24th century BC

Millennium:	3rd millennium BC
Centuries:	25th century BC 24th century BC 23rd century BC
Decades:	2390s BC 2380s BC 2370s BC 2360s BC 2350s BC 2340s BC 2330s BC 2320s BC 2310s BC 2300s BC
Categories:	Births – Deaths Establishments – Disestablishments

The 24th century BC is a century which lasted from the year 2400 BC to 2301 BC.

Events

Extent and major sites of the Indus Valley Civilization.

• c. 2900 BC – 2334 BC: Mesopotamian wars of the Early Dynastic period continue.
• c. 2360 BC: Hekla-4 eruption.
• c. 2400 BC: 2000 BC- large painted jar with birds in the border made in the Indus River Valley civilization and is now at the Boston Art Museum
• c. 2350 BC: End of the Early Dynastic III period in Mesopotamia.
• c. 2350 BC: First destruction of the city of Mari.
• c. 2345 BC: End of Fifth Dynasty. Pharaoh Unas died.
• c. 2345 BC: Sixth Dynasty of Egypt starts (other date is 2460 BC).
• c. 2340 BC – 2180 BC: Akkadian Empire.
• c. 2334 BC – 2279 BC: Semitic chieftain Sargon of Akkad's conquest of Sumer and Mesopotamia.
• City of Lothal founded under the Indus Valley Civilization.

Significant persons

• Urukagina
• c. 2332 BC—Sargon of Akkad starts to rule
• Enheduanna, daughter of Sargon, priestess and the first author known by name
• Ptahhotep, ancient Egyptian Vizier, author of The Maxims of Ptahhotep

Inventions, discoveries and introductions

• The first official mentioning of beekeeping in Egypt
• The first documented use of an organized courier service for the diffusion of written documents in Egypt

In popular culture

In modern Korean national mythology, the character Dangun, whose mother was originally a bear, founded the state Gojoseon in 2333 BC and ruled it for about 2000 years. Some Koreans think of it as the earliest Korean state and of Dangun as the ancestor of Koreans, and from 1948 until December 1961, the Republic of Korea officially reckoned years by adding 2333 to the Common Era year. The year 2333 BC and the related myth are sometimes presented matter-of-factly as history rather than mythology in Korea.