View source for 424 BC

=== By place ===

==== Persian empire ====
* [[Xerxes II]] rules as King of [[Achaemenid Empire|Persia]] for only about 45 days until he is killed. He is reportedly murdered, while drunk, by Pharnacyas and Menostanes on the orders of [[Sogdianus]], the son of one of [[Artaxerxes I]]'s concubines, Alogyne of [[Babylon]].

==== Greece ====
* At the [[Congress of Gela]], the statesman [[Hermocrates]] of Syracuse persuades the cities of [[Sicily]] to agree to make peace and urges the exclusion of foreign powers. As a result, the three-year war between his city and Sicily's pro-Athenian town ends and the [[Athens|Athenian]] forces, which had been sent to Sicily to support Greek settlements, are forced to withdraw.
* [[Demosthenes (general)|Demosthenes]] and [[Hippocrates of Athens|Hippocrates]] attempt to capture [[Megara]], but they are defeated by the [[Sparta]]ns under their general [[Brasidas]]. Demosthenes then marches to [[Naupactus]] to assist in a democratic revolution, and to gather troops for an invasion of [[Boeotia]]. However, Demosthenes and Hippocrates are unable to coordinate their attacks and Hippocrates is defeated at the [[Battle of Delium]] by [[Pagondas]] of [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]]. During the battle, [[Socrates]] is said to have saved the life of [[Alcibiades]]. Demosthenes attacks [[Sicyon]] and is defeated as well.
* After he frustrates the Athenian attack on Megara, Brasidas marches through Boeotia and [[Thessaly]] to [[Chalcidice]] at the head of 700 [[helots]] and 1000 Peloponnesian mercenaries to join the Macedonian king [[Perdiccas II]]. Refusing to be made a tool for the furtherance of Perdiccas' ambitions, Brasidas wins over the important cities of [[Acanthus (Greece)|Acanthus]], [[Stagirus]], [[Amphipolis]], and [[Torone]] as well as several minor towns. An attack on [[Eion]] is foiled by the arrival of [[Thucydides]] at the head of an Athenian squadron.
* Brasidas' capture of the city of Amphipolis is a major reverse for [[Athens]], for which the Athenian general (and future historian) Thucydides is held responsible and banished. This gives Thucydides the opportunity for undistracted study for his ''[[History of the Peloponnesian War|History]]'' and travel and wider contacts, especially on the Peloponnesian side ([[Sparta]] and its allies).
* [[Nicias]] captures the Peloponnesian island of [[Kythira|Cythera]], from which to harry the Spartans.
* [[Aristophanes]] produces the comedy, ''Knights''<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Aristophanes | access-date=February 24, 2024 | title=Aristophanes | series=Encyclopædia Britannica | date=January 19, 2024 | first1=Maurice | last1=Platnauer | first2=Oliver | last2=Taplin}}</ref>