# The Great Events by Famous Historians/Volume 2/Universal Chronology

CHRONOLOGY OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY
EMBRACING THE PERIOD COVERED IN THIS VOLUME B.C. 450-A.D. 12
JOHN RUDD, LL.D.
Events treated at length are here indicated in large type; the numerals following give volume and page.
Separate chronologies of the various nations, and of the careers of famous persons, will be found in the INDEX VOLUME, with volume and page references showing where the several events are fully treated.
"Est" means date uncertain.
B.C.
450. The decemvirate instituted at Rome; the Twelve Tables of law framed. See "INSTITUTION AND FALL OF THE DECEMVIRATE IN ROME," ii, 1.
Alcibiades born.[Est]
448. First Sacred War between the Phocians and Delphians for the possession of the temple at Delphi.
The decemvirate abolished at Rome. See "INSTITUTION AND FALL OF THE DECEMVIRATE IN ROME," ii, 1.
Athens is now the principal seat of Greek philosophy, literature, and art.
447. The Boeotians defeat the Athenians at Coronea; the conflict was brought about by Athens breaking the truce arranged between the Greek states to endure for five years, in order to combine against Persia. The result was the loss to Athens of Boeotia, Phocis, and Locris.
445.[Est] Nehemiah begins the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem.
Peace of Callias between the Greeks and Persians.
Birth of Xenophon, general and historian.
444. Ascendency of Pericles at Athens.[Est] See "PERICLES RULES IN ATHENS," ii, 12.
The military tribunes instituted at Rome. The consulship was in no sense abolished; until the passage of the Licinian Rogations (when it reappeared as a permanent annual magistracy) it alternated irregularly with the military tribunes. See "INSTITUTION AND FALL OF THE DECEMVIRATE IN ROME," ii, 1.
Thucydides exiled Athens.
443. An Athenian colony planted at Thurium, near Sybarius; it is accompanied by Herodotus and Lysias.
442. Pericles, guided by Phidias the sculptor, adorns Athens; the Parthenon, Propylæa, and Odeum built.
440. Samos resists the Athenian sway; is besieged by Pericles and Sophocles; Melissus defends the city, but surrenders after a siege of nine months.
Comedies prohibited performance at Athens.
439. Great famine in Rome; Sp. Mælius distributes corn to the citizens, for which he is accused of wishing to be king, and is assassinated by Servilius Ahala.
438. Spartacus becomes king of Bosporus.
Ahala impeached and exiled Rome.
437. The prohibition of comedy repealed at Athens.
Syracuse, the predominant state in Sicily, reaches the height of its prosperity. See "DEFEAT OF THE ATHENIANS AT SYRACUSE," ii, 48.
436. Commencement of the dispute between Corinth and Corcyra regarding the city of Epidamnus, in which Athens supported the latter; this led to the Peloponnesian War.
435. Naval victory over the Corinthians by the Corcyræans, near Actium.
432. Ambassadors from Corcyra implore the aid of Athens, which series a fleet to defend the island against the Corinthian attack. Corinth incites Potidæa to revolt from Athens.
431. Beginning of the Peloponnesian War. Sparta declares on the side of Corinth and makes war on Athens. The real cause of the war—which was to be so disastrous to Greece—was that Sparta and its allies were jealous of the great power Athens had attained. Sparta was an oligarchy and a friend of the nobles everywhere; Athens was a democracy and the friend of the common people; so that the war was to some extent a struggle between these classes all over Greece.
430. "GREAT PLAGUE AT ATHENS." See ii, 34. The physician Hippocrates distinguishes himself by extraordinary cures of the sick.
Second invasion of Attica by the Spartans.
429. Death of Pericles, during the plague, at Athens.
Potidæa reduced by the Athenians.
Birth of Plato.
428. Attica invaded the third time.
Lesbos revolts from the Athenian confederacy; on this the Athenians besiege Mitylene.
427. Mitylene reduced; Athens becomes master of Lesbos. Platæa, the ally of Athens, after being besieged, surrenders to the Peloponnesians and is destroyed.
Attica again invaded.
425. Agis begins the fifth invasion of Attica; he retires on learning that the Athenians under Cleon had taken Pylos and Sapachteria.
Mount Æetna in eruption.
On the death of Artaxerxes I, his son, Xerxes II, succeeds him as ruler of Persia; he reigns only forty-five days, being slain by his brother Sogdianus, who usurps the throne.
424. The island of Cythera taken by the Athenians. Brasidas, the Spartan general, captures Amphipolis, defeating Thucydides.
Ochus (Darius Nothus) rids himself of Sogdianus and succeeds him on the Persian throne.
423. The Athenians banish Thucydides for having suffered Amphipolis to be taken.
422. The Athenians send Cleon to recover Amphipolis; he is defeated by Brasidas; both fall in the battle.
421. Peace of Nicias between Sparta and Athens. End of the first period of the Peloponnesian War.
420. Alcibiades negotiates an alliance between Athens and Argos. Amphipolis retained by the Spartans.
419. An Athenian expedition is led into the Peloponnesus by Alcibiades.
418. Victory of the Spartans at Mantinea.
The league between Athens and Argos dissolved.
416. The island of Melos, which had remained neutral, is conquered by the Athenians; its inhabitants are treated with extreme cruelty.
415. The Athenians send an expedition against Syracuse under Nicias, Lamachus, and Alcibiades; the latter is recalled to answer an accusation of having broken some statues of Mercury in Athens; he takes refuge in Sparta. Andocides, the orator, implicated in the same charge, is imprisoned and exiled.
414. Syracuse is invested by the Athenians under Nicias; being hard pressed, Syracuse appeals to the other Greek states; Cylippus, the Spartan commander, comes with a fleet to the aid of the city. See "DEFEAT OF THE ATHENIANS AT SYRACUSE," ii, 48.
The Romans capture Bolae, an Æquian town; the division of the booty causes a mutiny among the soldiers, who slay the quaestor and the military tribune, M. Postumius.
413. On Alcibiades' advice the Spartans fortify a position at Decelea, in Attica.
"DEFEAT OF THE ATHENIANS AT SYRACUSE." See ii, 48.
412. Alcibiades visits the Persian satrap Tissaphernes, with whose aid he negotiates an alliance between Persia and Sparta.
411. Owing to the machinations of Alcibiades a revolt is organized in Athens, by the aid of the clubs of the nobles and rich men; its object being to overthrow the democracy and establish an oligarchy. The rising is successful and the "Reign of the Four Hundred" ensues; it lasts four months; its framer, Antipho, is put to death. Alcibiades is recalled.
410. The Spartans are defeated by Alcibiades in a naval encounter at Cyzicus. Sparta makes overtures for peace.
409. The Carthaginians invade Sicily; they reduce Silenus and Himera.
408. Alcibiades takes Selymbria and Byzantium.
Psammeticus is king of Egypt.
Roman plebs first admitted to the quaestorship.
407. Lysander, the Spartan admiral, defeats the Athenian fleet at Notium; in consequence of this defeat, Alcibiades, who had been received with great honor, is banished, and ten generals are nominated to succeed him.
406. The Athenians vanquish the Spartan fleet under Callicratidas, at Arginusae. The Athenian generals are executed at Athens for not saving the shattered vessels and the bodies of the slain.
Dionysius the Elder becomes ruler of Syracuse.
Anxur and other towns captured by the Romans, who now first give their soldiers a regular pay.
405. The Spartan under Lysander, who had been restored to command, annihilate the Athenian navy at Aegospotami.
Artaxerxes II succeeds Darius II on the Persian throne.
Successful revolt of the Egyptians against the Persians; the independence of Egypt secured.
404. Athens taken by Lysander and dismantled; thirty tyrants appointed by him. Lysias and other orators banished. End of the Peloponnesian War.
403. Democracy is restored in Athens by Thrasybulus; he publishes an act of amnesty. The Ionian alphabet adopted at Athens.
401. Cyrus rebels against his brother Artaxerxes, of Persia; he is defeated and slain at the battle of Cunaxa.
400. The Ten Thousand Greek auxiliaries of Cyrus effect their retreat to the sea. See "RETREAT OF THE TEN THOUSAND GREEKS," ii, 68.
399. Sparta and Persia engage in war.
"CONDEMNATION AND DEATH OF SOCRATES." See ii, 87.
396. Agesilaus, the Spartan general, begins his victorious campaigns against the Persians.
The Romans, headed by Camillus, capture Veii, after a ten years' siege.
395. Corinth, Thebes, Argos, and Athens combine against Sparta; the Spartans are defeated at Haliartus; Lysander is slain.
Tissaphernes' Persian army is defeated by Agesilaus, near Sardis.
394. The Athenian admiral Conon, in charge of the Persian fleet, crushingly defeats that of the Spartans, under Pisander, off Cnidus.
Agesilaus is recalled from Asia; commanding the Spartans, he gains a victory over the confederate Greeks at Coronea.
393. Conon undertakes the rebuilding of the walls in Athens and restores the fortifications.
392. Conon excites the jealousy of the Persians; he retires into Cyprus, where he dies.
391. Camillus banished from Rome, charged with misappropriating the booty secured at Veii, but really on account of his patrician haughtiness; he dies at Ardea, whither he had withdrawn.
389. Aeschines born; he was accounted in Athens second only to Demosthenes as an orator.
388 (387). Brennus, commanding the Gauls, burns Rome. See "BRENNUS BURNS ROME," ii, 110.
387. Through the mediation of Persia, Sparta compels the Greek states to accept the peace of Antalcidas, which leaves the Ionian cities and Cyprus at his mercy; this enables Sparta to maintain her supremacy in Greece.
385.[Est] Birth of Demosthenes, the famous Greek orator and general.
384. Aristotle born.
383. War of Syracuse with Carthage.
Thebes is betrayed to Sparta, during her war against Olynthus.
379. The Olynthians are forced to submission by the Spartans. Pelopidas and his associates drive the Spartans from Thebes.
378. Athens declares in favor of Thebes against Sparta.
376. Cleombrotus leads the Spartans into Boeotia; the Spartan fleet, under Pollis, is overwhelmed off Maxos, by Chabrias.
371. Congress of Sparta, Thebes being excluded from the treaty of peace; Pelopidas and Epaminondas gain the great victory of Leuctra, in which Cleombrotus, King of Sparta, is slain. Thebes becomes the dominant power in Greece.
The Arcadian union formed. One of the first effects of the battle of Leuctra was to emancipate the Arcadians, and a plan was formed to raise them in the political affairs of Greece.
370. Epaminondas, the Theban general, heads his first expedition into the Peloponnesus; he threatens Sparta, which Agesilaus saves.
369. The Thebans advance into Laconia; they restore the independence of the Messenians. Epaminondas and Pelopidas are condemned for having retained their command beyond the term allowed by the laws of Thebes; they are pardoned and reappointed.
The Arcadians found Megalopolis, which they make the capital of the Arcadian confederacy.
368. The Thebans again enter the Peloponnesus, but retreat before the arrival of succor sent by Dionysius to the Lacedaemonians. Pelopidas, treacherously made prisoner by Alexander of Pherae, is rescued by Epaminondas. A congress, under the mediation of Persia, is held at Delphi; it fails, because the Thebans will not abandon the Messenians.
The Carthaginians at war with Dionysius; but, after losing Selinus and other towns, they make peace.
Camillus, more than eighty years old, appointed dictator at Rome; he persuades the patricians to assent to the demands of the plebs, and builds the temple of Concord.
A celestial globe brought into Greece from Egypt.
367. The Licinian Rogations, Rome; three bills introduced by Licinius, decreeing: 1. That interest on loans be deducted from the principal; 2. Limiting the public land held by any individual to 500 jugera (320 acres); 3. Ordering that one of the two consuls should be a plebeian. Institution of the praetorship.
364. Pelopidas attacks Alexander of Pherae; during the battle of Cymoscephale his soldiers are alarmed at an eclipse of the sun, and he is slain.
362. The Spartans and allies defeated at Mantinea by Epaminondas; he is slain.
361 (359). Artaxerxes II of Persia succeeded by Artaxerxes III (Ochus).
359. Philip ascends the throne of Macedon; he concludes peace with the Athenians.
358.[Est] Athens involves herself in the Social War with Cos, Rhodes, Chios, and Byzantium.
Amphipolis captured by Philip of Macedon; he loses his right eye by an arrow from Astor.
357. Outbreak of the Ten Years' Sacred War, caused by the Crissians levying grievous taxes on those who went to consult the oracle of Delphi.
356. Burning of the temple of Diana at Ephesus; this building was accounted one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
Birth of Alexander the Great.
Dion frees Syracuse from Dionysius the Younger; he is expelled from Sicily.
355. The Social War ends in Greece. Athens recognizes the independence of the confederated states.
353. Final conquest of Egypt by the Persians.
352. Philip of Macedon interferes in the Greek Sacred War; Demosthenes delivers his First Philippic encouraging the Greeks to resist the Macedonians; Philip's attempt to seize Thermopylae is defeated.
Two thousand colonists are sent from Athens to Samos.
347. Philip of Macedon captures and destroys Olynthus.
346. Phocis occupied by Philip of Macedon; this ends the Sacred War.
Dionysius the Younger again assumes power in Syracuse.
343 (340). Timoleon effects the deliverance of Syracuse from Dionysius the Younger.
Rome engages in the First Samnite War.
341 (338). End of the First Samnite War.
Invasion of China by Meha the Hun. See "TARTAR INVASION OF CHINA BY MEHA," ii, 126.[Est]
340. Adoption of the Publilian laws in Rome, which further restricted the power of the patricians.
The Romans make war upon the Latins; the latter are subjugated. Manlius, one of the Roman consuls, condemns his son to death for a breach of discipline.
338. Athens and Thebes form an alliance to resist Philip of Macedon, who had passed Thermopylae and seized Elatea. The allied forces are overwhelmed at Chaeronea, and Philip establishes the Macedonian dominion in Greece.
Artaxerxes III is succeeded by Arses in Persia.
337. Philip of Macedon declares himself commander of the Greeks against the Persians; he repudiates his wife Olympias; their son Alexander attends his mother into Epirus.
336. Assassination of Philip of Macedon, by Pausanias at Aegae, while preparing to invade Persia; he is succeeded by his son, Alexander the Great.
Arses is succeeded by Darius III (Codomannus) in Persia.
335. Thebes, revolting against the Macedonian authority, is subdued and destroyed by Alexander, who, however, spares the house of Pindar the poet.
Rome concludes a peace with Gaul.
334. Alexander enters upon the conquest of Persia; he is victorious over Darius at the Granicus.
333. Lycia and Syria reduced by Alexander; Damascus captured by Parmenio, Alexander's general, and the siege of Tyre begun.
Darius is defeated at Issus; his family are among Alexander's captives.
332. "ALEXANDER REDUCES TYRE: LATER FOUNDS ALEXANDRIA." See ii, 133. He takes Gaza and occupies Egypt.
The Lucanians and Bruttians defeat and slay Alexander of Epirus, his ambitious designs in Italy having been betrayed.
331. "THE BATTLE OF ARBELA," in which Alexander the Great conquers Darius and overthrows the Persian empire. See ii, 141.
330. The Spartans, under Agis III, revolt against the Macedonians; Antipater defeats the Spartans and their allies at Megalopolis; Agis is slain.
Darius is seized and laden with chains by Bessus, a Bactrian satrap who soon after slays him.
Alexander captures Bessus and delivers him to Oxathres, the brother of Darius, by whom he is executed.
Alexander pursues his conquests in Parthia, Media, Bactria, and on the shores of the Caspian.
329. The Oxus and Jaxartes are crossed by Alexander; he drives back the Scythians; he founds new cities in the countries adjacent, and winters in Bactria.
The consuls at Rome are granted a triumph and the surname of "Privernas," for the conquest of Privernum.
328. Sogdiana, Central Asia, occupies Alexander during this, his seventh campaign, and he winters there at Nautaca.
327. Marriage of Alexander to Roxana, daughter of Oxyartes, a Bactrian ruler.
326. Alexander invades India and defeats Porus; his soldiers refuse to proceed farther.
Rome begins the Second Samnite War.
325-4. Alexander marches from the Indus to Persepolis; his fleet is sailed to the Euphrates by Nearchus.
Harpalus flees from Babylon with immense treasures, which he conveys to Athens.
323. Death of Alexander the Great at Babylon. His principal generals endeavored to obtain, each for himself, a portion of his empire. Ptolemy first secures Egypt and establishes his dynasty firmly there. Philip Aridaeus, half-brother of Alexander, succeeds him on the throne of Macedon, with Perdiccas as regent. Demosthenes returns to Athens and rouses the Greek states to recover their freedom; under Leosthenes they overpower Antipater, who takes refuge in Lamia, whence this is called the Lamian War.
The Samnites sue for peace, but reject the terms on which it is offered by the Romans.
322. The body of Alexander is entombed at Alexandria.
The confederate Greeks are defeated by Antipater at Crannon; end of the Lamian War.
Demosthenes, who was accused by the Macedonians of being privy to the looting of the treasury by Harpalus, after the battle of Crannon fled to Calauria; he was captured by the Macedonian troops and thereupon poisoned himself.
321. Beginning of the wars between Alexander's successors; Perdiccas and Eumenes oppose themselves to Antipater, Craterus, Antigonus, and Ptolemy.
Perdiccas assails Ptolemy in Egypt; Perdiccas is slain in a mutiny. In Asia Minor, Eumenes triumphs over Craterus, who is killed.
Victory of the Samnites over the Romans at the Caudine Forks. These were two narrow gorges, united by a range of mountains on each side. The Romans went through the first pass, but found the second blocked up; on returning they found the first similarly obstructed. Being thus hemmed in they passed under the yoke.
320. Eumenes, defeated by Antigonus, shuts himself up in the castle of Nora, where he sustains a year's siege.
319. Polysperchon is appointed by Antipater to succeed him as regent for Philip Arrhidaeus and Alexander Aegus, half-brother and son of Alexander the Great, on his, Antipater's, death.
Polysperchon's elevation to power is followed by a league against him, formed by Antipater's son Cassander, Antigonus, and Ptolemy. Eumenes lends his support to Polysperchon, after escaping from Nora.
318. The Romans and Samnites make a truce.
Polysperchon prevailed over by Cassander in the struggle for power in Greece and Macedonia. Athens he places under the rule of Phalereus.
317. Phocion, an Athenian general who wisely advised in vain for peace with Antipater, became regarded as a traitor; he fled to Phocis, entered into the intrigues of Cassander, who delivered him up to the Athenians, who condemned him to drink hemlock. Olympias, mother of Alexander the Great, aided by Polysperchon and the Epirotes, seizes Macedonia.
Olympias is put to death by Cassander. Eumenes, being betrayed to Antigonus, is put to death; Antigonus holds the supreme power in Asia.
315. The rebuilding of Thebes undertaken by Cassander.
314. Commencement of the struggle against Antigonus waged by Cassander, Ptolemy, Seleucus, and Lysimachus.
313. Tyre surrenders to Antigonus. Ptolemy engages with him and conquers Cyprus.
The Romans take Fregellae and other towns from the Samnites.
312. Seleucus Nicator establishes the realm of the Seleucidae, the army of Antigonus, under his son Demetrius Poliorcetes, being defeated by Ptolemy and Seleucus. Babylon is made the capital.
Ptolemy conquers Judea; he transplants many Jews to Alexandria and Cyrene, where their industry is encouraged and their religion protected.
At Rome Appius Claudius, the blind, constructs the Via Appia, the first aqueduct, and a canal through the Pontine marshes.
Zeno institutes the sect of Stoics at Athens.
311. A temporary peace among the competitors for power in Asia. Greece is declared to be free, and Ptolemy resigns Phoenicia to Antigonus.
Roxana, the widow of Alexander the Great, and her young son Alexander Aegas, are put to death by Cassander.
The Roman consul Bubulcus penetrates into Samnium, where he is surrounded, and cuts his way through with great courage.
310. Agathocles, the Syracusan ruler, defeated by the Carthaginians at Himera, passes over to Africa and carries the war into their own country.
The Etruscans take up arms in favor of the Samnites.
Civil war in the little kingdom of Bosporus; Satyrus II, king for a few months, falls in battle.
An eclipse of the sun, August 15th.
309. Hercules, a natural son of Alexander, proclaimed king of Macedon; he is murdered by Cassander.
The Romans are victorious over the Samnites and the Etruscans.
308. The Romans, under Fabius, compel the Etruscans to make peace; Fabius then turns against the Samnites, whom he defeats.
307. Demetrius Poliorcetes, son of Antigonus, arrives with a fleet at Athens, expels Demetrius Phalereus, and restores the democracy, the Athenians throw down Phalereus' statues and condemn him to death.
306. Ptolemy's fleet is destroyed by Demetrius Poliorcetes at Salamis; but Antigonus fails in his attempt on Egypt. Antigonus assumes the title of king of Asia; Ptolemy Lagi, Lysimachus, and Seleucus, the rulers of Egypt, Thrace, and that part of Alexander's empire east of the Euphrates, likewise assume the royal title. Cassander of Macedon is hailed king by his subjects.
305. War between Seleucus and India, under Sandrocottus, ends in a treaty of amity.
Flavius reconciles all orders of the Roman state and erects a temple of Concord.
Demetrius Poliorcetes besieges Rome.
304. The Romans triumphantly end the Second Samnite War.
302. The priesthood at Rome is opened to the plebs.
300. Battle of Ipsus. Seleucus and Lysimachus overwhelm the army of Antigonus and his son, Demetrius Poliorcetes; Antigonus is slain. His dominions are divided among the victors. Lysimachus takes a large portion of Asia Minor; Seleucus appropriates Upper Syria, Capuadocia, and other territory.
Seleucus Nicator builds Antioch, which he makes the capital of his kingdom of Syria.
299. Rome engages in the Third Samnite War, which becomes one of extermination, but the Samnites bravely resist in their mountain holds.
295. Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, espouses Antigone of the house of Ptolemy; he returns to his dominions, out of which he had been driven by the Molossi.
The Samnites, Etruscans, Umbrians, and Gauls unite against Rome. Q. Fabius Rullianus and P. Decimo Mus defeat the Samnites and Gauls at Sentinum.
Demetrius Poliorcetes retakes Athens; Lysimachus and Ptolemy deprive him of all he possesses.
294. The Macedonian throne is seized by Demetrius Poliorcetes; by violence or treachery the sons of Cassander are slain.
293. Many towns of the Samnites are so utterly destroyed by the Romans that their sites are unknown; a portion of the spoil is cast into a brazen colossus, and placed in front of the Roman Capitol.
The Roman census is 272,308 citizens.
The first sun-dial at Rome is placed on the temple of Quirinus.
290. The end of the Third Samnite War, which results in the submission of the Samnites to Rome.
287. Birth of Archimedes, celebrated mathematician.[Est]
Lysimachus and Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, wrest Macedonia from Demetrius Poliorcetes; immediately after, Lysimachus expels Pyrrhus.
286. The Hortensian law, passed by Q. Hortensino, affirmed the legislative power granted the plebeians B.C. 446 and 336.
285. Completion of the Septuagint, a Greek version of the Scriptures, called "the Alexandrian."
The length of the solar year first accurately determined by Dionysius, in the astronomical canon.
283. Death of Ptolemy Lagi (Ptolemy Soter); Ptolemy Philadelphus (jointly on the throne with his father since 295) succeeds him as King of Egypt. He further encourages the immigration of the Jews, who flourish exceedingly.
282. The Tarentines attack a Roman fleet and insult the ambassadors, who demand satisfaction. Rome prepares for war; the Tarentines engage Pyrrhus to assist them.
281. Lysimachus, at war with Seleucus Nicator, is defeated and slain in Phrygia.
The Roman consul Aemilius invades the territory of Tarentum.
280. Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, invades Italy; he makes the cause of Tarentum his own and wars on Rome. Laevinus, the Roman consul, is defeated. See "FIRST BATTLE BETWEEN GREEKS AND ROMANS," ii, 166.
Revival of the Achaean League. The Achaei originally inhabited the neighborhood of Argos; when driven thence by the Heraclidae, they retired among the Ionians, expelled the natives, and seized their thirteen cities, forming the Achaean League.
279. Pyrrhus, who had tried to mediate between Tarentum and Rome, meeting with non-success, advances on Rome. He fails to make any impression and returns to Tarentum; the Romans follow him, and he gains an unimportant victory over them at Asculum. See "FIRST BATTLE BETWEEN GREEKS AND ROMANS," ii, 166.
Irruption of Gauls into Macedonia; King Ptolemy Ceraunus offers battle to them, in which he is killed.
278. The Gauls under Brennus invade Greece; they are cut to pieces near Delphi.
Alliance formed between Rome and Carthage.
Pyrrhus wars against Carthage in Sicily.
277. A body of Gauls enter Northern Phrygia, of which they take possession.
Pyrrhus expels the Carthaginians from most of their possessions in Sicily.
276. Other Grecian cities join the Achaean League.
275. Pyrrhus, on the arrival of Carthaginian reenforcements, returns to Italy; he is totally defeated by M. Curius Dentatus (at Beneventum), who exhibits in his triumphs the first elephants ever seen in Rome.
273. Ptolemy Philadelphus, of Egypt, sends an embassy to congratulate the Romans on their victory and to ask an alliance with them.
272. Pyrrhus attempts the siege of Sparta; he is repulsed. In an attack on Argos, Pyrrhus is slain.
Tarentum surrenders to the Romans.
Lucania and Brittium also submit to Rome.
269. The first silver coinage at Rome.
266. The Romans capture and destroy Volsinii; Rome controls all Italy.
264. War between Rome and Carthage. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179.
Gladiators first introduced into Rome.
263. Antigonus Gonatus, King of Macedon, captures Athens.
The Romans compel Hiero, King of Syracuse, to withdraw from the support of Carthage. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179.
Philetaerus at his death appoints his nephew, Eumenes, King of Pergamus; the competition for books between him and Ptolemy Philadelphus causes the latter to prohibit the export of papyrus from Egypt; this leads to the invention of parchment at Pergamus, whence it takes its name.
Hiero makes peace with the Romans; he becomes their most trusted ally.
260. Ships-of-war first built by the Romans; the naval power of Rome inaugurated by the decisive victory of Duilius over the Carthaginians at Mylae. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179.
259. The Romans invade Corsica; they carry off much rich spoil from thence and Sardinia, but make no permanent conquests. The island of Melita (Malta) is captured by the Romans.
258. Atilius, the Roman consul, surrounded by the Carthaginians in Sicily, escapes with difficulty.
257. A drawn battle between the fleets of Rome and Carthage off Tyndaris causes the Romans to prepare larger ships, in order to strike a decisive blow.
256. Total defeat of the Carthaginian fleet near Ecnomus; the victorious Roman consuls land in Africa. The Carthaginians hire troops from Greece and give the command to Xanthippus. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179.
255. Regelus and his Roman legions are vanquished by Xanthippus; Regelus is taken captive. The Romans fit out a large fleet, which gains another victory and brings off the remains of the army from Africa. Many of the ships are wrecked.
254. Another fleet consisting of 220 ships is equipped in three months by the Romans; Panormus (Palermo) is captured. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179.
253. The Romans again land in Africa and ravage many Carthaginian coast cities; on their return most of their ships are wrecked; the Romans resolve to abstain from naval warfare.
252. Birth of Philopoemen, called the "Last of the Greeks."
251. Aratus restores the freedom of Sicyon; joins the Achaean League, which becomes a powerful body.
250. Arsaceo founds the kingdom of Parthia.
The Romans begin the siege of Lilybaeum; the Carthaginians successfully defend it till the close of the war. Metellus, the Roman proconsul, commanding in Sicily, gains a great victory over Hasdrubal near Panoramus; over one hundred elephants form part of his triumphal procession.
249. Naval victory of the Carthaginians over the Romans at Drepanum.
Regelus is sent to Rome to propose an exchange of prisoners; on his return the Carthaginians put him to death with the utmost cruelty.
The war between Syria and Egypt, which had been ruinous to the former, is ended by a treaty between Antiochus II and Ptolemy Philadelphus. One of the conditions was that Antiochus repudiate Laodice and marry Berenice, Ptolemy's daughter.
248. Parthia becomes an independent kingdom.
247. Birth of Hannibal, the famous Carthaginian general.
Ptolemy Euergetes succeeds his father Ptolemy Philadelphus on the throne of Egypt.
243. Corinth, delivered by Aratus from the yoke of Macedon, joins the Achaean League; other states follow the example.
241. Agis IV, of Sparta, assists the Achaeans in their war against the Aetolians.
Rome, having again assembled a great fleet, under Lutatius Catalus, vanquishes the Carthaginians in a naval encounter off the Aegates. End of the First Punic War; Sicily is relinquished by Carthage to Rome.
240. The Carthaginian mercenaries in Africa revolt; Hamilcar Barca crushes it out.
237. Carthage is compelled to cede Sardinia to Rome.
236-221. Celomenes III of Sparta institutes great political reforms and engages in a struggle with the Achaean League.
236-220. Hamilcar Barca and Hasdrubal, his son-in-law, conquer a great part of Spain.
235. Rome, at peace with all the world, closes the temple of Janus, for the first time since Numa, according to legend, the second king of Rome.
234. Birth of Cato the Elder.
Scipio Africanus born.
230. Ambassadors sent by Rome to protest against the piracies of the Illyrians are murdered by the order of Queen Teuta.
229. A successful war is waged by the Romans against the Greek kingdom of Illyria; the Roman power is extended across the Adriatic.
On the death of Hamilcar, his son-in-law, Hasdrubal, takes his place in Spain; he founds Carthago Nova (Carthagena).
227. Sparta makes war with the Achaean League.
225-222. Cisalpine Gaul is conquered by the Romans.
221. Cleomenes III is crushed by Antigonus Doson, ruler of Macedon, at Sellasia; the Spartan power is utterly destroyed.
220. Social war; the war made by the Aetolian League on the Achaean League.
219. Hannibal lays siege to Saguntum, which he destroys; this is the real commencement of the Second Punic War. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179.
Philip V, of Macedon, is victorious in his campaigns against the Aetolian League.
218. Hannibal crosses the Alps into Italy; he defeats the Romans on the Ticinus and Trebia. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179.
217. Philip V continues his victorious way against the Aetolian League.
Hannibal defeats the Romans at the Trasimene Lake.
Antiochus the Great cedes Coele-Syria and Palestine to Egypt.
216. Crushing defeat of the Romans by Hannibal at Cannae. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179.
214. Rome has her first encounter with Macedon; Philip V allies himself with Hannibal and begins the war.
Marcellus is sent into Sicily and besieges Syracuse, which had declared against Rome.
213. Aratus, strategus of the Achaean League, is poisoned by Philip V of Macedon; this alienates from him many Greek states.
Hwangti crushes out literature in China.
212. After a two-years' siege the Romans under Marcellus take Syracuse.
The two Scipios defeated and killed in Spain. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179.
211. Hannibal before the gates of Rome. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179.
The Aetolian League with its allies assists Rome against Macedon.
210. Aegina taken by the Romans; the inhabitants reduced to slavery.
Agrigentum, being conquered by Caevinus, places all Sicily again under Roman subjection.
Scipio, victorious in Spain, takes Carthago Nova. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179.
208. Suspension of his operations against Scipio—the future Scipio Africanus—in Spain by Hasdrubal, son of Hamilcar, who sets out to relieve his brother Hannibal in Italy.
207. Hasdrubal is defeated and slain on the Metaurus. See "BATTLE OF THE METAURUS," ii, 195.
A signal victory is achieved by Philopoemen, general of the Achaean League, with Macedon, over the Spartans at Matinea.
206. Birth of Polybius, Greek historian.
The Carthaginian power in Spain completely destroyed by Scipio.
205. End of the first Romo-Macedonian war.
204. Scipio carries the war into Africa; he defeats the Carthaginians and the Numidians.
203. Hannibal, recalled from Italy, arrives at Carthage.
202. The Carthaginian power is completely broken, ending the Second Punic War. See "SCIPIO AFRICANUS CRUSHES HANNIBAL AT ZAMA AND SUBJUGATES CARTHAGE," ii, 224.
201. A war is begun by Rome for the resubjugation of the Boii and Insubres of Cisalpine Gaul, who had attained freedom owing to the Carthaginian invasion.
The Jews become subject to the Seleucid monarchy.
200. Declaration of war by Rome against Macedon; the second Macedonian war.
198. Antiochus the Great, of Syria, conquers Palestine and Coele-Syria from Egypt, defeating Scopas and the Aetolian allies.
197. Decisive Roman victory over the Macedonians at Cynoscephale; Philip V of Macedon makes a humiliating peace.
196. The Roman general Flaminius proclaims the freedom of the Greeks.
195.[Est] Birth of Terrence, Roman comic poet.
Ptolemy V, Epiphanes, King of Egypt. See i, 1, "The Rosetta Stone."
192. In concert with the Aetolians, Antiochus the Great takes up arms against Rome.
191. Antiochus is defeated by the Romans under Acilius Glabrio, at Thermopylae, in Greece. The resubjugation of Cisalpine Gaul is completed by Rome.
All the Peloponnesus is included in the Achaean League, which attains its apogee.
190. Scipio Asiaticus takes command of the Romans in Greece, with his brother Africanus as lieutenant; Antiochus is vanquished at Magnesia and he is compelled to release his hold on the greater part of Asia Minor. Most of the conquered territory is annexed to Pergamus. Scipio Asiaticus takes his surname for the courage and ability he showed.
189. Fall of the Aetolian League.
185. Birth of Scipio Africanus the Younger.
179. Death of Philip V of Macedon. His son Perseus negotiates secretly with other states against Rome. The Celtiberians and Lusitanians lay down their arms.
177. Rome suppresses a revolt in Sardinia. A colony settled at Lucca. The Achaeans contract an alliance with Rome.
Thessaly relapses under the Macedonian influence.
176. The consul Scipio dies, and C. Valerius Laevinus takes his place for the rest of the year. His colleague Petilius is slain in battle against the Ligurians. The Orchian and other sumptuary laws fail to repress the luxury of the Romans.
175. Disgraceful struggles for the high-priesthood of Jerusalem; Antiochus sells it to Jason, the brother of Onias, who is deposed.
174. Masinissa, after many encroachments, seizes the Carthaginian provinces of Tyssa, with fifty cities; Roman ambassadors sent to settle the dispute. Others deputed to ascertain the intentions of Perseus.
Mithridates VI of the Arsacidae begins his reign and prepares the elevation of Parthia to great power.
173. The Roman ambassadors return, Perseus having refused to receive them.
Death of Cleopatra, who, in the name of her young son, had been regent of Egypt.
172. The Ligurians are subdued and Northern Italy filled with Roman colonies. Eumenes honorably received at Rome; on his way back he is attacked by assassins near Delphi.
Menelaus, another brother, supplants Jason in the high-priesthood of Jerusalem.
171. Commencement of the Third Macedonian War; King Perseus begins his struggle with Rome.
Antiochus invades Egypt and takes Memphis.
170. Hostilius, who takes the command in Macedon, makes no progress; the Roman fleet ravages the sea-coast.
Perseus negotiates with Antiochus, Prusias, and many Greek states to form a coalition against Rome; even Eumenes begins to treat with him.
Ptolemy Physcon is associated with his brother as joint King of Egypt.
169. The manoeuvres of Marcius Philippus drive Perseus from his strong position in Tempe.
Antiochus lays siege to Alexandria; the Egyptians apply to Rome for aid.
168. Battle of Pydna; complete defeat of Perseus, King of Macedon, by the Romans, under L. Aenilius Paulas. Macedon becomes a Roman province.
Antiochus, awed by the Roman ambassador Popillius and the fate of Perseus, evacuates Egypt. In his retreat he plunders Jerusalem and despoils the Temple, in which he sets up the statue of Jupiter Olympias.
167. Deportation of a thousand Achaeans to Rome; among them is Polybius, the historian, who there finds patrons and friends. The first library opened in Rome, consisting of books plundered from Macedon.
Arms are taken up by the Asmoneans against Antiochus, King of Syria.
165. Judas Maccabaeus enters Jerusalem; he purifies the Temple. See "JUDAS MACCABEUS LIBERATES JUDEA," ii, 245.
160. Defeat and death of Judas Maccabaeus in battle.
158. Roman citizens are almost entirely relieved of direct taxation by the revenues from Macedon and other conquests.
149. Commencement of the Third Punic War between Rome and Carthage. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179.
First Roman law against bribery at elections.
147.[Est] Viriathus, the Lusitanian leader, has his first great victory over the Romans.
146. Scipio Africanus the Younger completely destroys Carthage.
Mummius, commanding in Greece, defeats the Archaeans at Leucopetra; he captures and destroys Corinth. The treasures of Grecian art conveyed to Rome. Greece becomes a Roman province.
Demetrius Nicator slays Alexander Bala in battle and becomes king of Syria.
141. Simon Maccabaeus captures the citadel of Jerusalem.
Silanus, accused by the Macedonians of corrupt practices, is condemned by his father, Torquatus, and takes his own life.
140. The Jews proclaim Simon Maccabaeus hereditary prince; with this dignity is united the office of high-priest.
[Est]Viriathus, the Lusitanian leader against the Romans in Spain, is assassinated by order of the consul Caepio.
135. Simon Maccabaeus is assassinated; John Hyrcanus, his son, succeeds him as ruler at Jerusalem.
134-133. Antiochus Tidetes, King of Syria, besieges Jerusalem; he is repulsed.
134-132. Servile War in Sicily, caused by the inhuman treatment of the slaves by their owners; two great battles were fought before the rising was suppressed.
133. Tiberius Gracchus attempts his great political and agrarian reforms in Rome. See "THE GRACCHI AND THEIR REFORMS," ii, 259.
Scipio Africanus the Younger reduces Numantia.
Attalus III of Pergamus bequeaths his kingdom, which embraces a great part of Asia Minor, to the Romans.
125-121. The southeastern portion of Transalpine Gaul conquered by the Romans.
123-122. Caius Gracchus commences his agrarian reforms in Rome. See "THE GRACCHI AND THEIR REFORMS," ii, 259.
118. Rome extends her dominion beyond the Rhone; the colony of Narbo Martius (Narbonne) founded.
113. Hordes of the Cimbri and Teutons threaten the Rome dominion by an invasion of Illyrium.
112. Jugurtha, King of Numidia, kills Adherbal, who has been restored to the throne of Numidia after being driven thence by Jugurtha.
111. The consul Calpurnius proceeds with a Roman army into Numidia; bribed by Jugurtha, he makes a peace and withdraws his forces.
109. Jugurtha is opposed in Numidia by the Roman army headed by Metellus.
John Hyrcanus, the Jewish Prince and high-priest, defeats Ptolemy Lathyrus and captures Samaria.[Est]
The Cimbri request an allotment of land from the Romans, whereon to settle; it is refused; they ravage the country, but are checked in Thrace by Nimicus Rufus.
108. Metellus, as proconsul, continues the war in Numidia.
The Cimbri defeat the consul Scaurus in Gaul.
Mithridates of Pontus secretly prepares to regain by force the province of Phrygia, which the Romans took from him during his minority.
107. Marius vigorously carries on the war against Jugurtha; Marius is consul, Sylla his quaestor.
Cassius, Roman consul, is defeated and slain by the Cimbri in Gaul.
106. Birth of Cicero. Birth of Pompey the Great.
Jugurtha is betrayed by Bocchus, King of Mauretania, into the hands of the Romans, which ends the Jugurthine War.
105. The Cimbri and Teutones defeat the consul Manilius and proconsul Caepio, near the Rhone, with great loss.
Aristobulus, son of John Hyrcanus, succeeds his father and assumes the title of king of Judea.
104. Alexander Jannaeus succeeds his brother Aristobulus in Judea.
102. Marius overwhelmingly defeats the Teutones, while they were retreating from Spain, at Aquae Sextiae (Aix).
Another revolt of the slaves in Sicily (Second Servile War).
101. Marius utterly crushes the Cimbri on the Raudian Fields, after they had previously defeated the proconsul Lutatius Catulus.
100. The Second Servile War continues.
Birth of Julius Cæsar.
99. M. Aquilius finally crushes out the slave uprising in Sicily.
94. Mithridates makes his son king of Cappadocia.
93. Cappadocians appeal to the Romans, who give them Ariobarzanes for their king. Mithridates seizes Galatia.
92. Sulla is sent by the Romans into Cappadocia to observe Mithridates' proceedings; ambassadors from Parthia meet him there.
91. M. Livius Drussus, people's tribune, advocates giving the rights of citizenship to the Roman allies; he is assassinated.
90. Social or Marsic War, a conflict of the Italian states against Rome, begins, the cause being the refusal of the franchise by Rome. Cæsar, the consul, is unfortunate against the Samnites, and Rutilius is defeated and slain by the Marsi. Marius retrieves these disasters. Citizenship granted to the states which remain faithful to Rome.
The Roman senate promises aid to Cappadocia against Mithridates.
89. The consul Pompeius (father of Pompey the Great) gains decided victories over the Picentines; his colleague, Cato, defeats the Marsi, but is killed in the battle; Sulla takes the command, and is so successful that he is elected consul for the ensuing year. Cicero is a cadet in the army of Pompeius.
Cleopatra is put to death by her son Alexander, who is expelled from Egypt, and Ptolemy Soter restored.
88. End of the Social War. Most of the refractory states admitted to Roman citizenship.
Mithridates, King of Pontus, occupies Phrygia; he asks all Asia Minor to join him; a general massacre of the Romans occurs.
Quarrel between Sulla and Marius which causes war between them for the control of the Roman army. The first Roman civil war.
87. Sulla proceeds to Greece to conduct the war against Mithridates; Sulla besieges Athens.
The consul Cinna, deposed by the senate, calls Marius from Africa, raises an Italian army, and reinstates himself in office; bloody proscriptions by Marius and Cinna follow.
86. Death of Marius, in the beginning of his seventh consulate; Flaccus, appointed in his place, is assassinated on his march to the east, by C. Fimbria, who assumes command of the Roman army.
Sulla captures the revolted city of Athens and defeats the army of Mithridates under Archelaus.
A sedition of the Jews is quelled with merciless severity by Alexander Jannaeus.
85. The Romans are successful against Mithridates in Asia.
84. End of the First Mithridatic War; Mithridates, finding himself between two victorious Roman armies, agrees to peace and relinquishes all his acquisitions.
83. Sulla makes war against the Marian party in Italy.
The Roman senate refuses to send Mithridates a formal ratification of the treaty. He retains a part of Cappadocia. The Second Mithridatic War begins.
82. Sulla becomes dictator at Rome, after crushing the Marian party; he inflicts a bloody vengeance on his enemies.
End of the Second Mithridatic War.
81. Pompey, having been successful in Africa, is granted a triumph in Rome.
80. Sertorius, the Marian leader, sets up an independent state in Spain.
Cæsar serves as a cadet at the siege of Mitylene; he receives a civic crown for saving the life of a citizen.
79. Sulla resigns the dictatorship, but remains master of Rome.
Alexander Jannaeus, King of Judea, is succeeded on his death by his widow Alexandra.
78. Death of Sulla.
76. Pompey is sent into Spain to oppose Sertorius.
74. Mithridates renews hostilities; he enters into an abortive alliance with Sertorius. Third Mithridatic War. Lucullus commands the Roman forces.
73. Lucullus routs the army of Mithridates.
Rising of the gladiators; Spartacus collects, on Mount Vesuvius, a numerous army of slaves and gladiators; they overcome the forces sent against them and ravage Southern Italy. The Third Servile War.
72. Sertorius is assassinated in Spain; the Spaniards submit to Pompey.
King Mithridates is driven from his dominions by Lucullus; the King takes refuge in Armenia.
71. Crassus defeats and slays Spartacus; the gladiators are crushed.
70. Death of Alexandra, widow of Jannaeus; she nominates her son, Hyrcanus, as her successor; but his brother, Aristobulus, usurps the throne of Judea.
Pompey and Crassus, previously at variance, are reconciled during their joint consulship.
Cicero's six orations (the first only being actually delivered) against Verres, who, when governor of Sicily, had plundered the island of property, art treasures, etc.
Birth of Vergil.
69. Lucullus crosses the Euphrates, captures Tigranocerta, and defeats Tigranes, who had succored Mithridates in Armenia.
68. Lucullus defeats Tigranes and takes Nisibis.
67. A mutiny in the Roman army caused by the appointment of Glabrio to succeed Lucullus.
Pompey crushes the pirates of Cilicia and makes it a Roman province.
Julius Cæsar is quaestor in Spain.
Metellus completes the conquest of Crete for the Romans.
Mithridates makes a successful advance.
66. Pompey, after a conference with Lucullus, completely crushes Mithridates and drives him over the Cimmerian Bosporus.
65. End of the Third Mithridatic War.
Antiochus XIII is deposed by Pompey; this puts an end to the kingdom of the Seleucidas (Syria).
Hyrcanus takes up arms against his brother Aristobulus in Judea.
64. Pompey takes possession of Syria; he is recalled thence to oppose Mithridates, who, returned to his states, prepares for further resistance.
63. Having intervened between the brothers John Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II, and decided in favor of Hyrcanus, Pompey lays siege to Jerusalem, where Aristobulus reigns, captures it, and makes Judea a Roman province.
Mithridates, betrayed by his son, poisons himself.
Cicero frustrates the conspiracy of Catiline, having for its object the cancellation of debts, the proscription of the wealthy, and the distribution among the conspirators of all the offices of honor and emolument.
62. Catiline is defeated and slain, after having collected an army in Etruria.
Discord arises between Cæsar, now prætor, and Cato, tribune of the people.
60. First Triumvirate in Rome, formed of Pompey, Crassus, and Cæsar, equally dividing the power.
59. Consulship of Cæsar at Rome; he carries his agrarian law and ingratiates himself with the people; he is given the command in Gaul and Illyrium for five years.
58. Cæsar begins his campaigns in Gaul. See "CÆSAR CONQUERS GAUL," ii, 267.
Cicero exiled from Rome; he had saved the Republic at the time of the Catiline conspiracy, but had broken the constitution, which forbade capital punishment without the sentence of the assembly of the people.
57. The Belgae conquered by Cæsar.
Cicero recalled to Rome.
56. Roman conquest of Aquitaine.
55. Cato is imprisoned for opposing the vote giving the triumvirs five more years in their respective provinces: Pompey in Spain; Cæsar in Gaul; Crassus in Syria. The triumvirs meet at Lucca.
Caesar's first expedition into Britain. See "ROMAN INVASION AND CONQUEST OF BRITAIN," ii, 285.
54. First campaign of Crassus; he plunders the Temple of Jerusalem and proceeds against the Parthians.
Mithridates of Parthia is murdered by his brother Orodes.
Cæsar's second invasion of Britain. See "ROMAN INVASION AND CONQUEST OF BRITAIN," ii, 285.
53. Crassus defeated and slain in the war against the Parthians at Carrhae.
52. Vercingetorix, at the head of various Gallic tribes, makes a formidable effort to drive Cæsar out of Gaul; he is unsuccessful, and Cæsar, besieging him in his stronghold Alesia, forces him to surrender.
51. Peace between Rome and Parthia. Cæsar completes his conquest of Gaul.
Cleopatra, on the death of her father, Ptolemy Auletes, becomes queen of Egypt. See "CLEOPATRA'S CONQUEST OF CÆSAR AND ANTONY," ii, 295.
50. Cæsar returns to Italy; jealousy between him and Pompey arouses the people of Rome.
49. War breaks out between Cæsar and Pompey; the second civil war in Rome.
48. Pompey is defeated by Cæsar at Pharsalia; Pompey flees to Egypt, where he is assassinated.
47. The Roman senate appoints Cæsar dictator, M. Antony as his master of the horse. Cæsar subdues Egypt.
46. Cæsar overwhelms the Pompeians in Africa at the battle of Thapsus; Juba, King of Numidia, on the defeat, takes his own life.
Death of Cato.
The calendar is reformed by Cæsar.
45. Cæsar conquers the sons of Pompey at Munda, Spain. He is appointed dictator for life.
44. Brutus, Cassius, and other conspirators murder Cæsar in Rome. See "ASSASSINATION OF CÆSAR," ii, 313.
Conflict for power between Antony and Octavius; Cicero's oration secures Octavius' success in Rome.
Antony resorts to arms to regain his lost ascendency. See "ROME BECOMES A MONARCHY," ii, 333.
43. Second Triumvirate at Rome, formed by Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus.
Murder of Cicero. Birth of Ovid.
42. Brutus and Cassius are defeated at the two battles of Philippi. See "ROME BECOMES A MONARCHY," ii, 333.
41. Octavius and Antony's party war in Italy.
Fulvia, the wife of Antony, and the consul Lucius, his brother, oppose Octavius, who drives them from Rome. See "ROME BECOMES A MONARCHY," ii, 333.
40. Herod I, in his absence at Rome, is proclaimed by Antony and Octavius king of Judea.
Antony accompanies Cleopatra to Egypt. See "ROME BECOMES A MONARCHY," ii, 333.
39. Herod lands in Syria to take the throne of Judea.
38. Pompey is defeated in a naval engagement and loses all his fleet.
37. Herod conquers Jerusalem; the Asmonean house ends.
36. Lepidus, aspiring to greater power, is deserted by his soldiers and ejected from the triumvirate.
31. War of Antony and Octavius; Octavius is victorious at Actium: he becomes master of the Roman dominions. Flight of Antony with Cleopatra to Egypt. See "ROME BECOMES A MONARCHY," ii, 333.
30. Death of Antony and Cleopatra. See "ROME BECOMES A MONARCHY," ii, 333.
Egypt becomes a Roman province.
27. Octavius has a triumph at Rome and receives the title of Augustus.
The temple of Janus is closed.
24. Aelius Gallus, governor of Egypt, fails in an expedition into Arabia.
19. Final subjugation of the Cantabri by Agrippa; the whole Spanish peninsula subject to Rome.
15. The Rhaetians and Vindelicians subdued by Drassus and Tiberius, at the head of the Roman troops.
12. Victorious advance of Drusus in Germany.
9. Pannonia completely subdued by Tiberius.
Last German campaign and death of Drusus.
4. Death of Herod the Great, King of Judea.
Probable date of the birth of Jesus.
A.D.
1. Beginning of the Christian era.
4. Emperor Tiberius' campaign in Germany.
6. Archelaus, the Herodian ethnarch, is deposed; Judea becomes a district of the Roman prefecture of Syria.
9. Arminius annihilates the army of Varus in Teutoburg Forest. See "GERMANS UNDER ARMINIUS REVOLT AGAINST ROME," ii, 362.
12. Tiberius leaves Germanicus to prosecute the war, and returns to Rome.

## Footnotes

* ↑ By the old chronological reckoning this event occurred B.C. 390.
* ↑ The date is usually given as 301.
* ↑ The date usually given is B.C. 280.
* ↑ Other authorities say he fell in battle.