Agesilaus, Eurypontid king of Sparta, had twice rescued Sparta from attacks by the Theban leader Epaminondas but had taken no part in the subsequent Battle of Mantineia.

Agesilaus, commanding a body of Greek mercenaries in 361, is abroad serving Tachos, or Teos (also known as Zedhor), second king of the native Thirtieth Dynasty of Egypt.

Tachos, however, insists on leading the Egyptian army himself, and Agesilaus, after quarreling with his ally, supports a military revolt in Egypt that places the young pretender Nectanebo II on the throne.

A rival pretender almost succeeds in overthrowing the new king, but Agesilaus defeats him and leaves Nectanebo firmly established as ruler. (Tachos flees to the protection of Artaxerxes II in Persia, where he will die an exile.)

The death of Epaminondas in 362 BCE has freed Athens from fear of Thebes, but it appears at the same time to have exposed it to further aggression from Alexander of Pherae, who makes a piratical raid on Tinos and other cities of the Cyclades, plundering them, and enslaving the inhabitants.

Alexander also besieges Peparethus, and "even landed troops in Attica itself, and seized the port of Panormus, a little eastward of Sounion."

The Athenian admiral Leosthenes defeats Alexander and manages to relieve Peparethus, but …

Alexander escapes from being blockaded in Panormus, takes several Attic triremes, and plunders the Piraeus.

Plato returns to Syracuse in 361 BCE, but his visit with Dionysius proves even more disastrous than the first, and he returns to the Academy the following year.

Xenocrates, a student of Plato’s, may have accompanied him in the latter's political adventures in Sicily.

Agesilaus dies at age eighty-four on his way home to Greece in 360 BCE; his son, who had shown great courage in the defense of Sparta against Epaminondas, succeeds him as Archidamus II.

Athens, which has installed garrisons and cleruchies and has even levied tribute under the euphemistic name of “contributions” despite the charter of 377 BCE, fails even to respect its most basic political guarantees: …

…the Athenian commander Chares actually helps an oligarchy to power on Corcyra at the end of the 360s.

Perdiccas tries to reconquer upper Macedonia from the Illyrian Bardylis in 360 BCE, but the expedition ends in disaster, with the king killed in a catastrophic battle.

Philip, originally appointed regent for his infant nephew Amyntas IV, the son of Perdiccas, soon manages to take the kingdom for himself, ascending the throne in 359 as Philip II.

The Illyrians continue to raid from the northwest, the Paeonians from the north, and foreign powers continues to support two claimants to the throne other than Philip, a man of exceptional energy, diplomatic skill, and ruthlessness.

Philip's military skills and expansionist vision of Macedonian greatness bring him early success.

He first has to reestablish a situation which had been greatly worsened by the defeat against the Illyrians, Macedon's permanent enemies.

The Illyrians prepare to close in; the Paeonians, forced northward by the growth of Macedon, are raiding from the north, the Thracians have sacked and invaded the eastern regions of the country, while the Athenians have landed at Methoni on the coast, a contingent under a Macedonian pretender called Argeus.

Using diplomacy, Philip pushes back the Paeonians and Thracians promising tributes, and crushes the three thousand Athenian hoplites.

Bardyllis is killed in battle after Philip rejects his offer of peace based on retaining conquered lands.

Momentarily free from his opponents, Philip concentrates on strengthening his internal position and, above all, his army, introducing more rigorous training and employing mercenaries.

His most important innovation is doubtless the introduction of the phalanx infantry corps, armed with the famous sarissa, an exceedingly long spear, at this time the most important army corps in Macedonia.

This enables him to inflict defeats on the Illyrians and other northern enemies such as Paeonia, which he invades in 358.

The Persians have managed in the waning years of Artaxerxes II to defeat a joint Egyptian–Spartan effort to conquer Phoenicia.

Artaxerxes spends much of his wealth on building projects.

He has restored the palace of Darius I at Susa, and also the fortifications; including a strong redoubt at the southeast corner of the enclosure and given Ecbatana a new apadana and sculptures.

In inscriptions at Susa and Persepolis, Artaxerxes invokes the aid of the gods Mithra and Anahite, as well as of Ahura Mazda: an indication of a new development in the Persian religion of Zoroastrianism.

He is reported to have had a number of wives.

His main wife was Stateira, until she was poisoned by Artaxerxes' mother Parysatis in about 400 BCE.

He has also married several of his own daughters.

Another chief wife is a Greek woman of Phocaea named Aspasia (not the same as the concubine of Pericles).

Artaxerxes II is said to have more than one hundred and fifteen sons from three hundred and fifty wives.

Ochus, a son of Artaxerxes, satrap and commander of his father's army, attacks Egypt in 359 BCE as a reaction to Egypt's failed attacks on coastal regions of Phoenicia.

Artaxerxes dies in the following year at the age of 86, apparently because of a broken heart caused by his children's behavior.

Since his other sons, Darius, Ariaspes and Tiribazus had already been eliminated by plots, Ochus succeeds him as emperor.

As Artaxerxes III, his first order is the execution of over eighty of his nearest relations to secure his place as emperor.

He quickly restores royal authority over the satrapies of the west.

The insurrection (362–359), which had severely shaken Persian rule in Anatolia), results in a considerable measure of subsequent local autonomy for the Greek cities of Ionia.