400 AD world map

Border history

The interactive map lets you inspect named territories in 400 AD and compare them to earlier or later snapshots on the timeline.

Biographical context

This page highlights figures close to 400 AD so readers can move from geography to biography without leaving the Historiqly ecosystem.

Era-based reading

The related chronicles below surface long-form reading connected to the classical period.

376 AD – 476 AD

Fall of the Western Roman Empire

Western Roman Empire vs Various Germanic tribes vs Huns

A century of invasions, civil wars, and collapse — from the Gothic crossing of the Danube to the deposition of the last Western emperor in 476 AD.

Key battles: Adrianople (378); Sack of Rome (410)

370 AD – 454 AD

Hunnic Invasions of Europe

Hunnic Empire (Attila) vs Roman Empire & Germanic kingdoms

The Huns burst out of the Central Asian steppes, triggering the great migrations that would destroy the Western Roman Empire. Under Attila, the 'Scourge of God', the Hunnic Empire terrorised both halves of the Roman world before collapsing after his death.

Key battles: Battle of the Catalaunian Plains (451); Invasion of Italy (452)

304 AD – 439 AD

Wars of the Sixteen Kingdoms

Various Chinese and nomadic states (Former Zhao, Later Zhao, Former Qin, etc.)

After the fall of the Western Jin Dynasty, northern China fractured into a chaotic succession of short-lived kingdoms founded by both Chinese and nomadic rulers. Over a century of devastating warfare depopulated the north and drove mass migration southward.

Key battles: Battle of Fei River (383 AD); Sack of Luoyang (311 AD)

270 AD – 525 AD

Aksumite–Himyarite Wars

Kingdom of Aksum vs Kingdom of Himyar

The powerful East African kingdom of Aksum fought the Himyarite kingdom across the Red Sea for control of trade routes. The wars culminated in Aksum's 525 AD invasion of Himyar after the Jewish Himyarite king Dhu Nuwas persecuted Christians.

Key battles: Aksumite invasion of Yemen (c. 270 AD); Final invasion under Kaleb (525 AD)

200 BC – 500 AD

Monte Albán Zapotec Conquest State

Monte Albán (Zapotec state) vs Cuicatlán Cañada polities vs Mixtec highland groups vs Valley of Oaxaca rivals

From its hilltop capital above the Valley of Oaxaca, the Zapotec state at Monte Albán expanded by military conquest, commemorating subjugated places on the Building J 'conquest slabs' and extending control into the Cuicatlán Cañada.

Key battles: Conquest of the Cuicatlán Cañada (c. 200 BCE); Construction of Building J conquest slabs (c. 100 BCE)

400 BC – 900 AD

Maya City-State Wars

Tikal vs Calakmul vs Caracol vs Dos Pilas vs Palenque vs Copán vs other Maya polities

Over a millennium of warfare among rival Classic Maya polities, dominated by the Tikal–Calakmul superpower rivalry and a web of proxy conflicts that shaped Classic Maya civilization.

Key battles: Caracol sack of Tikal (562 CE); Dos Pilas campaigns against Tikal (648–761 CE)

South India

Nagarjuna

c. 150 CE – c. 250 CE

“Whatever is dependently arisen, that is explained to be emptiness.”

Founder of Madhyamaka Buddhism, philosopher of emptiness and dependent arising

Rome

Marcus Aurelius

121 AD – 180 AD

“Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.”

Roman Emperor, Stoic philosopher, author of the Meditations, last of the Five Good Emperors

Yavneh / Rome

Rabban Gamliel

c. 50 AD – c. 118 AD

“Anyone who has not explained these three things on Passover has not fulfilled his obligation: Pesach, Matzah, and Maror.”

First Nasi of the Sanhedrin after the destruction of the Second Temple, leader of the Yavneh academy, architect of the Passover Haggadah, the Birkat HaMinim, and the standardisation of Jewish prayer

Jerusalem / Yavne

Yochanan ben Zakkai

c. 30 BC – c. 90 AD

“If you are holding a sapling in your hand and someone tells you the Messiah has come, first plant the sapling and then go greet the Messiah.”

Escaping besieged Jerusalem in a coffin, negotiating with Vespasian, founding the academy at Yavne, transforming Judaism from a Temple-based religion into a portable faith that could survive two thousand years of exile

Roman Judea

Jesus Christ

c. 4 BC – c. 30 AD

“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

Founder of Christianity, itinerant preacher, teacher of radical love and forgiveness whose life and death reshaped the moral foundations of Western civilisation

Rome

Augustus Caesar

63 BC – 14 AD

“I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble.”

First Roman Emperor, founder of the Principate, Pax Romana, transformation of Rome from republic to empire

Built 400 AD · Asia

Mỹ Sơn Sanctuary

Cluster of Hindu temple ruins built by the Champa Kingdom in a jungle valley in central Vietnam

Built 400 AD · Asia

Pashupatinath Temple

The holiest Shiva temple in Nepal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the banks of the Bagmati River with sacred cremation ghats

Built 366 AD · Asia

Mogao Caves

UNESCO complex of 492 Buddhist cave temples near Dunhuang containing a thousand years of murals and sculptures along the ancient Silk Road

Built 335 AD · Asia

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Church built at the site of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection

Built 330 AD · Europe

Constantinople

Gateway between Europe and Asia, hub of East-West trade

Built 326 AD · Asia

Church of the Nativity

One of the oldest continuously operating churches, built over the traditional birthplace of Jesus in Bethlehem by Emperor Constantine

South India · Philosopher

Nāgārjuna

The Philosopher of Emptiness

The Buddhist philosopher who proved that emptiness is not void but the very condition of all existence — founder of the Madhyamaka school, dialectician of dependent arising, and the most influential Buddhist thinker after the Buddha himself.

Rome · Philosopher

Marcus Aurelius

The Philosopher on the Throne

The emperor who never wanted the throne — Stoic philosopher, frontier warrior, and the last ruler of Rome's golden age. A first-person ePub told in Marcus Aurelius's own voice.

Yavneh / Rome · Leader

Rabban Gamliel

The Man Who Rebuilt Judaism from the Ashes

The Nasi who inherited a shattered nation after the destruction of the Second Temple and rebuilt Judaism from a coastal village — standardising prayer, codifying the Haggadah, and holding together a fractured people through sheer force of authority.

Jerusalem / Yavne · Philosopher

Yochanan ben Zakkai

The Sage Who Saved a Civilisation

The Pharisee sage who escaped besieged Jerusalem in a coffin, predicted Vespasian would become emperor, and founded the academy at Yavne that preserved Judaism after the Temple’s destruction — told in his own words.