Year 400 ( Roman numerals) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Stilicho and Aurelianus (or, less frequently, year 1153 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 400 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Events
By place
Roman Empire
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January 9 – Emperor Arcadius gives his wife Aelia Eudoxia the official title of Augusta. She is able to wear the purple paludamentum and is depicted in Roman currency.
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Anthemius, praetorian prefect of the East, is sent on an embassy to the Sassanid Empire capital, Ctesiphon, to congratulate King Yazdegerd I on his accession the year before.
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A riot breaks out in Constantinople; the Great Palace is burned to the ground. Gainas, a Gothic leader, attempts to evacuate his soldiers out of the city, but 7,000 armed Goths are trapped and killed by order of Arcadius. After the massacre, Gainas tries to escape across the Dardanelles, but his rag-tag ad hoc fleet is destroyed by Fravitta, a Gothic chieftain in imperial service.
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Winter – Gainas leads the remaining Goths back to their homeland across the Danube. They meet the Huns and are defeated; the Hunnic chieftain Uldin sends the head of Gainas to Constantinople, where Arcadius receives it as a diplomatic gift.
Europe
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The Paeonians (Illyricum) lose their identity (approximate date).
Asia
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Richū, the eldest son of Emperor Nintoku, becomes the 17th Emperor of Japan.
By topic
Art
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Resurrection and Empty tomb, panel of a diptych, found in Rome, is made. It is now kept at Castello Sforzesco, Milan (approximate date).
Literature
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The Vergilius Vaticanus, an illuminated manuscript containing fragments of Virgil's Aeneid and Georgics, is made in Rome.
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The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are composed.
Medicine
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Caelius Aurelianus, Roman physician, is practising his work "De morbis acutis et chronicis" ( Concerning Acute and Chronic Illness), a guide to acute and chronic diseases.
Physics
Religion
Births
Deaths
