Timeline of the Romans
Return to home
753BC Apr 21, Rome was founded. The traditional date for founding by Romulus as a refuge for runaway slaves and murderers who captured the neighboring Sabine women for wives. Archeological evidence indicates that the founders of Rome were Italic people who occupied the area south of the Tiber River.
(HFA,'96,p.28)(V.D.-H.K.p.61)(http://eawc.evansville.edu,p.7)(HN,4/21/98)
620BC Ostia was founded by the fourth king of Rome, Ancus Marcius, who was thought to have ruled in the late seventh century BC. It was founded about this time at the mouth of the Tiber River. Nearby salt flats provided a valuable source of salt for preserving meat. Around 400BC it was conquered by Rome and turned into a naval base.
(www.ostia-antica.org/intro.htm)(SSFC, 5/11/08, p.E8)
c600BC The Etruscans, believed to be natives of Asia Minor, established cities that stretched from northern to central Italy. They developed the arch and the vault, gladiatorial combat for entertainment, and the study of animals to predict future events.
(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.8)
c600BC The Greeks established city-states along the southern coast of Italy and the island of Sicily. They contributed letters to the Roman alphabet, religious concepts and artistic talent as well as mythology.
(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.8)
600-500BC Rome by this time was the dominant power in its surrounding area. The conservative government consisted of a kingship, that resembled the traditional values of the patriarchal family; an assembly, composed of male citizens of military age; and a Senate, comprised of elders who served as the heads of different community sects. The Palatine is one of the seven hills of Rome
(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.7)(SFC,12/26/97, p.C22)
509BC The Romans overthrew King Lucius Tarquinius and established a republic with rule by the senate and the people of Rome (SPQR - Senatus Populusque Romanus).
(V.D.-H.K.p.61)(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.10)(Econ, 11/6/04, p.85)
509BC The Fall of the Tarquin dynasty in Rome marked the beginning of Etruscan Decline.
(NG, 6/1988, p.711)
500-400BC The Capitoline Wolf, a bronze she-wolf sculpture, was made. It was unknown whether the sculpture was Etruscan, Roman or from Magna Graecia.
(AM, Jul/Aug ‘97 p.19)
494BC In Rome the first victory of the plebeian class over the patricians resulted in an agreement between the two classes to allow the plebeians to elect officers, and tribunes with the power to veto any unlawful acts of the magistrates.
(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.10)
474BC In 2018 Italian authorities unveiled the "epochal" discovery of hundreds of Roman-era gold coins, dating from this time, that were found during excavations to build a new apartment building in the northern city of Como.
(AP, 9/10/18)
458BC Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus (520BC-430BC) was appointed dictator for six months. He was called from retirement to confront the Aequi, who had trapped a Roman army.
(Econ, 3/10/12, p.66)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnatus)
450BC Roman law was codified in the twelve tablets. The law allowed the plebeians to have knowledge of their relationship to the law. The plebeians were primarily farmers, craftsmen and tradesmen with foreign backgrounds. The patricians made up the aristocracy.
(V.D.-H.K.p.67)(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.11)
c400BC In a wave of Celtic expansion tribes poured through the Alps into Italy.
(NGM, 5/77)
396BC Sacking of Veio (Etruscan city), after a ten-year siege, ended the city’s long conflict with Rome. (NG, 6/1988, p.711)
387BC Rampaging bands of Celts captured Rome and then settled down to a life of agriculture in the Po Valley.
(NGM, 5/77)
367BC In Rome the first plebeian consul was elected to the assembly. The Plebeians also became eligible to serve as lesser magistrates, formerly a position reserved for the aristocratic class. Because an ancient custom allowed promotion from the magistracy to the Senate, the patrician-dominated Senate was broken.
(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.12)
312BC Appius Claudius, the Blind, as consul began the building of the Via Appia. The historian Procopius states that the road was completed at this time. It ran due south from Rome to Capua. (V.D.-H.K.p.69)(SFC, 6/3/96, p.E5)
304BC Cnieus Flavius, a commoner, brought justice to Rome by stealing a calendar. He posted his purloined tablet in the Roman Forum. The letters A-H corresponded to an 8-day Roman market-day cycle.
(SFEC, 9/27/98, BR p.5)
c300-200BC Andronicus Livius, a Roman actor of the 3rd cent. BCE improvised silently and originated pantomime.
(SFC,12/27/97, p.C3)
295BC The Battle of Sentinum. Etruria was defeated by Rome and the Etruscan decline continued for more than 200 years. (NG, 6/1988, p.739)
287BC In Rome the plebeians passed a law that allowed the decisions of the assembly to override the Senate.
(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.14)
280BC The army of King Pyrrhus of Epirus, a Greek state, suffered irreplaceable casualties in defeating the Romans at Heraclea during the Pyrrhic War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhic_victory)
279BC The army of King Pyrrhus of Epirus, a Greek state, suffered irreplaceable casualties in defeating the Romans at Asculum during the Pyrrhic War. The phrase Pyrrhic victory came to signify a victory gained at a devastating cost.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhic_victory)
269BC The Roman system of coinage was established.
(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.14)
265BC Rome completed its domination of the entire Italian peninsula and began its pursuit of a larger empire that resulted in a series of wars with other nations.
(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.14)
264BC Rome initiated the Punic Wars with Carthage, an oligarchic empire that stretched from the northern coast of Africa to the Strait of Gibraltar. The primary cause was the Carthaginian expansion into the Greek cities of Sicily. Carthage was forced to surrender its control over the western region of Sicily and this marked the end of the first Punic War. The three Punic Wars: 264-241 BCE, 218-202 BCE, 149-146 BCE, also known as the Carthaginian Wars, finally resulted in the destruction of Carthage and Roman control of the western Mediterranean.
(eawc, p.14)(HNQ, 6/4/02)
262BC War broke out between Carthage and Rome. Three long wars lasted till 146BCE when Carthage was destroyed by Rome.
(Enc. of Africa, 1976, p.167-8)
261BC Rome captured a Punic quinquereme. In two months they copied it plank by plank and built 100 like it and eventually the Roman fleet was able to defeat the Carthaginians.
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.178)
256BC The Carthaginian city of Kerouane was sacked by the Romans.
(NG, 8/04, p.48)
250-150BC Punic wars between Rome and Carthage.
(V.D.-H.K.p.63)
241BC Mar 10, The Battle of Aegusa in which the Roman fleet sank 50 Carthaginian ships occurred.
(HN, 3/10/98)
241BC The Romans incorporated Sicily as a province.
(AM, 11/00, p.12)
240BC The Ludi Romani annual festival allowed a Greek play to be staged in Latin translation by Livius Andronicus.
(Econ, 2/6/15, p.76)
239-169BC Ennius, Roman poet: "A friend in need is a friend indeed."
(SSFC, 5/18/03, Par p.26)(WUD, 1994, p.474)
238 BC The Romans occupied Sardinia.
(SFEC, 1/30/00, p.T4)
238BC-227AD The Parthians (238 B.C.-A.D. 227) ruled the Persian Empire despite attempts by the Roman Republic (133-27 B.C.), the Roman Empire (27 B.C.-A.D. 476) to conquer it. During the centuries-long struggle, border towns and provinces in the Near East passed back and forth like Alsace-Lorraine or the Polish Corridor would in nineteenth-and twentieth-century Europe. Rarely in the history of human conflict has a feud such as the one between the empires of Rome and Persia lasted so long and accomplished so little.
(HNQ, 12/22/00)
234-149 BC Cato, Roman statesman and historian: "If you are ruled by mind, you are a king; if by body, a slave."
(AP, 1/11/99)
233BC General Quintus Fabius Maximus led a Roman victory against the Ligurian tribes northwest of Italy.
(ON, 9/05, p.6)
225BC Polybius, a Greek historian, described the naked gaesatae, Celtic spearmen, at the Battle of Telamon, northwest of Rome where the Romans defeated the Celts.
(NGM, 5/77)
222-196BC The Romans showed up at the site of Milan and subdued the Gauls after 26 years of butchery. Mittaland was Latinized to Medioland, i.e. middle of the plain, and later transformed to Milano.
(SFEC, 7/13/97, p.T12)
218BC The Romans renewed their efforts against Carthage as Carthage expanded into Spain. This 2nd Punic War lasted 16 years at the of which Carthage was forced to surrender al of its territory to Rome except for its capital city in North Africa.
(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.15)
218BC Hannibal crossed Portugal on his way to storm Rome.
(SSFC, 9/29/02, p.C11)
218-201BC Numidia, ancient Roman name for part of northern Africa roughly equivalent to modern Algeria. In the Second Punic War (218-201 BCE) between Carthage and Rome, western Numidia supported Carthage. King Masinissa of eastern Numidia joined the Romans. With the victory of Rome, Masinissa controlled all Numidia.
(WWW, Encarta, 12/19/98)
217BC Jun 21, Carthaginian forces led by Hannibal destroyed a Roman army under consul Gaius Flaminicy in a battle at Lake Trasimenus in central Italy. Hannibal of Carthage attacked Roman Consul Flaminio at Tuoro on Lake Trasimeno in Umbria. Hannibal’s army of Numidians, Berbers, Libyans, Gascons, and Iberians was down to one elephant after crossing the Alps with 39. His army of 40,000 drove the Romans into the lake where 15,000 died as opposed to 1,500 of Hannibal’s men. Two nearby towns were named Ossaia (boneyard) and Sanguineto (bloodied).
(SFEM, 10/12/97, p.37)(HN, 6/21/98)
217BC During the Second Punic War Rome appointed Quintus Fabius Maximus as dictator to stave off Hannibal’s Carthaginian army.
(ON, 9/05, p.6)
216 BC Aug 2, Hannibal Barca of Carthage won his greatest victory over the Romans at Cannae. Hannibal seized a grain depot in the small village of Cannae in order to lure the Romans to battle. Having crossed over the Alps, Hannibal‘s forces defeated the Romans at the Trebia River and also at Lake Trasimene. Thereafter, the Romans were unwilling to commit a large force to attacking Hannibal. However, Hannibal‘s spies had learned two Roman consuls shared command of the legions and attempted to goad the more impetuous of the two into battle at Cannae.
(HN, 8/2/98)(HNQ, 11/16/00)
212BC A suspected influenza epidemic struck during Rome’s siege of Syracuse.
(Econ 5/27/17, p.75)
212BC Archimedes (b.287BC), Greek mathematician, died. Legend holds that he was killed by a Roman soldier during an invasion of Syracuse, because he was too busy doing calculations to obey the soldier’s orders.
(SFC, 5/23/05, p.A4)
211BC Roman legions overran the Greek settlement of Morgantina on Sicily.
(SFC, 4/4/98, p.A13)
206BC Rome destroyed Carthaginian forces at the Battle of Metaurus in northern Italy.
(ON, 9/05, p.7)
204BC-202BC Greece and most of Asia Minor came under the control of the Romans after the Roman victory over Carthage in the 2nd Punic War.
(WSJ, 12/26/97, p.A7)(ON, 9/05, p.7)
203BC Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus (b~280), Roman general and dictator, died shortly before Hannibal’s final defeat. He was nicknamed “The Delayer" for wearing down Hannibal’s invading army by avoiding pitched battles. The name Fabian has come to mean “using a cautious strategy of delay and avoidance of battle."
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quintus_Fabius_Maximus_Verrucosus)(ON, 9/05, p.7)(Econ, 7/7/12, p.64)
203BC Hannibal and his army returned home to defend Carthage against Roman forces.
(ON, 9/05, p.7)
202BC Roman forces under Scipio Africanus defeated Hannibal of Carthage on the Plains of Zama in northern Tunisia.
(NG, 8/04, p.44)(www2.cs.uh.edu/~clifton/hannibal.html)
199-150BC Early in the 2nd century BCE the Romans made Macedonia into a province and obliterated the city of Corinth.
(WSJ, 12/26/97, p.A7)
184BC In Rome Cato the Censor (234-149) was elected as one of two censors, i.e. assessors of property and moral conduct. He aimed to preserve Roman ways and tried to extirpate Greek influences.
(V.D.-H.K.p.65)
170BC Lucius Accius, Roman poet, wrote "Has oderint dum metuant" (Let them hate us, so long as they fear us). This became a favorite phrase of Emperor Caligula.
(SFC, 3/16/03, p.D3)
169BC Ennius, considered to be the father of Latin poetry, died.
(Econ, 2/6/15, p.77)
168BC The Greek city of Aigai was destroyed by the Romans.
(AP, 8/29/09)
168BC Illyria and Epirus were conquered by Rome.
(CO, Grolier's Amer. Acad. Enc./ Albania)
167BC Rome presented to Athens the island of Delos, whose prosperous slave and commodities market brought large profits.
(WSJ, 12/26/97, p.A7)
165 BC Romans captured King Gent of Illyria and sent him to Rome. Illyria went under Roman control.
(www, Albania, 1998)
149-146BC Rome and Carthage fought the 3rd Punic War that resulted in the total defeat of Carthage. All inhabitants of Carthage were sold into slavery and the city was burned to the ground. As a result of the Punic wars Rome expanded its empire to cover Spain, North Africa, Greece, Asia Minor and Egypt.
(eawc, p.15)(HNQ, 8/9/00)
146BC Roman forces breached the walls of Carthage. All inhabitants were sold into slavery. The city was burned to the ground and the land was sown with salt.
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.174)(NG, 8/04, p.46)
146-30BC All Hellenistic territory became subject to Rome over this period.
(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.15)
146-30BC Roman civilization as a result of the Punic Wars witnessed a series of cultural conflicts and assassinations.
(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.15)
141BC The Romans incorporated Macedonia as a province.
(AM, 11/00, p.12)
133BC In Rome Tiberius Gracchus was elected as tribune. He and his brother, elected in 123BCE, strove for reforms in the Roman Republic, but failed due to the conservative customs of the upper class and their resistance to change. Marius and Sulla, 2 military leaders, followed the attempts of the Gracchi.
(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.15)
133BC Attalus III of Pergamon bequeathed his kingdom to Rome. It became the province of Asia.
(AM, 11/00, p.12)
123BC In Rome Gaius Gracchus was elected as tribune. [see 133BCE]
(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.15)
123BC The Romans won a victory over the Gauls near a 3,000 foot peak that was named Mt. Sainte-Victoire in commemoration. It established a marker between civilization and barbarism.
(WSJ, 2/13/04, p.A12)
116-27BC Marcus Terentius Varro, a Roman scholar and author.
(AM, 11/00, p.78)(WUD, 1994 p.1581)
106BC Jan 3, Marcus Cicero (d.43BCE), Roman orator, statesman and author, was born. He was elected Consul in 63. He chose to support Pompey over Caesar and was murdered by Mark Antony: "What is more unwise than to mistake uncertainty for certainty, falsehood for truth?"
(V.D.-H.K.p.74)(AP, 4/10/98)(HN, 1/3/99)
106-48BC Pompey, military and political leader of the late Roman Republic. He was a rival to Caesar for Roman power.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompey)
105BC The heart of ancient Numidia lay in the eastern region of what is now Algeria in Northern Africa. The Numidians were originally nomadic horsemen. They were defeated by Roman troops in the Jugurthine War in 105 BC and conquered by Rome in 46 BC. The Vandals and Byzantines ruled successively before Arabs conquered the area in the seventh century AD. Jugurtha was the king of Numidia.
(HNQ, 6/2/98)(SFC, 2/12/02, p.D3)
104BC Rome faced a slave retaliation in Sicily.
(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.15)
c100BC Jul 12, Gaius Julius Caesar (d.44BC), Roman general and statesman, was born.
(WUD, 1994 p.208)(AP, 7/12/97)(HN, 7/12/98)
100-1BC A Roman fortified citadel was built about this time in Moldova. It may have protected a town occupied by a late-era Sarmatian king.
(SFC, 1/28/97, p.A5)
96-81BC The Circus of Domitian was built in Rome. It later became the Piazza Navona.
(SFEC, 7/2/00, p.T5)
89BC Roman general Cornelius Sulla sacked Clusium, the Etruscan capital.
(Econ, 11/6/04, p.85)
80BC Roman Gen. Pompey conquered Domitius Ahenobarbus and King Hiarbus of Numidia. Pompey restored Hiempsal to his throne.
(http://tinyurl.com/98vk3p9)(www.historyofwar.org/articles/people_juba_I_numidia.html)(Econ, 8/4/12, p.53)
80sBC Mithridates, ruler of Pontus in the north of Asia Minor, made war on Rome and overran much of Asia Minor and parts of Greece. The Athenians joined Mithridates and was consequently besieged by the Roman Gen’l. Sulla.
(WSJ, 12/26/97, p.A7)
80BC-70BC The Romans built the Flavian Amphiteatre and named it after the family name of Emperor Vespasian. The Colosseum could seat 50,000 spectators and had underground chambers, dens and passageways, an area known as the hypogeum.
(SFC, 10/15/10, p.A5)
74BC According to Pliny the Roman General Lucullus introduced cherries to Europe. Greeks had cultivated cherries hundreds of years before this.
(SFC, 4/12/03, p.E3)
73BC Rome faced a 2nd slave uprising in Sicily.
(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.15)
71BC Spartacus (b.111BC), Thracian gladiator, died. He along with Crixus, Gannicus, Castus, and Oenomaus, was one of the escaped slave leaders in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprising against the Roman Republic. Little is known about Spartacus beyond the events of the war, and surviving historical accounts are sometimes contradictory and may not always be reliable. However, all sources agree that he was a former gladiator and an accomplished military leader.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spartacus)
70BC Oct 15, Virgil [Vergil] (Publius Vergilius Maro), Roman poet, was born in Mantua. He wrote about the mythical founding of Rome in the Aeneid, which told the legend of Rome‘s founder and was considered a national epic.
(V.D.-H.K.p.60)(HN, 10/15/98)(AMNHDT, 5/98)
69BC Pliny the Elder (23-79CE), a Roman naturalist, recorded that the Roman Gen’l. Lucullus experienced an attack by the Samosatans at this time with a flammable mud called maltha (semisolid petroleum and gases).
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.57)(WUD, 1994, p.1106)
65 BC Dec 8, Quintus "Horace" Horatius Flaccus (d.8 BCE), Roman poet and satirist best known for his three books "Odes," was born.
(HN, 12/8/98)(AP, 11/4/00)
64BC The Greek settlement of Seleucia (in southeastern Turkey) was conquered and ruled by the Roman Empire and with this shift the name of the city was changed into Zeugma, meaning "bridge-passage" or "bridge of boats."
(Arch, 9/02, p.62)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeugma_(city))
63BC Sep 23, Caesar Augustus (63BCE-14CE) was born in Rome. Augustus, first emperor of Rome, ended the era of the Roman Republic and introduced the Pax Romana, the era of peace. Augustus held power but shared administrative tasks with the Senate, consuls, and tribunes who continued to be elected: "Make haste slowly."
(V.D.-H.K.p.63)(AP, 9/23/97)(AP, 11/20/97)(HN, 9/23/98)
63BC Cicero was elected Consul of Rome. During this time he suppressed a conspiracy to murder the entire Senate.
(WSJ, 6/11/02, p.D7)
63BC The Romans conquer the Jews. The Jews appealed to Pompey to settle internal dissention. The Romans intervened and began their occupation of Palestine.
(V.D.-H.K.p.102)(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.15)
63BC Caesar’s troops plundered Terena in Portugal’s Alentejo province.
(SSFC, 9/29/02, p.C11)
55BC Aug 26, Roman forces under Julius Caesar invaded Britain. 80 war galleys with some ten thousand foot soldiers prevailed over the native Britons.
(AP, 8/26/97)(ON, 6/09, p.6)
55BC Lucretius (b.~99BC), a Roman poet and philosopher, died about this time. He had authored “On the Nature of Things" (De Rerum Natura), which laid out in 7,400 lines of Latin verse the radical philosophy of the Greek philosopher Epicurus (341BC-270BC). The work disappeared in the Middle Ages and lay largely forgotten until 1417, when bibliophile Poggio Bracciolini stumbled on the work in a monastery in southern Germany.
(SSFC, 12/18/11, p.F7)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucretius)
55BC Pompey dedicated his theater, the first to be constructed of stone in Rome.
(RFH-MDHP, p.214)
54BC Jul, Roman forces under Julius Caesar invaded Britain for a 2nd time. He was accompanied by Mandubracius, an exiled British chieftain. The expedition of 10,000 foot soldiers and 2,00 cavalry was followed by a number of privately owned vessels commissioned by Roman merchants eager to take advantage of Caesar’s anticipated victory.
(ON, 6/09, p.7)
54BC The Romans under Julius Caesar fought the first skirmishes with the Celts in England. British chieftain Cassivellaunus, who had killed the father of Mandubracius, led a guerilla style war against Caesar’s legions. Caesar’s forces prevailed and Cassivellaunus agreed not to make war against Mandubracius.
(SFEC, 6/22/97, BR p.3)(ON, 6/09, p.7)
54BC-52BC The Gauls rose in revolt against Caesar.
(ON, 6/09, p.7)
54BC The Eburons, A Belgian tribe under the command of their King Ambiorix, won a victory against the Roman Legion.
(http://www.trabel.com/tongeren-history.htm)
54BC Gaius Valerius Catullus (b.~84BC), Roman poet, died about this time. He became famous for his epicurean lifestyle and erotic poems.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catullus)(Econ, 2/23/08, p.103)
53BC Caesar claimed to have wiped out the Celtic Eburones after they conspired with other groups in an attack that killed 6,000 Roman soldiers. The Eburones lived in an area that later came be known as part of Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.
(AP, 11/14/08)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eburones)
53BC The Persians defeated the Romans in the Battle of Carrhae. Some 20,000 Romans under Crassus were killed by the Parthian army and 10,000 were captured. The Parthians then used the Romans as guards on their eastern frontier in what later became Turkestan.
(ATC, p.33)(HC, 9/3/04)(Econ, 12/18/04, p.59)
52BC Pompey dedicated his Temple of Venus Victrix.
(RFH-MDHP, p.214)
c52BC Cicero defended Titus Milo for the murder of Publius Clodius. The setting is the background for the historical detective novel: "A Murder on the Appian Way" by Steven Saylor.
(SFC, 6/3/96, p.E5)
52BC Caesar climaxed his conquest of Gaul at Alesia where he vanquished Celtic forces under Vercingetorix.
(NGM, 5/77)
50BC Virgil first described the Damask Rose.
(TGR, 1995, p.3)
50BC Maastricht, Netherlands, began as a Roman settlement.
(SSFC, 2/20/05, p.F2)
49 BC Jan 11, Julius Caesar led his army across the Rubicon, plunging Rome into civil war. [see Mar 10]
(HN, 1/11/99)
49 BC Jan 12, Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon River signaling a war between Rome and Gaul. [see Jan 11, Mar 10]
(HN, 1/12/99)
49BC Mar 10, Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon and invaded Italy. The event was noted by Suetonius in the phrase: "The die is cast."
(SFEC,12/14/97, BR p.5)(HN, 3/10/98)
49BC Mauretania (now northern Morocco and Algeria) became a client kingdom of Rome.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.22)
48BC Aug 9, Julius Caesar defeated Gnaius Pompey at Pharsalus.
(HN, 8/9/98)
48 BC Sep 28, On landing in Egypt, Pompey was assassinated by Roman advisors of King Ptolemy X!! of Egypt.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompey)
47 BC Aug 2, Caesar defeated Pharnaces at Zela in Syria and declares "veni, vidi, vici," (I came, I saw, I conquered).
(HN, 8/2/98)
47BC Julius Caesar adopted a modified form of the Egyptian Calendar. Together with Sosigenes, an astronomer from Alexandria, the new calendar spreads the last 5-6 days of the Egyptian calendar amongst alternate months. March 1 began the year as a carry over from the old Roman calendar.
(K.I.-365D, p.84)
46BC The Julian calendar was introduced by Julius Caesar (708 AUC). It was a reform of the Roman calendar and took effect January 1, 45 BC (709 AUC).
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_calendar)
46BC The heart of ancient Numidia lay in the eastern region of what is now Algeria in Northern Africa. They were conquered by Rome in 46 BCE. The Vandals and Byzantines ruled successively before Arabs conquered the area in the seventh century CE.
(HNQ, 6/2/98)
45BC Jan 1, The Julian calendar took effect. The year -45 has been called the "year of confusion," because in that year Julius Caesar inserted 90 days to bring the months of the Roman calendar back to their traditional place with respect to the seasons. This was Caesar's first step in replacing a calendar that had gone badly awry.
(http://astro.nmsu.edu/~lhuber/leaphist.html)
45BC Mar, Caesar defeated the least of his rivals and was proclaimed dictator for life.
(ON, 6/09, p.7)
c45BC Colonia Julia Equestris, a Roman veterans’ colony, was founded in what is now Nyon, Switzerland. Nyon is derived from the Celtic name Noviodunum.
(AM, Jul/Aug ‘97 p.10)
44BC Mar 15, Roman Emperor Julius Caesar (b.100BC) was murdered by Brutus, Cassius and other conspirators on the Ides of March. Caesar had defeated Pompey in battle and had Pompey murdered in 48BCE. He was perceived as a big threat to the Roman Aristocracy and so his murder was supported by Cicero and most Romans. In 2006 Adrian Goldsworthy authored “Caesar: Life of a Colossus."
(ATC, p.24)(AP, 3/15/97)(WSJ, 10/24/06, p.D6)
44BC Rome’s great orator Cicero wrote a book for his son Marcus called de Officiis (On Duties). It drew on the works of various Greek philosophers, whose works have been lost, but his remain.
(Econ, 10/11/14, p.51)
44BC Caesar began building a colony at Butrint, Albania. Titus Pomponius Atticus described the area as "the quietest, coolest, most pleasant place in the world."
(Reuters, 6/13/06)
44BC The month of Quintilis was changed to Julius in honor of Julius Caesar. It had been the fifth month in the earliest calendar attributed to Romulus, which began with Martius and had 10 months. After a calendar reform that produced a 12-month year, Quintilis became the seventh month, but retained its name.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quintilis)
44BC A bright comet was declared by the Romans to be the soul of Julius Caesar ascending to join the gods.
(SFC, 3/28/97, p.A12)
43BC Mar 20, Ovid (d.17?18CE), Publius Ovidius Naso, Roman poet, was born. His writings included: "The Art of Love."
(WUD, 1994, p.1032)(SFEC, 12/22/96, Z1 p.2)(HN, 3/20/01)
43 BC Apr 21, Marcus Antonius was defeated by Octavian near Modena, Italy.
(HN, 4/21/99)
43 BC Nov 27, Octavian, Antony and Lepidus formed the triumvirate of Rome.
(HN, 11/27/98)
43BC Dec 7, Cicero (b.106BCE), considered one of the greatest sons of Rome was assassinated on the orders of Marcus Antonius. Cicero, elected Consul in 63, had chosen to support Pompey over Caesar. He translated Greek works that they might be understood by his fellow Romans, and tried to apply Greek ethical thought to Roman business and politics. His last work was "On Duties," where he propounds a common solution to all social problems i.e. "Always do the right thing... that which is legal... that which is honest, open and fair...keeping your word... telling the truth... and treating everyone alike. In 2002 Anthony Everitt authored "Cicero: The Life and Times of Rome’s Greatest Politician," a biography based on his letters. In 2006 Robert Harris authored “Imperium," a novel that covers Cicero’s early courtroom feats.
(V.D.-H.K.p.74)(HN, 12/7/98)(WSJ, 6/11/02, p.D7)(WSJ, 11/10/06, p.W4)
42BC Oct 23, Marcus Junius Brutus, a leading conspirator in the assassination of Julius Caesar, committed suicide after his defeat at the Battle of Philippi. Octavian and Mark Antony defeated Brutus and Cassius at Philippi in Macedonia.
(WUD, 1994, p.1081)(MC, 10/23/01)
42BC Nov 16, Tiberius Claudius Nero (d.37CE, Roman Emperor, was born. Tiberius was chosen by Augustus in 4CE as emperor of Rome.
(V.D.-H.K.p.77) (HN, 11/16/98)
33BC Agrippa called for the construction an aqueduct, 500 fountains and 700 basins for central Rome.
(SFEC, 7/2/00, p.T4)
32BC Pompey's theater was damaged in a storm and repaired by Augustus who especially noted that in repairing it he nowhere recorded his own name.
(RFH-MDHP, p.214)
32BC A Roman coin dating from this time bore the images of Cleopatra on one side and Marc Antony on the reverse. It represented one three hundredth of a Roman soldier's salary and was probably minted to pay the wages of those stationed in Egypt.
(AFP, 2/14/07)
31BC Sep 2, The Naval Battle of Actium in the Ionian Sea, between Roman leader Octavian and the alliance of Roman Mark Antony and Cleopatra, queen of Egypt. Octavian soundly defeated Antony's fleet which was burned and 5000 of his men were killed. The rivals battled for control of the Roman Empire in the naval battle of Actium, where Cleopatra, seeing Antony's navy being outmaneuvered by Octavian's, ordered her 60 ships to turn about and flee to safety.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Actium)
31BC Rome under Emperor Augustus annexed the Carthage territory.
(SSFC, 12/10/00, p.T8)
30 BC Jul 30, Mark Antony, lover of the Egyptian queen Cleopatra VII and claimant to the Roman throne, stabbed himself when faced with certain defeat at the hands of his rival Octavian. Antony expected to be named the heir to Rome after the assassination of his friend and confidant Julius Caesar, but had not counted on Caesar naming his adopted son Octavian as his successor. Shaken by his loss at Actium and abandoned by his allies, Antony committed suicide. Cleopatra followed him in death shortly afterward when she allowed herself to be bitten by a venomous asp.
(HNPD, 7/30/98)
29BC Roman poet Virgil (70-19BC) authored “Georgics," a manual on the best way to run farm.
(Boston Globe, 1/31/16, p.K8)
28BC Oct 9, The Temple of Apollo was dedicate on the Palatine Hill in Rome.
(HN, 10/9/98)
28BC In Rome the mausoleum of Emperor Augustus (d.14AD) was built.
(WSJ, 6/23/07, p.P16)
19BC Sep 20, The Roman poet Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro, b.70BCE) died. His epic "The Aeneid" became one of the great classics of Western literature. The story it tells runs from the end of the Trojan War to the start of the Roman Empire. "Now whoever has courage, and a strong and collected spirit in his breast, let him come forth, lace up his gloves, and put up his hands."
(WUD, 1994 p.1587)(MC 9/20/01)(WSJ, 8/21/02, p.D8)
19B C Agrippa had the Aqua Virgo built in Rome.
(SFEC, 7/2/00, p.T4)
19BC Lucius Cornelius Balbus led 20,000 men of the 3rd Augusta Legion across the Hamada al-Hamra (Red Rocky Plain) in the first Roman attack on the Garamantian heartland (Libya). Romans turned Ghadames, Libya, into a garrison town.
(Arch, 9/02, p.48)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garamantes)(SSFC, 6/27/04, p.D12)
15BC Roman Emperor Augustus built the Temple of Dendur on the Nile for the goddess Isis of Philae. Its ruin later later made its way to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
(Econ, 12/20/14, p.105)
12BC Aug 31, Caligula (Gaius Caesar), 3rd Roman emperor (37-41 CE), born.
(YN, 8/31/99)
10 BCE Aug 1, Claudius (d.54CE), Roman Emperor, was born. Tiberius Claudius Nero Caesar Drusus, the nephew of Tiberius and grandson of the wife of Augustus, was made emperor after Caligula.
(HN, 8/1/98)
9BC The Ara Pacis (Altar of Peace), ordered by Augustus Caesar, was constructed in Rome. In 2005 the Museum of the Ara Pacis opened in Rome.
(WSJ, 6/23/07, p.P16)
8 BC Nov 27, Quintus "Horace" Horatius Flaccus (b. 65BC), Roman poet and satirist best known for his three books "Odes," died in Rome. In 2002 J.D. McClatchy edited "Horace: The Odes, New Translations by Contemporary Poets. His quotes included: "Drop the question what tomorrow may bring, and count as profit every day that Fate allows you." "Many shall be restored that now are fallen and many shall fall that are now in honor."
(AP, 11/4/00)(SSFC, 12/29/02, p.M2)(Econ., 6/27/20, p.61)
8BC Augustus, emperor of the Roman Empire. The Roman Senate changed the name of the month Sextilis to Augustus, and an extra day was added while subtracting a day from February.
(K.I.-365D, p.89)
8BC Augustus Caesar ordered a census under the consulship of Gaius Censorinus and Gaius Asinius. 4,233,000 Roman citizens were counted.
(http://www.biblehistory.net/volume2/Quirinius.htm)
6BC Apr 17, Jupiter was in a rare alignment with the constellation Aries and marked an important date for ancient astrologers. Jesus was believed to have been born in this year.
(SFC, 4/13/01, p.C1)
6BC-4BC Publius Quinctilius Varus served as Roman governor of Syria.
(http://www.rovenet.com/tno/tacitus%20named%20officials/varus.html)
4BC Publius Sulpicius Quirinus served as Roman governor of Cilicia, which was annexed to Syria.
(www.botcw.com/bible/kjv/easton/east0953.htm)
4BC Lucius Annaeus Seneca (d.65) (aka Seneca the younger), Roman intellectual, was born in Spain.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_the_Younger)
1BC Mar 1, Start of the revised Julian calendar in Rome.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1CE-50CE Scribonius Largus, Roman court physician to emperor Claudius, lived about this time. He prescribed the shock of an electric eel for headaches.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scribonius_Largus)(Econ., 3/7/15, p.16)
1CE-100CE The 1st century Roman gourmet, Marcus Gavius Apicius, was thought to be the writer of the earliest known cookbook.
(SFEC, 4/16/00, Z1 p.2)
2CE-8CE Ovid wrote the "Metamorphosis." It was an epic poem that begins with the creation of the world and ends with the rise of Julius Caesar. Rolfe Humphries made a translation in 1955 that became a standard. A 1997 translation by Ted Hughes, "Tales From Ovid," retold 24 of the original 250 stories.
(WSJ, 1/9/98, p.A14)
4CE Gaius Caesar (24), the nephew and adopted heir of Caesar Augustus, died.
(WSJ, 6/23/07, p.P16)
4CE Tiberius (42BCE-37CE) was chosen by Augustus as emperor of Rome. He later banished the young Nero to the island of Ponza.
(V.D.-H.K.p.77)(SFEC, 11/8/98, p.T12)
6CE The Romans named Caesarea as a regional capital.
(SFC, 6/18/02, p.A2)
6CE Sulpicius Quirinius (Cyrenius), Roman governor of Syria, ordered a 2nd census of Judea.
(Econ, 1/1/05, p.38)(www.biblehistory.net/volume2/Quirinius.htm)
9CE Sep 9, Publius Quinctilius Varus (59), Roman governor of Germania (6-9CE), died of likely suicide following defeat at the Battle of Teutoburg Forest. Arminius, aka Hermann the German, had stopped a Roman advance eastward across the Rhine at the battle of Teutoburg, setting a limit on the Roman border.
(http://www.fact-index.com/p/pu/publius_quinctilius_varus.html)(Econ, 8/7/10, p.86)
9CE Emperor Tiberius of Rome subjugated the Illyrians and divided present day Albania between Dalmatia, Epirus, and Macedonia.
(www, Albania, 1998)
13CE Nov 16, Tiberius made his triumphant procession through Rome after siege of Germany.
(MC, 11/16/01)
14CE Aug 14, Emperor Caesar Augustus (b.63BC) died. His rule passed to Tiberius. Augustus was the founder of the Roman Principate and considered the first Emperor, controlling the Roman Empire from 27 BC until his death. Augustus in order to ensure the loyalty of his soldiers, offered a pension for those in the army who had served for 16 years (later 20), equivalent in cash or land to 12 times their annual salary.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus)(V.D.-H.K.p.77)(Econ, 9/24/16, p.25)
15CE May 24, Julius Caesar Germanicus, Roman commandant, was born.
(MC, 5/24/02)
17CE Jan 2, Publius Ovidius Naso, Roman poet, died.
(MC, 1/2/02)
17CE May 26, Germanicus of Rome celebrated a victory over the Germans.
(HN, 5/26/98)
19 CE Oct 10, Julius Caesar Germanicus (33), Roman commandant of Rijnleger and the best loved of Roman princes, died of poisoning. On his deathbed he accused Piso, the governor of Syria, of poisoning him.
(HN, 10/10/98)(MC, 10/10/01)
22CE Sulpicius Quirinius (Cyrenius), Roman soldier and civilian governor of Syria, died.
(Econ, 1/1/05, p.38)(www.biblehistory.net/volume2/Quirinius.htm)
27-37CE Tiberius moved to the isle of Capri and never returned to Rome.
(V.D.-H.K.p.77)(SFEM, 10/11/98, p.54)
28CE Jan 28, The Roman Emperor Nerva named Trajan, an army general, as his successor.
(HN, 1/28/99)
31CE Oct 18, Lucius Aelius Sejanus (b, 20 BC), commonly known as Sejanus, executed along with his followers on suspicions of conspiracy against Roman Emperor Tiberius. He was led from prison and strangled. His body was cast onto the Gemonian stairs, where the crowd tore it to pieces. Sejanus had been an ambitious soldier, friend and confidant of Tiberius.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sejanus)
36CE Chinese troops defeated the Hun ruler Zhizhi in what later became Uzbekistan. Among the captives were 145 Romans.
(Econ, 12/18/04, p.59)
37CE Feb 15, Claudius Drusus Germanicus Caesar Nero (d.68CE), emperor of Rome (54-68), was born. [see Dec 15]
(MC, 2/15/02)
37 Mar 16, Tiberius Claudius Nero (78), Roman emperor (14-37), died on a trip to the Italian mainland from his home on Capreae. He was succeeded by Caligula.
(PCh, 1992, p.36)(HN, 3/16/99)(AP, 3/15/07)
37 Mar 18, The Roman Senate annulled Tiberius’ will and proclaimed Caligula emperor.
(HN, 3/18/99)
37CE Dec 15, Nero Claudius Caesar, emperor of Rome who is blamed for the great fire of Rome, was born. Nero (Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus) was born (d. 68CE). [see Feb 15]
(WUD, 1994, p.959)(HN, 12/15/98)
37CE Caligula succeeded Tiberius and went mad within a year. His cruelty was so bad that he was murdered by the tribune of the palace guard after 4 years. He imprisoned his nieces on the island of Ponza for converting to Christianity. Caligula provided his horse, named Incitatus, an ivory manger and a marble stall, but no official state title as was rumored.
(V.D.-H.K.p.78)(SFEC, 11/8/98, p.T12)(WSJ, 4/22/99, A10)
37-41 Caligula ruled Rome. He had 2 large ships built and anchored for his pleasure on Lake Nemi.
(AM, 5/01, p.26)
39CE Nov 3, Lucan, Latin poet (Bellum Civile), was born in Cordova, Spain.
(MC, 11/3/01)
39CE Dec 30, Titus, 10th Roman emperor (79-81) and conqueror of Jerusalem, was born.
(MC, 12/30/01)
40CE Jun 13, Gnaeus Julius Agricola, Roman general and governor of Britain, was born. [WUD says 37-93CE]
(WUD, 1994, p.29)
41 Jan 24, Shortly after declaring himself a god, Gaius Caligula Germanicus, emperor from 37-41, was assassinated by two Praetorian tribunes.
(HN, 1/24/99)(MC, 1/24/02)
43CE The Romans under Claudius, the great nephew of Caesar, invaded and conquered Britain. They founded a settlement on the "Tamesis River" where a bridge could be built that grew to become London.
(SFEC, 6/22/97, BR p.3)(ON, 6/09, p.7)
43CE British Celts battled the Roman invaders in 2-wheeled chariots. The Belgae from northern Gaul had settled in Britain and ushered in the concept of towns and the art of enameling.
(NGM, 5/77)
43CE The Romans brought with them the board game latrunculi (little soldiers), when they conquered Britain.
(Arch, 1/05, p.39)
45CE The Apostle Paul is said to have preached the gospel in Cyprus at this time and converted the island's Roman governor Sergius Paulus, the first Roman official to undergo conversion.
(AP, 9/30/11)
53CE Sep 18, Marcus Trajanus (d.117), 13th Roman emperor (Trajan's Arch) (98-117), was born at Italica near Seville, Spain.
(http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Trajan)
54CE Oct 13, Roman emperor Claudius I died, after being poisoned with mushrooms by his wife, Agrippina. Nero (37-68CE), son of Agrippina, succeeded his great uncle Claudius, who was murdered by his wife, as the new emperor of Rome. After the murder of his wife, Octavia, Nero descended deep into a religious delirium. His acts became wild and unintelligible and he was displaced by his soldiers with Galba after which he committed suicide.
(WUD, 1994, p.959)(V.D.-H.K.p.78)(AP, 10/13/97)(HN, 10/13/01)
56CE Tacitus, Publius Cornelius was born. He was the Roman author of the Histories (begins with the death of Nero), and the Annals (begins with Tiberius' reign and goes to the end of Nero). Only a portion of the Histories survives (69-70CE). Of the Annals only those books dealing with the early career of Tiberius, and some treating the reigns of Claudius and Nero survive.
(V.D.-H.K.p.81)
59 CE Agrippina became insane and was murdered by her son, Nero.
(V.D.-H.K.p.78)
60 CE A comet appeared and was interpreted by the people of Rome to mean the impending death of their new emperor.
(NG, 12/97, p.105)
60 CE Boudicaa, queen of the Iceni in Britain, burned Roman London.
(NGM, 5/77)
62 CE Nero murdered his wife Octavia.
(V.D.-H.K.p.78)
c62-113CE Pliny the Younger, Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, Roman writer, statesman and orator. He described the death of his uncle, Plinius the Elder, at the 79CE eruption of Vesuvius in a letter to Tacitus.
(WUD, 1994, p.1106)(SFC, 9/1/97, p.A2)
64CE Jul 18, The Great Fire of Rome began. After the fire Nero began to build his Golden House in the center of the city.
(V.D.-H.K.p.78)(AP, 7/18/97)
64CE Jul 19, The Circus Maximus in Rome caught fire.
(MC, 7/19/02)
64CE Nero initiated the first persecution against the Christians. According to Seneca Nero sentenced hundreds of Christians to die by "tunica molesta," a naphtha impregnated "shirt of torture."
(CU, 6/87)(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.58)
65CE Jun 8, Jews revolted against Rome, capturing the fortress of Antonia in Jerusalem.
(MC, 6/8/02)
65CE Lucius Annaeus Seneca (b.4BC) (aka Seneca the younger), Roman intellectual, died. He was a Stoic philosopher and playwright and wrote a version of "Medea." Seneca was Nero's teacher. Nero had Seneca compose his speeches. Seneca and his colleague were ordered by Nero to contrive the murder of Agripinna. He was forced to commit suicide after the conspiracy of Caius Piso to murder Nero. His wife Paulina cut her wrists together with Seneca but Nero ordered that she be saved. Seneca's blood did not flow well and he asked for poison which was refused. He then requested a hot bath to increase the blood flow and apparently was suffocated by the steam. “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." Seneca’s writings included “On the Shortness of Life."
(V.D.-H.K.p.80)(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.57)(SFEC, 8/2/98, Z1 p.8)(Econ, 10/4/08, p.54)(Econ, 12/20/14, p.96)
66-73 Roman general Vespasian's army assaulted the forces of Jewish rebel Joseph ben Matthias at Jotapata in Galilee. During the Jewish revolt of 66-73 CE, Emperor Nero chose Titus Flavius Vespasianus (Vespasian) to subdue Judea. Vespasian was eminently qualified for this martial task. He was fresh from crushing a German rebellion, and as commander of Legio II, he had played a significant role in the conquest of Britannia (Britain) by Nero‘s predecessor. Joseph, meanwhile, had assembled his own army from the rebel bands of Galilee and trained them in the Roman model. He also fortified many towns, the strongest being Jotapata, a natural fortress perched on a rock outcrop. It was surrounded on three sides by steep valleys that made attack virtually impossible. The only approach to the city was from a hilltop to the north, and that was blocked by a dry moat fronting a sturdy wall.
(HNQ, 12/4/00)
67CE Some 37,000 Jewish prisoners were held at the Roman stadium in Tiberias after they lost a naval battle on the Sea of Galilee.
(SFC, 6/18/02, p.A2)
68CE Jun 9, Nero (31), Roman Emperor (54-68), committed suicide.
(AP, 6/9/97)(MC, 6/9/02)
68-69CE Galba reigned as the Roman emperor. He was a commander of Roman forces in Spain and acclaimed emperor by his 2 legions. When the praetorian guard accepted Galba, Nero committed suicide.
(WUD, 1994, p.1667)
69CE Jan 2, Roman Lower Rhine army proclaimed its commander, Vitellius, emperor.
(MC, 1/2/02)
69CE Jan 10, Roman emperor Galba adopted Marcus Piso Licinianus as Caesar.
(MC, 1/10/02)
69CE Jan 15, Servius Sulpicius Galba (70), 6th emperor of Rome (68-69), was murdered along with his newly adopted successor, Piso Licinianus. Marcus Salvius Otho (36) committed the murder and forced the senate to recognize himself as emperor.
(PC, 1992, p.37)
69CE Apr 16, Otho (32-69) committed suicide after he was defeated by Vitellius' (15-69) troops at Bedriacum. Otho had declared himself emperor of Rome after he killed Galba, who had been acclaimed emperor by his legions in Spain.
(WUD, 1994, p.1667)(HN, 4/16/98)
69 Dec 20, Vespians’s supporters entered Rome and discovered Vitellius in hiding. Vitellius, a Roman commandant of Rhine and the 7th emperor, was dragged through the streets before being brutally murdered. Vitellius had been acclaimed emperor by his legions in Germany in place of Galba. He was then killed in Rome fighting the supporters of Vespasian, the Roman commander of Judea. Gen. Vespasianus occupied Rome.
(WUD, 1994, p.1667)(HN, 12/20/98)(MC, 12/20/01)
69 Dec 21, Vespacian, a gruff-spoken general of humble origins, entered Rome and was adopted as emperor by the Senate.
(PCh, 1992, p.37)
69 Galba was murdered by Otho who forced the senate to declare him emperor.
(WUD, 1994, p.1667)
70 May 31, Rome captured the 1st wall of the city of Jerusalem.
(MC, 5/31/02)
70 Jun 5, Titus & his Roman legions breached the middle wall of Jerusalem.
(MC, 6/5/02)
70 Aug 8, Tower of Antonia was destroyed by the Romans.
(MC, 8/8/02)
70 Aug 29, The Temple of Jerusalem burned after a nine-month Roman siege. The Second Temple of Jerusalem was destroyed by Rome’s 10th Legion and the Jews there were exiled. In the Jewish War the Israelites tried unsuccessfully to revolt against Roman rule. The destruction buried the shops that lined the main street. Archeologists in 1996 found numerous artifacts that included bronze coins called prutot. Carpenters from Israel’s Antiquities Authority used manuscripts of the Roman master builder Vitruvius to reconstruct contraptions used in the construction of the temple. In 2007 Martin Goodman authored “Rome and Jerusalem: The Clash of Ancient Civilizations."
(SFC, 5/23/95, p.A-10)(SFC, 8/28/96, p.A10)(WSJ, 6/22/98, p.A20)(HN, 8/29/98)(SFEC, 3/28/99, p.T11)(Econ, 1/20/07, p.90)
70 Sep 7, The Roman army under Titus occupied and plundered Jerusalem.
(MC, 9/7/01)
70 Sep 27, The walls of upper city of Jerusalem were battered down by Romans.
(MC, 9/27/01)
70 Josephus recorded that Vespasian and his son Titus plundered 50 tons of gold and silver during the 70AD Roman conquest of Jerusalem.
(SFC, 10/23/06, p.A15)
70 A Roman punitive expedition forced the Garamantes of southern Libya to enter into an official relationship with Rome.
(AM, 3/04, p.28)
70 A tax on the disposal of urine was first imposed by Emperor Nero under the name of “vectigal urinae" in the 1st century AD. The tax was removed after a while, but it was re-enacted by Vespasian around 70 AD in order to fill the treasury.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pecunia_non_olet)
71 Vespasian and his son Titus paraded the treasure plundered from Jerusalem in triumph through the streets of Rome. They used the 50 tons of gold and silver to help finance the building of the Colosseum.
(SFC, 10/23/06, p.A15)
71 York became the Roman provincial capital of Northumbria. From the 9th to the 11th centuries it was dominated by Norse warrior-kings and was called Jorvik.
(SSFC, 2/23/14, p.M7)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavian_York)
73 Jewish zealots on Mount Masada chose to perish by their own hands rather than surrender to slavery under the Romans.
(SFEC, 3/28/99, p.T5)
75 The treasure plundered from Jerusalem in 70AD by the Romans under Vespasian and his son, Titus, was put on public display in the Temple of Peace in the Roman Forum and stayed there into the early 5th century.
(SFC, 10/23/06, p.A15)
76CE Jan 24, Publius A. Hadrianus, 14th Roman Emperor (117-138), was born.
(www.roman-emperors.org/hadrian.htm)
79AD Aug 24, Pliny the Elder, Roman naturalist, witnessed the eruption of long-dormant Mount Vesuvius and was overcome by the fumes as he tried to rescue refugees. The eruption buried the Roman cities of Pompeii, Stabiae, Herculaneum and other, smaller settlements in 13 feet of volcanic ash and pumice. An estimated 20,000 people died. The event was described by Pliny the Younger, the elder’s nephew, in a letter to Tacitus.
(HFA, '96, p.36)(DD-EVTT, p.70)(AP, 8/24/97)(WUD, 1994, p.1106)(SFC, 9/1/97, p.A2)(HNQ, 6/16/98)
80 The Roman Colosseum was inaugurated under Emp. Titus (Vespacian) with 100 days of gladiator combat. The poet Martial described one combat between Verus and Priscus. The amphitheater occupied the site of a large artificial lake, created by Nero for his Domus Aurea.
(SFC, 7/20/00, p.C3)(AM, 3/04, p.54)(WSJ, 1/25/05, p.D12)
80 In Rome a ban on the public visiting below the Colosseum stage level began when the amphitheater was inaugurated. The ban continued until the last show in 523.
(AP, 6/25/21)
81 Sep 13, Titus Flavius Vespasianus, emperor of Rome (69-81), died at 42.
(MC, 9/13/01)
81-96 The reign of Domitian. Soldiers under his reign earned an annual salary of about 1,200 sesterces.
(HNQ, 10/5/00)(AM, 5/01, p.36)
c81-138 Secret police agents in Ancient Rome were known as frumentarii. Growing out of an Augustine messenger service—the cursus publicus—frumentarii were originally just supply sergeants responsible for such mundane functions as the purchase and distribution of grain. However, under the reign of Domitian (81-96AD), or possibly Hadrian (117-138), they were turned into intelligence officers and gradually became more involved in state security.
(HNQ, 10/5/00)
86CE Sep 19, Antoninus Pius, 15th Roman emperor (138-161), was born.
(MC, 9/19/01)
96CE Jul 1, Vespasian, a Roman Army leader, was hailed as a Roman Emperor by the Egyptian legions.
(HN, 7/1/98)
96CE Sep 18, Domitian, Roman emperor, died. He was murdered and was succeeded by Nerva.
(V.D.-H.K.p.83)(MC, 9/18/01)
97CE Oct 27, To placate the Praetorians of Germany, Nerva of Rome adopted Trajan, the Spanish born governor of lower Germany.
(HN, 10/27/98)
97CE Sextus Julius Frontinus, Roman water commissioner, wrote of Rome: "The city looks cleaner, different, the air is purer and the causes of pollution that gave the air so bad a name with the ancients are now removed."
(SFEC, 7/2/00, p.T1)
98CE Jan 27, Marius Cocceius Nerva (67), emperor of Rome (96-98), died.
(MC, 1/27/02)
100CE Dioscorides, a Roman physician, named the marijuana plant cannabis sativa.
(WSJ, 2/8/05, p.D7)
104CE There was a fire in Rome. Emp. Trajan built massive baths over the Domus Aurea of Nero.
(WSJ, 1/25/05, p.D12)
106CE Nabatae, whose capital was Petra, became a Roman province under Trajan. The Roman city of Jerash was one of the 10 cities of the Decapolis.
(WUD, 1994, p.948)(SFEM, 4/11/99, p.8)(AM, 3/04, p.60)
116 Hatra, a fortified city of the Parthian Empire and later part of Iraq, withstood a Roman invasion due to its high and thick walls. The Parthian Empire (247 BC – 224 AD), also known as the Arsacid Empire was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran.
(SSFC, 4/5/15, p.A7)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthian_Empire)
117 Aug 8, Marcus Ulpius Trajanus (Trajan), emperor of Rome (98-117), died.
(www.roman-emperors.org/hadrian.htm)
117 Aug 11, The Roman army of Syria hailed its legate, Hadrian, as emperor, which made the senate's formal acceptance an almost meaningless event. One of his first acts was to withdraw Rome’s army from Mesopotamia (modern Iraq).
(www.roman-emperors.org/hadrian.htm)(Econ, 7/19/08, p.94)
117-138 The reign of Hadrian.
(HNQ, 10/5/00)
118CE Jul 9, Hadrian, Rome's new emperor, made his entry into the city.
(HN, 7/9/98)
121 Apr 20, Marcus Aurelius (d.180), 16th Roman emperor, philosopher, was born. He authored the "Meditations." [see Apr 26]
(V.D.-H.K.p.64)(HN, 4/20/98)
121 Apr 26, Antonius Marcus Aurelius, [Marcus A. Verus], Emperor of Rome (161-180), was born. [see Apr 20]
(MC, 4/26/02)
122CE Jun, Emp. Hadrian visited Britain as part of a tour of the northern frontiers. He ordered a wall built to protect the Romans from the Picts of Scotland.
(AM, 7/01, p.17)
122 Suetonius (b.~69), Roman historian, died about this time. His most important surviving work is a set of biographies of twelve successive Roman rulers, from Julius Caesar to Domitian, entitled De Vita Caesarum.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suetonius)
122-130CE Roman Emperor Hadrian ordered a great wall to be built in northern England along with a series of forts "to separate the Romans from the barbarians." It extended for 73.5 English miles from the estuary of the river Tyne on the east to Solway Firth on the west.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.15)(AM, 7/01, p.17)
125 Lucius Apuleius, Roman philosopher and satirist, was born about this time. His work included "Metamorphoses" and “The Golden Ass," which retold the story of Cupid and Psyche.
(WUD, 1994, p.74)(WSJ, 5/14/99, p.W8)(Econ, 2/9/13, p.82)
126CE Aug 1, Publius Helvius Pertinax, Roman emperor (193 AD), was born.
(MC, 8/1/02)
129 Roman Emp. Hadrian visited Jerusalem. In 2014 archeologists discovered a large stone with Latin engravings bearing the name of Hadrian and the year of his visit.
(SFC, 10/22/14, p.A3)
129 Roman Emp. Hadrian allowed Palmyra to charge of its own finances.
(Econ, 5/30/15, p.81)
130 Roman Emperor Hadrian made Arrian, a 2nd-century disciple of the Greek philosopher Epictetus, the governor of Cappadocia. Some years earlier Arrian had compiled the Enchiridion or Handbook of Epictetusis, a short manual of Stoic ethical advice.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrian)
130 Antinous, the Greek lover of Roman Emperor Hadrian, died in the Nile. Hadrian insisted that Antinous be given the status of a god.
(Econ, 7/19/08, p.94)
132-135 Jewish rebels occupied the mountain ridge of Hebron during the Bar Kochba revolt against the Romans. The remains of an ancient synagogue and mikveh are visible.
(SFEC, 12/22/96, p.T2)(Econ, 7/19/08, p.94)
135CE Roman Emperor Hadrian sent 12 divisions under Julius Severus to quell the Jewish rebellion led by Simon Bar Kokhba, who was killed at Bethar. An estimated 600,000 Jews were killed. Hadrian ordered Jerusalem plowed under and Aelia Capitolina was built on the site. He barred Jews from returning and survivors dispersed across the empire. Judea was renamed Syria-Palestina.
(SFC, 12/26/96, p.C16)(PBS, Nova, 11/23/04)(PC, 1992 ed, p.41)
138 Jul 10, Publius A. Hadrianus (b.76), Roman emperor (117-138), died. He was responsible for Hadrian's Wall in Britain, begun in 122.
(www.roman-emperors.org/hadrian.htm)
138-161 Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius succeeded Hadrian and ruled during this period.
(AP, 7/26/22)
139 Hadrian’s Mausoleum was built in Rome.
(SSFC, 5/1/05, p.F8)
c140CE Emperor Antoninus Pius ordered Hadrian’s Wall to be abandoned and a more northerly defense to be established. Remnants could later be seen of the Antonine Wall around Falkirk, Scotland. Roman troops advanced northwards into the Scottish lowlands, driving the barbarians back before them and establishing a new frontier called the Antonine Wall, named for the new Emperor, Antoninus Pius. The Antonine Wall was later abandoned, reoccupied, and abandoned a second and final time under the Emperor Marcus Aurelius.
(NG, 12/97, forum)(HNQ, 9/9/00)
144-145 Roman bronze coins were minted in Egypt during the reign of Antoninus Pius bearing the image of the zodiac sign Cancer behind a depiction of the moon goddess Luna. One such coin was found in 2022 during an underwater survey off Israel coastal city of Haifa.
(https://tinyurl.com/6zyjhbhw)(AP, 7/26/22)
145CE A temple was completed in Rome as a tribute to Emperor Hadrian. In 1802 it became the site of the Rome stock exchange.
(WSJ, 12/13/96, p.B11A)
155CE Feb 23, Polycarp, disciple of Apostle John, was arrested and burned at stake.
(MC, 2/23/02)
158 Apulieus of Madaura (~124-~180), Romanised Berber and author of “The Golden Ass" (aka the Metamorphoses) defended himself at the Roman basilica in Sabratha (Libya) against charges of witchcraft in an oration known as Pro de se magia, or more commonly the Apologia. The Golden Ass is the only Latin novel which has survived in its entirety, and is an imaginative, irreverent, and amusing work which relates the ludicrous adventures of one Lucius, who experiments in magic and is accidentally turned into an ass.
(Arch, 9/02, p.47)(http://tinyurl.com/lrgfb8)
161CE Mar 7, Marcus Aurelius became emperor on the death of Antoninus Pius [Titus Aurelius], age 74, at Lorium. Antoninus ruled from 138-161.
(HN, 3/7/99)(MC, 3/7/02)
161CE Aug 31, Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus, emperor of Rome (180-92), was born.
(WUD, 1994 p.297)(MC, 8/31/01)
162CE The Antonine Baths were completed in Carthage after 17 years of construction.
(SSFC, 12/10/00, p.T8)
166CE A Roman envoy arrived in China. This was their 1st recorded official contact.
(ATC, p.33)(Econ, 12/18/04, p.58)
175 Roman forces defeated Sarmatian tribes on the Danube and Marcus Aurelius ordered them to provide 8,000 cavalry for the Roman fort of Brocavum, later Brougham, England. It had been built in the last decades of the first century. The fort was partially covered by a castle in the 13th century.
(Arch, 5/05, p.62)
180CE Mar 17, Antonius Marcus Aurelius (58), [Marcus Verus], Emperor of Rome, died.
(MC, 3/17/02)
180CE A Roman military transport ship was built about this time, as Marcus Aurelius passed the throne to the emperor Commodus. It later sank in the Rhine. In 2003 archeologists in the Netherlands unveiled the preserved ship.
(AP, 5/15/03)
180CE A smallpox epidemic hit Rome and killed 3.5 to 7 million people including Emp. Marcus Aurelius. It was dubbed the Plague of Antonine.
(NW, 10/14/02, p.46)
182 Roman Emp. Commodus executed the brothers Sextus Quintilius Maximus and Sextus Quintilius Condianus for alleged conspiracy. Their Villa dei Quintili, several miles from the center of Rome and comparable to Hadrian’s villa in Tivoli, was identified in 1828.
(AM, 7/05, p.28)
188 Apr 4, Caracalla, [Marcus Aurelius Antonius], well-bathed Roman emperor (211-217), was born.
(MC, 4/4/02)
192 Dec 31, Lucius A.A. Commodus (b.161), Emperor of Rome (180-192), was murdered. His mistress Marcia, Chamberlain Eclectus, and praetorian prefect Laetus hired the wrestler Narcissus to strangle Commodus after they found their names on an imperial execution list.
(PCh, 1992, p.42)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodus)
193 Mar 28, Publius Helvius Pertinax, Roman Emperor (192-93), was assassinated.
(HFA, '96, p.26)(MC, 3/28/02)
193 Apr 9, The distinguished Roman soldier Lucius Septimius Severus was proclaimed emperor by the army at Carnuntum (Austria).
(www.roman-emperors.org/sepsev.htm)
193 Apr 14, Lucius Septimius Severus (d.211), a native son of Leptis Magna in Libya, was crowned emperor of Rome. Under his rule the empire reached its greatest extent with almost 50 provinces.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septimius_Severus)(SSFC, 6/27/04, p.D12)
193 Jun 1, The Roman Emperor, Marcus Didius, was murdered in his palace.
(HN, 6/1/98)
197 Feb 19, Lucius Septimius Severus' army beat Clodius Albinus at Lyon. D Clodius Septimus Albinus, Roman dignitary in England, died in the battle.
(MC, 2/19/02)
198 Hatra, a fortified city of the Parthian Empire (later part of Iraq), withstood a second Roman invasion due to its high and thick walls. The trading center was surrounded by more than 160 towers.
(SSFC, 4/5/15, p.A7)(AP, 4/26/17)
c200 The Forma Urbis Romae was a 60 by 45-foot map carved out of marble that detailed every building, room and staircase in 2nd century Rome.
(Wired, 11/98, p.117)
c200 Romans began making glass objects that included windows, bottles and drinking vessels.
(SFEC, 6/20/99, Z1 p.8)
203 Lucius Septimus Severus (d.211), emperor of Rome, returned to visit home at Leptis Magna (Libya).
(SSFC, 6/27/04, p.D12)
205-270CE Plotinus was an Alexandrian philosopher in Rome and founder of Neo-Platonism, which strongly influenced the later Augustine, who taught of a mystical union with the Good through the exercise of pure intelligence. He founded Neo-Platonism, a religion that for a time rivaled Christianity. Neo-Platonism developed out of the philosophical doctrines of Plato in the fourth century B.C. Plotinus developed the spiritual side of Plato's thought into a mystical philosophy teaching reunion with the One and that material things are unworthy. Saint Augustus, formerly a Neo-Platonist, brought some of his ideas into Christian theism.
(V.D.-H.K.p.93)(HNQ, 5/11/98)
208 Roman Emperor Lucius Septimius Severus brought his troublesome sons to the frontier fort of Brocavum, later Brougham, England, to campaign against the barbarians to the north and hopefully distract them from the temptations of Rome.
(Arch, 5/05, p.63)
211 Feb 4, Lucius Septimius Severus (64), emperor of Rome (193-211), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septimius_Severus)
211-217 The reign of the Roman emperor Caracalla (188-217). Coins were minted at the Jewish city of Sepphoris during the reign of Caracalla.
(WUD, 1994, p.221)(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.64)
217 Apr 8, Caracalla (b.188), [Marcus Antonius], Roman emperor (198-217), was murdered in his baths.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caracalla)
222 Mar 11, Varius A. Bassianus (18), Syrian emperor of Rome (218-22), was murdered.
(MC, 3/12/02)
223 Ulpian of Tyre (b.~170), a Roman jurist, was murdered. He is remembered for the quote: "The sovereign is not bound by the laws" (Princeps legibus solutus est.).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulpian)(Econ, 8/9/14, p.69)
235 Mar 18, Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander (b.208), Syrian emperor of Rome (222-235), was murdered.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Severus)
238 May 10, Gaius Julius Verus Maximinus ("The Thracian"), Roman Emperor, was murdered.
(MC, 5/10/02)
249-262 The Plague of Cyprian, later thought to be a hemorrhagic fever, emptied many Roman cities and coincided with a sharp and permanent decline in economic activity.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plague_of_Cyprian)(Econ, 3/14/20, p.62)
253 Valerian became emperor of Rome and ruled until 260 when he was captured and executed by Persian King Shapur I.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Valerian_I)
256 The Anatolian city of Zeugma on the Euphrates was sacked by Persian King Shapur I. This was soon followed by a devastating fire and an earthquake and Zeugma was abandoned. In 2000 the area was submerged as part of the Southeast Anatolia Project of dams for power.
(SFEC, 5/7/00, p.A23)(Arch, 9/00, p.41)
258 Aug 6, Pope Sixtus II, bishop of Rome (257-58), was beheaded upon orders of Emperor Valerian.
(ITV, 1/96, p.60)(MC, 8/6/02)
260 Persia’s King Shapur I captured Roman Emp. Valerian.
(Arch, 9/00, p.41)
260-268 Emp. Gallienus, son of Valerian, ruled Rome.
(AM, 5/01, p.40)
267 Dec 26, Dionysius, bishop of Rome and saint, died.
(MC, 12/26/01)
268 Roman Emp. Gallienus, son of Valerian, was assassinated.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Valerian_I)
268 Marcus Cassianius Latinius Postumus, a Roman emperor of Batavian origin, died about this time. He usurped power from Gallienus in 260 and formed the so called Gallic Empire. He was recognized in Gaul, Germania, Britannia and Iberia until his murder in 268.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postumus)
269 Nov 20, Diocletian was proclaimed emperor of Numerian in Asia Minor by his soldiers. He had been the commander of the emperor's bodyguard.
(HN, 11/20/98)
269 Palmyra’s Queen Zenobia, taking advantage of Roman weakness, invaded Egypt to the southwest and occupied Anatolia to the north.
(Econ, 5/30/15, p.81)
270 cFeb 14, The early Christian martyr, St. Valentine, was beheaded by Emperor Claudius II, who executed another St. Valentine around the same time. The Catholic Bishop Valentine was clubbed, stoned and beheaded by Emperor Claudius II for refusing to acknowledge the monarch’s outlawing of marriage. The Catholics then made Valentine a symbol to oppose the Roman mid-February custom in honor of the God Lupercus, where Roman teenage girls’ names were put in a box and selected by young Roman men for "sex toy" use until the next lottery. The two Valentines merged into a single legendary patron of young lovers. St. Valentine’s Day evolved from Lupercalia, a Roman festival of fertility.
(SFEM, 2/9/97, p.11)(SFC, 2/14/97, p.A26)(SFC, 2/4/04, p.D7)
Valentine's Day probably has its origins in the Roman feast of Lupercalia, which was held on February 15. One of the traditions associated with this feast was young men drawing the names of young women whom they would court during the following year--a custom that may have grown into the giving of valentine's cards. Another legend associated with Valentine's Day was the martyrdom of the Christian priest St. Valentine on February 14. The Roman emperor believed that men would remain soldiers longer if they were not married, but Valentine earned the wrath of the emperor by secretly marrying young couples. The first American publisher of valentines was printer and artist Esther Howland, who sold elaborate handmade cards for as much as $35 at the end of the 19th century. Complex and beautiful machine-made cards brought the custom of valentine exchanging within the reach of many Americans.
(HNPD, 2/14/99)
272CE In Syria Queen Zenobia led a failed uprising against the Romans, which left the city of Palmyra partly destroyed.
(AMNHDT, 11/99)
273 The Gallic Empire of the Batavian Postumus ended.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carausius)
274 Feb 27, Constantine I was born. He became the great Roman emperor (324-337) who adopted Christianity. [see c288]
(MC, 2/27/02)
274 Dec 25, Emperor Aurelian imported into Rome the cult of Sol Invictus and made its Dec 25 festival a national holiday.
(WSJ, 12/18/98, p.W15)
275 The Goths launched a last major assault on Asia Minor, where piracy by Black Sea Goths was causing great trouble in Colchis, Pontus, Cappadocia, Galatia and even Cilicia. They were defeated sometime in 276 by Emperor Marcus Claudius Tacitus.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goths)
276 Jul 16, Marcus Annius Florianus, emperor of Rome (276), was murdered.
(MC, 7/16/02)
283 Sebastian, a Christian soldier, enlisted in the Roman army about this time. Emp. Diocletian, unaware that he was a Christian, appointed him as a captain of the Praetorian Guard. When he treated Christian prisoners due for martyrdom kindly, Diocletian reproached him for his supposed ingratitude and ordered him executed by arrow. He survived and returned to preach to Diocletian. In 287 Diocletian ordered Sebastian to be beaten to death.
(www.economicexpert.com/a/Sebastian.htm)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Sebastian)
284 Aug 29, Gen Gaius Aurelius V Diocletianus Jovius (3) became emperor of Rome. Reign of Diocletian (Era of Martyrs), began.
(MC, 8/29/01)
284 Nov 20, Diocletian (245-316) became Emperor of the Roman Empire and continued to 305. Under his rule the last and most terrible persecution of the Christians took place, perhaps some 3,000 martyrs. He divided rule over the empire among four men. He put two rulers to oversee the east and two to oversee the west. He also established four capitals. He moved his own capital from Rome to Nicomedia, south of Byzantium in Asia Minor. He also increased the size of the Roman army from 300,000 to 500,000 men.
(http://bode.diee.unica.it/~giua/SEBASTIAN/Diocletian.html)(V.D.-H.K.p.91)(ITV, 1/96, p.58)
286 Carausius, a Roman naval officer, seized power in Britain and northern Gaul ruled until he was assassinated in 293.
(AP, 7/8/10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carausius)
287 Maurice (Mauritius), leader of the legendary Roman Theban Legion in the 3rd century, was believed executed at Agaunum, Switzerland, after refusing an order by Roman Emperor Maximian to harass local Christians. Because of his name and native land, St. Maurice had been portrayed as black ever since the 12th century.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximian)
288 Sebastian (b.256), a Christian and Roman soldier, was beaten to death about this time on the orders of Roman Emp. Diocletian.
(Econ, 6/3012, p.19)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Sebastian)
c288CE Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus, Roman emperor Constantine I (324-337), was born in Yugoslavia. In a battle against an army led by his brother-in-law, Maxentius, at the Milvian bridge near Rome Constantine was victorious. The night before this battle was when Constantine dreamed of an angel holding a cross and saying "In this sign thou shalt conquer!" [see 274]
(WUD, 1994 p.314)(V.D.-H.K.p.91)
0290CE Oct 1, [Christian] Bacchus, Roman soldier and martyred saint, was killed.
(MC, 10/1/01)
290 Oct 7, [Christian] Sergius, Roman soldier and martyred saint, was decapitated.
(MC, 10/7/01)
293 Mar 1, Roman emperor Maximianus introduced tetrarchy.
(SC, 3/1/02)
295 Diocletian (245-316), Roman Emperor (284-305), began construction of a fortified palace near the village of his birth. It later became the historic downtown of Split, Croatia. Construction took 10 years.
(SSFC, 6/20/04, p.D10)
296 Roman Emp. Diocletian ordered the burning of alchemical manuscripts for fear their discoveries would debase his coinage. This may have set back the science of distillation.
(Econ, 12/20/03, p.68)
299-311 The period of Christian persecutions begun by Diocletian.
(WSJ, 10/30/98, p.W11)
300-400 The Circus Maximus in ancient Rome, expanded under Constantine in the 4th century A.D., had an estimated seating capacity of 250,000. The largest of hippodrome in Rome, a U-shaped stadium with a low wall running in the middle around which chariots raced, it seated an estimated 150,000 spectators at the time of Julius Caesar in the 1st century B.C.
(HNQ, 8/29/99)
302 Anthony (b.266) of Antioch, an early Christian priest, suffered martyrdom with Anastasius, Julian, Celsus and Marcionilla during the persecutions of Diocletian.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_of_Antioch)
303 Feb 23, Emperor Diocletian ordered the general persecution of Christians in Rome.
(HN, 2/23/98)
303 By legend St. Expeditus, a commander of a Roman legion in Armenia who had converted to Christianity, was beheaded by Emp. Diocletian. There was however no proof of his existence and it was speculated that devotion to him arose in the 19th century after Parisian nuns mistook a crate of relics labeled for "expedited delivery." In the late 20th century he emerged as a popular cult figure among Brazilian Catholics.
(WSJ, 4/15/04, p.A1)
304-305 Massive persecution of the Christians took place under Diocletian.
(V.D.-H.K.p.91)
305 May 1, Emperor Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus Jovius of Rome abdicated. Constantius I Chlorus (Flavius Valerius Constantius) became Western emperor. Galerius (Gaius Galerius Valerius Maximianus) became Eastern emperor.
(www.ancienthistory.about.com)
305 San Gennaro, a pious bishop, was beheaded by Roman Emp. Diocletian. In the 14th century Naples began celebrating the miracle of San Gennaro, whereby the city’s archbishop shakes a vial allegedly containing blood from Gennaro.
(SSFC, 11/6/05, p.A2)
306 Jul 23, Constantine was proclaimed Caesar of the west by the army, while Severus, the former Caesar, was proclaimed Augusta of the west by Galerius.
(HN, 7/23/98)
306 Oct 28, Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maxentius was proclaimed emperor of Rome.
(MC, 10/28/01)
307 Nov 11, Flavius Valerius Severus, compassionate emperor of Rome (306-07), died.
(MC, 11/11/01)
308 Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maxentius abdicated.
(www.ancienthistory.about.com)
309 Maximinus II Daia (d.313) became Eastern emperor.
(www.ancienthistory.about.com)
310 Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maxentius (d.310) returned to power and soon died.
(www.ancienthistory.about.com)
310 Roman Emperor Constantine built a defense tower at Eboracum on the banks of the River Ouse in what later became the English city of York.
(SSFC, 4/13/14, p.Q1)
311 Apr 30, Emperor Galerius recognized Christians legally in the Roman Empire.
(MC, 4/30/02)
311 May 5, Gaius VM Galerius (~50), emperor of Rome, died in Dardania.
(SFC, 6/23/97, p.29)(MC, 5/5/02)
311 In Austria a Roman gladiator school flourished at Carnuntum 28 miles (45 km) east of Vienna. This was a major military and trade outpost linking the far-flung Roman empire's Asian boundaries to its central and northern European lands. Archeological digging at the site began around 1870 and by 2011 only 0.5 percent of the settlement was excavated.
(AP, 9/5/11)
312 cOct 27, Prior to a battle between Constantine and Maxentius, Constantine experienced a vision of Christ that ordered him to ornament the shields of his soldiers with the Greek letters chi and rho, the monogram for Christ. Constantine won the battle and attributed his success to Christ. He became emperor of the West and an advocate of Christianity.
(MH, 12/96)(CU, 6/87)
312 Oct 28, Constantine the Great defeated Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maxentius at the Mulvian Bridge. Constantine’s smaller army (about 50,000 strong) won a decisive victory there; while fleeing, Maxentius drowned in the river. Constantine was instantly converted when he saw a cross in the sky, with the inscription "In hoc signo vincit" ("In this sign you shall conquer"). [see Oct 27]
(HN, 10/28/98)(DoW, 1999, P.398)
312 Appius Claudius began construction of the Appian Way as a military highway.
(SFC, 8/2/07, p.E2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Via_Appia)
313 Apr 30, Licinius unified the whole of the eastern empire under his own rule.
(HN, 4/30/98)
313 Maximinus II Daia, Eastern emperor, was killed at Tarsus.
(www.ancienthistory.about.com)
314 Licinius declared Valens (d.314) as co-emperor during the war with Constantine. Licinius was deposed and executed by Valens.
(www.ancienthistory.about.com)
316 Diocletian (b.245) died at his retirement palace near his birthplace in Dalmatia (Croatia).
(SSFC, 6/20/04, p.D10)
317 Aug 7, Flavius Julius Constantius II, Emperor Egypt, Byzantium, Rome (337-61), was born.
(MC, 8/7/02)
324 Licinius proclaimed Martinian (Marcus Martinianus) as co-emperor. Martinian (d.325) was soon deposed by Constantine.
(www.ancienthistory.about.com)
325 Licinius (Valerius Licianus Licinius), Eastern emperor, was deposed and executed by Constantine.
(www.ancienthistory.about.com)
325 Martinian (Marcus Martinianus) was executed by Constantine.
(www.ancienthistory.about.com)
326 Jul 25, Constantine refused to carry out the traditional pagan sacrifices.
(HN, 7/25/98)
326 Constantine executed his son Flavius Julius Crispus, born to his 1st wife, under the persuasion of his 2nd wife Fausta.
(PCh, 1992, p.48)
331 Nov 17, Flavius Claudius Julianus, [Julian the Apostate], emperor (361-363), was born.
(MC, 11/17/01)
337 May 22, Constantine (47), convert to Christianity and Emperor of Rome (306-37), died. He had made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire and had the Chapel of the Burning Bush built in the Sinai Desert at the site where Moses was believed to have witnessed the Miracle of the Burning Bush.
(V.D.-H.K.p.92)(PCh, 1992, p.48)(MC, 5/22/02)
337 Sep 9, Constantine's three sons, already Caesars, each took the title of Augustus. Constantine II and Constans shared the west while Constantius II took control of the east.
(HN, 9/9/98)
356 Feb 19, Emperor Constantius II shut all heathen (non-Christian) temples.
(MC, 2/19/02)
357CE Apr 28, Constantius II visited Rome for the first time.
(HN, 4/28/98)
357 Aug 25, Flavius Claudius Julianus, the cousin of Constantius, beat the Alamanni in a Battle at Strasbourg. Chonodomarius was caught.
(PCh, 1992, p.48)(HN, 8/25/99)
361-363CE Julian the Apostate succeeded Constantine and tried to make paganism the official religion of the empire.
(V.D.-H.K.p.92)
362CE Jun 17, Emperor Julian issued an edict banning Christians from teaching in Syria.
(HN, 6/17/98)
363CE Jun 27, The death of Roman Emperor Julian brought an end to the Pagan Revival.
(HN, 6/27/98)
364 Feb 17, Flavius Jovianus (~32), Christian emperor of Rome (363-64), died.
(MC, 2/17/02)
374 Emperor Valentinian ended the parental right to kill their infants.
(SFEC, 2/13/00, Z1 p.2)
375 Nov 17, Enraged by the insolence of barbarian envoys, Valentinian I, the Emperor of the West, died of apoplexy in Pannonia in Central Europe.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentinian_I)
376 Dec 25, In Milan, Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan, forced the emperor Theodosius to perform public penance for his massacre.
(HN, 12/25/98)
378 Aug 9, In the Battle of Adrianople the Visigoth Calvary defeated Roman Army.
(MC, 8/9/02)
383 Aug 25, Flavius Gratianus (25), Emperor of Rome (375-383), was murdered.
(MC, 8/25/02)
387 The Parthians and Romans agreed to settle the Armenian question by the drastic expedient of partition. The Sassanid kings of Persia (who had superseded the Parthians in the Empire of Iran) secured the lion's share of the spoils, while the Romans only received a strip of country on the western border which gave them Erzeroum and Diyarbakir for their frontier fortresses.
(http://raven.cc.ukans.edu/~kansite/ww_one/docs/bryce2.htm)
388 Aug 28, Magnus Maximus, Spanish West Roman Emperor (383-88), was executed. His ambitions led him to invade Italy, resulting in his defeat by Theodosius I at the Battle of the Save in 388.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnus_Maximus)
390 Jul 16, Brennus and Gauls defeated the Romans at Allia.
(MC, 7/16/02)
392 May 15, Valentinianus II (21), emperor of Rome (375-392), was murdered.
(MC, 5/15/02)
392 Nov 8, Theodosius of Rome passed legislation prohibiting all pagan worship in the empire and declared Christianity the state religion.
(HN, 11/6/98)(MC, 11/8/01)
393 CE The ancient Olympic Games were held at intervals beginning in 776 BCE until about 393 CE when they were abolished by Roman emperor Theodosius I after Greece lost its independence. The modern Olympic Games were started in 1896. [see 396CE]
(HNQ, 11/23/98)
394 Sep 6, Theodosius became sole ruler of Italy after defeating Eugenius at the Battle of the River Frigidus.
(HN, 9/6/98)
395 Jan 17, Emperor Theodosius I (49), the Great, Spanish head of Rome, died. Theodosius I wrote into his will that upon his death the eastern and western sections of the empire should be declared separate empires. His death in this year marks the split of the Roman and Byzantine Empire.
(ATC, p.24)(MC, 1/17/02)
395 Division of Roman Empire left lands presently inhabited by Albanians under the administration of the Eastern Empire.
(www, Albania, 1998)
396 The last Olympic Games were held under Emp. Theodosius I, who halted them due to increasing professionalism and corruption. [see 393CE]
(SFC, 7/14/96, p.T1)
400-500 About this time Apicius, a Roman gourmand, authored “De re coquinara" (concerning cookery). It is considered to be the first Western cookbook. The first printed edition came out in 1483.
(Econ, 12/20/08, p.140)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apicius)
402 Apr 6, Battle at Pollentia: Roman army under Stilicho beat the Visigoths.
(MC, 4/6/02)
404 Jan 1, The last known gladiatorial contest was held in Rome.
(http://writersalmanac.org/episodes/20170101/)
406 Aug 23, At the Battle at Florence the Roman army under Stilicho beat the Barbarians under Radagaisus.
(PC, 1992, p.50)
408 Aug 22, Flavius Stilicho (48), West Roman field leader (395-408), died.
(MC, 8/22/02)
410 Aug 24, Rome was overrun by the Visigoths, an event that symbolized the fall of the Western Roman Empire. German barbarians sacked Rome. In 2020 Douglas Boin authored "Alaric the Goth".
(AP, 8/24/97)(HN, 8/24/98)(Econ., 6/20/20, p.72)
410 Rome abandoned its British provinces.
(AM, 11/04, p.41)
410 Flavius Aetius (12), the son of a Roman general, was sent to live as a hostage of the Huns, who hd captured what later became Hungary and Romania.
(ON, 4/12, p.1)(Old News, 4/2022, p.1)
418 Mar 10, Jews were excluded from public office in the Roman Empire.
(MC, 3/10/02)
419 Jul 2, Valentinian III, Roman emperor (425-55), was born.
(SC, 7/2/02)
429CE Roman Africa was invaded by the Vandals, barbarians who had fought and conquered their way across Germany, France, Spain and across the Strait of Gibraltar.
(Enc. of Africa, 1976, p.168)
430CE Augustine died in Hippo with a Vandal army outside the gates of the city. (V.D.-H.K.p.94)
432 Flavius Aetius was appointed commander-in-chief of all the armies of the Western Roman Empire.
(ON, 4/12, p.1)
434-453 Attila the Hun was known in western Europe as the "Scourge of God." Attila was the king of the Huns from 434 to 453 and one of the greatest of the barbarian rulers to assail the Roman Empire.
(HNQ, 12/19/98)
451 Mar, The Huns moved across the Rhine at the city of Mainz and into northern Gaul.
(Old News, 4/2022, p.2)
451 Apr 8, Attila's Huns plundered Metz and continued moving south along the Moselle River.
(ON, 4/12, p.2)
451 Apr, Roman Emperor Valentinian ordered Aetius, commander of the armies of the Western Roman Empoire, to take his army and wait at Arles, the capital of Gaul, and to judge where and when to berst engage Attila, the commander of the Huns.
(Old News, 4/2022, p.2)
451 Jun 14, Aetius, commander of the armies of the Western Roman Empire, reached Aurelianum (Orleans) about this time, along with Theodoric, king of the Visigoths., to face the Hun forces of Attila.
(Old News, 4/2022, p.2)
451 Jun 20, Roman and Barbarian warriors halted Attila’s army at the Catalaunian Plains (Catalarinische Fields) in eastern France. Attila the Hun was defeated by a combined Roman and Visigoth army. Theodoric I, the Visigothic king, was killed. The Huns moved south into Italy but were defeated again. Some sources date this on Sep 20. Attila and his brother Bleda jointly inherited the Hunnish Kingdom, headquartered in what later became Hungary. Attila later murdered Bleda to gain full control.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Catalaunian_Plains)(V.D.-H.K.p.88)(ON, 4/12, p.3)
451 Sep 20, Roman General Aetius defeated Attila the Hun at Chalons-sur-Marne (Battle of the Catalaunian Plains). Many sources date this on Jun 20.
(http://tinyurl.com/6vaxufu)
452CE Jun 8, Italy was invaded by Attila the Hun.
(HN, 6/8/98)
452 Pope Leo I met Attila the Hun on the banks of the Mincio and Attila agreed to make peace and spare Rome.
(PTA, 1980, p.90)
454 Sep 21, In Italy, Aetius, the supreme army commander, was murdered in Ravenna by Valentinian III, the emperor of the West.
(HN, 9/21/98)
455 Mar 16, Valentinian III, Roman emperor in the West from 425, was assassinated in Rome by two Scythian followers of Aetius: Optelas and Thraustelas.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentinian_III)
455 May 31, Petronius Maximus, senator, Emperor of Rome, was lynched.
(MC, 5/31/02)
455 Jun 16, Rome was sacked by the Vandal army. Gaiseric looted and burned Rome for 14 days. He took the looted treasure, which likely included the 70AD plunder from Jerusalem, by ship to the temple of Carthage.
(V.D.-H.K.p.88)(HN, 6/16/98)(SFC, 10/23/06, p.A15)
455 Jul 9, Avitus, the Roman military commander in Gaul, became Emperor of the West.
(HN, 7/9/98)
476 Aug 28, The western Roman Empire formally ended at Ravenna as the barbarian general Odoacer deposed the last of the Roman emperors, the young boy Romulus Augustus.
(ATC, p.32)(PC, 1992, p.52)
480 Boethius (d.524) was born in Rome about this time. He acquired an important post under the Ostrogoth King Theodoric, but later fell into disfavor and was imprisoned. In prison he wrote his famous "The Consolation of Philosophy."
(V.D.-H.K p.113)
524 Anicius Manlius Severinus Boëthius, commonly called Boethius (b.~477), Roman senator, consul, magister officiorum, and philosopher of the early 6th century, died in Pavia.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boethius)
536 Dec 9, Byzantine Count Belisarius entered Rome through the Asinarian Gate at the head of 5,000 troops. At the same time, 4,000 Ostrogoths left the city through the Flaminian Gate and headed north to Ravenna, the capital of their Italian kingdom. For the first time since 476, when the Germanic king, Odoacer, had deposed the last Western Roman emperor and crowned himself "King of the Romans," the city of Rome was once more part of the Roman empire—albeit an empire whose capital had shifted east to Constantinople. Belisarius had taken the city back as part of Emperor Justinian’s grand plan to recover the western provinces from their barbarian rulers. The plan was meant to be carried out with an almost ridiculously small expeditionary force. The 5,000 soldiers that General Belisarius led included Hunnish and Moorish auxiliaries, and they were expected to defend circuit walls 12 miles in diameter against an enemy who would soon be back, and who would outnumber them at least 10-to-1.
(HN, 12/9/98)(HNC, 10/1/99)
537CE Mar 11, The Goths laid siege to Rome. The Goths cut the aqueducts to Rome in the 6th century.
(HN, 3/11/98)(SFEC, 7/2/00, p.T4)
590 Pope Gregory said he spotted an angel atop Hadrian’s Mausoleum. The site was then reconfigured as a fortress called Castel Sant’Angelo. In 1925 it became a national museum.
(SSFC, 5/1/05, p.F8)
609 May 13, Pope Boniface I turned Roman Pantheon into Catholic church.
(MC, 5/13/02)
1347 Nov 20, Roman tribune Cola di Rienzi defeated nobles. Stefano Colonna, Roman senator, died in battle (SPQR).
(MC, 11/20/01)
1347 Dec 3, Pope Clemens VI declared Roman tribune, Cola di Rienzi, a heretic.
(MC, 12/3/01)
1453 May 29, Constantinople fell to Mehmed II, ending the Byzantine Empire. The fall of the eastern Roman Empire, Byzantium, to the Ottoman Turks was led by Mehmed II. Emperor Constantine XI Dragases (49), the 95th ruler to sit on the throne of Constantine, was killed. The city of Constantinople fell from Christian rule and was renamed Istanbul. The Hagia Sophia was turned into a mosque. Spice prices soared in Europe. Nicolo Barbaro wrote his "Diary of the Siege of Constantinople." Manuel Chrysophes, court musician to Constantine XI, wrote a threnody for the fall of Constantinople. In 2005 Roger Crowley authored “1453 The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West."
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehmed_the_Conqueror)(SFC, 7/27/98, p.A8)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R49)(ON, 10/00, p.12)(Ot, 1993, p.6)(WSJ, 1/2/02, p.A15)(SSFC, 8/14/05, p.F4)
1776 Feb 17, Edward Gibbon (1737-1794), English historian, published his 1st volume of "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." He completed the 6-volume classic in 1788.
(WUD, 1994 p.596)(WSJ, 5/26/07, p.P6)
1999 John Onians authored "Classical Art and the Cultures of Greece and Rome."
(WSJ, 9/7/99, p.A23)
2015 Jul, In Switzerland a farmer in Ueken in the northern canton of Aargau discovered 4,166 bronze and silver coins dating back to Ancient Rome and weighing 15 kilos (33 pounds). They stretched from the rein of Emperor Aurelian (year 270-275) to that of Maximilian (286-305), with the most recent coins dated to year 294. Archeologists said it was impossible to determine their original value due to rampant inflation at the time.
(AFP, 11/19/15)
2015 Mary Beard authored “SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome."
(Econ, 10/17/15, p.85)
Go to http://www.timelinesdb.com
Subject = Romans
End of file
Return to home
753BC Apr 21, Rome was founded. The traditional date for founding by Romulus as a refuge for runaway slaves and murderers who captured the neighboring Sabine women for wives. Archeological evidence indicates that the founders of Rome were Italic people who occupied the area south of the Tiber River.
(HFA,'96,p.28)(V.D.-H.K.p.61)(http://eawc.evansville.edu,p.7)(HN,4/21/98)
620BC Ostia was founded by the fourth king of Rome, Ancus Marcius, who was thought to have ruled in the late seventh century BC. It was founded about this time at the mouth of the Tiber River. Nearby salt flats provided a valuable source of salt for preserving meat. Around 400BC it was conquered by Rome and turned into a naval base.
(www.ostia-antica.org/intro.htm)(SSFC, 5/11/08, p.E8)
c600BC The Etruscans, believed to be natives of Asia Minor, established cities that stretched from northern to central Italy. They developed the arch and the vault, gladiatorial combat for entertainment, and the study of animals to predict future events.
(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.8)
c600BC The Greeks established city-states along the southern coast of Italy and the island of Sicily. They contributed letters to the Roman alphabet, religious concepts and artistic talent as well as mythology.
(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.8)
600-500BC Rome by this time was the dominant power in its surrounding area. The conservative government consisted of a kingship, that resembled the traditional values of the patriarchal family; an assembly, composed of male citizens of military age; and a Senate, comprised of elders who served as the heads of different community sects. The Palatine is one of the seven hills of Rome
(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.7)(SFC,12/26/97, p.C22)
509BC The Romans overthrew King Lucius Tarquinius and established a republic with rule by the senate and the people of Rome (SPQR - Senatus Populusque Romanus).
(V.D.-H.K.p.61)(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.10)(Econ, 11/6/04, p.85)
509BC The Fall of the Tarquin dynasty in Rome marked the beginning of Etruscan Decline.
(NG, 6/1988, p.711)
500-400BC The Capitoline Wolf, a bronze she-wolf sculpture, was made. It was unknown whether the sculpture was Etruscan, Roman or from Magna Graecia.
(AM, Jul/Aug ‘97 p.19)
494BC In Rome the first victory of the plebeian class over the patricians resulted in an agreement between the two classes to allow the plebeians to elect officers, and tribunes with the power to veto any unlawful acts of the magistrates.
(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.10)
474BC In 2018 Italian authorities unveiled the "epochal" discovery of hundreds of Roman-era gold coins, dating from this time, that were found during excavations to build a new apartment building in the northern city of Como.
(AP, 9/10/18)
458BC Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus (520BC-430BC) was appointed dictator for six months. He was called from retirement to confront the Aequi, who had trapped a Roman army.
(Econ, 3/10/12, p.66)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnatus)
450BC Roman law was codified in the twelve tablets. The law allowed the plebeians to have knowledge of their relationship to the law. The plebeians were primarily farmers, craftsmen and tradesmen with foreign backgrounds. The patricians made up the aristocracy.
(V.D.-H.K.p.67)(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.11)
c400BC In a wave of Celtic expansion tribes poured through the Alps into Italy.
(NGM, 5/77)
396BC Sacking of Veio (Etruscan city), after a ten-year siege, ended the city’s long conflict with Rome. (NG, 6/1988, p.711)
387BC Rampaging bands of Celts captured Rome and then settled down to a life of agriculture in the Po Valley.
(NGM, 5/77)
367BC In Rome the first plebeian consul was elected to the assembly. The Plebeians also became eligible to serve as lesser magistrates, formerly a position reserved for the aristocratic class. Because an ancient custom allowed promotion from the magistracy to the Senate, the patrician-dominated Senate was broken.
(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.12)
312BC Appius Claudius, the Blind, as consul began the building of the Via Appia. The historian Procopius states that the road was completed at this time. It ran due south from Rome to Capua. (V.D.-H.K.p.69)(SFC, 6/3/96, p.E5)
304BC Cnieus Flavius, a commoner, brought justice to Rome by stealing a calendar. He posted his purloined tablet in the Roman Forum. The letters A-H corresponded to an 8-day Roman market-day cycle.
(SFEC, 9/27/98, BR p.5)
c300-200BC Andronicus Livius, a Roman actor of the 3rd cent. BCE improvised silently and originated pantomime.
(SFC,12/27/97, p.C3)
295BC The Battle of Sentinum. Etruria was defeated by Rome and the Etruscan decline continued for more than 200 years. (NG, 6/1988, p.739)
287BC In Rome the plebeians passed a law that allowed the decisions of the assembly to override the Senate.
(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.14)
280BC The army of King Pyrrhus of Epirus, a Greek state, suffered irreplaceable casualties in defeating the Romans at Heraclea during the Pyrrhic War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhic_victory)
279BC The army of King Pyrrhus of Epirus, a Greek state, suffered irreplaceable casualties in defeating the Romans at Asculum during the Pyrrhic War. The phrase Pyrrhic victory came to signify a victory gained at a devastating cost.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhic_victory)
269BC The Roman system of coinage was established.
(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.14)
265BC Rome completed its domination of the entire Italian peninsula and began its pursuit of a larger empire that resulted in a series of wars with other nations.
(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.14)
264BC Rome initiated the Punic Wars with Carthage, an oligarchic empire that stretched from the northern coast of Africa to the Strait of Gibraltar. The primary cause was the Carthaginian expansion into the Greek cities of Sicily. Carthage was forced to surrender its control over the western region of Sicily and this marked the end of the first Punic War. The three Punic Wars: 264-241 BCE, 218-202 BCE, 149-146 BCE, also known as the Carthaginian Wars, finally resulted in the destruction of Carthage and Roman control of the western Mediterranean.
(eawc, p.14)(HNQ, 6/4/02)
262BC War broke out between Carthage and Rome. Three long wars lasted till 146BCE when Carthage was destroyed by Rome.
(Enc. of Africa, 1976, p.167-8)
261BC Rome captured a Punic quinquereme. In two months they copied it plank by plank and built 100 like it and eventually the Roman fleet was able to defeat the Carthaginians.
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.178)
256BC The Carthaginian city of Kerouane was sacked by the Romans.
(NG, 8/04, p.48)
250-150BC Punic wars between Rome and Carthage.
(V.D.-H.K.p.63)
241BC Mar 10, The Battle of Aegusa in which the Roman fleet sank 50 Carthaginian ships occurred.
(HN, 3/10/98)
241BC The Romans incorporated Sicily as a province.
(AM, 11/00, p.12)
240BC The Ludi Romani annual festival allowed a Greek play to be staged in Latin translation by Livius Andronicus.
(Econ, 2/6/15, p.76)
239-169BC Ennius, Roman poet: "A friend in need is a friend indeed."
(SSFC, 5/18/03, Par p.26)(WUD, 1994, p.474)
238 BC The Romans occupied Sardinia.
(SFEC, 1/30/00, p.T4)
238BC-227AD The Parthians (238 B.C.-A.D. 227) ruled the Persian Empire despite attempts by the Roman Republic (133-27 B.C.), the Roman Empire (27 B.C.-A.D. 476) to conquer it. During the centuries-long struggle, border towns and provinces in the Near East passed back and forth like Alsace-Lorraine or the Polish Corridor would in nineteenth-and twentieth-century Europe. Rarely in the history of human conflict has a feud such as the one between the empires of Rome and Persia lasted so long and accomplished so little.
(HNQ, 12/22/00)
234-149 BC Cato, Roman statesman and historian: "If you are ruled by mind, you are a king; if by body, a slave."
(AP, 1/11/99)
233BC General Quintus Fabius Maximus led a Roman victory against the Ligurian tribes northwest of Italy.
(ON, 9/05, p.6)
225BC Polybius, a Greek historian, described the naked gaesatae, Celtic spearmen, at the Battle of Telamon, northwest of Rome where the Romans defeated the Celts.
(NGM, 5/77)
222-196BC The Romans showed up at the site of Milan and subdued the Gauls after 26 years of butchery. Mittaland was Latinized to Medioland, i.e. middle of the plain, and later transformed to Milano.
(SFEC, 7/13/97, p.T12)
218BC The Romans renewed their efforts against Carthage as Carthage expanded into Spain. This 2nd Punic War lasted 16 years at the of which Carthage was forced to surrender al of its territory to Rome except for its capital city in North Africa.
(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.15)
218BC Hannibal crossed Portugal on his way to storm Rome.
(SSFC, 9/29/02, p.C11)
218-201BC Numidia, ancient Roman name for part of northern Africa roughly equivalent to modern Algeria. In the Second Punic War (218-201 BCE) between Carthage and Rome, western Numidia supported Carthage. King Masinissa of eastern Numidia joined the Romans. With the victory of Rome, Masinissa controlled all Numidia.
(WWW, Encarta, 12/19/98)
217BC Jun 21, Carthaginian forces led by Hannibal destroyed a Roman army under consul Gaius Flaminicy in a battle at Lake Trasimenus in central Italy. Hannibal of Carthage attacked Roman Consul Flaminio at Tuoro on Lake Trasimeno in Umbria. Hannibal’s army of Numidians, Berbers, Libyans, Gascons, and Iberians was down to one elephant after crossing the Alps with 39. His army of 40,000 drove the Romans into the lake where 15,000 died as opposed to 1,500 of Hannibal’s men. Two nearby towns were named Ossaia (boneyard) and Sanguineto (bloodied).
(SFEM, 10/12/97, p.37)(HN, 6/21/98)
217BC During the Second Punic War Rome appointed Quintus Fabius Maximus as dictator to stave off Hannibal’s Carthaginian army.
(ON, 9/05, p.6)
216 BC Aug 2, Hannibal Barca of Carthage won his greatest victory over the Romans at Cannae. Hannibal seized a grain depot in the small village of Cannae in order to lure the Romans to battle. Having crossed over the Alps, Hannibal‘s forces defeated the Romans at the Trebia River and also at Lake Trasimene. Thereafter, the Romans were unwilling to commit a large force to attacking Hannibal. However, Hannibal‘s spies had learned two Roman consuls shared command of the legions and attempted to goad the more impetuous of the two into battle at Cannae.
(HN, 8/2/98)(HNQ, 11/16/00)
212BC A suspected influenza epidemic struck during Rome’s siege of Syracuse.
(Econ 5/27/17, p.75)
212BC Archimedes (b.287BC), Greek mathematician, died. Legend holds that he was killed by a Roman soldier during an invasion of Syracuse, because he was too busy doing calculations to obey the soldier’s orders.
(SFC, 5/23/05, p.A4)
211BC Roman legions overran the Greek settlement of Morgantina on Sicily.
(SFC, 4/4/98, p.A13)
206BC Rome destroyed Carthaginian forces at the Battle of Metaurus in northern Italy.
(ON, 9/05, p.7)
204BC-202BC Greece and most of Asia Minor came under the control of the Romans after the Roman victory over Carthage in the 2nd Punic War.
(WSJ, 12/26/97, p.A7)(ON, 9/05, p.7)
203BC Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus (b~280), Roman general and dictator, died shortly before Hannibal’s final defeat. He was nicknamed “The Delayer" for wearing down Hannibal’s invading army by avoiding pitched battles. The name Fabian has come to mean “using a cautious strategy of delay and avoidance of battle."
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quintus_Fabius_Maximus_Verrucosus)(ON, 9/05, p.7)(Econ, 7/7/12, p.64)
203BC Hannibal and his army returned home to defend Carthage against Roman forces.
(ON, 9/05, p.7)
202BC Roman forces under Scipio Africanus defeated Hannibal of Carthage on the Plains of Zama in northern Tunisia.
(NG, 8/04, p.44)(www2.cs.uh.edu/~clifton/hannibal.html)
199-150BC Early in the 2nd century BCE the Romans made Macedonia into a province and obliterated the city of Corinth.
(WSJ, 12/26/97, p.A7)
184BC In Rome Cato the Censor (234-149) was elected as one of two censors, i.e. assessors of property and moral conduct. He aimed to preserve Roman ways and tried to extirpate Greek influences.
(V.D.-H.K.p.65)
170BC Lucius Accius, Roman poet, wrote "Has oderint dum metuant" (Let them hate us, so long as they fear us). This became a favorite phrase of Emperor Caligula.
(SFC, 3/16/03, p.D3)
169BC Ennius, considered to be the father of Latin poetry, died.
(Econ, 2/6/15, p.77)
168BC The Greek city of Aigai was destroyed by the Romans.
(AP, 8/29/09)
168BC Illyria and Epirus were conquered by Rome.
(CO, Grolier's Amer. Acad. Enc./ Albania)
167BC Rome presented to Athens the island of Delos, whose prosperous slave and commodities market brought large profits.
(WSJ, 12/26/97, p.A7)
165 BC Romans captured King Gent of Illyria and sent him to Rome. Illyria went under Roman control.
(www, Albania, 1998)
149-146BC Rome and Carthage fought the 3rd Punic War that resulted in the total defeat of Carthage. All inhabitants of Carthage were sold into slavery and the city was burned to the ground. As a result of the Punic wars Rome expanded its empire to cover Spain, North Africa, Greece, Asia Minor and Egypt.
(eawc, p.15)(HNQ, 8/9/00)
146BC Roman forces breached the walls of Carthage. All inhabitants were sold into slavery. The city was burned to the ground and the land was sown with salt.
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.174)(NG, 8/04, p.46)
146-30BC All Hellenistic territory became subject to Rome over this period.
(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.15)
146-30BC Roman civilization as a result of the Punic Wars witnessed a series of cultural conflicts and assassinations.
(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.15)
141BC The Romans incorporated Macedonia as a province.
(AM, 11/00, p.12)
133BC In Rome Tiberius Gracchus was elected as tribune. He and his brother, elected in 123BCE, strove for reforms in the Roman Republic, but failed due to the conservative customs of the upper class and their resistance to change. Marius and Sulla, 2 military leaders, followed the attempts of the Gracchi.
(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.15)
133BC Attalus III of Pergamon bequeathed his kingdom to Rome. It became the province of Asia.
(AM, 11/00, p.12)
123BC In Rome Gaius Gracchus was elected as tribune. [see 133BCE]
(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.15)
123BC The Romans won a victory over the Gauls near a 3,000 foot peak that was named Mt. Sainte-Victoire in commemoration. It established a marker between civilization and barbarism.
(WSJ, 2/13/04, p.A12)
116-27BC Marcus Terentius Varro, a Roman scholar and author.
(AM, 11/00, p.78)(WUD, 1994 p.1581)
106BC Jan 3, Marcus Cicero (d.43BCE), Roman orator, statesman and author, was born. He was elected Consul in 63. He chose to support Pompey over Caesar and was murdered by Mark Antony: "What is more unwise than to mistake uncertainty for certainty, falsehood for truth?"
(V.D.-H.K.p.74)(AP, 4/10/98)(HN, 1/3/99)
106-48BC Pompey, military and political leader of the late Roman Republic. He was a rival to Caesar for Roman power.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompey)
105BC The heart of ancient Numidia lay in the eastern region of what is now Algeria in Northern Africa. The Numidians were originally nomadic horsemen. They were defeated by Roman troops in the Jugurthine War in 105 BC and conquered by Rome in 46 BC. The Vandals and Byzantines ruled successively before Arabs conquered the area in the seventh century AD. Jugurtha was the king of Numidia.
(HNQ, 6/2/98)(SFC, 2/12/02, p.D3)
104BC Rome faced a slave retaliation in Sicily.
(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.15)
c100BC Jul 12, Gaius Julius Caesar (d.44BC), Roman general and statesman, was born.
(WUD, 1994 p.208)(AP, 7/12/97)(HN, 7/12/98)
100-1BC A Roman fortified citadel was built about this time in Moldova. It may have protected a town occupied by a late-era Sarmatian king.
(SFC, 1/28/97, p.A5)
96-81BC The Circus of Domitian was built in Rome. It later became the Piazza Navona.
(SFEC, 7/2/00, p.T5)
89BC Roman general Cornelius Sulla sacked Clusium, the Etruscan capital.
(Econ, 11/6/04, p.85)
80BC Roman Gen. Pompey conquered Domitius Ahenobarbus and King Hiarbus of Numidia. Pompey restored Hiempsal to his throne.
(http://tinyurl.com/98vk3p9)(www.historyofwar.org/articles/people_juba_I_numidia.html)(Econ, 8/4/12, p.53)
80sBC Mithridates, ruler of Pontus in the north of Asia Minor, made war on Rome and overran much of Asia Minor and parts of Greece. The Athenians joined Mithridates and was consequently besieged by the Roman Gen’l. Sulla.
(WSJ, 12/26/97, p.A7)
80BC-70BC The Romans built the Flavian Amphiteatre and named it after the family name of Emperor Vespasian. The Colosseum could seat 50,000 spectators and had underground chambers, dens and passageways, an area known as the hypogeum.
(SFC, 10/15/10, p.A5)
74BC According to Pliny the Roman General Lucullus introduced cherries to Europe. Greeks had cultivated cherries hundreds of years before this.
(SFC, 4/12/03, p.E3)
73BC Rome faced a 2nd slave uprising in Sicily.
(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.15)
71BC Spartacus (b.111BC), Thracian gladiator, died. He along with Crixus, Gannicus, Castus, and Oenomaus, was one of the escaped slave leaders in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprising against the Roman Republic. Little is known about Spartacus beyond the events of the war, and surviving historical accounts are sometimes contradictory and may not always be reliable. However, all sources agree that he was a former gladiator and an accomplished military leader.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spartacus)
70BC Oct 15, Virgil [Vergil] (Publius Vergilius Maro), Roman poet, was born in Mantua. He wrote about the mythical founding of Rome in the Aeneid, which told the legend of Rome‘s founder and was considered a national epic.
(V.D.-H.K.p.60)(HN, 10/15/98)(AMNHDT, 5/98)
69BC Pliny the Elder (23-79CE), a Roman naturalist, recorded that the Roman Gen’l. Lucullus experienced an attack by the Samosatans at this time with a flammable mud called maltha (semisolid petroleum and gases).
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.57)(WUD, 1994, p.1106)
65 BC Dec 8, Quintus "Horace" Horatius Flaccus (d.8 BCE), Roman poet and satirist best known for his three books "Odes," was born.
(HN, 12/8/98)(AP, 11/4/00)
64BC The Greek settlement of Seleucia (in southeastern Turkey) was conquered and ruled by the Roman Empire and with this shift the name of the city was changed into Zeugma, meaning "bridge-passage" or "bridge of boats."
(Arch, 9/02, p.62)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeugma_(city))
63BC Sep 23, Caesar Augustus (63BCE-14CE) was born in Rome. Augustus, first emperor of Rome, ended the era of the Roman Republic and introduced the Pax Romana, the era of peace. Augustus held power but shared administrative tasks with the Senate, consuls, and tribunes who continued to be elected: "Make haste slowly."
(V.D.-H.K.p.63)(AP, 9/23/97)(AP, 11/20/97)(HN, 9/23/98)
63BC Cicero was elected Consul of Rome. During this time he suppressed a conspiracy to murder the entire Senate.
(WSJ, 6/11/02, p.D7)
63BC The Romans conquer the Jews. The Jews appealed to Pompey to settle internal dissention. The Romans intervened and began their occupation of Palestine.
(V.D.-H.K.p.102)(http://eawc.evansville.edu, p.15)
63BC Caesar’s troops plundered Terena in Portugal’s Alentejo province.
(SSFC, 9/29/02, p.C11)
55BC Aug 26, Roman forces under Julius Caesar invaded Britain. 80 war galleys with some ten thousand foot soldiers prevailed over the native Britons.
(AP, 8/26/97)(ON, 6/09, p.6)
55BC Lucretius (b.~99BC), a Roman poet and philosopher, died about this time. He had authored “On the Nature of Things" (De Rerum Natura), which laid out in 7,400 lines of Latin verse the radical philosophy of the Greek philosopher Epicurus (341BC-270BC). The work disappeared in the Middle Ages and lay largely forgotten until 1417, when bibliophile Poggio Bracciolini stumbled on the work in a monastery in southern Germany.
(SSFC, 12/18/11, p.F7)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucretius)
55BC Pompey dedicated his theater, the first to be constructed of stone in Rome.
(RFH-MDHP, p.214)
54BC Jul, Roman forces under Julius Caesar invaded Britain for a 2nd time. He was accompanied by Mandubracius, an exiled British chieftain. The expedition of 10,000 foot soldiers and 2,00 cavalry was followed by a number of privately owned vessels commissioned by Roman merchants eager to take advantage of Caesar’s anticipated victory.
(ON, 6/09, p.7)
54BC The Romans under Julius Caesar fought the first skirmishes with the Celts in England. British chieftain Cassivellaunus, who had killed the father of Mandubracius, led a guerilla style war against Caesar’s legions. Caesar’s forces prevailed and Cassivellaunus agreed not to make war against Mandubracius.
(SFEC, 6/22/97, BR p.3)(ON, 6/09, p.7)
54BC-52BC The Gauls rose in revolt against Caesar.
(ON, 6/09, p.7)
54BC The Eburons, A Belgian tribe under the command of their King Ambiorix, won a victory against the Roman Legion.
(http://www.trabel.com/tongeren-history.htm)
54BC Gaius Valerius Catullus (b.~84BC), Roman poet, died about this time. He became famous for his epicurean lifestyle and erotic poems.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catullus)(Econ, 2/23/08, p.103)
53BC Caesar claimed to have wiped out the Celtic Eburones after they conspired with other groups in an attack that killed 6,000 Roman soldiers. The Eburones lived in an area that later came be known as part of Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.
(AP, 11/14/08)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eburones)
53BC The Persians defeated the Romans in the Battle of Carrhae. Some 20,000 Romans under Crassus were killed by the Parthian army and 10,000 were captured. The Parthians then used the Romans as guards on their eastern frontier in what later became Turkestan.
(ATC, p.33)(HC, 9/3/04)(Econ, 12/18/04, p.59)
52BC Pompey dedicated his Temple of Venus Victrix.
(RFH-MDHP, p.214)
c52BC Cicero defended Titus Milo for the murder of Publius Clodius. The setting is the background for the historical detective novel: "A Murder on the Appian Way" by Steven Saylor.
(SFC, 6/3/96, p.E5)
52BC Caesar climaxed his conquest of Gaul at Alesia where he vanquished Celtic forces under Vercingetorix.
(NGM, 5/77)
50BC Virgil first described the Damask Rose.
(TGR, 1995, p.3)
50BC Maastricht, Netherlands, began as a Roman settlement.
(SSFC, 2/20/05, p.F2)
49 BC Jan 11, Julius Caesar led his army across the Rubicon, plunging Rome into civil war. [see Mar 10]
(HN, 1/11/99)
49 BC Jan 12, Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon River signaling a war between Rome and Gaul. [see Jan 11, Mar 10]
(HN, 1/12/99)
49BC Mar 10, Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon and invaded Italy. The event was noted by Suetonius in the phrase: "The die is cast."
(SFEC,12/14/97, BR p.5)(HN, 3/10/98)
49BC Mauretania (now northern Morocco and Algeria) became a client kingdom of Rome.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.22)
48BC Aug 9, Julius Caesar defeated Gnaius Pompey at Pharsalus.
(HN, 8/9/98)
48 BC Sep 28, On landing in Egypt, Pompey was assassinated by Roman advisors of King Ptolemy X!! of Egypt.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompey)
47 BC Aug 2, Caesar defeated Pharnaces at Zela in Syria and declares "veni, vidi, vici," (I came, I saw, I conquered).
(HN, 8/2/98)
47BC Julius Caesar adopted a modified form of the Egyptian Calendar. Together with Sosigenes, an astronomer from Alexandria, the new calendar spreads the last 5-6 days of the Egyptian calendar amongst alternate months. March 1 began the year as a carry over from the old Roman calendar.
(K.I.-365D, p.84)
46BC The Julian calendar was introduced by Julius Caesar (708 AUC). It was a reform of the Roman calendar and took effect January 1, 45 BC (709 AUC).
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_calendar)
46BC The heart of ancient Numidia lay in the eastern region of what is now Algeria in Northern Africa. They were conquered by Rome in 46 BCE. The Vandals and Byzantines ruled successively before Arabs conquered the area in the seventh century CE.
(HNQ, 6/2/98)
45BC Jan 1, The Julian calendar took effect. The year -45 has been called the "year of confusion," because in that year Julius Caesar inserted 90 days to bring the months of the Roman calendar back to their traditional place with respect to the seasons. This was Caesar's first step in replacing a calendar that had gone badly awry.
(http://astro.nmsu.edu/~lhuber/leaphist.html)
45BC Mar, Caesar defeated the least of his rivals and was proclaimed dictator for life.
(ON, 6/09, p.7)
c45BC Colonia Julia Equestris, a Roman veterans’ colony, was founded in what is now Nyon, Switzerland. Nyon is derived from the Celtic name Noviodunum.
(AM, Jul/Aug ‘97 p.10)
44BC Mar 15, Roman Emperor Julius Caesar (b.100BC) was murdered by Brutus, Cassius and other conspirators on the Ides of March. Caesar had defeated Pompey in battle and had Pompey murdered in 48BCE. He was perceived as a big threat to the Roman Aristocracy and so his murder was supported by Cicero and most Romans. In 2006 Adrian Goldsworthy authored “Caesar: Life of a Colossus."
(ATC, p.24)(AP, 3/15/97)(WSJ, 10/24/06, p.D6)
44BC Rome’s great orator Cicero wrote a book for his son Marcus called de Officiis (On Duties). It drew on the works of various Greek philosophers, whose works have been lost, but his remain.
(Econ, 10/11/14, p.51)
44BC Caesar began building a colony at Butrint, Albania. Titus Pomponius Atticus described the area as "the quietest, coolest, most pleasant place in the world."
(Reuters, 6/13/06)
44BC The month of Quintilis was changed to Julius in honor of Julius Caesar. It had been the fifth month in the earliest calendar attributed to Romulus, which began with Martius and had 10 months. After a calendar reform that produced a 12-month year, Quintilis became the seventh month, but retained its name.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quintilis)
44BC A bright comet was declared by the Romans to be the soul of Julius Caesar ascending to join the gods.
(SFC, 3/28/97, p.A12)
43BC Mar 20, Ovid (d.17?18CE), Publius Ovidius Naso, Roman poet, was born. His writings included: "The Art of Love."
(WUD, 1994, p.1032)(SFEC, 12/22/96, Z1 p.2)(HN, 3/20/01)
43 BC Apr 21, Marcus Antonius was defeated by Octavian near Modena, Italy.
(HN, 4/21/99)
43 BC Nov 27, Octavian, Antony and Lepidus formed the triumvirate of Rome.
(HN, 11/27/98)
43BC Dec 7, Cicero (b.106BCE), considered one of the greatest sons of Rome was assassinated on the orders of Marcus Antonius. Cicero, elected Consul in 63, had chosen to support Pompey over Caesar. He translated Greek works that they might be understood by his fellow Romans, and tried to apply Greek ethical thought to Roman business and politics. His last work was "On Duties," where he propounds a common solution to all social problems i.e. "Always do the right thing... that which is legal... that which is honest, open and fair...keeping your word... telling the truth... and treating everyone alike. In 2002 Anthony Everitt authored "Cicero: The Life and Times of Rome’s Greatest Politician," a biography based on his letters. In 2006 Robert Harris authored “Imperium," a novel that covers Cicero’s early courtroom feats.
(V.D.-H.K.p.74)(HN, 12/7/98)(WSJ, 6/11/02, p.D7)(WSJ, 11/10/06, p.W4)
42BC Oct 23, Marcus Junius Brutus, a leading conspirator in the assassination of Julius Caesar, committed suicide after his defeat at the Battle of Philippi. Octavian and Mark Antony defeated Brutus and Cassius at Philippi in Macedonia.
(WUD, 1994, p.1081)(MC, 10/23/01)
42BC Nov 16, Tiberius Claudius Nero (d.37CE, Roman Emperor, was born. Tiberius was chosen by Augustus in 4CE as emperor of Rome.
(V.D.-H.K.p.77) (HN, 11/16/98)
33BC Agrippa called for the construction an aqueduct, 500 fountains and 700 basins for central Rome.
(SFEC, 7/2/00, p.T4)
32BC Pompey's theater was damaged in a storm and repaired by Augustus who especially noted that in repairing it he nowhere recorded his own name.
(RFH-MDHP, p.214)
32BC A Roman coin dating from this time bore the images of Cleopatra on one side and Marc Antony on the reverse. It represented one three hundredth of a Roman soldier's salary and was probably minted to pay the wages of those stationed in Egypt.
(AFP, 2/14/07)
31BC Sep 2, The Naval Battle of Actium in the Ionian Sea, between Roman leader Octavian and the alliance of Roman Mark Antony and Cleopatra, queen of Egypt. Octavian soundly defeated Antony's fleet which was burned and 5000 of his men were killed. The rivals battled for control of the Roman Empire in the naval battle of Actium, where Cleopatra, seeing Antony's navy being outmaneuvered by Octavian's, ordered her 60 ships to turn about and flee to safety.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Actium)
31BC Rome under Emperor Augustus annexed the Carthage territory.
(SSFC, 12/10/00, p.T8)
30 BC Jul 30, Mark Antony, lover of the Egyptian queen Cleopatra VII and claimant to the Roman throne, stabbed himself when faced with certain defeat at the hands of his rival Octavian. Antony expected to be named the heir to Rome after the assassination of his friend and confidant Julius Caesar, but had not counted on Caesar naming his adopted son Octavian as his successor. Shaken by his loss at Actium and abandoned by his allies, Antony committed suicide. Cleopatra followed him in death shortly afterward when she allowed herself to be bitten by a venomous asp.
(HNPD, 7/30/98)
29BC Roman poet Virgil (70-19BC) authored “Georgics," a manual on the best way to run farm.
(Boston Globe, 1/31/16, p.K8)
28BC Oct 9, The Temple of Apollo was dedicate on the Palatine Hill in Rome.
(HN, 10/9/98)
28BC In Rome the mausoleum of Emperor Augustus (d.14AD) was built.
(WSJ, 6/23/07, p.P16)
19BC Sep 20, The Roman poet Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro, b.70BCE) died. His epic "The Aeneid" became one of the great classics of Western literature. The story it tells runs from the end of the Trojan War to the start of the Roman Empire. "Now whoever has courage, and a strong and collected spirit in his breast, let him come forth, lace up his gloves, and put up his hands."
(WUD, 1994 p.1587)(MC 9/20/01)(WSJ, 8/21/02, p.D8)
19B C Agrippa had the Aqua Virgo built in Rome.
(SFEC, 7/2/00, p.T4)
19BC Lucius Cornelius Balbus led 20,000 men of the 3rd Augusta Legion across the Hamada al-Hamra (Red Rocky Plain) in the first Roman attack on the Garamantian heartland (Libya). Romans turned Ghadames, Libya, into a garrison town.
(Arch, 9/02, p.48)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garamantes)(SSFC, 6/27/04, p.D12)
15BC Roman Emperor Augustus built the Temple of Dendur on the Nile for the goddess Isis of Philae. Its ruin later later made its way to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
(Econ, 12/20/14, p.105)
12BC Aug 31, Caligula (Gaius Caesar), 3rd Roman emperor (37-41 CE), born.
(YN, 8/31/99)
10 BCE Aug 1, Claudius (d.54CE), Roman Emperor, was born. Tiberius Claudius Nero Caesar Drusus, the nephew of Tiberius and grandson of the wife of Augustus, was made emperor after Caligula.
(HN, 8/1/98)
9BC The Ara Pacis (Altar of Peace), ordered by Augustus Caesar, was constructed in Rome. In 2005 the Museum of the Ara Pacis opened in Rome.
(WSJ, 6/23/07, p.P16)
8 BC Nov 27, Quintus "Horace" Horatius Flaccus (b. 65BC), Roman poet and satirist best known for his three books "Odes," died in Rome. In 2002 J.D. McClatchy edited "Horace: The Odes, New Translations by Contemporary Poets. His quotes included: "Drop the question what tomorrow may bring, and count as profit every day that Fate allows you." "Many shall be restored that now are fallen and many shall fall that are now in honor."
(AP, 11/4/00)(SSFC, 12/29/02, p.M2)(Econ., 6/27/20, p.61)
8BC Augustus, emperor of the Roman Empire. The Roman Senate changed the name of the month Sextilis to Augustus, and an extra day was added while subtracting a day from February.
(K.I.-365D, p.89)
8BC Augustus Caesar ordered a census under the consulship of Gaius Censorinus and Gaius Asinius. 4,233,000 Roman citizens were counted.
(http://www.biblehistory.net/volume2/Quirinius.htm)
6BC Apr 17, Jupiter was in a rare alignment with the constellation Aries and marked an important date for ancient astrologers. Jesus was believed to have been born in this year.
(SFC, 4/13/01, p.C1)
6BC-4BC Publius Quinctilius Varus served as Roman governor of Syria.
(http://www.rovenet.com/tno/tacitus%20named%20officials/varus.html)
4BC Publius Sulpicius Quirinus served as Roman governor of Cilicia, which was annexed to Syria.
(www.botcw.com/bible/kjv/easton/east0953.htm)
4BC Lucius Annaeus Seneca (d.65) (aka Seneca the younger), Roman intellectual, was born in Spain.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_the_Younger)
1BC Mar 1, Start of the revised Julian calendar in Rome.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1CE-50CE Scribonius Largus, Roman court physician to emperor Claudius, lived about this time. He prescribed the shock of an electric eel for headaches.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scribonius_Largus)(Econ., 3/7/15, p.16)
1CE-100CE The 1st century Roman gourmet, Marcus Gavius Apicius, was thought to be the writer of the earliest known cookbook.
(SFEC, 4/16/00, Z1 p.2)
2CE-8CE Ovid wrote the "Metamorphosis." It was an epic poem that begins with the creation of the world and ends with the rise of Julius Caesar. Rolfe Humphries made a translation in 1955 that became a standard. A 1997 translation by Ted Hughes, "Tales From Ovid," retold 24 of the original 250 stories.
(WSJ, 1/9/98, p.A14)
4CE Gaius Caesar (24), the nephew and adopted heir of Caesar Augustus, died.
(WSJ, 6/23/07, p.P16)
4CE Tiberius (42BCE-37CE) was chosen by Augustus as emperor of Rome. He later banished the young Nero to the island of Ponza.
(V.D.-H.K.p.77)(SFEC, 11/8/98, p.T12)
6CE The Romans named Caesarea as a regional capital.
(SFC, 6/18/02, p.A2)
6CE Sulpicius Quirinius (Cyrenius), Roman governor of Syria, ordered a 2nd census of Judea.
(Econ, 1/1/05, p.38)(www.biblehistory.net/volume2/Quirinius.htm)
9CE Sep 9, Publius Quinctilius Varus (59), Roman governor of Germania (6-9CE), died of likely suicide following defeat at the Battle of Teutoburg Forest. Arminius, aka Hermann the German, had stopped a Roman advance eastward across the Rhine at the battle of Teutoburg, setting a limit on the Roman border.
(http://www.fact-index.com/p/pu/publius_quinctilius_varus.html)(Econ, 8/7/10, p.86)
9CE Emperor Tiberius of Rome subjugated the Illyrians and divided present day Albania between Dalmatia, Epirus, and Macedonia.
(www, Albania, 1998)
13CE Nov 16, Tiberius made his triumphant procession through Rome after siege of Germany.
(MC, 11/16/01)
14CE Aug 14, Emperor Caesar Augustus (b.63BC) died. His rule passed to Tiberius. Augustus was the founder of the Roman Principate and considered the first Emperor, controlling the Roman Empire from 27 BC until his death. Augustus in order to ensure the loyalty of his soldiers, offered a pension for those in the army who had served for 16 years (later 20), equivalent in cash or land to 12 times their annual salary.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus)(V.D.-H.K.p.77)(Econ, 9/24/16, p.25)
15CE May 24, Julius Caesar Germanicus, Roman commandant, was born.
(MC, 5/24/02)
17CE Jan 2, Publius Ovidius Naso, Roman poet, died.
(MC, 1/2/02)
17CE May 26, Germanicus of Rome celebrated a victory over the Germans.
(HN, 5/26/98)
19 CE Oct 10, Julius Caesar Germanicus (33), Roman commandant of Rijnleger and the best loved of Roman princes, died of poisoning. On his deathbed he accused Piso, the governor of Syria, of poisoning him.
(HN, 10/10/98)(MC, 10/10/01)
22CE Sulpicius Quirinius (Cyrenius), Roman soldier and civilian governor of Syria, died.
(Econ, 1/1/05, p.38)(www.biblehistory.net/volume2/Quirinius.htm)
27-37CE Tiberius moved to the isle of Capri and never returned to Rome.
(V.D.-H.K.p.77)(SFEM, 10/11/98, p.54)
28CE Jan 28, The Roman Emperor Nerva named Trajan, an army general, as his successor.
(HN, 1/28/99)
31CE Oct 18, Lucius Aelius Sejanus (b, 20 BC), commonly known as Sejanus, executed along with his followers on suspicions of conspiracy against Roman Emperor Tiberius. He was led from prison and strangled. His body was cast onto the Gemonian stairs, where the crowd tore it to pieces. Sejanus had been an ambitious soldier, friend and confidant of Tiberius.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sejanus)
36CE Chinese troops defeated the Hun ruler Zhizhi in what later became Uzbekistan. Among the captives were 145 Romans.
(Econ, 12/18/04, p.59)
37CE Feb 15, Claudius Drusus Germanicus Caesar Nero (d.68CE), emperor of Rome (54-68), was born. [see Dec 15]
(MC, 2/15/02)
37 Mar 16, Tiberius Claudius Nero (78), Roman emperor (14-37), died on a trip to the Italian mainland from his home on Capreae. He was succeeded by Caligula.
(PCh, 1992, p.36)(HN, 3/16/99)(AP, 3/15/07)
37 Mar 18, The Roman Senate annulled Tiberius’ will and proclaimed Caligula emperor.
(HN, 3/18/99)
37CE Dec 15, Nero Claudius Caesar, emperor of Rome who is blamed for the great fire of Rome, was born. Nero (Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus) was born (d. 68CE). [see Feb 15]
(WUD, 1994, p.959)(HN, 12/15/98)
37CE Caligula succeeded Tiberius and went mad within a year. His cruelty was so bad that he was murdered by the tribune of the palace guard after 4 years. He imprisoned his nieces on the island of Ponza for converting to Christianity. Caligula provided his horse, named Incitatus, an ivory manger and a marble stall, but no official state title as was rumored.
(V.D.-H.K.p.78)(SFEC, 11/8/98, p.T12)(WSJ, 4/22/99, A10)
37-41 Caligula ruled Rome. He had 2 large ships built and anchored for his pleasure on Lake Nemi.
(AM, 5/01, p.26)
39CE Nov 3, Lucan, Latin poet (Bellum Civile), was born in Cordova, Spain.
(MC, 11/3/01)
39CE Dec 30, Titus, 10th Roman emperor (79-81) and conqueror of Jerusalem, was born.
(MC, 12/30/01)
40CE Jun 13, Gnaeus Julius Agricola, Roman general and governor of Britain, was born. [WUD says 37-93CE]
(WUD, 1994, p.29)
41 Jan 24, Shortly after declaring himself a god, Gaius Caligula Germanicus, emperor from 37-41, was assassinated by two Praetorian tribunes.
(HN, 1/24/99)(MC, 1/24/02)
43CE The Romans under Claudius, the great nephew of Caesar, invaded and conquered Britain. They founded a settlement on the "Tamesis River" where a bridge could be built that grew to become London.
(SFEC, 6/22/97, BR p.3)(ON, 6/09, p.7)
43CE British Celts battled the Roman invaders in 2-wheeled chariots. The Belgae from northern Gaul had settled in Britain and ushered in the concept of towns and the art of enameling.
(NGM, 5/77)
43CE The Romans brought with them the board game latrunculi (little soldiers), when they conquered Britain.
(Arch, 1/05, p.39)
45CE The Apostle Paul is said to have preached the gospel in Cyprus at this time and converted the island's Roman governor Sergius Paulus, the first Roman official to undergo conversion.
(AP, 9/30/11)
53CE Sep 18, Marcus Trajanus (d.117), 13th Roman emperor (Trajan's Arch) (98-117), was born at Italica near Seville, Spain.
(http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Trajan)
54CE Oct 13, Roman emperor Claudius I died, after being poisoned with mushrooms by his wife, Agrippina. Nero (37-68CE), son of Agrippina, succeeded his great uncle Claudius, who was murdered by his wife, as the new emperor of Rome. After the murder of his wife, Octavia, Nero descended deep into a religious delirium. His acts became wild and unintelligible and he was displaced by his soldiers with Galba after which he committed suicide.
(WUD, 1994, p.959)(V.D.-H.K.p.78)(AP, 10/13/97)(HN, 10/13/01)
56CE Tacitus, Publius Cornelius was born. He was the Roman author of the Histories (begins with the death of Nero), and the Annals (begins with Tiberius' reign and goes to the end of Nero). Only a portion of the Histories survives (69-70CE). Of the Annals only those books dealing with the early career of Tiberius, and some treating the reigns of Claudius and Nero survive.
(V.D.-H.K.p.81)
59 CE Agrippina became insane and was murdered by her son, Nero.
(V.D.-H.K.p.78)
60 CE A comet appeared and was interpreted by the people of Rome to mean the impending death of their new emperor.
(NG, 12/97, p.105)
60 CE Boudicaa, queen of the Iceni in Britain, burned Roman London.
(NGM, 5/77)
62 CE Nero murdered his wife Octavia.
(V.D.-H.K.p.78)
c62-113CE Pliny the Younger, Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, Roman writer, statesman and orator. He described the death of his uncle, Plinius the Elder, at the 79CE eruption of Vesuvius in a letter to Tacitus.
(WUD, 1994, p.1106)(SFC, 9/1/97, p.A2)
64CE Jul 18, The Great Fire of Rome began. After the fire Nero began to build his Golden House in the center of the city.
(V.D.-H.K.p.78)(AP, 7/18/97)
64CE Jul 19, The Circus Maximus in Rome caught fire.
(MC, 7/19/02)
64CE Nero initiated the first persecution against the Christians. According to Seneca Nero sentenced hundreds of Christians to die by "tunica molesta," a naphtha impregnated "shirt of torture."
(CU, 6/87)(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.58)
65CE Jun 8, Jews revolted against Rome, capturing the fortress of Antonia in Jerusalem.
(MC, 6/8/02)
65CE Lucius Annaeus Seneca (b.4BC) (aka Seneca the younger), Roman intellectual, died. He was a Stoic philosopher and playwright and wrote a version of "Medea." Seneca was Nero's teacher. Nero had Seneca compose his speeches. Seneca and his colleague were ordered by Nero to contrive the murder of Agripinna. He was forced to commit suicide after the conspiracy of Caius Piso to murder Nero. His wife Paulina cut her wrists together with Seneca but Nero ordered that she be saved. Seneca's blood did not flow well and he asked for poison which was refused. He then requested a hot bath to increase the blood flow and apparently was suffocated by the steam. “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." Seneca’s writings included “On the Shortness of Life."
(V.D.-H.K.p.80)(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.57)(SFEC, 8/2/98, Z1 p.8)(Econ, 10/4/08, p.54)(Econ, 12/20/14, p.96)
66-73 Roman general Vespasian's army assaulted the forces of Jewish rebel Joseph ben Matthias at Jotapata in Galilee. During the Jewish revolt of 66-73 CE, Emperor Nero chose Titus Flavius Vespasianus (Vespasian) to subdue Judea. Vespasian was eminently qualified for this martial task. He was fresh from crushing a German rebellion, and as commander of Legio II, he had played a significant role in the conquest of Britannia (Britain) by Nero‘s predecessor. Joseph, meanwhile, had assembled his own army from the rebel bands of Galilee and trained them in the Roman model. He also fortified many towns, the strongest being Jotapata, a natural fortress perched on a rock outcrop. It was surrounded on three sides by steep valleys that made attack virtually impossible. The only approach to the city was from a hilltop to the north, and that was blocked by a dry moat fronting a sturdy wall.
(HNQ, 12/4/00)
67CE Some 37,000 Jewish prisoners were held at the Roman stadium in Tiberias after they lost a naval battle on the Sea of Galilee.
(SFC, 6/18/02, p.A2)
68CE Jun 9, Nero (31), Roman Emperor (54-68), committed suicide.
(AP, 6/9/97)(MC, 6/9/02)
68-69CE Galba reigned as the Roman emperor. He was a commander of Roman forces in Spain and acclaimed emperor by his 2 legions. When the praetorian guard accepted Galba, Nero committed suicide.
(WUD, 1994, p.1667)
69CE Jan 2, Roman Lower Rhine army proclaimed its commander, Vitellius, emperor.
(MC, 1/2/02)
69CE Jan 10, Roman emperor Galba adopted Marcus Piso Licinianus as Caesar.
(MC, 1/10/02)
69CE Jan 15, Servius Sulpicius Galba (70), 6th emperor of Rome (68-69), was murdered along with his newly adopted successor, Piso Licinianus. Marcus Salvius Otho (36) committed the murder and forced the senate to recognize himself as emperor.
(PC, 1992, p.37)
69CE Apr 16, Otho (32-69) committed suicide after he was defeated by Vitellius' (15-69) troops at Bedriacum. Otho had declared himself emperor of Rome after he killed Galba, who had been acclaimed emperor by his legions in Spain.
(WUD, 1994, p.1667)(HN, 4/16/98)
69 Dec 20, Vespians’s supporters entered Rome and discovered Vitellius in hiding. Vitellius, a Roman commandant of Rhine and the 7th emperor, was dragged through the streets before being brutally murdered. Vitellius had been acclaimed emperor by his legions in Germany in place of Galba. He was then killed in Rome fighting the supporters of Vespasian, the Roman commander of Judea. Gen. Vespasianus occupied Rome.
(WUD, 1994, p.1667)(HN, 12/20/98)(MC, 12/20/01)
69 Dec 21, Vespacian, a gruff-spoken general of humble origins, entered Rome and was adopted as emperor by the Senate.
(PCh, 1992, p.37)
69 Galba was murdered by Otho who forced the senate to declare him emperor.
(WUD, 1994, p.1667)
70 May 31, Rome captured the 1st wall of the city of Jerusalem.
(MC, 5/31/02)
70 Jun 5, Titus & his Roman legions breached the middle wall of Jerusalem.
(MC, 6/5/02)
70 Aug 8, Tower of Antonia was destroyed by the Romans.
(MC, 8/8/02)
70 Aug 29, The Temple of Jerusalem burned after a nine-month Roman siege. The Second Temple of Jerusalem was destroyed by Rome’s 10th Legion and the Jews there were exiled. In the Jewish War the Israelites tried unsuccessfully to revolt against Roman rule. The destruction buried the shops that lined the main street. Archeologists in 1996 found numerous artifacts that included bronze coins called prutot. Carpenters from Israel’s Antiquities Authority used manuscripts of the Roman master builder Vitruvius to reconstruct contraptions used in the construction of the temple. In 2007 Martin Goodman authored “Rome and Jerusalem: The Clash of Ancient Civilizations."
(SFC, 5/23/95, p.A-10)(SFC, 8/28/96, p.A10)(WSJ, 6/22/98, p.A20)(HN, 8/29/98)(SFEC, 3/28/99, p.T11)(Econ, 1/20/07, p.90)
70 Sep 7, The Roman army under Titus occupied and plundered Jerusalem.
(MC, 9/7/01)
70 Sep 27, The walls of upper city of Jerusalem were battered down by Romans.
(MC, 9/27/01)
70 Josephus recorded that Vespasian and his son Titus plundered 50 tons of gold and silver during the 70AD Roman conquest of Jerusalem.
(SFC, 10/23/06, p.A15)
70 A Roman punitive expedition forced the Garamantes of southern Libya to enter into an official relationship with Rome.
(AM, 3/04, p.28)
70 A tax on the disposal of urine was first imposed by Emperor Nero under the name of “vectigal urinae" in the 1st century AD. The tax was removed after a while, but it was re-enacted by Vespasian around 70 AD in order to fill the treasury.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pecunia_non_olet)
71 Vespasian and his son Titus paraded the treasure plundered from Jerusalem in triumph through the streets of Rome. They used the 50 tons of gold and silver to help finance the building of the Colosseum.
(SFC, 10/23/06, p.A15)
71 York became the Roman provincial capital of Northumbria. From the 9th to the 11th centuries it was dominated by Norse warrior-kings and was called Jorvik.
(SSFC, 2/23/14, p.M7)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavian_York)
73 Jewish zealots on Mount Masada chose to perish by their own hands rather than surrender to slavery under the Romans.
(SFEC, 3/28/99, p.T5)
75 The treasure plundered from Jerusalem in 70AD by the Romans under Vespasian and his son, Titus, was put on public display in the Temple of Peace in the Roman Forum and stayed there into the early 5th century.
(SFC, 10/23/06, p.A15)
76CE Jan 24, Publius A. Hadrianus, 14th Roman Emperor (117-138), was born.
(www.roman-emperors.org/hadrian.htm)
79AD Aug 24, Pliny the Elder, Roman naturalist, witnessed the eruption of long-dormant Mount Vesuvius and was overcome by the fumes as he tried to rescue refugees. The eruption buried the Roman cities of Pompeii, Stabiae, Herculaneum and other, smaller settlements in 13 feet of volcanic ash and pumice. An estimated 20,000 people died. The event was described by Pliny the Younger, the elder’s nephew, in a letter to Tacitus.
(HFA, '96, p.36)(DD-EVTT, p.70)(AP, 8/24/97)(WUD, 1994, p.1106)(SFC, 9/1/97, p.A2)(HNQ, 6/16/98)
80 The Roman Colosseum was inaugurated under Emp. Titus (Vespacian) with 100 days of gladiator combat. The poet Martial described one combat between Verus and Priscus. The amphitheater occupied the site of a large artificial lake, created by Nero for his Domus Aurea.
(SFC, 7/20/00, p.C3)(AM, 3/04, p.54)(WSJ, 1/25/05, p.D12)
80 In Rome a ban on the public visiting below the Colosseum stage level began when the amphitheater was inaugurated. The ban continued until the last show in 523.
(AP, 6/25/21)
81 Sep 13, Titus Flavius Vespasianus, emperor of Rome (69-81), died at 42.
(MC, 9/13/01)
81-96 The reign of Domitian. Soldiers under his reign earned an annual salary of about 1,200 sesterces.
(HNQ, 10/5/00)(AM, 5/01, p.36)
c81-138 Secret police agents in Ancient Rome were known as frumentarii. Growing out of an Augustine messenger service—the cursus publicus—frumentarii were originally just supply sergeants responsible for such mundane functions as the purchase and distribution of grain. However, under the reign of Domitian (81-96AD), or possibly Hadrian (117-138), they were turned into intelligence officers and gradually became more involved in state security.
(HNQ, 10/5/00)
86CE Sep 19, Antoninus Pius, 15th Roman emperor (138-161), was born.
(MC, 9/19/01)
96CE Jul 1, Vespasian, a Roman Army leader, was hailed as a Roman Emperor by the Egyptian legions.
(HN, 7/1/98)
96CE Sep 18, Domitian, Roman emperor, died. He was murdered and was succeeded by Nerva.
(V.D.-H.K.p.83)(MC, 9/18/01)
97CE Oct 27, To placate the Praetorians of Germany, Nerva of Rome adopted Trajan, the Spanish born governor of lower Germany.
(HN, 10/27/98)
97CE Sextus Julius Frontinus, Roman water commissioner, wrote of Rome: "The city looks cleaner, different, the air is purer and the causes of pollution that gave the air so bad a name with the ancients are now removed."
(SFEC, 7/2/00, p.T1)
98CE Jan 27, Marius Cocceius Nerva (67), emperor of Rome (96-98), died.
(MC, 1/27/02)
100CE Dioscorides, a Roman physician, named the marijuana plant cannabis sativa.
(WSJ, 2/8/05, p.D7)
104CE There was a fire in Rome. Emp. Trajan built massive baths over the Domus Aurea of Nero.
(WSJ, 1/25/05, p.D12)
106CE Nabatae, whose capital was Petra, became a Roman province under Trajan. The Roman city of Jerash was one of the 10 cities of the Decapolis.
(WUD, 1994, p.948)(SFEM, 4/11/99, p.8)(AM, 3/04, p.60)
116 Hatra, a fortified city of the Parthian Empire and later part of Iraq, withstood a Roman invasion due to its high and thick walls. The Parthian Empire (247 BC – 224 AD), also known as the Arsacid Empire was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran.
(SSFC, 4/5/15, p.A7)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthian_Empire)
117 Aug 8, Marcus Ulpius Trajanus (Trajan), emperor of Rome (98-117), died.
(www.roman-emperors.org/hadrian.htm)
117 Aug 11, The Roman army of Syria hailed its legate, Hadrian, as emperor, which made the senate's formal acceptance an almost meaningless event. One of his first acts was to withdraw Rome’s army from Mesopotamia (modern Iraq).
(www.roman-emperors.org/hadrian.htm)(Econ, 7/19/08, p.94)
117-138 The reign of Hadrian.
(HNQ, 10/5/00)
118CE Jul 9, Hadrian, Rome's new emperor, made his entry into the city.
(HN, 7/9/98)
121 Apr 20, Marcus Aurelius (d.180), 16th Roman emperor, philosopher, was born. He authored the "Meditations." [see Apr 26]
(V.D.-H.K.p.64)(HN, 4/20/98)
121 Apr 26, Antonius Marcus Aurelius, [Marcus A. Verus], Emperor of Rome (161-180), was born. [see Apr 20]
(MC, 4/26/02)
122CE Jun, Emp. Hadrian visited Britain as part of a tour of the northern frontiers. He ordered a wall built to protect the Romans from the Picts of Scotland.
(AM, 7/01, p.17)
122 Suetonius (b.~69), Roman historian, died about this time. His most important surviving work is a set of biographies of twelve successive Roman rulers, from Julius Caesar to Domitian, entitled De Vita Caesarum.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suetonius)
122-130CE Roman Emperor Hadrian ordered a great wall to be built in northern England along with a series of forts "to separate the Romans from the barbarians." It extended for 73.5 English miles from the estuary of the river Tyne on the east to Solway Firth on the west.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.15)(AM, 7/01, p.17)
125 Lucius Apuleius, Roman philosopher and satirist, was born about this time. His work included "Metamorphoses" and “The Golden Ass," which retold the story of Cupid and Psyche.
(WUD, 1994, p.74)(WSJ, 5/14/99, p.W8)(Econ, 2/9/13, p.82)
126CE Aug 1, Publius Helvius Pertinax, Roman emperor (193 AD), was born.
(MC, 8/1/02)
129 Roman Emp. Hadrian visited Jerusalem. In 2014 archeologists discovered a large stone with Latin engravings bearing the name of Hadrian and the year of his visit.
(SFC, 10/22/14, p.A3)
129 Roman Emp. Hadrian allowed Palmyra to charge of its own finances.
(Econ, 5/30/15, p.81)
130 Roman Emperor Hadrian made Arrian, a 2nd-century disciple of the Greek philosopher Epictetus, the governor of Cappadocia. Some years earlier Arrian had compiled the Enchiridion or Handbook of Epictetusis, a short manual of Stoic ethical advice.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrian)
130 Antinous, the Greek lover of Roman Emperor Hadrian, died in the Nile. Hadrian insisted that Antinous be given the status of a god.
(Econ, 7/19/08, p.94)
132-135 Jewish rebels occupied the mountain ridge of Hebron during the Bar Kochba revolt against the Romans. The remains of an ancient synagogue and mikveh are visible.
(SFEC, 12/22/96, p.T2)(Econ, 7/19/08, p.94)
135CE Roman Emperor Hadrian sent 12 divisions under Julius Severus to quell the Jewish rebellion led by Simon Bar Kokhba, who was killed at Bethar. An estimated 600,000 Jews were killed. Hadrian ordered Jerusalem plowed under and Aelia Capitolina was built on the site. He barred Jews from returning and survivors dispersed across the empire. Judea was renamed Syria-Palestina.
(SFC, 12/26/96, p.C16)(PBS, Nova, 11/23/04)(PC, 1992 ed, p.41)
138 Jul 10, Publius A. Hadrianus (b.76), Roman emperor (117-138), died. He was responsible for Hadrian's Wall in Britain, begun in 122.
(www.roman-emperors.org/hadrian.htm)
138-161 Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius succeeded Hadrian and ruled during this period.
(AP, 7/26/22)
139 Hadrian’s Mausoleum was built in Rome.
(SSFC, 5/1/05, p.F8)
c140CE Emperor Antoninus Pius ordered Hadrian’s Wall to be abandoned and a more northerly defense to be established. Remnants could later be seen of the Antonine Wall around Falkirk, Scotland. Roman troops advanced northwards into the Scottish lowlands, driving the barbarians back before them and establishing a new frontier called the Antonine Wall, named for the new Emperor, Antoninus Pius. The Antonine Wall was later abandoned, reoccupied, and abandoned a second and final time under the Emperor Marcus Aurelius.
(NG, 12/97, forum)(HNQ, 9/9/00)
144-145 Roman bronze coins were minted in Egypt during the reign of Antoninus Pius bearing the image of the zodiac sign Cancer behind a depiction of the moon goddess Luna. One such coin was found in 2022 during an underwater survey off Israel coastal city of Haifa.
(https://tinyurl.com/6zyjhbhw)(AP, 7/26/22)
145CE A temple was completed in Rome as a tribute to Emperor Hadrian. In 1802 it became the site of the Rome stock exchange.
(WSJ, 12/13/96, p.B11A)
155CE Feb 23, Polycarp, disciple of Apostle John, was arrested and burned at stake.
(MC, 2/23/02)
158 Apulieus of Madaura (~124-~180), Romanised Berber and author of “The Golden Ass" (aka the Metamorphoses) defended himself at the Roman basilica in Sabratha (Libya) against charges of witchcraft in an oration known as Pro de se magia, or more commonly the Apologia. The Golden Ass is the only Latin novel which has survived in its entirety, and is an imaginative, irreverent, and amusing work which relates the ludicrous adventures of one Lucius, who experiments in magic and is accidentally turned into an ass.
(Arch, 9/02, p.47)(http://tinyurl.com/lrgfb8)
161CE Mar 7, Marcus Aurelius became emperor on the death of Antoninus Pius [Titus Aurelius], age 74, at Lorium. Antoninus ruled from 138-161.
(HN, 3/7/99)(MC, 3/7/02)
161CE Aug 31, Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus, emperor of Rome (180-92), was born.
(WUD, 1994 p.297)(MC, 8/31/01)
162CE The Antonine Baths were completed in Carthage after 17 years of construction.
(SSFC, 12/10/00, p.T8)
166CE A Roman envoy arrived in China. This was their 1st recorded official contact.
(ATC, p.33)(Econ, 12/18/04, p.58)
175 Roman forces defeated Sarmatian tribes on the Danube and Marcus Aurelius ordered them to provide 8,000 cavalry for the Roman fort of Brocavum, later Brougham, England. It had been built in the last decades of the first century. The fort was partially covered by a castle in the 13th century.
(Arch, 5/05, p.62)
180CE Mar 17, Antonius Marcus Aurelius (58), [Marcus Verus], Emperor of Rome, died.
(MC, 3/17/02)
180CE A Roman military transport ship was built about this time, as Marcus Aurelius passed the throne to the emperor Commodus. It later sank in the Rhine. In 2003 archeologists in the Netherlands unveiled the preserved ship.
(AP, 5/15/03)
180CE A smallpox epidemic hit Rome and killed 3.5 to 7 million people including Emp. Marcus Aurelius. It was dubbed the Plague of Antonine.
(NW, 10/14/02, p.46)
182 Roman Emp. Commodus executed the brothers Sextus Quintilius Maximus and Sextus Quintilius Condianus for alleged conspiracy. Their Villa dei Quintili, several miles from the center of Rome and comparable to Hadrian’s villa in Tivoli, was identified in 1828.
(AM, 7/05, p.28)
188 Apr 4, Caracalla, [Marcus Aurelius Antonius], well-bathed Roman emperor (211-217), was born.
(MC, 4/4/02)
192 Dec 31, Lucius A.A. Commodus (b.161), Emperor of Rome (180-192), was murdered. His mistress Marcia, Chamberlain Eclectus, and praetorian prefect Laetus hired the wrestler Narcissus to strangle Commodus after they found their names on an imperial execution list.
(PCh, 1992, p.42)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodus)
193 Mar 28, Publius Helvius Pertinax, Roman Emperor (192-93), was assassinated.
(HFA, '96, p.26)(MC, 3/28/02)
193 Apr 9, The distinguished Roman soldier Lucius Septimius Severus was proclaimed emperor by the army at Carnuntum (Austria).
(www.roman-emperors.org/sepsev.htm)
193 Apr 14, Lucius Septimius Severus (d.211), a native son of Leptis Magna in Libya, was crowned emperor of Rome. Under his rule the empire reached its greatest extent with almost 50 provinces.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septimius_Severus)(SSFC, 6/27/04, p.D12)
193 Jun 1, The Roman Emperor, Marcus Didius, was murdered in his palace.
(HN, 6/1/98)
197 Feb 19, Lucius Septimius Severus' army beat Clodius Albinus at Lyon. D Clodius Septimus Albinus, Roman dignitary in England, died in the battle.
(MC, 2/19/02)
198 Hatra, a fortified city of the Parthian Empire (later part of Iraq), withstood a second Roman invasion due to its high and thick walls. The trading center was surrounded by more than 160 towers.
(SSFC, 4/5/15, p.A7)(AP, 4/26/17)
c200 The Forma Urbis Romae was a 60 by 45-foot map carved out of marble that detailed every building, room and staircase in 2nd century Rome.
(Wired, 11/98, p.117)
c200 Romans began making glass objects that included windows, bottles and drinking vessels.
(SFEC, 6/20/99, Z1 p.8)
203 Lucius Septimus Severus (d.211), emperor of Rome, returned to visit home at Leptis Magna (Libya).
(SSFC, 6/27/04, p.D12)
205-270CE Plotinus was an Alexandrian philosopher in Rome and founder of Neo-Platonism, which strongly influenced the later Augustine, who taught of a mystical union with the Good through the exercise of pure intelligence. He founded Neo-Platonism, a religion that for a time rivaled Christianity. Neo-Platonism developed out of the philosophical doctrines of Plato in the fourth century B.C. Plotinus developed the spiritual side of Plato's thought into a mystical philosophy teaching reunion with the One and that material things are unworthy. Saint Augustus, formerly a Neo-Platonist, brought some of his ideas into Christian theism.
(V.D.-H.K.p.93)(HNQ, 5/11/98)
208 Roman Emperor Lucius Septimius Severus brought his troublesome sons to the frontier fort of Brocavum, later Brougham, England, to campaign against the barbarians to the north and hopefully distract them from the temptations of Rome.
(Arch, 5/05, p.63)
211 Feb 4, Lucius Septimius Severus (64), emperor of Rome (193-211), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septimius_Severus)
211-217 The reign of the Roman emperor Caracalla (188-217). Coins were minted at the Jewish city of Sepphoris during the reign of Caracalla.
(WUD, 1994, p.221)(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.64)
217 Apr 8, Caracalla (b.188), [Marcus Antonius], Roman emperor (198-217), was murdered in his baths.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caracalla)
222 Mar 11, Varius A. Bassianus (18), Syrian emperor of Rome (218-22), was murdered.
(MC, 3/12/02)
223 Ulpian of Tyre (b.~170), a Roman jurist, was murdered. He is remembered for the quote: "The sovereign is not bound by the laws" (Princeps legibus solutus est.).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulpian)(Econ, 8/9/14, p.69)
235 Mar 18, Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander (b.208), Syrian emperor of Rome (222-235), was murdered.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Severus)
238 May 10, Gaius Julius Verus Maximinus ("The Thracian"), Roman Emperor, was murdered.
(MC, 5/10/02)
249-262 The Plague of Cyprian, later thought to be a hemorrhagic fever, emptied many Roman cities and coincided with a sharp and permanent decline in economic activity.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plague_of_Cyprian)(Econ, 3/14/20, p.62)
253 Valerian became emperor of Rome and ruled until 260 when he was captured and executed by Persian King Shapur I.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Valerian_I)
256 The Anatolian city of Zeugma on the Euphrates was sacked by Persian King Shapur I. This was soon followed by a devastating fire and an earthquake and Zeugma was abandoned. In 2000 the area was submerged as part of the Southeast Anatolia Project of dams for power.
(SFEC, 5/7/00, p.A23)(Arch, 9/00, p.41)
258 Aug 6, Pope Sixtus II, bishop of Rome (257-58), was beheaded upon orders of Emperor Valerian.
(ITV, 1/96, p.60)(MC, 8/6/02)
260 Persia’s King Shapur I captured Roman Emp. Valerian.
(Arch, 9/00, p.41)
260-268 Emp. Gallienus, son of Valerian, ruled Rome.
(AM, 5/01, p.40)
267 Dec 26, Dionysius, bishop of Rome and saint, died.
(MC, 12/26/01)
268 Roman Emp. Gallienus, son of Valerian, was assassinated.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Valerian_I)
268 Marcus Cassianius Latinius Postumus, a Roman emperor of Batavian origin, died about this time. He usurped power from Gallienus in 260 and formed the so called Gallic Empire. He was recognized in Gaul, Germania, Britannia and Iberia until his murder in 268.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postumus)
269 Nov 20, Diocletian was proclaimed emperor of Numerian in Asia Minor by his soldiers. He had been the commander of the emperor's bodyguard.
(HN, 11/20/98)
269 Palmyra’s Queen Zenobia, taking advantage of Roman weakness, invaded Egypt to the southwest and occupied Anatolia to the north.
(Econ, 5/30/15, p.81)
270 cFeb 14, The early Christian martyr, St. Valentine, was beheaded by Emperor Claudius II, who executed another St. Valentine around the same time. The Catholic Bishop Valentine was clubbed, stoned and beheaded by Emperor Claudius II for refusing to acknowledge the monarch’s outlawing of marriage. The Catholics then made Valentine a symbol to oppose the Roman mid-February custom in honor of the God Lupercus, where Roman teenage girls’ names were put in a box and selected by young Roman men for "sex toy" use until the next lottery. The two Valentines merged into a single legendary patron of young lovers. St. Valentine’s Day evolved from Lupercalia, a Roman festival of fertility.
(SFEM, 2/9/97, p.11)(SFC, 2/14/97, p.A26)(SFC, 2/4/04, p.D7)
Valentine's Day probably has its origins in the Roman feast of Lupercalia, which was held on February 15. One of the traditions associated with this feast was young men drawing the names of young women whom they would court during the following year--a custom that may have grown into the giving of valentine's cards. Another legend associated with Valentine's Day was the martyrdom of the Christian priest St. Valentine on February 14. The Roman emperor believed that men would remain soldiers longer if they were not married, but Valentine earned the wrath of the emperor by secretly marrying young couples. The first American publisher of valentines was printer and artist Esther Howland, who sold elaborate handmade cards for as much as $35 at the end of the 19th century. Complex and beautiful machine-made cards brought the custom of valentine exchanging within the reach of many Americans.
(HNPD, 2/14/99)
272CE In Syria Queen Zenobia led a failed uprising against the Romans, which left the city of Palmyra partly destroyed.
(AMNHDT, 11/99)
273 The Gallic Empire of the Batavian Postumus ended.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carausius)
274 Feb 27, Constantine I was born. He became the great Roman emperor (324-337) who adopted Christianity. [see c288]
(MC, 2/27/02)
274 Dec 25, Emperor Aurelian imported into Rome the cult of Sol Invictus and made its Dec 25 festival a national holiday.
(WSJ, 12/18/98, p.W15)
275 The Goths launched a last major assault on Asia Minor, where piracy by Black Sea Goths was causing great trouble in Colchis, Pontus, Cappadocia, Galatia and even Cilicia. They were defeated sometime in 276 by Emperor Marcus Claudius Tacitus.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goths)
276 Jul 16, Marcus Annius Florianus, emperor of Rome (276), was murdered.
(MC, 7/16/02)
283 Sebastian, a Christian soldier, enlisted in the Roman army about this time. Emp. Diocletian, unaware that he was a Christian, appointed him as a captain of the Praetorian Guard. When he treated Christian prisoners due for martyrdom kindly, Diocletian reproached him for his supposed ingratitude and ordered him executed by arrow. He survived and returned to preach to Diocletian. In 287 Diocletian ordered Sebastian to be beaten to death.
(www.economicexpert.com/a/Sebastian.htm)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Sebastian)
284 Aug 29, Gen Gaius Aurelius V Diocletianus Jovius (3) became emperor of Rome. Reign of Diocletian (Era of Martyrs), began.
(MC, 8/29/01)
284 Nov 20, Diocletian (245-316) became Emperor of the Roman Empire and continued to 305. Under his rule the last and most terrible persecution of the Christians took place, perhaps some 3,000 martyrs. He divided rule over the empire among four men. He put two rulers to oversee the east and two to oversee the west. He also established four capitals. He moved his own capital from Rome to Nicomedia, south of Byzantium in Asia Minor. He also increased the size of the Roman army from 300,000 to 500,000 men.
(http://bode.diee.unica.it/~giua/SEBASTIAN/Diocletian.html)(V.D.-H.K.p.91)(ITV, 1/96, p.58)
286 Carausius, a Roman naval officer, seized power in Britain and northern Gaul ruled until he was assassinated in 293.
(AP, 7/8/10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carausius)
287 Maurice (Mauritius), leader of the legendary Roman Theban Legion in the 3rd century, was believed executed at Agaunum, Switzerland, after refusing an order by Roman Emperor Maximian to harass local Christians. Because of his name and native land, St. Maurice had been portrayed as black ever since the 12th century.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximian)
288 Sebastian (b.256), a Christian and Roman soldier, was beaten to death about this time on the orders of Roman Emp. Diocletian.
(Econ, 6/3012, p.19)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Sebastian)
c288CE Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus, Roman emperor Constantine I (324-337), was born in Yugoslavia. In a battle against an army led by his brother-in-law, Maxentius, at the Milvian bridge near Rome Constantine was victorious. The night before this battle was when Constantine dreamed of an angel holding a cross and saying "In this sign thou shalt conquer!" [see 274]
(WUD, 1994 p.314)(V.D.-H.K.p.91)
0290CE Oct 1, [Christian] Bacchus, Roman soldier and martyred saint, was killed.
(MC, 10/1/01)
290 Oct 7, [Christian] Sergius, Roman soldier and martyred saint, was decapitated.
(MC, 10/7/01)
293 Mar 1, Roman emperor Maximianus introduced tetrarchy.
(SC, 3/1/02)
295 Diocletian (245-316), Roman Emperor (284-305), began construction of a fortified palace near the village of his birth. It later became the historic downtown of Split, Croatia. Construction took 10 years.
(SSFC, 6/20/04, p.D10)
296 Roman Emp. Diocletian ordered the burning of alchemical manuscripts for fear their discoveries would debase his coinage. This may have set back the science of distillation.
(Econ, 12/20/03, p.68)
299-311 The period of Christian persecutions begun by Diocletian.
(WSJ, 10/30/98, p.W11)
300-400 The Circus Maximus in ancient Rome, expanded under Constantine in the 4th century A.D., had an estimated seating capacity of 250,000. The largest of hippodrome in Rome, a U-shaped stadium with a low wall running in the middle around which chariots raced, it seated an estimated 150,000 spectators at the time of Julius Caesar in the 1st century B.C.
(HNQ, 8/29/99)
302 Anthony (b.266) of Antioch, an early Christian priest, suffered martyrdom with Anastasius, Julian, Celsus and Marcionilla during the persecutions of Diocletian.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_of_Antioch)
303 Feb 23, Emperor Diocletian ordered the general persecution of Christians in Rome.
(HN, 2/23/98)
303 By legend St. Expeditus, a commander of a Roman legion in Armenia who had converted to Christianity, was beheaded by Emp. Diocletian. There was however no proof of his existence and it was speculated that devotion to him arose in the 19th century after Parisian nuns mistook a crate of relics labeled for "expedited delivery." In the late 20th century he emerged as a popular cult figure among Brazilian Catholics.
(WSJ, 4/15/04, p.A1)
304-305 Massive persecution of the Christians took place under Diocletian.
(V.D.-H.K.p.91)
305 May 1, Emperor Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus Jovius of Rome abdicated. Constantius I Chlorus (Flavius Valerius Constantius) became Western emperor. Galerius (Gaius Galerius Valerius Maximianus) became Eastern emperor.
(www.ancienthistory.about.com)
305 San Gennaro, a pious bishop, was beheaded by Roman Emp. Diocletian. In the 14th century Naples began celebrating the miracle of San Gennaro, whereby the city’s archbishop shakes a vial allegedly containing blood from Gennaro.
(SSFC, 11/6/05, p.A2)
306 Jul 23, Constantine was proclaimed Caesar of the west by the army, while Severus, the former Caesar, was proclaimed Augusta of the west by Galerius.
(HN, 7/23/98)
306 Oct 28, Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maxentius was proclaimed emperor of Rome.
(MC, 10/28/01)
307 Nov 11, Flavius Valerius Severus, compassionate emperor of Rome (306-07), died.
(MC, 11/11/01)
308 Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maxentius abdicated.
(www.ancienthistory.about.com)
309 Maximinus II Daia (d.313) became Eastern emperor.
(www.ancienthistory.about.com)
310 Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maxentius (d.310) returned to power and soon died.
(www.ancienthistory.about.com)
310 Roman Emperor Constantine built a defense tower at Eboracum on the banks of the River Ouse in what later became the English city of York.
(SSFC, 4/13/14, p.Q1)
311 Apr 30, Emperor Galerius recognized Christians legally in the Roman Empire.
(MC, 4/30/02)
311 May 5, Gaius VM Galerius (~50), emperor of Rome, died in Dardania.
(SFC, 6/23/97, p.29)(MC, 5/5/02)
311 In Austria a Roman gladiator school flourished at Carnuntum 28 miles (45 km) east of Vienna. This was a major military and trade outpost linking the far-flung Roman empire's Asian boundaries to its central and northern European lands. Archeological digging at the site began around 1870 and by 2011 only 0.5 percent of the settlement was excavated.
(AP, 9/5/11)
312 cOct 27, Prior to a battle between Constantine and Maxentius, Constantine experienced a vision of Christ that ordered him to ornament the shields of his soldiers with the Greek letters chi and rho, the monogram for Christ. Constantine won the battle and attributed his success to Christ. He became emperor of the West and an advocate of Christianity.
(MH, 12/96)(CU, 6/87)
312 Oct 28, Constantine the Great defeated Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maxentius at the Mulvian Bridge. Constantine’s smaller army (about 50,000 strong) won a decisive victory there; while fleeing, Maxentius drowned in the river. Constantine was instantly converted when he saw a cross in the sky, with the inscription "In hoc signo vincit" ("In this sign you shall conquer"). [see Oct 27]
(HN, 10/28/98)(DoW, 1999, P.398)
312 Appius Claudius began construction of the Appian Way as a military highway.
(SFC, 8/2/07, p.E2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Via_Appia)
313 Apr 30, Licinius unified the whole of the eastern empire under his own rule.
(HN, 4/30/98)
313 Maximinus II Daia, Eastern emperor, was killed at Tarsus.
(www.ancienthistory.about.com)
314 Licinius declared Valens (d.314) as co-emperor during the war with Constantine. Licinius was deposed and executed by Valens.
(www.ancienthistory.about.com)
316 Diocletian (b.245) died at his retirement palace near his birthplace in Dalmatia (Croatia).
(SSFC, 6/20/04, p.D10)
317 Aug 7, Flavius Julius Constantius II, Emperor Egypt, Byzantium, Rome (337-61), was born.
(MC, 8/7/02)
324 Licinius proclaimed Martinian (Marcus Martinianus) as co-emperor. Martinian (d.325) was soon deposed by Constantine.
(www.ancienthistory.about.com)
325 Licinius (Valerius Licianus Licinius), Eastern emperor, was deposed and executed by Constantine.
(www.ancienthistory.about.com)
325 Martinian (Marcus Martinianus) was executed by Constantine.
(www.ancienthistory.about.com)
326 Jul 25, Constantine refused to carry out the traditional pagan sacrifices.
(HN, 7/25/98)
326 Constantine executed his son Flavius Julius Crispus, born to his 1st wife, under the persuasion of his 2nd wife Fausta.
(PCh, 1992, p.48)
331 Nov 17, Flavius Claudius Julianus, [Julian the Apostate], emperor (361-363), was born.
(MC, 11/17/01)
337 May 22, Constantine (47), convert to Christianity and Emperor of Rome (306-37), died. He had made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire and had the Chapel of the Burning Bush built in the Sinai Desert at the site where Moses was believed to have witnessed the Miracle of the Burning Bush.
(V.D.-H.K.p.92)(PCh, 1992, p.48)(MC, 5/22/02)
337 Sep 9, Constantine's three sons, already Caesars, each took the title of Augustus. Constantine II and Constans shared the west while Constantius II took control of the east.
(HN, 9/9/98)
356 Feb 19, Emperor Constantius II shut all heathen (non-Christian) temples.
(MC, 2/19/02)
357CE Apr 28, Constantius II visited Rome for the first time.
(HN, 4/28/98)
357 Aug 25, Flavius Claudius Julianus, the cousin of Constantius, beat the Alamanni in a Battle at Strasbourg. Chonodomarius was caught.
(PCh, 1992, p.48)(HN, 8/25/99)
361-363CE Julian the Apostate succeeded Constantine and tried to make paganism the official religion of the empire.
(V.D.-H.K.p.92)
362CE Jun 17, Emperor Julian issued an edict banning Christians from teaching in Syria.
(HN, 6/17/98)
363CE Jun 27, The death of Roman Emperor Julian brought an end to the Pagan Revival.
(HN, 6/27/98)
364 Feb 17, Flavius Jovianus (~32), Christian emperor of Rome (363-64), died.
(MC, 2/17/02)
374 Emperor Valentinian ended the parental right to kill their infants.
(SFEC, 2/13/00, Z1 p.2)
375 Nov 17, Enraged by the insolence of barbarian envoys, Valentinian I, the Emperor of the West, died of apoplexy in Pannonia in Central Europe.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentinian_I)
376 Dec 25, In Milan, Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan, forced the emperor Theodosius to perform public penance for his massacre.
(HN, 12/25/98)
378 Aug 9, In the Battle of Adrianople the Visigoth Calvary defeated Roman Army.
(MC, 8/9/02)
383 Aug 25, Flavius Gratianus (25), Emperor of Rome (375-383), was murdered.
(MC, 8/25/02)
387 The Parthians and Romans agreed to settle the Armenian question by the drastic expedient of partition. The Sassanid kings of Persia (who had superseded the Parthians in the Empire of Iran) secured the lion's share of the spoils, while the Romans only received a strip of country on the western border which gave them Erzeroum and Diyarbakir for their frontier fortresses.
(http://raven.cc.ukans.edu/~kansite/ww_one/docs/bryce2.htm)
388 Aug 28, Magnus Maximus, Spanish West Roman Emperor (383-88), was executed. His ambitions led him to invade Italy, resulting in his defeat by Theodosius I at the Battle of the Save in 388.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnus_Maximus)
390 Jul 16, Brennus and Gauls defeated the Romans at Allia.
(MC, 7/16/02)
392 May 15, Valentinianus II (21), emperor of Rome (375-392), was murdered.
(MC, 5/15/02)
392 Nov 8, Theodosius of Rome passed legislation prohibiting all pagan worship in the empire and declared Christianity the state religion.
(HN, 11/6/98)(MC, 11/8/01)
393 CE The ancient Olympic Games were held at intervals beginning in 776 BCE until about 393 CE when they were abolished by Roman emperor Theodosius I after Greece lost its independence. The modern Olympic Games were started in 1896. [see 396CE]
(HNQ, 11/23/98)
394 Sep 6, Theodosius became sole ruler of Italy after defeating Eugenius at the Battle of the River Frigidus.
(HN, 9/6/98)
395 Jan 17, Emperor Theodosius I (49), the Great, Spanish head of Rome, died. Theodosius I wrote into his will that upon his death the eastern and western sections of the empire should be declared separate empires. His death in this year marks the split of the Roman and Byzantine Empire.
(ATC, p.24)(MC, 1/17/02)
395 Division of Roman Empire left lands presently inhabited by Albanians under the administration of the Eastern Empire.
(www, Albania, 1998)
396 The last Olympic Games were held under Emp. Theodosius I, who halted them due to increasing professionalism and corruption. [see 393CE]
(SFC, 7/14/96, p.T1)
400-500 About this time Apicius, a Roman gourmand, authored “De re coquinara" (concerning cookery). It is considered to be the first Western cookbook. The first printed edition came out in 1483.
(Econ, 12/20/08, p.140)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apicius)
402 Apr 6, Battle at Pollentia: Roman army under Stilicho beat the Visigoths.
(MC, 4/6/02)
404 Jan 1, The last known gladiatorial contest was held in Rome.
(http://writersalmanac.org/episodes/20170101/)
406 Aug 23, At the Battle at Florence the Roman army under Stilicho beat the Barbarians under Radagaisus.
(PC, 1992, p.50)
408 Aug 22, Flavius Stilicho (48), West Roman field leader (395-408), died.
(MC, 8/22/02)
410 Aug 24, Rome was overrun by the Visigoths, an event that symbolized the fall of the Western Roman Empire. German barbarians sacked Rome. In 2020 Douglas Boin authored "Alaric the Goth".
(AP, 8/24/97)(HN, 8/24/98)(Econ., 6/20/20, p.72)
410 Rome abandoned its British provinces.
(AM, 11/04, p.41)
410 Flavius Aetius (12), the son of a Roman general, was sent to live as a hostage of the Huns, who hd captured what later became Hungary and Romania.
(ON, 4/12, p.1)(Old News, 4/2022, p.1)
418 Mar 10, Jews were excluded from public office in the Roman Empire.
(MC, 3/10/02)
419 Jul 2, Valentinian III, Roman emperor (425-55), was born.
(SC, 7/2/02)
429CE Roman Africa was invaded by the Vandals, barbarians who had fought and conquered their way across Germany, France, Spain and across the Strait of Gibraltar.
(Enc. of Africa, 1976, p.168)
430CE Augustine died in Hippo with a Vandal army outside the gates of the city. (V.D.-H.K.p.94)
432 Flavius Aetius was appointed commander-in-chief of all the armies of the Western Roman Empire.
(ON, 4/12, p.1)
434-453 Attila the Hun was known in western Europe as the "Scourge of God." Attila was the king of the Huns from 434 to 453 and one of the greatest of the barbarian rulers to assail the Roman Empire.
(HNQ, 12/19/98)
451 Mar, The Huns moved across the Rhine at the city of Mainz and into northern Gaul.
(Old News, 4/2022, p.2)
451 Apr 8, Attila's Huns plundered Metz and continued moving south along the Moselle River.
(ON, 4/12, p.2)
451 Apr, Roman Emperor Valentinian ordered Aetius, commander of the armies of the Western Roman Empoire, to take his army and wait at Arles, the capital of Gaul, and to judge where and when to berst engage Attila, the commander of the Huns.
(Old News, 4/2022, p.2)
451 Jun 14, Aetius, commander of the armies of the Western Roman Empire, reached Aurelianum (Orleans) about this time, along with Theodoric, king of the Visigoths., to face the Hun forces of Attila.
(Old News, 4/2022, p.2)
451 Jun 20, Roman and Barbarian warriors halted Attila’s army at the Catalaunian Plains (Catalarinische Fields) in eastern France. Attila the Hun was defeated by a combined Roman and Visigoth army. Theodoric I, the Visigothic king, was killed. The Huns moved south into Italy but were defeated again. Some sources date this on Sep 20. Attila and his brother Bleda jointly inherited the Hunnish Kingdom, headquartered in what later became Hungary. Attila later murdered Bleda to gain full control.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Catalaunian_Plains)(V.D.-H.K.p.88)(ON, 4/12, p.3)
451 Sep 20, Roman General Aetius defeated Attila the Hun at Chalons-sur-Marne (Battle of the Catalaunian Plains). Many sources date this on Jun 20.
(http://tinyurl.com/6vaxufu)
452CE Jun 8, Italy was invaded by Attila the Hun.
(HN, 6/8/98)
452 Pope Leo I met Attila the Hun on the banks of the Mincio and Attila agreed to make peace and spare Rome.
(PTA, 1980, p.90)
454 Sep 21, In Italy, Aetius, the supreme army commander, was murdered in Ravenna by Valentinian III, the emperor of the West.
(HN, 9/21/98)
455 Mar 16, Valentinian III, Roman emperor in the West from 425, was assassinated in Rome by two Scythian followers of Aetius: Optelas and Thraustelas.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentinian_III)
455 May 31, Petronius Maximus, senator, Emperor of Rome, was lynched.
(MC, 5/31/02)
455 Jun 16, Rome was sacked by the Vandal army. Gaiseric looted and burned Rome for 14 days. He took the looted treasure, which likely included the 70AD plunder from Jerusalem, by ship to the temple of Carthage.
(V.D.-H.K.p.88)(HN, 6/16/98)(SFC, 10/23/06, p.A15)
455 Jul 9, Avitus, the Roman military commander in Gaul, became Emperor of the West.
(HN, 7/9/98)
476 Aug 28, The western Roman Empire formally ended at Ravenna as the barbarian general Odoacer deposed the last of the Roman emperors, the young boy Romulus Augustus.
(ATC, p.32)(PC, 1992, p.52)
480 Boethius (d.524) was born in Rome about this time. He acquired an important post under the Ostrogoth King Theodoric, but later fell into disfavor and was imprisoned. In prison he wrote his famous "The Consolation of Philosophy."
(V.D.-H.K p.113)
524 Anicius Manlius Severinus Boëthius, commonly called Boethius (b.~477), Roman senator, consul, magister officiorum, and philosopher of the early 6th century, died in Pavia.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boethius)
536 Dec 9, Byzantine Count Belisarius entered Rome through the Asinarian Gate at the head of 5,000 troops. At the same time, 4,000 Ostrogoths left the city through the Flaminian Gate and headed north to Ravenna, the capital of their Italian kingdom. For the first time since 476, when the Germanic king, Odoacer, had deposed the last Western Roman emperor and crowned himself "King of the Romans," the city of Rome was once more part of the Roman empire—albeit an empire whose capital had shifted east to Constantinople. Belisarius had taken the city back as part of Emperor Justinian’s grand plan to recover the western provinces from their barbarian rulers. The plan was meant to be carried out with an almost ridiculously small expeditionary force. The 5,000 soldiers that General Belisarius led included Hunnish and Moorish auxiliaries, and they were expected to defend circuit walls 12 miles in diameter against an enemy who would soon be back, and who would outnumber them at least 10-to-1.
(HN, 12/9/98)(HNC, 10/1/99)
537CE Mar 11, The Goths laid siege to Rome. The Goths cut the aqueducts to Rome in the 6th century.
(HN, 3/11/98)(SFEC, 7/2/00, p.T4)
590 Pope Gregory said he spotted an angel atop Hadrian’s Mausoleum. The site was then reconfigured as a fortress called Castel Sant’Angelo. In 1925 it became a national museum.
(SSFC, 5/1/05, p.F8)
609 May 13, Pope Boniface I turned Roman Pantheon into Catholic church.
(MC, 5/13/02)
1347 Nov 20, Roman tribune Cola di Rienzi defeated nobles. Stefano Colonna, Roman senator, died in battle (SPQR).
(MC, 11/20/01)
1347 Dec 3, Pope Clemens VI declared Roman tribune, Cola di Rienzi, a heretic.
(MC, 12/3/01)
1453 May 29, Constantinople fell to Mehmed II, ending the Byzantine Empire. The fall of the eastern Roman Empire, Byzantium, to the Ottoman Turks was led by Mehmed II. Emperor Constantine XI Dragases (49), the 95th ruler to sit on the throne of Constantine, was killed. The city of Constantinople fell from Christian rule and was renamed Istanbul. The Hagia Sophia was turned into a mosque. Spice prices soared in Europe. Nicolo Barbaro wrote his "Diary of the Siege of Constantinople." Manuel Chrysophes, court musician to Constantine XI, wrote a threnody for the fall of Constantinople. In 2005 Roger Crowley authored “1453 The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West."
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehmed_the_Conqueror)(SFC, 7/27/98, p.A8)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R49)(ON, 10/00, p.12)(Ot, 1993, p.6)(WSJ, 1/2/02, p.A15)(SSFC, 8/14/05, p.F4)
1776 Feb 17, Edward Gibbon (1737-1794), English historian, published his 1st volume of "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." He completed the 6-volume classic in 1788.
(WUD, 1994 p.596)(WSJ, 5/26/07, p.P6)
1999 John Onians authored "Classical Art and the Cultures of Greece and Rome."
(WSJ, 9/7/99, p.A23)
2015 Jul, In Switzerland a farmer in Ueken in the northern canton of Aargau discovered 4,166 bronze and silver coins dating back to Ancient Rome and weighing 15 kilos (33 pounds). They stretched from the rein of Emperor Aurelian (year 270-275) to that of Maximilian (286-305), with the most recent coins dated to year 294. Archeologists said it was impossible to determine their original value due to rampant inflation at the time.
(AFP, 11/19/15)
2015 Mary Beard authored “SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome."
(Econ, 10/17/15, p.85)
Go to http://www.timelinesdb.com
Subject = Romans
End of file
