eunuch from motives of private revenge.

He is succeeded by his (probable) son, Nicocles.

A second Buddhist council, convened by King Kalasoka, takes place at Vaishali in about 383 BCE, during which the advocates of certain relaxations in the vinaya rules are condemned.

Traditions regarding the Second Council are confusing and ambiguous, but it is agreed that the overall result was the first schism in the Sangha, between the Sthaviras and the Mahāsāṃghikas, although the cause of the split is not universally agreed upon.

The origins of the Mahāsāṃghika sect of Buddhism are still extremely uncertain, and the subject of debate among scholars.

One reason for the interest in the origins of the Mahāsāṃghika school is that their Vinaya recension appears in several ways to represent an older redaction overall.

Many scholars also look to the Mahāsāṃghika branch for the initial development of Mahāyāna Buddhism.