Chanakya was born in 375 BCE in Taxila. An ancient Indian teacher, scholar and royal adviser, Chanakya, also known as Kautilya, is traditionally said to have helped Chandragupta Maurya overthrow the Nanda dynasty and found the Mauryan Empire around 321 BCE. He is credited with the Arthashastra, a treatise on statecraft, economics, law, diplomacy, war and espionage, which is among the most important works of ancient Indian political thought. Scholars debate how much of the text he wrote himself, and it seems to have taken its final form over several centuries. The dates given for his life are traditional approximations, and his story is known mainly from later legend.
Before and after
- 384 BCEBirth of Aristotle
- from 380 BCE to 343 BCEThirtieth Dynasty of Egypt
- c. 375 BCEWriting of The Republic
- c. 375 BCEWriting of the Allegory of the Cave
- 375 BCEBirth of Chanakya
- 370 BCEDeath of Hippocrates
- 20 July 356 BCEBirth of Alexander the Great
- 4th century BCEOrigins of Servian Wall
- from 351 BCE to 1494Construction of Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
More in Art, literature & culture
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- c. 750s BCEThe Homeric epics are composed
- from 448 BCE to 433 BCEConstruction of the Parthenon begins
- 196 BCERosetta Stone
- 42 CEOrigins of Coptic Orthodox Church
The era
This moment belongs to the Ancient civilizations (3,200 BCE to 500 CE), writing, cities and empires. You can also browse everything in the 4th century BCE.