Download Full Timeline - Amazon Web Services

HISTORICAL TIMELINE
1
Historical timeline
BC
The origins of Rome
(Most of these dates are approximate)
1220
Destruction of Troy.
1152
Traditional date of founding of Alba Longa.
1000–750
Phoenician expansion overseas.
1000
Latins settle in Latium.
814
Traditional date of founding of Carthage.
775
Euboean Greeks establish trading post in Bay of Naples.
753
Traditional date of founding of Rome.
753–510
Period of the kings in Rome.
650
Etruscans occupy Latium.
616–578
Tarquinius Priscus.
578–534
Servius Tullius.
534–510
Tarquinius Superbus.
524
Defeat of Etruscans at Cumae.
510
Ejection of kings.
505
Final defeat of Etruscans.
The republic
509
496
494
451/450
443
439
409
390
367
356
351
340
338
327–290
321
312
310
308
283
280–275
272
265
264
Establishment of the republic. First consuls. Dedication of Temple of
Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill.
Romans defeat Latins at Lake Regillus.
Traditional date for the institution of the office of tribune of the people.
The Twelve Tables.
First censors.
The murder of Spurius Maelius.
First plebeian quaestor.
Gauls sack Rome, but withdraw in return for ransom.
First plebeian consul elected. Creation of praetorship.
First plebeian dictator.
First plebeian censor.
War against Latins.
Latin league of states dissolved. Campania becomes Roman.
Samnite wars.
Disaster at Caudine Forks.
Appius Claudius Caecus constructs the Via Appia and the Aqua Appia.
Roman inroads into Etruria.
Surrender of Umbria.
Final capitulation of Etruscans.
Pyrrhus leads Greek cities in south of Italy against Rome.
Surrender of Tarentum and other Greek cities in south.
Rome now holds all Italy south of the Arno.
First show in Rome with gladiators.
HISTORICAL TIMELINE
264–241
260
241
239–237
237
227
221
219
218–202
218
217
216
211–206
202
197
191
184
167
167–160
153
149–146
146
144
133
123–122
121
112–106
107
105
102–101
100
91–88
88
87
86
85
2
First Punic War.
Gaius Duilius wins Rome’s first naval victory at Mylae.
Western Sicily becomes first Roman province.
Rome annexes Corsica and Sardinia.
Hamilcar overruns southern Spain.
All Sicily and Sardinia with Corsica become provinces.
Hannibal assumes command of Carthaginian forces.
Hannibal captures Saguntum.
Second Punic War.
Hannibal invades Italy
Hannibal defeats Romans at Lake Trasimene.
Hannibal defeats Romans at Cannae.
Scipio’s campaigns in Spain.
P. Cornelius Scipio (soon to be Africanus) wins the Battle of Zama.
Spain annexed and divided into two provinces.
Rome completes conquest of Cisalpine Gaul.
Cato elected censor, having been consul in 195.
End of third war against Macedonia, which is divided into four selfgoverning regions.
Maccabaean revolt in Judaea.
Roman year begins on 1 January.
Third Punic War.
Destruction of Carthage and Corinth. Province of Africa established.
Dedication of temples to Hercules Victor by Lucius Mummius
Achaicus
Tiberius Gracchus is tribune of the people. Pergamum bequeathed to
Rome and in 129 becomes the province of Asia.
Gaius Gracchus is tribune of the people.
Transalpine Gaul becomes a province.
Wars against Jugurtha.
First consulship of Marius.
Cimbri destroy two Roman armies in Gaul.
Marius defeats Teutones and Cimbri.
Sixth consulship of Marius.
Social War between Rome and Italian allies, who are effectively tired
of fighting for Rome without being treated as Roman citizens. The
allies lose the war but make their point.
First consulship of Sulla, who is assigned the command against
Mithridates VI, king of Pontus. Motion by P. Sulpicius Rufus, tribune
of the people, to appoint Marius in Sulla’s place. Sulla marches on
Rome, his consular colleague is killed, and Marius is outlawed.
Mithridates massacres Roman citizens in Asia. Sulla departs for the
East with his army.
The consul Cornelius Cinna is deposed and driven out of Rome by his
consular colleague, Gnaeus Octavius. Marius and Cinna capture Rome
and massacre all opposition. They are elected consuls for 86.
Seventh consulship of Marius (who dies 13 January) and second of
Cinna.
Third consulship of Cinna and first of Papirius Carbo. Sulla agrees
peace terms with Mithridates.
HISTORICAL TIMELINE
84
83
82
80
78
3
Fourth consulship of Cinna and second of Carbo. Cinna is murdered by
his soldiers while crossing to Asia to confront Sulla.
Sulla lands in Italy, and is joined by Crassus and Pompey.
Consuls are Gaius Marius Junior and Carbo. Sulla defeats opposition
forces. Marius commits suicide. Sulla proclaimed dictator.
Proscriptions. Constitutional reforms.
Sulla resigns as dictator and goes into retirement.
Death of Sulla. The beginning of the end of the republic.
Transition
74
73–71
70
67
66–63
63
60
59
58–50
56
55
55–54
53
52
49
48
48–47
47
46
Bithynia and Cyrenaica become provinces.
Slave revolt of Spartacus.
First consulship of Pompey and Crassus. Trial of Verres by Cicero.
Pompey crushes the pirates.
Pompey, given exceptional powers in the East, defeats Mithridates and
reorganizes the region. End of the Seleucid empire. Syria, including
Judaea until 40 BC, is made a province.
Consulship of Cicero. Conspiracy of Catiline. Caesar is elected
pontifex maximus. Birth of Caesar’s great-nephew, the future
Augustus.
First triumvirate of Caesar, Crassus and Pompey.
First consulship of Caesar, who is appointed governor of Cisalpine
Gaul with Illyricum for five years, to which the Senate adds Gallia
Narbonensis (Transalpine Gaul). Pompey’s actions in the East ratified.
Clodius becomes a pleb and is elected tribune of the people.
Caesar’s Gallic Wars. The whole of Gaul becomes part of the empire.
Renewal at Lucca of first triumvirate.
Second consulship of Crassus and Pompey. Caesar’s term extended.
Caesar’s invasions of Britain.
Death of Crassus in Parthia.
Pompey appointed sole consul.
Pompey authorized to deal with Caesar, who crosses the Rubicon with
his army, signifying that he comes as an invader. Pompey leaves for
Greece. Caesar is dictator for eleven days, then resigns.
Caesar defeats Pompey at Pharsalus. Pompey takes flight to Egypt,
where he is murdered as he steps ashore. Caesar, in pursuit, stays to
sort out Cleopatra’s affairs. He is reappointed dictator. Local war in
Alexandria.
Caesar in Egypt.
Alexandrian War concluded with Jewish help. Caesar defeats
Pharnaces, son of Mithridates, at Zela. (‘Veni, vidi, vici.’) Reaches
Rome in September.
Caesar is appointed dictator for ten years. He crosses to Africa from
Sicily, and crushes Pompey’s supporters at Thapsus. Suicide of Cato.
Caesar’s quadruple triumph. Cleopatra in Rome with her twelve-yearold husband (her brother Ptolemy XIV) and her one-year-old son
Ptolemy Caesar (popularly called Caesarion). Caesar’s wide-ranging
legislation includes the reform of the calendar, necessitating the year
having fifteen months. He leaves for Spain.
HISTORICAL TIMELINE
45
44
43
42
40
40–35
38
37
33
32
31
31–23
30
29
28
27
4
Final defeat of Pompeians in Spain. Caesar returns to Rome in
October.
Caesar designated perpetual dictator. He is assassinated 15 March,
having announced that he will leave Rome on 18 March to lead his
armies against the Parthians. Marc Antony, Caesar’s consular
colleague, takes control. The Senate, at the instigation of Cicero, grants
amnesties to the conspirators, and recognizes Octavian as Caesar’s
heir. Octavian holds games in honour of Caesar’s birthday. Antony,
having granted himself the governorship of Cisalpine Gaul for five
years, besieges the sitting governor, Decimus Brutus, one of the
conspirators, in Mutina.
First consulship of Octavian. Formation of second triumvirate:
Octavian, Antony and Lepidus. Proscriptions, in which Cicero dies.
Caesar is officially deified. The chief conspirators, Brutus and Cassius,
are defeated at Philippi. Cisalpine Gaul incorporated into Italy. Antony
goes to settle imperial affairs in the East.
Octavian defeats at Perusia army led by Lucius Antonius, consul for 41
and Antony’s brother. ‘Treaty of Brundisium’ effectively divides the
Roman world between Octavian and Antony, who marries Octavia,
Octavian’s sister.
Trouble with Sextus Pompeius, who finally surrenders in Asia and is
executed.
Octavian, having divorced his wife the previous year after she had
given birth to his daughter Julia, marries Livia, mother of Tiberius and
pregnant with Drusus.
Renewal of triumvirate.
Second consulship of Octavian. Legal end of triumvirate. Octavian
steps up propaganda campaign against Antony.
Antony divorces Octavia, and is attacked in the Senate by Octavian.
War declared against Cleopatra.
Battle of Actium on 2 September.
Successive consulships of Octavian/Augustus.
Having been called back to Italy by mutinies and general unrest,
Octavian returns to the East, arriving in Egypt during the summer.
Antony and Cleopatra commit suicide. Egypt is annexed by Rome and
becomes the personal property of the emperor.
Octavian celebrates triple triumph for victories in Dalmatia, at Actium
and in Egypt. Temple of the Divine Julius dedicated.
Octavian awarded the title of princeps. Octavian and his consular
colleague Agrippa hold a census, the first since 70 BC. They also
reduce the number of senators from 1,000 to 800.
Octavian renounces his special powers and ‘transfers the state to the
Roman people’. He accepts the provinces of Spain, Gaul and Syria for
ten years, and assumes the name Augustus. Agrippa builds the first
Pantheon, which is completed in 25.
The empire
Julio-Claudians and Flavians
HISTORICAL TIMELINE
5
Rule of Augustus
23
22
21
18
17
15
13
12
11
9
8
7
6
2
Augustus resigns his eleventh consulship, probably because of illness.
He is awarded full tribunician powers for life, and extended imperium
which gives him authority over any provincial governor and over the
army (renewed for five years in 18 and 13 BC, and for ten years in 8
BC, and in AD 3 and 13).
Famine and plague. Augustus declines a dictatorship and censorship
for life, but accepts the post of corn supremo. He leaves for the East
for three years.
Agrippa is forced to divorce his wife and marry Augustus’ daughter
Julia, whose husband Marcellus has died after being married to her for
two years.
The Senate is reduced to 600. Agrippa is granted special powers.
Augustus adopts Agrippa’s and Julia’s two sons, Gaius and Lucius, as
his own sons. Saecular Games celebrated.
Tiberius and Drusus, Augustus’ stepsons, defeat the Raeti and
Vindelici, whose territory becomes a Roman province.
Tiberius’ first consulship. Augustus returns to Rome after three years
in Gaul, and Agrippa after three years in the East. Agrippa’s special
powers extended for five years.
Following the death of Lepidus, Augustus is elected pontifex maximus.
Death of Agrippa.
Tiberius is forced to divorce his wife and marry Julia.
Dedication of Ara Pacis in Rome.
Tiberius scores victories in Germany.
Tiberius awarded tribunician powers for five years; he retires to
Rhodes.
Death of Drusus. Death of Herod the Great.
Banishment of Julia.
AD
2
4
6
9
13
14
Death of Lucius. Tiberius returns to Rome.
Death of Gaius. Augustus adopts Tiberius, who is granted tribunician
powers for ten years. Tiberius adopts Germanicus, son of Drusus, and
departs for Germany. Law restricting manumission.
Augustus establishes aerarium militare to provide for retired soldiers,
and creates the post of praefectus vigilum.
Varian disaster.
Augustus’ control of his provinces renewed for a further ten years.
Tiberius’ powers are also renewed, with imperium equal to that of
Augustus.
Census enumerates five million Roman citizens. Death (19 August)
and deification (17 September) of Augustus. Tiberius succeeds him.
Mutinies in Pannonia and Germany. Sejanus appointed commander of
imperial guard. Death of Julia.
HISTORICAL TIMELINE
6
Rule of Tiberius
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
26
27
28
29
31
33
37
Germanicus advances to the river Elbe, but is recalled to Rome and the
attempt to extend the Roman frontier is abandoned.
Germanicus celebrates a triumph, then is sent to the East with powers
to reorganize the provinces.
Third consulship of Tiberius, with Germanicus, who falls out with
Gnaeus Piso, legate of Syria. Death, in banishment, of the poet Ovid.
Death of Germanicus in Syria, which Piso is forced by army pressure
to leave.
Piso, charged with treason and with procuring the death of
Germanicus, commits suicide.
Fourth consulship of Tiberius, with his son Drusus. Tiberius, however,
retires for a time to Campania.
Drusus awarded tribunician powers.
Sejanus relocates the imperial guard to a camp immediately outside the
city walls. Death of Drusus (attributed to Sejanus by Tacitus).
Pontius Pilate becomes administrator of Judaea. Sejanus persuades
Tiberius to leave Rome.
Tiberius settles in Capri.
Marriage of Agrippina, daughter of Germanicus and Agrippina (elder),
to Domitius Ahenobarbus.
Agrippina (elder) and her eldest son exiled. Death of Livia at the age
of eighty-six.
From Capri, Tiberius denounces Sejanus, on whom the Senate
pronounces the death sentence.
Probable date of the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth under Roman
law. Drusus, son of Germanicus, becomes one of over sixty wellknown people executed for treason during the rule of Tiberius.
Death of Tiberius (16 March). Gaius (Caligula), Tiberius’ greatnephew, becomes emperor and is suffect consul with his uncle
Claudius. Death of Tiberius Gemellus, Tiberius’ grandson. Birth of the
emperor Nero.
Rule of Caligula
38
39
40
41
Death and deification of Caligula’s sister Drusilla. Riots in Alexandria
between Jews and Greeks.
Conspiracy of Aemilius Lepidus, widower of Drusilla, and C. Lentulus
Gaetulicus, consul in 26 and now legate in Upper Germany, both of
whom are executed. Caligula’s other two sisters are exiled. Caligula is
on the Rhine and in Gaul over the winter.
Caligula makes an expedition to the Channel. On his return to Rome,
he orders a statue of himself to be set up in the Temple at Jerusalem.
Deputation of Alexandrine Jews and Greeks.
Assassination of Caligula. Claudius, with the help of Herod Agrippa in
bringing round the Senate, is made emperor, having promised a
donative to each member of the imperial guard equivalent to ten years’
pay, an unfortunate precedent. Herod Agrippa (Agrippa I), in addition
to his existing territories, is also made king of Judaea, Samaria and
HISTORICAL TIMELINE
7
Idumaea, which cease to be under the jurisdiction of the governor of
Syria.
Rule of Claudius
42
43
44
46
47
48
50
51
53
54
Mauretania is divided into two provinces.
Invasion of Britain, part of which becomes a province under Aulus
Plautius.
Claudius celebrates a triumph for his victory in Britain and names his
three-year-old son Britannicus. Achaea and Macedonia become subject
to the authority of the Senate. Death of Agrippa I. Judaea reverts to
being a province.
Achaea is annexed.
Plautius celebrates a triumph for his successes in Britain, the last
occasion on which a subject is so honoured.
As censor, a post he revives, Claudius registers some seven million
citizens of Rome, and opens the way for more provincials to become
senators. Death of the empress Messalina. Claudius marries Agrippina
(the younger), the daughter of his brother Germanicus.
Claudius adopts Nero, son of Agrippina.
Final defeat in Wales of the British chief Caratacus, who is handed
over by Cartimandua, queen of the Brigantes. Claudius pardons him
and his family and allows them to live out their lives in Rome.
Vespasian is suffect consul.
Marriage of Nero to Claudius’ daughter Octavia.
Death of Claudius by poison (12 October). Accession of Nero.
Claudius is deified.
Rule of Nero
55
56
59
60
61
62
64
65
66–74
66
Nero rules initially with the advice of his tutor, Seneca, and Burrus,
commander of the imperial guard. Claudius’ freedman, who was his
financial secretary, is dismissed. Britannicus is poisoned. Gn. Domitius
Corbulo appointed to military command in the East.
Quaestors are replaced by two imperial officers (ex-praetors) at the
treasury, to which Nero transfers forty million sesterces in 57.
Nero finally succeeds in murdering his mother.
Corbulo, after several military successes, settles the Armenian
problem, and is appointed governor of Syria.
In Britain, the Iceni (under Boudica) and Trinovantes revolt, causing
great destruction and slaughter. They are finally defeated by Suetonius
Paullinus, and Boudica commits suicide.
Death of Burrus. Seneca withdraws from public life. Nero marries
Poppaea, having divorced and subsequently murdered Octavia.
Great fire of Rome.
In the wake of a high-level conspiracy, there are many executions and
enforced suicides, including that of Seneca. Death of Poppaea.
First Jewish War.
As First Jewish War begins, Vespasian is appointed military
commander in Judaea. Nero marries Statilia Messalina.
HISTORICAL TIMELINE
68
69
8
Nero returns from visits to Greece. Verginius Rufus, legate of Upper
Germany, crushes rebellion of Vindex in Gaul. Death of Nero (6 June).
End of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Galba enters Rome and is accepted
as emperor.
Year of the four emperors. Vitellius, governor of Lower Germany, is
acclaimed emperor by his troops and those in Upper Germany. Galba
and Piso, his nominee as successor, is killed by the imperial guard,
who make Otho emperor (15 January). In northern Italy Vitellius
defeats Otho, who commits suicide (14 April). Vitellius arrives in
Rome (mid-July). Vespasian, in Judaea, is proclaimed emperor by
Tiberius Alexander, prefect of Egypt (1 July), and is accepted as such
by the troops in the East and on the Danube. The Danube legions
capture Rome (21 December). Death of Vitellius (24 December).
From the accession of Vespasian to the end of the Flavian dynasty
70
71
73
74
78–84
79
80
81
83
84
86–92
96
Vespasian and Titus are consuls. Titus takes Jerusalem; destruction of
the Temple. Vespasian reaches Rome (October).
Vespasian and Nerva are consuls. Triumph of Vespasian and Titus for
victories in Judaea. Titus is appointed commander of the imperial
guard and receives tribunician powers.
First consulship of Domitian.
Vespasian confers Latin rights on all parts of the Spanish peninsula.
Fall of Masada marks end of First Jewish War.
Agricola is governor of Britain.
Death of Vespasian and accession of Titus (23 June). Eruption of
Vesuvius and destruction of Herculaneum and Pompeii (August).
Fire in Rome destroys Capitoline Temple. Opening of the Colosseum
(the Flavian Amphitheatre).
Erection of Arch of Titus. Death of Titus and accession of Domitian
(13 September).
Domitian campaigns in Germany.
Battle of Mons Graupius in Scotland. Agricola is recalled.
Domitian’s Danube wars.
Assassination of Domitian. Senate elects Nerva to succeed him.
The ‘five good emperors’
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
Accession of Nerva, who takes an oath that he will not execute any
senator.
Nerva adopts Trajan as co-ruler and successor.
Death of Nerva. He is succeeded by Trajan, who is campaigning on the
Rhine.
Trajan arrives in Rome, having made preparations along the Danube
frontier for a forthcoming campaign.
Hadrian, first-cousin once removed of Trajan, who is also Hadrian’s
guardian, marries Vibia Sabina, Trajan’s great-niece.
Trajan invades Dacia, which is finally annexed in 106.
Decebalus, Dacian king, capitulates and becomes a client king of
Rome.
HISTORICAL TIMELINE
104
105
106
107
111
112
113
114–116
116
c. 117
117
118
121
122
123
124
125
c. 126
128
129
130
132–135
126
138
139
c. 140
141
142–143
9
Death of the poet Martial. New war against Decebalus.
Arabia annexed.
Death of Decebalus and annexation of Dacia.
Trajan’s 123-day triumph.
Correspondence between Pliny, governor of Bithynia, and Trajan
about the Christians.
Dedication of Trajan’s Forum, incorporating Trajan’s Market.
Dedication of Trajan’s Column. Trajan prepares for Parthian
campaign.
Trajan conquers Mesopotamia, capturing Babylon and Ctesiphon,
capital of the Parthian empire.
Jewish risings are brutally put down, with the virtual destruction of the
Jewish communities in North Africa, Alexandria and Cyprus.
Death of the historian Tacitus.
Trajan dies in Cilicia on his way home, having left Hadrian in charge
of the armies in the East. Trajan’s widow, Pompeia Plotina, announces
that he had adopted Hadrian, who is hailed emperor by the army in
Syria. Roman empire at its greatest extent.
Four former consuls and senior commanders, all Trajan’s men, are
executed on the orders of the Senate. Hadrian reaches Rome.
Hadrian in Gaul, Upper Germany, Raetia and Noricum.
Hadrian in Lower Germany, Britain (where he begins construction of
Hadrian’s Wall), Gaul and Spain. Suetonius is dismissed from his post
as director of the imperial correspondence for some disrespectful
behaviour relating to the empress Sabina.
Hadrian in North Africa, Crete, Syria and Asia Minor.
Hadrian in western Europe and Greece.
Hadrian in Greece and Sicily, before returning to Rome.
Rebuilding of Pantheon in its present form.
Hadrian in Africa, Athens and Sparta.
Hadrian tours eastern provinces.
Hadrian in Judaea, where he proposes the foundation of Aelia
Capitolina on the site of the old Jerusalem and the building of a temple
to Jupiter where the Temple had stood. Then in Egypt, where Antinous
drowns in the Nile; Hadrian founds Antinoopolis in his memory.
Second Jewish War, at the end of which Jerusalem is razed and Judaea
is renamed Syria Palaestina, or ‘Palestine’.
Death of Sabina. Hadrian adopts Ceionius Commodus as his successor.
Death of Commodus. Hadrian adopts Antoninus, consul in 120 and
more recently governor of Asia, whom he causes to adopt Lucius
Verus, son of Commodus, and Marcus Aurelius, Antoninus’ nephew.
Death of Hadrian (10 July). Accession of Antoninus.
Antoninus persuades the Senate to confirm Hadrian’s deification, for
which act he is granted the surname Pius.
Death of the poet Juvenal.
Death of Antoninus’ wife, the empress Faustina. She is deified by the
Senate; Antoninus establishes in her honour an alimentary programme
for the care of orphaned girls (the Puellae Faustinianae).
Building of the Antonine Wall in northern Britain between the Clyde
and Forth estuaries.
HISTORICAL TIMELINE
10
145
147
161
Marcus Aurelius marries Faustina, daughter of Antoninus.
Marcus Aurelius receives imperial powers.
Death and deification of Antoninus in his seventy-fifth year, having
named as his successor Marcus Aurelius. Marcus Aurelius accedes as
emperor but insists that Verus rules with him.
161–166
Parthian Wars, successfully conducted by Verus with the help of his
generals.
164
Verus marries Lucilla, fourteen-year-old daughter of Marcus Aurelius.
c. 165
Antonine Wall is dismantled.
166
Verus’ army brings back with it the most virulent plague (probably
smallpox) experienced in the empire.
167
Rising of Marcomanni. Barbarian invasions of Danube provinces.
Famine and plague.
169
Marcomanni and Quadi invade Italy and besiege Aquileia. The two
emperors oppose them with an army into which slaves have been
enlisted. Death and deification of Verus. Marcus Aurelius returns to
Rome with the body, then goes back to the northern frontier, where he
spends most of his remaining years.
c. 174–c. 180 Marcus Aurelius composes his Meditations.
176
From Syria, Marcus Aurelius travels to Alexandria and Athens, where
he endows chairs of philosophy. Back in Rome, he celebrates a
triumph and makes his fifteen-year-old son Commodus joint ruler.
177
Pogrom of the Christian community in Lugdunum (Lyon).
178
Further rising of Marcomanni and other tribes.
180
Death of Marcus Aurelius at the age of fifty-nine. Accession of
Commodus, who, having made peace with the northern tribes, enters
Rome and holds a triumph.
The Severan and disintegration of dynastic rule
182
184
190
192
193
Conspiracy in which the emperor’s sister Lucilla is involved; she is
exiled and then executed. Tigidius Perennis becomes commander of
the imperial guard, in which capacity he effectively runs the state.
Commodus acclaimed as imperator and takes the title Britannicus for
victories by Ulpius Marcellus in northern Britain.
Death of Cleander, whom the people hold responsible for the famine.
Commodus renames the months of the year to correspond with his own
names and titles.
Pertinax, consul for that year, is appointed prefect (chief administrator)
of Rome. Commodus is murdered (31 December), bringing to an end
the Antonine dynasty. Pertinax is acclaimed emperor by the Senate.
Pertinax is assassinated by the imperial guard (28 March), who acclaim
Didius Julianus as emperor. In April, Septimius Severus, governor of
Pannonia Superior, is proclaimed emperor by his legions at
Carnuntum. Pescennius Niger, governor of Syria, is also proclaimed
emperor by his troops. Severus marches on Rome, gaining the support
of Clodius by appointing him Caesar (deputy emperor). As Severus
approaches Rome (1 June), he is recognized as emperor by the Senate.
Didius is murdered (2 June). Severus enters Rome (9 June) and
HISTORICAL TIMELINE
194
195
197
198
202
203
205
208
209
211
212
213
215
217
218
11
disbands the imperial guard, which he replaces with three of his own
legions. Pescennius is defeated and his base of Byzantium is besieged.
Severus defeats Pescennius, campaigns in Mesopotamia, and launches
attacks on eastern tribes.
For his victories in Mesopotamia, Severus dubs himself Parthicus
Arabicus and Parthicus Adiabenicus. He also proclaims himself the
son of Marcus Aurelius and renames his elder son Marcus Aurelius
Antonius (later nicknamed ‘Caracalla’) and makes him Caesar. His
wife Julia Domna receives the title Mater Castrorum (‘Mother of the
Camp’). Clodius, put in an impossible position, crosses into Gaul with
his army, who proclaim him emperor.
Severus defeats Clodius Albinus and departs for a second Parthian war.
Severus captures Ctesiphon, Babylonia’s chief city. He names himself
Parthicus Maximus, promotes Caracalla to Augustus and his younger
brother Geta to Caesar. Mesopotamia, annexed by Trajan, abandoned
by Hadrian, becomes a province again.
Severus holds lavish celebratory games but refuses a triumph.
Marriage of Caracalla to Fulvia Plautilla, daughter of G. Fulvius
Plautianus, commander of the imperial guard, who had held the fort
while Severus was away. Severus and his family leave for a triumphal
tour of his native Africa.
Erection of Arch of Severus in the Forum.
Plautianus and others are executed for alleged conspiracy. Caracalla
divorces Plautilla. The lawyer Papinian replaces Plautianus, heralding
an Augustan age of Roman law.
The imperial family leaves for Britain.
Geta is promoted to Augustus, but is left behind while Severus and
Caracalla campaign in Scotland.
Severus dies at York. His family returns to Rome, where Caracalla and
Geta are to be joint emperors.
Caracalla has Geta murdered in his mother’s arms, and instigates
wholesale slaughter of sympathizers and innocent citizens. All free
inhabitants of the empire are now entitled to be Roman citizens.
Caracalla defeats the Alamanni, then campaigns on the Danube
frontier and in Asia Minor.
Caracalla visits Alexandria, where there are riots; the governor of
Egypt is executed along with thousands of young men. He institutes
the antoninianus (worth two denarii but weighing less), which
contributes to inflation.
Caracalla, campaigning in the East, is killed near Carrhae by members
of his entourage on the instructions of Macrinus, commander of the
imperial guard. Macrinus’ troops proclaim him emperor. Death of Julia
Domna.
Macrinus buys peace with Parthia. Julia Maesa, sister of Julia Domna,
promulgates a story that her fifteen-year-old grandson Bassianus, priest
of the cult of Elagabalus at Emesa, is Caracalla’s son. He is proclaimed
emperor by the troops in Syria. Macrinus is defeated and subsequently
executed.
HISTORICAL TIMELINE
218–228
219
221
222
226
227
229
231–233
234
235
236
12
The historian Cassius Dio is successively administrator of Pergamum
and then Smyrna, governor of Africa, and military commander of
Dalmatia and then Upper Pannonia.
Bassianus reaches Rome and takes office as Elagabalus.
Elagabalus adopts his fifteen-year-old cousin Severus Alexander, son
of Julia Maesa’s daughter, Julia Mammaea.
Elagabalus is murdered by soldiers and succeeded by Severus
Alexander, who rules with the help and under the influence of his
mother.
The Aqua Alexandrina, the last of Rome’s eleven significant
aqueducts, is operative.
The Sasanid dynasty, having succeeded the Parthians, threatens to
overrun all the former Persian territories in the East.
Cassius Dio is consul, with Severus Alexander, after which he retires
to Bithynia, land of his birth.
Severus Alexander’s eastern campaign restores the status quo in the
region.
Trouble on the Rhine. Severus Alexander and his mother go to Mainz
to oversee a response to further threats from the Alamanni.
Assassination of Severus Alexander and his mother. A senior officer,
Maximinus Thrax, becomes emperor on the spot.
Maximinus campaigns successfully across the Rhine and Danube.
Third-century crisis
238
242–243
244
248
249
250
251
253
Year of six emperors. The Senate declares as emperor Gordian I,
governor of Africa, who includes his son Gordian II in the invitation.
Both die after their forces are attacked by the army commander of
Numidia, who supports Maximinus. The Senate deifies them and
selects two replacements, Pupienus and Balbinus. Maximinus invades
Italy but is murdered by his troops. The imperial guard kills Pupienus
and Balbinus and proclaims as emperor Gordian III, the thirteen-yearold nephew of Gordian II.
Roman victories over Goths and Persians.
Gordian is murdered in Mesopotamia. Philippus ‘the Arabian’,
commander of the imperial guard, becomes emperor and makes peace
with the Persians.
Decius, commander in Moesia, proclaimed emperor by his troops.
Celebrations for the thousandth anniversary of Rome’s foundation.
Decius defeats and kills Philippus near Verona.
Widespread persecution of Christians by Decius. Plague rages for
fifteen years.
Invasion of Goths. Decius is killed trying to prevent them returning
home. Trebonianus Gallus, governor of Moesia, declared emperor by
the troops.
Aemilius Aemilianus, commander in Moesia, declared emperor by his
troops, as is the elderly Licinius Valerianus (Valerian), who is in
Moesia gathering troops to oppose him. Aemilianus defeats and kills
Trebonianus, but is himself killed by his troops. Valerian reaches
Rome and is recognized as emperor jointly with his son Gallienus.
HISTORICAL TIMELINE
255
257
258
259–274
259
260
260–261
268
270
270–273
271
272
273
274
275
276
277–280
280–281
281
282
13
Further invasions of Goths, as well as Scythians and Alamanni.
Persians reach Antioch.
Edict of Valerian against the Christians. The Alamanni are checked by
Gallienus, and the Goths by his army commander Aurelian. Valerian
goes to the East.
Postumus makes himself ruler of Gaul.
Imperium Galliarum, breakaway state of Gaul, established by
Postumus.
Gallienus defeats the Alamanni at Milan and in Gaul. Valerian
captured by the Persians.
First Edict of Toleration for Christians.
Some nine usurpers to the title of emperor come and go in various
parts of the empire.
Postumus and three successors murdered by local troops; the senate of
Gaul appoints Tetricus ruler. Gallienus, having successfully
campaigned against the Goths, is murdered by his own officers in
northern Italy. Claudius emerges as emperor.
Death of Claudius by plague. Aurelian, now commander-in-chief of all
Roman cavalry, is proclaimed emperor by his troops in Sirmium while
campaigning against the Goths, though Claudius’ brother Quintillus
has been chosen in Rome for the office. Aurelian defeats Quintillus
and is confirmed as emperor by the Senate after Quintillus dies in
mysterious circumstances. Zenobia, regent of Palmyra for her young
son, occupies Egypt and much of Asia Minor.
Revolt of Zenobia.
Aurelian defeats Vandals and Alamanni, then begins fortifications:
Aurelian Wall in Rome; defences for other cities.
Aurelian abandons Dacia north of the Danube and creates a new
province south of the river, with its capital at Serdica (Sophia). In the
East he defeats Zenobia and captures Palmyra.
In the West Aurelian defeats the Carpi, and in the East he puts down a
revolt in Palmyra, which he destroys.
Aurelian defeats Tetricus, bringing Britain and Gaul back into the
empire. He celebrates his second triumph and makes Sol Invictus the
supreme god of the Roman empire.
Assassination of Aurelian while on his way to fight the Persians. The
army asks the Senate to choose an emperor; after a delay, its members
elect Tacitus, an elderly senator.
Tacitus is killed by his own troops in Cappadocia. Florianus,
commander of the imperial guard, is chosen emperor in Rome, while
Probus is proclaimed in the East. They meet in battle at Tarsus, where
Florianus is killed by his own men. Probus is now sole emperor.
Probus campaigns successfully on the Rhine and the Danube and then
moves to the East, where he restores order in Egypt and undertakes
civil engineering work along the Nile.
Revolts of Proculus and Bonosus in the West, and of Saturninus in the
East.
Probus celebrates a triumph and completes the Aurelian Wall.
Probus leaves Rome to embark on an invasion of Persia. Carus,
commander of the imperial guard, is proclaimed emperor. Troops sent
HISTORICAL TIMELINE
283
14
by Probus defect to Carus, and Probus is killed by those who are still
with him.
Carus subdues the Quadi and Sarmatians but dies en route to fight the
Persians.
Recovery: Diocletian and Constantine
284
285
286
287–290
293
296
c. 297
298
301
303
305
306
307
308
309–310
310
311
The empire is shared between Carus’ sons, Carinus and Numerianus.
On the death of Numerianus in mysterious circumstances, Diocles,
commander of the cavalry of the imperial guard and suffect consul in
283, is proclaimed emperor in his place, and changes his name to
Diocletian.
Carinus is killed in battle. Diocletian appoints his Dalmatian colleague
Maximian Caesar, with responsibility for the western empire.
Maximian is promoted to Augustus, with responsibility for the West.
Carausius declares himself ruler of Britain and part of northern Gaul.
Diocletian campaigns on the Danube and in the East.
Galerius and Constantius appointed Caesars, to serve respectively in
the eastern and western halves of the empire. Constantius takes
Boulogne, the headquarters of Carausius, who is murdered and
supplanted as ruler of Britain by his finance officer, Allectus.
Constantius’ troops defeat and kill Allectus, and slaughter his Frankish
mercenaries in London.
Diocletian begins dividing the provinces into smaller units.
Great victories by Galerius over the Persians.
Diocletian’s edict on prices.
Edict against the Christians. Diocletian visits Rome for the only time.
Diocletian abdicates, forcing Maximian to do the same, and retires to
his palace at Split. Galerius and Constantius become Augusti;
Maximinus, nephew and adopted son of Galerius, and Flavius Severus
are the new Caesars.
Constantius dies at York while mounting a campaign against the Picts.
His son Constantine is proclaimed Augustus by the troops in Britain.
Galerius, having given the title of Augustus to Severus, appoints
Constantine Caesar. In Rome, Maxentius, son of Maximian, is
proclaimed Augustus, but Maximian comes out of retirement and
reclaims his title.
Constantine, now in charge of his father’s former territories of Britain,
Gaul and Spain, is visited by Maximian, who appoints him Augustus
and gives him his daughter Fausta in marriage.
At Carnuntum in Pannonia, Galerius gives the title of Augustus to
Valerius Licinianus Licinius, upon which Maximinus has his troops in
the East proclaim him Augustus.
Galerius recognizes Constantine and Maximinus, who is Galerius’
nephew and adopted son, as Augusti.
Death of Maximian.
Galerius, Constantine and Licinius issue the Edict of Toleration,
ending persecution of Christians. Death of Galerius. Maximinus drives
Licinius out of Asia.
HISTORICAL TIMELINE
312
313
315
316
317
322–323
324
325
326
330
332
333
334
335
337
15
Vision of Constantine, who attributes his victory over Maxentius at the
Milvian Bridge to the ‘god of the Christians’. With the suicide of
Maxentius, Constantine becomes sole ruler of the western empire.
Constantine meets Licinius at Milan, and gives him his half-sister
Constantia in marriage. They issue the Edict of Milan, ending
persecution of Christians. In Nicomedia, Licinius issues an edict
agreeing with Constantine on religious freedom. At Adrianople,
Licinius defeats Maximinus, who commits suicide. Death of
Diocletian.
Erection of Arch of Constantine.
War against Licinius, who cedes all his European territories except
Thrace.
Constantine appoints three new Caesars: his sons Crispus (twelve),
with whose mother he had had a long-term affair, and Constantine
(about seven months), and Licinius’ son Licinius (twenty months).
Victories of Constantine over Sarmatians and Goths.
Licinius is defeated and killed, making Constantine sole ruler of the
empire. Constantine appoints as Caesar his son Constantius.
Council of Nicaea, with Constantine in the chair. Formation of Nicene
Creed.
Executions of the empress Fausta, Crispus and Licinius Junior.
Dedication of new capital city, Constantinople.
Great victory over the Goths, 40,000 of whom enter Roman service as
allies.
Constantine appoints as Caesar his youngest son Constans.
Victories over the Sarmatians, 300,000 of whom settle within the
empire.
Constantine appoints his nephew Flavius Dalmatius Caesar.
Baptism of Constantine, who dies on 22 May. Purge of rivals,
including Dalmatius. Constantine II, Constantius II and Constans
recognized as Augusti (9 September).
Christian empire and the fall of Rome
340
343
350
351
353
354
355
c. 356
Constans defeats and kills Constantine II in Italy and takes his
territories.
Trouble in northern Britain, to which Constans crosses in January.
Constans is replaced in a coup by Magnentius, and then murdered.
Magnentius is defeated by Constantius, who makes Gallus, nephew of
Constantine I, Caesar in the East.
Magnentius’ suicide results in official reprisals against his supporters
in Britain.
Gallus is executed for abusing his authority.
Julian, Gallus’ half-brother, is made Caesar with charge over Gaul and
Britain, and marries Helena, Constantius’ sister. He wins victories over
the Alamanni and Franks.
The Picts and the Celtic Dál Riata (later known as the Scots) form an
alliance against Rome.
HISTORICAL TIMELINE
361
363
364
367
368–374
375
378
379
382
383
384
387
388
390
391
392
393
395
396
398
401
16
Constantius dies in Cilicia while marching to oppose Julian, who has
been declared Augustus by his troops. Julian enters Constantinople as
emperor, having publicly declared his paganism.
Julian dies of wounds while retreating from an encounter during his
eastern campaign. His soldiers declare as Augustus his senior staff
officer, Jovian, who makes peace with the Persians.
Death of Jovian. A convention of civilian and military officials at
Nicaea elects as emperor Valentinian, a military commander, on
condition he appoint a co-ruler. He chooses his brother Valens to rule
the East, while he takes the West.
Revolt in Britain of Picts, Scots and Attacotti, aided by Franks and
Saxons. Valentinian names as Augustus his eight-year-old son Gratian.
German Wars.
Death of Valentinian , whose four-year-old son, Valentinian II, is
named Augustus by the troops, without the consent of Valens or
Gratian.
Death of Valens.
Theodosius I, supreme commander against the Goths, succeeds Valens.
Theodosius makes a treaty with the Goths and gives them lands in
Thrace and Lower Moesia. In northern Britain, Magnus Maximus,
military commander in Britain, heavily defeats Picts and Scots.
Theodosius names as Augustus his infant son Arcadius. Maximus
crosses to Gaul and defeats Gratian, who is murdered at Lyon while
escaping to Italy.
Theodosius and Valentinian II recognize Maximus as Augustus over
Britain, Gaul, Spain and Africa.
Theodosius marries Galla, sister of Valentinian II, and gives Serena,
his niece and adoptive daughter, in marriage to his military commander
Stilicho, the son of a Vandal captain. Maximus invades Italy and
expels Valentinian II.
Maximus is defeated and executed by Theodosius. Valentinian II is
again ruler of the western empire.
Massacre of inhabitants of Thessalonica in response to the murder of
one of Theodosius’ commanders, for which he is refused communion
and ordered by the archbishop of Milan to do penance.
Theodosius sanctions the destruction of the Temple of Serapis in
Alexandria, and passes measures banning all forms of paganism.
Death of Valentinian II. At the instigation of Arbogast, Valentinian’s
cavalry commander, Eugenius, a teacher and keeper of imperial
dispatches, is proclaimed Augustus, but he is not recognized by
Theodosius.
Theodosius appoints Honorius Augustus in the West, with Stilicho as
his military commander and guardian.
Death of Theodosius. His elder son Arcadius is emperor in the East,
and his younger son Honorius emperor in the West. Visigoths under
Alaric are in Greece.
The division of the empire is now permanent. Augustine becomes
bishop of Hippo.
Honorius marries Stilicho’s daughter Maria.
Alaric the Visigoth invades Italy.
HISTORICAL TIMELINE
402–403
404
405–406
406
407
408
409
410
414
418
423
429–438
439
440–461
446
450
451
452
455
457
472
474
476
17
Stilicho twice defeats Alaric, who, however, is allowed to escape.
Honorius transfers his court to Ravenna.
Ostrogoths under Radagaisus invade Italy, but they are destroyed by
Stilicho at Fiesole.
Germanic tribes cross the frozen Rhine and occupy northern Gaul,
causing devastation. Some reach Spain.
In Britain, Constantine III, a soldier, is proclaimed emperor. He
crosses to Gaul and his authority is accepted both there and in Spain.
Constantine makes Arles his base and appoints as Caesar his elder son
Constans II, with orders to put down a revolt in Spain by some
relatives of Honorius. Honorius marries Thermantia, younger daughter
of Stilicho. Death of Arcadius, who is succeeded by his seven-year-old
son Theodosius II. Conspiracy against Stilicho, who is executed by
Honorius. Alaric besieges Rome, but accepts bribes to withdraw.
Alaric again besieges Rome and proclaims the city prefect, Attalus,
emperor.
Alaric besieges Rome for the third time. He deposes Attalus and tries
to negotiate with Honorius, who declines to do so. Alaric sacks Rome,
taking away Galla Placidia, Honorius’ twenty-year-old half-sister. The
Rescript of Honorius is issued, allegedly informing the inhabitants of
Britain that they must organize their own defence against Saxon
invasions.
Death of Anthemius, effectively regent of the eastern empire, after
which the role is undertaken by Theodosius’ elder sister, Pulcheria
(later canonized).
Honorius grants Visigoths federate status in Gaul.
Death of Honorius.
Publication of the Theodosian Code of laws.
Vandals occupy most of North Africa and north-west Spain, and
Visigoths, Burgundians, Alans and Franks occupy almost all of Gaul.
Leo I is pope.
Britons appeal to Aetius, consul for the third time, for help against the
Saxon mercenaries introduced by Vortigern to fight the Picts.
Death of Theodosius II.
Attila the Hun invades Gaul, but is defeated for the only time.
Attila invades Italy, but Pope Leo persuades him to withdraw.
Vandals sack Rome from the sea. Avitus, a Gallic noble, is proclaimed
emperor in Gaul, but on his arrival in Italy he is not recognized in the
eastern empire and is forced to abdicate by the imperial commanderin-chief, Ricimer, who until his death in 472 effectively decides who
will be emperor, and for how long.
The new emperor in the East is Leo I, a serving military officer.
Death of Ricimer, after which there are four western emperors in four
years.
Death of Leo. His grandson, Leo II, whom he had made Augustus the
previous year, rules for three weeks before appointing his father, Zeno,
husband of Ariadne, daughter of Leo I, joint Augustus. Leo II dies of
natural causes, after which Zeno rules alone until 491.
Romulus Augustulus (aged fourteen) is deposed by Odoacer, a
Germanic mercenary commander, who informs Zeno, emperor in the
HISTORICAL TIMELINE
18
East, that he will rule under his sovereignty. Establishment of a Gothic
kingdom in Italy, and the end of the Roman empire in the West.
The eastern empire
491
518
527
528–529
530–533
532–537
559
565
622
633–655
760
1053
1095
1143–1180
1187
1228–1229
1244
1453
Anastasius, a minor palace official, succeeds Zeno and marries
Ariadne.
Death of Anastasius, who is succeeded by Justin, commander of the
elite palace guard.
Death of Justin, who is succeeded by his nephew and adopted son,
Justinian.
Code of Justinian.
Digest of Justinian.
Building of St Sophia, the principal church of the Byzantine world.
Belisarius, a retired general, delivers Constantinople from the Huns.
Death of Justinian. He is succeeded by his palace administrator, Justin
II, who rules until 578.
Traditional date for the founding of Islam.
Muslim conquest of Egypt, the Sassanid empire and Syria.
Foundation of Turkish empire.
Split between Church of Rome and the Church in the East.
Pope Urban II proclaims First Crusade.
Rule of Manuel I marks the high point of Byzantine civilization.
Saladin captures Jerusalem.
Sixth Crusade, led by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, recovers
Jerusalem.
Final loss of Jerusalem, to Egyptian Khwarazami.
Fall of Constantinople to Mohammed II and the Turks. End of the
eastern Roman empire.