300 BC

Events in 300 BC 7

• 14000 BC – 300 BC Jomon period World's earliest pottery — hunter-gatherers of the islands The Jomon period is named for the cord-marked (jomon) pottery its people produced — among the oldest pottery in the world. These were sophisticated hunter-gatherers, fishers and foragers who lived a largely sedentary life in the Japanese archipelago for over ten thousand years, long before agriculture arrived.
• 580 BC – 300 BC Etruscans: Archaic & Classical Period The Archaic and Classical periods (c.580-300 BC) represent the zenith of Etruscan civilization: the era of the great tomb paintings, the finest bronze sculpture, the flourishing city-states at their maximum territorial and cultural reach, and the deepest influence on Rome. This is the period of the Apollo of Veii, the Sarcophagus of the Spouses, the Tomb of the Leopards and the extraordinary artistic production of Caere, Tarquinia, Vulci and Veii. It is also the period of the twin reverses at Cumae (474 BC) and on the Allia (390 BC) that begin the long Etruscan decline -- even as individual cities continue to produce art of extraordinary quality.
• 300 BC – 1279 Chola dynasty (South India) A great maritime and temple-building power The Cholas of the Tamil south were one of the longest-ruling dynasties in history, rising from the Sangam age to a medieval maritime empire that projected naval power across the Bay of Bengal to Southeast Asia. They built magnificent temples such as the Brihadeeswarar at Thanjavur and patronised bronze sculpture and Tamil literature.
• 300 BC – 50 Etruscans: Hellenistic Period & Roman Absorption The Hellenistic and Roman absorption period (c.300-50 BC) is the final chapter of Etruscan civilization -- a long, complex process in which the Etruscan city-states lose political independence to Rome one by one through conquest, alliance and eventual citizenship, while Etruscan culture continues to produce works of extraordinary quality and to shape Roman civilization profoundly. The great Hellenistic period tombs -- the Tomb of the Reliefs at Caere, the Golini Tomb at Volsinii, the François Tomb at Vulci -- are among the finest in the Etruscan tradition. The bronze Arringatore (Orator), the terracotta Sarcophagus of Laris Pulenas, and the continued production of engraved bronze mirrors demonstrate a civilization absorbing its conqueror's culture while transmitting its own.
• 300 BC Euclid — Elements of Geometry The foundation of mathematics for 2,000 years Around 300 BC, Euclid of Alexandria wrote the Elements, a thirteen-volume treatise that systematised all known geometry into a rigorous axiomatic framework. Starting from just five postulates, he derived hundreds of theorems. The Elements became the most widely used mathematics textbook in history, used in schools until the 20th century, and established the model of deductive proof that underlies all mathematics.
• 300 BC The earliest known Maya writing San Bartolo, Guatemala A painted glyph block found on a wall fragment at San Bartolo pushed the origin of Maya script back several centuries. It cannot yet be read.
• 300 BC – 300 Yayoi period Rice farming, bronze and iron arrive from the mainland The Yayoi period brought wet-rice cultivation, bronze and iron metallurgy, and the potter's wheel to Japan from Korea and China. These innovations drove population growth and the emergence of stratified society and local chieftaincies — the foundations of the Japanese state.