750 e.v.

A relieved Khalid is named archangel of Faith, but just as quickly begins withdrawing more and more from the Seraphim Council, spending more time on Earth as Islam flourishes.

## Asia

Gopala I is proclaimed as the first ruler and founder of the Pala Empire.

Borobudur, or Barabudur (a Mahayana Buddhist temple in Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia, as well as the world's largest Buddhist temple, and also one of the greatest Buddhist monuments in the world) is built.

The "Western Paradise" of Amitābha Buddha, detail of a wall painting in Cave 217, Dunhuang (China), is made during the Tang Dynasty. In China during the Tang Dynasty, a bargeload of tea (a medicinal herb) comes up the Grand Canal to Luoyang, from Zhejiang. Wu Shaocheng, general of the Tang Dynasty, is born (will die in 810).

Abbas ibn al-Ahnaf, Abbasid poet, is born (will die in 809). Abd al-Malik ibn Salih, Abbasid general, is born (will die in 812). Abdallah ibn Abd al-Malik, Umayyad prince, dies. Al-Abbas ibn al-Walid, Umayyad prince and general, dies.

Sawara, Japanese prince, is born. Isonokami no Otomaro, Japanese nobleman, dies.

Basil the Confessor, Eastern Orthodox saint, dies. Irene of Khazaria, Byzantine empress, dies.

### January 25

**Battle of the Zab:** Abbasid forces under Abdallah ibn Ali defeat the Umayyads near the Great Zab River. Members of the Umayyad house are hunted down and killed. Defeated by his rivals, Caliph Marwan II flees westward to Egypt, perhaps attempting to reach Al-Andalus (Iberian Peninsula), where there are still significant Umayyad armies.

Ibrahim ibn al-Walid, Umayyad caliph, dies.

Al-Saffah becomes caliph (ruler) of the Islamic Caliphate and rules until 10 June 754.

Leo IV, Byzantine emperor, is born (will die in 780)

### August 6

Marwan II is caught and killed at Faiyum by supporters of the Abbasid caliph As-Saffah. Almost the entire Umayyad Dynasty is assassinated; Prince Abd al-Rahman I escapes to Al-Andalus. The Abbasids assume control of the Islamic world and establish their first capital at Kufa.

## Europe

King Alfonso I of Asturias establishes the Kingdom of Galicia, in roughly the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Bermudo I, king of Asturias, is born.

The town Slaný in the Central Bohemian Region (Czech Republic) is founded at the site of a salt spring.

King Eadberht of Northumbria imprisons Cynewulf, bishop of Lindisfarne, at Bamburgh Castle. King Eadberht does this in order to punish the bishop for sheltering one of his enemies, Prince Offa. He then besieges Prince Offa, son of the late King Aldfrith, in Lindisfarne Priory. Almost dead from hunger, he is dragged from his sanctuary and put to death. Himelin, Scottish priest, dies. **Battle of Mugdock:** The Strathclyde Britons under King Teudebur defeat Prince Talorgan of the Picts. This leads to the decline of the power of King Óengus I.

Arno, archbishop of Salzburg, dies. Eigil of Fulda, Bavarian abbot, is born. Agilulfus, bishop of Cologne, dies. Burchard, bishop of Würzburg, dies.

Clement, Irish scholar and saint, is born. Bressal mac Áedo Róin, Dál Fiatach king of Ulaid, dies. Inreachtach mac Dluthach, king of Uí Maine, dies.

Hildegrim, bishop of Châlons, is born. Theodulf, bishop of Orléans, is born.

Leo III, pope of the Catholic Church, is born (will die in 816)

Ragnvald Sigurdsson, great-grandfather to Harald Hårfagre, is born. Veborg, Scandinavian shieldmaiden, dies.

Boruth, prince (knyaz) of Carantania, dies.

## North America

Native Americans, in the area now known as the Four Corners, begin constructing and occupying pueblos.

The city of Teotihuacan (modern Mexico) is destroyed and left in ruins, its palaces burned to the ground.