Roman empire time line
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| Augustus/Octavius |
753 BC: Roma (Rome) is founded by Romulus
750 BC: Greeks establish a colony at Cuma
750 BC: first Etruscan inscriptions
616 BC: Tarquinius I becomes an Etruscan king of Roma
600 BC: Etruscans build the colossal tombs of Cerveteri
600 BC: the Forum is built
600 BC: oldest Latin inscriptions
578 BC: Tarquinius Priscus builds the Cloaca Maxima, the first sewer
550 BC: Servius Tullius builds city walls
494 BC: Plebeians rebel against the patricians, the beginning of the class wars
486 BC: The consul Spurius Cassius proposes land redistribution to the poor but the patricians murder him
474 BC: the Greeks defeat the Etruscans at Cuma
509 BC: the last king is expelled and Roma becomes a republic
450 BC: The Twelve Tables of the Roman law re enacted
396 BC: Roma conquers the Etruscan city of Veii
387 BC: the Gauls/Celts sack Roma
376 BC: Licinius and Sextius propose laws to appease the Plebeians but the Senate postpones them indefinitely
367 BC: Licinius' laws are finally enacted
366 BC: Lucius Sextius becomes the first plebeian consul
343 BC: Rome fights the Samnites
341 BC: Rome conquers Campania from the Samnites with its capital of Capua
340 BC: Rome fights the Latin League, including the Samnites
338 BC: Rome dissolves and annexes the Latin League
326 BC: the Circus Maximus is built
326 BC: A new war begins against the Samnites
321 BC: At the Battle of Caudine Forks Rome wins the Second Samnite War against the Samnites
312 BC: the Via Appia is begun
312 BC: the first aqueduct, the Aqua Appia, is built
308 BC: Roma conquers the Etruscan city of Tarquinia
300 BC: A plebeian rises to priesthood for the first time
298 BC: Roma goes to war against the Samnites again
295 BC: Roma defeats the Samnites at Sentinum
295 BC: Roma defeats the Gauls/Celts in northern Italy
287 BC: The Lex Hortensia makes plebiscites (laws passed by the Assembly in which plebeians outnumber patricians) binding for the Senate of the patricians
283 BC: Roma establishes Gallia Cisalpina (Cisalpine Gaul) in nothern Italy
280 BC: Roma issues coins
280 BC: Roma is defeated by Pyrrhus of Epirus at Heraclea
275 BC: Roma defeats Pyrrhus and conquers most of southern Italy
272 BC: a second aqueduct, the Anio Vetus, is built
272 BC: The Greek colony of Tarentum surrenders to Roma and soon all the remaining Greek colonies of southern Italy follow suit
264 BC: Roma and Carthage fight the first Punic war
264 BC: the Romans destroy the last vestiges of the Etruscan civilization (Volsinies)
232 BC: Gaius Flaminius enacts an agrarian law ceding land of Northern Italy to poorer classes of citizens
225 BC: the Gauls invade Rome
222 BC: the invading Gauls are defeated
221 BC: the Circus Flaminius
220 BC: A law forbids senators from entering into business
218 BC: Hannibal invades Italy and the Gauls of northern Italy ally with him
214 BC: War machines designed by Greek mathematician Archimedes save the city of Syracuse, an ally of Carthage, from a Roman naval attack
203 BC: Roma organizes the northern colonies of Placentia and Cremona in the territory of the Gauls
202 BC: Scipio defeats Hannibal and Roma annexes Spain
196 BC: The slaves of Etruria rebel
195 BC: The Celts of Spain rebel
189 BC: Antiochus III, king of the Seleucids, is defeated at the battle of Magnesia and surrenders his possessions in Europe and Asia Minor
185 BC: The slaves of Apulia rebel
184 BC: the Basilica Porcia
181 BC: Aquileia is founded on the head of the Adriatic
181 BC: the Gauls of northern Italy are definitely subjugated
175 BC: the Celts of Spain are subjugated
171 BC: The Third Macedonian War begins when Perseus attacks Roma
167 BC: At the end of the Third Macedonian War the romans divide Macedonia into four republics
154 BC: The tribes of Lusitania rebel against Roma
151 BC: Roman troops massacre Celts in Spain
149 BC: Roma attacks Carthage
149 BC: Roma conquers Greece after winning the battle of Corinth (and destroying Corinth)
146 BC: Macedonia becomes a province of Roma
146 BC: Roma destroys Carthage
144 BC: The first high-level aqueduct is built
139 BC: Slave revolt in Sicily with the crucifixion of 4,500 slaves ("First Servile War"))
135 BC: Second slave revolt in Sicily ("first servile war")
133 BC: Tiberius Gracchus enacts a law to redistribute land to the poor farmers but is assassinated with 300 of his supporters
133 BC: Attalus III of Pergamum wills his kingdom to Roma and the whole Mediterranean Sea is under Roman control ("mare nostrum")
128 BC: Southern France (Aquitania) becomes a provinces of Rome
126 BC: A law forbids Italians to emigrate to Roma
123 BC: Tiberius's brother Gaius Gracchus enacts populist laws
121 BC: Gaius Gracchus, cornered, commits suicide and thousands of his followers are killed by the Senate
113 BC: Germanic tribes Cimbri and Teutones defeat the Romans and invade Gaul and Spain
111 BC: Roma declares war on Numidia
106 BC: the Romans led by newly elected consul Marius defeat Jugurtha, king of Numidia
105 BC: the Teutones and the Cimbri defeat the Romans at Arausio/Orange
104 BC: Slave revolt in Sicily ("second servile war")
103 BC: Athenion leads a slave revolt in Sicily
102 BC: consul Gaius Marius defeats the Teutonic army at Aquae Sextiae/ Aix-en-Provence, killing about 100,000 of them
101 BC: consul Gaius Marius defeats the Cimbri at Vercelli, killing almost all of them
101 BC: Roman troops massacre Athenion's rebels
100 BC: Lucius Saturninuns proposes Gracchian reforms but is killed by Marius' troops
98 BC: Roman troops massacre Spaniards
95 BC: The city of Roma expels all non-Roman citizens (except slaves)
90 BC: Central and Southern Italians start the "social wars" over the issue of citizenship
88 BC: Central and Southern Italians are granted full citizenship
88 BC: Sulla marches on Roma to seize power from Marius, the first time that a Roman army invades Roma
87 BC: Octavius and Cinna are elected consuls, but Octavius, defender of the optimates and ally of Sulla, is killed by Marius when he opposes Cinna, defender of the populares, along with many Sulla supporters
82 BC: By winning the battle at Porta Collina, Sulla reconquers Roma, executes thousands of political enemies including 40 senators and becomes dictator establishing a reign of terror and enacting aristocratic laws
80 BC: Sulla retires to private life
74 BC: Cicero enters the senate
73 BC: Spartacus leads the revolt of the gladiators ("third servile war")
71 BC: Mithridates VI of Pontus is conquered by Roman general Lucius Lucullus
71 BC: Crassus puts down Spartacus' revolt and 6,000 slaves are crucified on the Via Appea
70 BC: Crassus and Pompey are elected consuls
69 BC: Rome invades Tigranes' Armenian kingdom and edstroys its capital, Tigranocerta
68 BC: Julius Caesar is appointed to Spain
67 BC: Pompey launches a campaign against pirates of Cilicia and is given dictatorial powers by the Senate
64 BC: Syria becomes a Roman province under general Pompey (Gnaeus Pompeius)
63 BC: Cicero thwarts Catilina's attempted coup
63 BC: Pompeus captures Jerusalem and annexes Palestine to Roma
60 BC: Crassus, Pompey and Caesar form a "triumvirate"
59 BC: Caesar is elected consul
57 BC: Caesar conquers all of Gaul killing tens of thousands of people
55 BC: Caesar fights German tribes and crosses the Rhine
53 BC: in the first war against Persia, Crassus is defeated and killed by the Parthians at Carrhae (Syria)
52 BC: Clodius, the main defender of the plebeians/the Pompeian party, is assassinated by his rival Milo
51 BC: Caesar crushes revolt of Vercingetorix in Gaul
50 BC: Roma introduces the gold coin "aureus"
49 BC: When the senate asks for his resignations, Ceasar crosses the Rubicon and invades Roma
48 BC: Ceasar defeats Pompey at Pharsalus and becomes sole dictator of Rome, calling himself "imperator"
47 BC: Ceasar invades Egypt and proclaims Cleopatra queen (ethnically a Macedonian Greek)
46 BC: Ceasar defeats an army of Pompeians and Numidians at the battle of Thapsus
45 BC: Julius Caesar employs the Egyptian astronomer Sosigenes to work out a new 12-month calendar (Julian calendar)
44 BC: Julius Caesar is killed.
43 BC: A triumvirate is appointed with Marcus Antonius, the partner in Caesar's fifth consulship, and Octavius, Caesar's adopted son
42 BC: The religious cult of Julius Caesar is officially instituted by the Senate
36 BC: Rome tries to invade Persia
36 BC: Octavius defeats Sextus Pompey and the senate appoints him tribune for life
32 BC: Marcus Antonius divorces his wife Octavia and marries Cleopatra
31 BC: Octavius defeats Marcus Antonius at the battle of Actium ending the civil wars
30 BC: Both Marcus Antonius and Cleopatra commit suicide and Egypt is annexed to Roma
29 BC: Octavius returns to Roma
27 BC: Octavius appoints himself "augustus" (the first emperor) and founds the Praetorian Guard
20 BC: a treaty between Roma and Persia (Parthians) fixes the boundary between the two empires along the Euphrates river (Iraq)
18 BC: Augustus enacts the "Julian law of chastity and repressing adultery"
17 BC: the theater of Marcellus
13 BC: Augustus expands the borders to the region of the Danube
12 BC: Augustus becomes pontifex maximus
6 BC: Jesus is born in Palestine
1 AD: Roma has about one million people
2 AD: The Forum of Augustus is inaugurated
2 AD: Augustus, whose sons have died, chooses Tiberius as his adopted son
5 AD: Roma acknowledges Cymbeline, King of the Catuvellauni, as king of Britain
5 AD: Augustus' general Tiberius submits the German tribes between the Rhine and the Elbe
6 AD: Pannonia and Dalmatia revolt
7 AD: Augustus expands the borders to the Balkans
9 AD: Gothic warlord Arminius destroys the Roman army at the Teutoburg Forest and Roma withdraws the border to the Rhine
9 AD: Augustus' general Tiberius defeats the Pannonians and Dalmatians
12 AD: The last Etruscan inscription is carved
14 AD: Augustus dies and Tiberius becomes emperor, appointing Sejanus chief of the Praetorian Guard
14 AD: five million people live in the Roman empire
19 AD: Tiberius' adopted son Germanicus dies and his wife Agrippina moves to Roma with her children, including Caligula
23 AD: Sejanus plots to murder Tiberius' son and heir Drusus
25 AD: Agrippa builds the Pantheon
26 AD: Tiberius leaves Roma, leaving Sejanus de facto running the empire
31 AD: Tiberius survives a plot by Sejanus who is killed
37 AD: Tiberius is murdered and the mad Caligula succeeds him, the only surviving son of Agrippina
39 AD: Caligula's sisters Agrippina and Livilla plot to murder him but fail and are exiled
41 AD: Caligula is assassinated and the Praetorian Guard appoints Claudius as emperor, Germanicus' brother and Agrippina's brother-in-law, so Agrippina can return to Roma
43 AD: Claudius invades Britain
46 AD: Thracia becomes a Roman province
48 AD: Claudius' wife Messalina is executed for conspiring to overthrow her husband and Claudius marries his niece Agrippina the Younger, daughter of Agrippina, who is actually the lover of his advisor Pallas
49 AD: Agrippina and Pallas establish a reign of terror behind the back of the nominal emperor, Claudius
50 AD: the Romans found Londinium in Britain
54 AD: Claudius is assassinated by Agrippina and is succeeded by Agrippina's son Nero
58 AD: the Romans conquer Armenia
59 AD: Nero orders the assassination of his mother Agrippina
62 AD: The childless Nero divorces his loyal wife Octavia, who is beheaded, and marries the pregnant Poppaea while establishing a reign of terror
64 AD: Nero sets fire to Roma and blames the Christians for it
68 AD: Gaul and Spain rebel against Nero and Nero commits suicide rather than falling into their hands, while Spanish governor Galba is pronounced the new emperor
69 AD: Galba is murdered by the Praetorian Guard that has been bribed by Otho but the general of the German legions, Vitellius, invades Italy and claims the empire
70 AD: Vitellius and his followers are defeated by Vespasian, the general of the Egyptian legions, who becomes the new emperor
70 AD: Titus destroys Jerusalem and Jews spread in Armenia, Iraq, Iran, Arabia, Egypt, Italy, Spain and Greece
77 AD: the Romans conquer Wales
79 AD: Vespasianus dies and is succeeded by his son Titus Flavius Vespasianus
79 AD: the Vesuvius erupts and Pompeii is buried under ash
79 AD: the Colosseum is completed
80 AD: the Romans invade Caledonia (Scotland)
81 AD: the Arch of Titus is erected
81 AD: Titus dies and is succeeded by his brother Domitian
84 AD: British rebels are defeated by the Romans at the battle of Mons Graupius
96 AD: Domitian is assassinated and the senate replaces him with the old Nerva, thus terminating the principle of heredity (for a century)
97 AD: Rome forbids human sacrifice throughout the Roman empire
97 AD: Chinese general Pan Chao sends an embassy to the Roman Empire
98 AD: Nerva dies and his designated heir Trajan becomes emperor
100: the city of Roma has one million inhabitants
106: Trajan defeats Dacia that becomes a Roman province
106: Trajan captures the Nabataean capital Petra (Jordan) and turns Nabataea into the province of Arabia
107: The Roman Empire sends an embassy to India
110: the Basilica of Trajano is completed
112: the Forum of Trajanus
113: The Colonna Traiana is erected
116: Trajan conquers Mesopotamia and the Parthian capital Ctesiphon
117: Trajan dies on his way to the Persian Gulf and Hadrian, his wife's lover, becomes emperor
122: Hadrian's Wall is built along the northern frontier to protect from the Barbarians
132: Jews, led by Bar-Cochba, whom some identify as the Messiah, revolt against Roma
134: The Villa Hadriana opens
136: Hadrian definitely crushes the Jewish resistance, forbids Jews from ever entering Jerusalem, and changes the name of the city to Aelia Capitolina
138: Hadrian is succeeded by Antoninus Pius, who repeals Hadrian's anti-Jewish laws
139: Hadrian's mausoleum (Castel Sant'Angelo) is built
161: Antoninus dies and his heir designate Marcus Aurelius, a philosopher, becomes Roman emperor with Lucius Verus as co-emperor, the first time that Roma is ruled by two emperors
162: The British Celts revolt, and Parthia declares war on Roma
164: The plague spreads throughout the Roman empire ("Antonine plague")
166: Lucius defeats the Parthians and destroys its capital Ctesiphon
167: the Roman empire is attacked for the first time by barbarians (the German Quadi and Marcomanni)
169: the Roman empire is invaded by northern Germans
175: Aurelius defeats the German barbarians
177: Aurelius orders the persecution of sects like the Christians and the slave girl Blandina is tortured to death
178: Aurelius and his son Commodus fight the Third Marcomannic War against the German barbarians
180: Aurelius dies and his teenager son Commodus succeeds him, thus restoring the heredity rule
182: Upon discovering a conspiracy against him, Commodus establishes a new reign of terror
185: The freed slave Cleander is the de facto ruler of Commodus' empire
187: The Libyan-born the general of the Pannonian legions, Septimius Severus, who was raised in a Phoenician family and studied philosophy in Athens, marries Julia Domna, a descendant of the high kings of the temple of Baal in Syria
190: In another round of executions Commodus has Cleander himself killed
192: the Praetorian Guard kills emperor Commodus
193: Septimius Severus seizes power, executes scores of senators, confiscates huge lands from the Italian aristocracy, and turns Roma into a military dictatorship
194: Rome annexes Palmyra to the province of Syria
197: Septimius Severus wins the civil war at the Battle of Lugdunum and reforms the Praetorian Guard with non-Italians
198: Septimius Severus enters the Parthian capital Ctesiphon and annexes the northern half of Mesopotamia
202: Septimius Severus expands the southern frontier of African Roma
203: Christians are massacred in Carthage
208: Septimius Severus begins a campaign in Britain
211: Septimius Severus dies in Britain and is succeeded by his sons Lucius Septimius Bassianus (Caracalla) and Geta
211: Septimius Severus is the last emperor to die of natural causes until 284, most of the others being murdered by the Praetorian Guard or the soldiers and all of them reigning an average of three years
212: Caracalla murders his brother Geta and sentences to death 20,000 of Geta's followers
212: Caracalla grants Roman citizenship on all free people who live in the Roman Empire, but only to subject them to the same taxes
214: Caracalla murders King Abgar IX of Edessa and declares Edessa a Roman colony
215: Caracalla massacres the inhabitants of Alexandria
217: The Baths of Caracalla are inaugurated
217: Caracalla, accompanied by his mother Julia, begins a campaign against the Parthians but is murdered in Edessa by his soldiers, while the head of the Praetorian Guard appoints himself emperor
219: Julia Maesa, Julia Domna's sister, leads a Syrian army that defeats the imperial army and installs her teenager grandson Varius Avitus (Elagabalus), a Syrian priest of Baal, as emperor, but Maesa is the de facto ruler while Elagabalus worships a conical black stone representing Baal as the supreme god
222: The Praetorian Guard murders Elagabalus and installs as emperor Elagabalus' cousin Alexianus (Alexander Severus), also a grandson of Maesa's, and another teenager, with real power in the hands of his mother Julia Mamaea, who restores Jupiter as supreme Roman god, restores the power of the senate, and restores morality by banning homosexuals and prostitutes
230: The Sassanids invade Mesopotamia
233: Alexander defeats the Sassanids
235: Alexander is assassinated by soldiers loyal to Julius Maximinus, general of the Pannonian legions, the beginning of a 50-year civil war
238: Maximinus is assassinated by his own soldiers and dies without ever having visited Roma, while the senate declares Maximus the new emperor, but he is in turn promptly assassinated by the Praetorian Guard that appoints the ten-year old Gordian III
244: Shapur I becomes king of the Sassanids and attacks Roma , and Gordian is assassinated by his soldiers while fighting that war
249: The emperor Philip the Arab is killed in battle by a rebel king, Decius
250: The emperor Decius orders the first empire-wide persecution of Christians that also kills the bishop of Roma
251: Decius is killed in battle by the Goths
253: Both the emperor Gallus and his successor Aemilianus are killed by their soldiers and are succeeded by the old Valerian who appoints his son Gallienus as co-emperor in the west
253: Gallienus becomes emperor but 30 "tyrants" carved out their own kingdoms around the empire
255: The Goths invade Macedonia, Dalmatia and Asia Minor
256: the Persians/Sassanids defeat the Romans and conquer Dura Europus in Mesopotamia
257: Valerian reconquers Syria from the Sassanids
258: The Sassanids conquer Armenia
258: Valerian persecutes Christians and even the pope, Sixtus II, is executed
258: Postumus declares the independence of Gaul
260: Valerian is captured by the Sassanid king Shapur I after the Battle of Edessa, the first Roman emperor to become a prisoner of war
260: The plague spreads thoughout the Roman empire, decimating its population
261: Gallienus forbids aristocrats from serving in the army and relaxes the laws against Christianity
261: The king of Palmyra, Odenathus, defeats the Sassanids on behalf of Roma, annexing Arabia, Anatolia and Armenia
263: The Goths raid Ephesus and destroy the Temple of Arthemis, one of the seven wonders
266: Odenathus is assassinated and his wife Zenobia becomes the new ruler of Syria
267: Goths raid the Greek cities
268: Gallienus is assassinated by his own officers
269: The Goths raid the Greek cities for a second time but are defeated by Roman emperor Claudius II
269: Zenobia conquers Egypt expelling the Roman goernor
270: Claudius II dies of the plague and the army chooses Aurelian as the new emperor
271: The emperor Aurelian defeats the invading Germans
273: The emperor Aurelian destroys the rebellious city of Palmyra in Zenobia's kingdom
274: The emperor Aurelian defeats Zenobia and brings her as a hostage to Roma, reuniting the eastern empire
274: The emperor Aurelian defeats the rebellious Gauls
275: Aurelian is killed by his officers and is succeeded by the old Tacitus who dies within months
276: Probus restores peace by repelling the last barbarians on Roman soil
282: Probus is assassinated by his soldiers
284: Diocletian, the son of a Dalmatian slave, becomes emperor but rules from Nicomedia in the East
285: Diocletian, proclaiming himself the human manifestation of Jupiter, reunites the empire and ends the 50-year civil war
286: Diocletian appoints Maximian to rule the West, with capital in Milano
293: Diocletian institutes the "tetrarchy" under which each emperor choose his successor ahead of time, and Diocletian chooses Galerius while Maximian chooses Constantius Chlorus
295: The Sassanids invade the Eastern empire again
299: The Sassanids surrender to Roman emperor Galerius, who annexes Armenia, Georgia and Upper Mesopotamia
300: the population of the Roman Empire is 60 million (about 15 million Christians)
303: Diocletian and Maximian order a general persecution of the Christians, including the destruction of all churches (1,500 Christians will be killed in eight years)
303: the thermae of Diocletian are built
305: Diocletian and Maximian abdicate in favor of Galerius and Constantius, but civil war erupts again
306: Constantius dies and his son Flavius Valerius Constantinus (Constantine) is acclaimed by the troops as new vice-emperor of Galerius, while the Praetorian Guard appoints Maximian's son Maxentius emperor instead of Galerius' choice Severus
308: Galerius appoints another emperor, Licinius
311: Galerius relaxes the ban on Christianity
311: Galerius dies leaving Maxentius and Constantine to fight for the throne of the West
312: Constantine defeats Maxentius, becomes emperor of the West and disbands the Praetorian Guard
313: Constantine's ally Licinius defeats Maxentius' ally Maximinus and becomes co-emperor in the East
313: Constantine ends the persecution of the Christians (edict of Milano)
313: the Basilica of Maxentius is completed
314: Constantine defeats Licinius and obtains all Roman Europe except Thracia, while Licinius keeps Africa and Asia
323: Constantine defeats Licinius again and becomes the sole emperor
324: Constantine I founds a new city, Constantinople (Byzantium)
326: Constantine has his son Crispus and his wife Fausta Flavia Maxima executed
330: Constantine I moves the capital of the Roman empire to Constantinople (Byzantium)
337: Constantine dies, and his sons split the empire: Constantine II (Spain, Britain, Gaul), Constans I (Italy, Africa, Illyricum, Macedon, Achaea) and Constantius II (the East)
356: Roma has 28 libraries, 10 basilicas, 11 public baths, two amphitheaters, three theaters, two circuses, 19 aqueducts, 11 squares, 1,352 fountains, 46,602 insulae (city blocks)
359: Constantinople becomes the capital of the Roman empire
360: pagan (Mithraist) general Julian (the "apostate") defeats an invasion of Barbarians and is declared emperor by his German troops
363: Julian dies attempting to invade the Sassanid kingdom of Persia, which recaptures Nisibis and Armenia, and general Valentinian becomes emperor
363: an earthquake destroys Petra
364: Valentinian delegates Valens as emperor of the East
376: Valens allows Visigoths to settle within the empire
378: The Visigoths defeat the Roman army at Hadrianopolis/Adrianople
380: Theodosius I proclaims Christianity as the sole religion of the Roman Empire
393: Theodosius forbids the Olympic Games because pagans and shuts down the temple of Zeus at Olympia
395: Theodosius divides the Roman empire in the Western and Eastern Empires, with Milano and Constantinople as their capitals
402: the western Roman empire moves the capital from Milano to Ravenna
406: Barbarians invade France from the north
410: the Visigots sack Roma
410: Roma withdraws from Britannia
418: the emperor grants Wallia's Visigoths to settle in Aquitaine (Atlantic coast of France)
425: the eastern emperor Theodosius II installs Valentinian III as emperor of the west
427: Gensenric's Vandals crosses the strait of Gibraltar and lands in Africa
443: the emperor grants Burgundi to settle in Savoy
450: Theodosius II dies and Marcian succeeds him, the first Roman emperor to be crowned by a religious leader (the patriarch of Constantinople)
452: the Huns invade Italy
455: the Vandals sack Roma
476: Odoacer, a mercenary in the service of Roma, leader of the Germanic soldiers in the Roman army, deposes the western Roman emperor and thereby terminates the western Roman empire
488: emperor Zeno sends Theodoric's Ostrogoths (still settled in Pannonia) to conquer Italy
493: the Ostrogoths led by Theodoric conquer Italy
500: Roma's population has declined to less than 100,000 people
526: Antioch in Syria is destroyed by an earthquake
527: Justinian becomes eastern Roman emperor and decides to reconquer Italy
527: Byzantium enforces anti-Jewish laws and the Jews all but disappear from the eastern Roman Empire
529: Roman emperor Justinian shuts down the Academia of Plato
532: Riots in Constantinople kill 30,000 people and almost dethrone Justinian
533: Justinian's code of law ("Corpus Juri Civilis") is published
534: Justinian's general Belisarius destroys the Arian kingdom of the Vandals and reconquers southern Spain and northern Africa
536: the Ostrogoths surrender and Belisarius reconquers Rome (beginning of the Barbar wars in Italy)
537: Justinian's general Belisarius deposes pope Silverius and replaces him with pope Vigilius
537: Justinian builds the church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople
540: Justinian's general Belisarius takes Ravenna from the last Ostrogothic resistance and thus reconquers Italy to the empire
542: the plague decimates the Empire
546: Visigothic rebels led by Totila sack Roma
551: imperial troops reconquer Rome
552: Nestorian monks smuggle silkworm eggs from China to Byzanthium
552: End of Ostrogothic resistance in Italy
554: Rome is reduced to a camp of about 30,000 people, while Constantinople has about one million people
554: the new king of the Visigoths, Athanagild, accepts the emperor's sovereignity over Spain
554: the empire reorganizes Italy as an imperial province (end of the Barbar wars)
565: Justinian dies
568: Alboin's Lombards invade northern Italy
600: Constantinople has 500,000 inhabitants
602: the Persians (Sassanids) attack the eastern Roman empire in Asia Minor
610: Heraclius I (son of the Orthodox bishop of Africa) overthrows the tyrant Phocas, becomes emperor and establishes Greek as the official language
614: the Persians (Sassanids) raid Jerusalem and destroy its churches
619: the Persians capture Egypt
621: the Visigoths reconquer all of Spain from the Roman empire
626: the Sassanids besiege Constantinople
627: the Sassanid king Khusrau II is defeated by Roman emperor Heraclius at Niniveh
628: the Romans retake Syria from the Sassanids
636: Arabs invade Syria and Palestine
639: the Arabs invade the southern provinces of the Empire
673: the Arabs besiege Constantinople
714: the Arabs besiege Constantinople again
717: Leo III becomes emperor
718: Leo III defeats the Arabs that are besieging Constantinople
726: Emperor Leo III orders the destruction of all icons (iconoclasm)
730: Germanus is deposed and replaced by the iconoclast Athanasius
739: emperor Leo III issues the Ecloga that introduces Christian principles into law
800: Charlemagne, king of the Franks, is crowned emperor by Pope Leo III and founds the Holy Roman Empire
811: the eastern Roman emperor recognized Charlemagne as emperor of Roma
812: a peace treaty between Charlemagne and the Eastern Roman Empire surrenders Venezia to the Eastern empire but grants Venezia the right to trade with the Holy Roman Empire
813: an Armenian general becomes eastern Roman emperor Leo V
840: Basil's fleet retakes Bari from the Muslims
843: Empress Theodora allows the worship of icons to be restored
846: the city of Roma has 17,000 inhabitants
860: the Rus attack Constantinople
867: Basil I becomes the Byzantine emperor and founds the Macedonian dynasty
879: Basil I defeats the Arabs and reconquers Cappadocia
896: Symeon of Bulgaria defeats the Byzantine army for the first time
913: Alexander II dies and is succeeded by his seven-year old nephew Constantine VII but real power is wielded by empress mother Zoe
919: Admiral Romanos Lekapenos/ Romanus Lacapenus seizes power and marries his daughter Helen to the 14-year old Constantine VII, who devotes himself to literature and art
922: Symeon of Bulgaria defeats the Byzantine army for the fourth and last time
934: Magyars raid Constantinople
945: Romanos Lekapenos is deposed by his own children and Constantine VII assumes real power
968: Nicephorus II defeats the Arabs and reconquers Syria
969: Nicephorus II defeats the Bulgars
976: Basil II becomes the Byzantine emperor
1018: Basil II annexes Bulgaria and the Byzantine empire reaches its zenith
1025: Basil II dies
1054: The patriarch of Constantinople and the pope in Roma excommunicate each other (the Great Schism)
1057: end of the Macedonian dynasty
1064: the Seljuks invade Armenia
1071: the Byzantine army of Romanus IV Diogenes is defeated by the Seljuks at Manzikert in Armenia, who establish a sultanate in Anatolia
1071: Normans led by Robert Guiscard conquer southern Italy from the eastern Roman empire
1081: Alexius I Komnenos establishes the Komnenos dynasty
1099: the first Crusade captures Jerusalem
1187: Saladin defeats the crusaders
1195: Alexius III deposes his brother and becomes the new emperor
1197: Alexius III imposes taxes and melts the gold of the imperial tombs to pay the tribute to Frederick Barbarossa, causing anger against the Latin dynasty among the Greek population
1204: the Crusaders, led by the Doge of Venezia, sack Constantinople, expel the Greek emperor Alexius III and set up a Latin kingdom, led by Baldwin I of the Flanders, and Venezia acquires territories in the Mediterranean and Black Seas
1204: Theodore I Lascaris, son-in-law od Alexius III, flees from Constantinople to Nicaea (Bithynia), where he founds a the empire, whereas Alexius founds the empire of Trebizond further east
1208: Theodore I Lascaris is crowned emperor by the patriarch and Nicaea becomes a rival to Constantinople for legitimate capital of the empire
1211: Nicaea emperor Theodore I Lascaris conquers most of Anatolia after defeating an alliance of Seljuqs of Rum and Latin kingdom of Constantinople near Antioch
1261: Constantinople is liberated by the Nicaean emperor Michael VIII Paleologus and Greek becomes the official language of the ever smaller eastern Roman empire
1291: the Moslems expel the Crusaders from the Middle East
1345: Serbia defeats the eastern Roman empire and annexes Macedonia and Thrace
1347: the plague (Black Death) strikes Constantinople and it will kill half the population of the city
1348: Serbia defeats the eastern Roman empire and annexes Thessaly and Epirus
1453: the Ottoman Turks under Mehmet II capture Constantinople
1461: the Ottomans conquer the empire of Trebizond, the last Greek state
750 BC: Greeks establish a colony at Cuma
750 BC: first Etruscan inscriptions
616 BC: Tarquinius I becomes an Etruscan king of Roma
600 BC: Etruscans build the colossal tombs of Cerveteri
600 BC: the Forum is built
600 BC: oldest Latin inscriptions
578 BC: Tarquinius Priscus builds the Cloaca Maxima, the first sewer
550 BC: Servius Tullius builds city walls
494 BC: Plebeians rebel against the patricians, the beginning of the class wars
486 BC: The consul Spurius Cassius proposes land redistribution to the poor but the patricians murder him
474 BC: the Greeks defeat the Etruscans at Cuma
509 BC: the last king is expelled and Roma becomes a republic
450 BC: The Twelve Tables of the Roman law re enacted
396 BC: Roma conquers the Etruscan city of Veii
387 BC: the Gauls/Celts sack Roma
376 BC: Licinius and Sextius propose laws to appease the Plebeians but the Senate postpones them indefinitely
367 BC: Licinius' laws are finally enacted
366 BC: Lucius Sextius becomes the first plebeian consul
343 BC: Rome fights the Samnites
341 BC: Rome conquers Campania from the Samnites with its capital of Capua
340 BC: Rome fights the Latin League, including the Samnites
338 BC: Rome dissolves and annexes the Latin League
326 BC: the Circus Maximus is built
326 BC: A new war begins against the Samnites
321 BC: At the Battle of Caudine Forks Rome wins the Second Samnite War against the Samnites
312 BC: the Via Appia is begun
312 BC: the first aqueduct, the Aqua Appia, is built
308 BC: Roma conquers the Etruscan city of Tarquinia
300 BC: A plebeian rises to priesthood for the first time
298 BC: Roma goes to war against the Samnites again
295 BC: Roma defeats the Samnites at Sentinum
295 BC: Roma defeats the Gauls/Celts in northern Italy
287 BC: The Lex Hortensia makes plebiscites (laws passed by the Assembly in which plebeians outnumber patricians) binding for the Senate of the patricians
283 BC: Roma establishes Gallia Cisalpina (Cisalpine Gaul) in nothern Italy
280 BC: Roma issues coins
280 BC: Roma is defeated by Pyrrhus of Epirus at Heraclea
275 BC: Roma defeats Pyrrhus and conquers most of southern Italy
272 BC: a second aqueduct, the Anio Vetus, is built
272 BC: The Greek colony of Tarentum surrenders to Roma and soon all the remaining Greek colonies of southern Italy follow suit
264 BC: Roma and Carthage fight the first Punic war
264 BC: the Romans destroy the last vestiges of the Etruscan civilization (Volsinies)
232 BC: Gaius Flaminius enacts an agrarian law ceding land of Northern Italy to poorer classes of citizens
225 BC: the Gauls invade Rome
222 BC: the invading Gauls are defeated
221 BC: the Circus Flaminius
220 BC: A law forbids senators from entering into business
218 BC: Hannibal invades Italy and the Gauls of northern Italy ally with him
214 BC: War machines designed by Greek mathematician Archimedes save the city of Syracuse, an ally of Carthage, from a Roman naval attack
203 BC: Roma organizes the northern colonies of Placentia and Cremona in the territory of the Gauls
202 BC: Scipio defeats Hannibal and Roma annexes Spain
196 BC: The slaves of Etruria rebel
195 BC: The Celts of Spain rebel
189 BC: Antiochus III, king of the Seleucids, is defeated at the battle of Magnesia and surrenders his possessions in Europe and Asia Minor
185 BC: The slaves of Apulia rebel
184 BC: the Basilica Porcia
181 BC: Aquileia is founded on the head of the Adriatic
181 BC: the Gauls of northern Italy are definitely subjugated
175 BC: the Celts of Spain are subjugated
171 BC: The Third Macedonian War begins when Perseus attacks Roma
167 BC: At the end of the Third Macedonian War the romans divide Macedonia into four republics
154 BC: The tribes of Lusitania rebel against Roma
151 BC: Roman troops massacre Celts in Spain
149 BC: Roma attacks Carthage
149 BC: Roma conquers Greece after winning the battle of Corinth (and destroying Corinth)
146 BC: Macedonia becomes a province of Roma
146 BC: Roma destroys Carthage
144 BC: The first high-level aqueduct is built
139 BC: Slave revolt in Sicily with the crucifixion of 4,500 slaves ("First Servile War"))
135 BC: Second slave revolt in Sicily ("first servile war")
133 BC: Tiberius Gracchus enacts a law to redistribute land to the poor farmers but is assassinated with 300 of his supporters
133 BC: Attalus III of Pergamum wills his kingdom to Roma and the whole Mediterranean Sea is under Roman control ("mare nostrum")
128 BC: Southern France (Aquitania) becomes a provinces of Rome
126 BC: A law forbids Italians to emigrate to Roma
123 BC: Tiberius's brother Gaius Gracchus enacts populist laws
121 BC: Gaius Gracchus, cornered, commits suicide and thousands of his followers are killed by the Senate
113 BC: Germanic tribes Cimbri and Teutones defeat the Romans and invade Gaul and Spain
111 BC: Roma declares war on Numidia
106 BC: the Romans led by newly elected consul Marius defeat Jugurtha, king of Numidia
105 BC: the Teutones and the Cimbri defeat the Romans at Arausio/Orange
104 BC: Slave revolt in Sicily ("second servile war")
103 BC: Athenion leads a slave revolt in Sicily
102 BC: consul Gaius Marius defeats the Teutonic army at Aquae Sextiae/ Aix-en-Provence, killing about 100,000 of them
101 BC: consul Gaius Marius defeats the Cimbri at Vercelli, killing almost all of them
101 BC: Roman troops massacre Athenion's rebels
100 BC: Lucius Saturninuns proposes Gracchian reforms but is killed by Marius' troops
98 BC: Roman troops massacre Spaniards
95 BC: The city of Roma expels all non-Roman citizens (except slaves)
90 BC: Central and Southern Italians start the "social wars" over the issue of citizenship
88 BC: Central and Southern Italians are granted full citizenship
88 BC: Sulla marches on Roma to seize power from Marius, the first time that a Roman army invades Roma
87 BC: Octavius and Cinna are elected consuls, but Octavius, defender of the optimates and ally of Sulla, is killed by Marius when he opposes Cinna, defender of the populares, along with many Sulla supporters
82 BC: By winning the battle at Porta Collina, Sulla reconquers Roma, executes thousands of political enemies including 40 senators and becomes dictator establishing a reign of terror and enacting aristocratic laws
80 BC: Sulla retires to private life
74 BC: Cicero enters the senate
73 BC: Spartacus leads the revolt of the gladiators ("third servile war")
71 BC: Mithridates VI of Pontus is conquered by Roman general Lucius Lucullus
71 BC: Crassus puts down Spartacus' revolt and 6,000 slaves are crucified on the Via Appea
70 BC: Crassus and Pompey are elected consuls
69 BC: Rome invades Tigranes' Armenian kingdom and edstroys its capital, Tigranocerta
68 BC: Julius Caesar is appointed to Spain
67 BC: Pompey launches a campaign against pirates of Cilicia and is given dictatorial powers by the Senate
64 BC: Syria becomes a Roman province under general Pompey (Gnaeus Pompeius)
63 BC: Cicero thwarts Catilina's attempted coup
63 BC: Pompeus captures Jerusalem and annexes Palestine to Roma
60 BC: Crassus, Pompey and Caesar form a "triumvirate"
59 BC: Caesar is elected consul
57 BC: Caesar conquers all of Gaul killing tens of thousands of people
55 BC: Caesar fights German tribes and crosses the Rhine
53 BC: in the first war against Persia, Crassus is defeated and killed by the Parthians at Carrhae (Syria)
52 BC: Clodius, the main defender of the plebeians/the Pompeian party, is assassinated by his rival Milo
51 BC: Caesar crushes revolt of Vercingetorix in Gaul
50 BC: Roma introduces the gold coin "aureus"
49 BC: When the senate asks for his resignations, Ceasar crosses the Rubicon and invades Roma
48 BC: Ceasar defeats Pompey at Pharsalus and becomes sole dictator of Rome, calling himself "imperator"
47 BC: Ceasar invades Egypt and proclaims Cleopatra queen (ethnically a Macedonian Greek)
46 BC: Ceasar defeats an army of Pompeians and Numidians at the battle of Thapsus
45 BC: Julius Caesar employs the Egyptian astronomer Sosigenes to work out a new 12-month calendar (Julian calendar)
44 BC: Julius Caesar is killed.
43 BC: A triumvirate is appointed with Marcus Antonius, the partner in Caesar's fifth consulship, and Octavius, Caesar's adopted son
42 BC: The religious cult of Julius Caesar is officially instituted by the Senate
36 BC: Rome tries to invade Persia
36 BC: Octavius defeats Sextus Pompey and the senate appoints him tribune for life
32 BC: Marcus Antonius divorces his wife Octavia and marries Cleopatra
31 BC: Octavius defeats Marcus Antonius at the battle of Actium ending the civil wars
30 BC: Both Marcus Antonius and Cleopatra commit suicide and Egypt is annexed to Roma
29 BC: Octavius returns to Roma
27 BC: Octavius appoints himself "augustus" (the first emperor) and founds the Praetorian Guard
20 BC: a treaty between Roma and Persia (Parthians) fixes the boundary between the two empires along the Euphrates river (Iraq)
18 BC: Augustus enacts the "Julian law of chastity and repressing adultery"
17 BC: the theater of Marcellus
13 BC: Augustus expands the borders to the region of the Danube
12 BC: Augustus becomes pontifex maximus
6 BC: Jesus is born in Palestine
1 AD: Roma has about one million people
2 AD: The Forum of Augustus is inaugurated
2 AD: Augustus, whose sons have died, chooses Tiberius as his adopted son
5 AD: Roma acknowledges Cymbeline, King of the Catuvellauni, as king of Britain
5 AD: Augustus' general Tiberius submits the German tribes between the Rhine and the Elbe
6 AD: Pannonia and Dalmatia revolt
7 AD: Augustus expands the borders to the Balkans
9 AD: Gothic warlord Arminius destroys the Roman army at the Teutoburg Forest and Roma withdraws the border to the Rhine
9 AD: Augustus' general Tiberius defeats the Pannonians and Dalmatians
12 AD: The last Etruscan inscription is carved
14 AD: Augustus dies and Tiberius becomes emperor, appointing Sejanus chief of the Praetorian Guard
14 AD: five million people live in the Roman empire
19 AD: Tiberius' adopted son Germanicus dies and his wife Agrippina moves to Roma with her children, including Caligula
23 AD: Sejanus plots to murder Tiberius' son and heir Drusus
25 AD: Agrippa builds the Pantheon
26 AD: Tiberius leaves Roma, leaving Sejanus de facto running the empire
31 AD: Tiberius survives a plot by Sejanus who is killed
37 AD: Tiberius is murdered and the mad Caligula succeeds him, the only surviving son of Agrippina
39 AD: Caligula's sisters Agrippina and Livilla plot to murder him but fail and are exiled
41 AD: Caligula is assassinated and the Praetorian Guard appoints Claudius as emperor, Germanicus' brother and Agrippina's brother-in-law, so Agrippina can return to Roma
43 AD: Claudius invades Britain
46 AD: Thracia becomes a Roman province
48 AD: Claudius' wife Messalina is executed for conspiring to overthrow her husband and Claudius marries his niece Agrippina the Younger, daughter of Agrippina, who is actually the lover of his advisor Pallas
49 AD: Agrippina and Pallas establish a reign of terror behind the back of the nominal emperor, Claudius
50 AD: the Romans found Londinium in Britain
54 AD: Claudius is assassinated by Agrippina and is succeeded by Agrippina's son Nero
58 AD: the Romans conquer Armenia
59 AD: Nero orders the assassination of his mother Agrippina
62 AD: The childless Nero divorces his loyal wife Octavia, who is beheaded, and marries the pregnant Poppaea while establishing a reign of terror
64 AD: Nero sets fire to Roma and blames the Christians for it
68 AD: Gaul and Spain rebel against Nero and Nero commits suicide rather than falling into their hands, while Spanish governor Galba is pronounced the new emperor
69 AD: Galba is murdered by the Praetorian Guard that has been bribed by Otho but the general of the German legions, Vitellius, invades Italy and claims the empire
70 AD: Vitellius and his followers are defeated by Vespasian, the general of the Egyptian legions, who becomes the new emperor
70 AD: Titus destroys Jerusalem and Jews spread in Armenia, Iraq, Iran, Arabia, Egypt, Italy, Spain and Greece
77 AD: the Romans conquer Wales
79 AD: Vespasianus dies and is succeeded by his son Titus Flavius Vespasianus
79 AD: the Vesuvius erupts and Pompeii is buried under ash
79 AD: the Colosseum is completed
80 AD: the Romans invade Caledonia (Scotland)
81 AD: the Arch of Titus is erected
81 AD: Titus dies and is succeeded by his brother Domitian
84 AD: British rebels are defeated by the Romans at the battle of Mons Graupius
96 AD: Domitian is assassinated and the senate replaces him with the old Nerva, thus terminating the principle of heredity (for a century)
97 AD: Rome forbids human sacrifice throughout the Roman empire
97 AD: Chinese general Pan Chao sends an embassy to the Roman Empire
98 AD: Nerva dies and his designated heir Trajan becomes emperor
100: the city of Roma has one million inhabitants
106: Trajan defeats Dacia that becomes a Roman province
106: Trajan captures the Nabataean capital Petra (Jordan) and turns Nabataea into the province of Arabia
107: The Roman Empire sends an embassy to India
110: the Basilica of Trajano is completed
112: the Forum of Trajanus
113: The Colonna Traiana is erected
116: Trajan conquers Mesopotamia and the Parthian capital Ctesiphon
117: Trajan dies on his way to the Persian Gulf and Hadrian, his wife's lover, becomes emperor
122: Hadrian's Wall is built along the northern frontier to protect from the Barbarians
132: Jews, led by Bar-Cochba, whom some identify as the Messiah, revolt against Roma
134: The Villa Hadriana opens
136: Hadrian definitely crushes the Jewish resistance, forbids Jews from ever entering Jerusalem, and changes the name of the city to Aelia Capitolina
138: Hadrian is succeeded by Antoninus Pius, who repeals Hadrian's anti-Jewish laws
139: Hadrian's mausoleum (Castel Sant'Angelo) is built
161: Antoninus dies and his heir designate Marcus Aurelius, a philosopher, becomes Roman emperor with Lucius Verus as co-emperor, the first time that Roma is ruled by two emperors
162: The British Celts revolt, and Parthia declares war on Roma
164: The plague spreads throughout the Roman empire ("Antonine plague")
166: Lucius defeats the Parthians and destroys its capital Ctesiphon
167: the Roman empire is attacked for the first time by barbarians (the German Quadi and Marcomanni)
169: the Roman empire is invaded by northern Germans
175: Aurelius defeats the German barbarians
177: Aurelius orders the persecution of sects like the Christians and the slave girl Blandina is tortured to death
178: Aurelius and his son Commodus fight the Third Marcomannic War against the German barbarians
180: Aurelius dies and his teenager son Commodus succeeds him, thus restoring the heredity rule
182: Upon discovering a conspiracy against him, Commodus establishes a new reign of terror
185: The freed slave Cleander is the de facto ruler of Commodus' empire
187: The Libyan-born the general of the Pannonian legions, Septimius Severus, who was raised in a Phoenician family and studied philosophy in Athens, marries Julia Domna, a descendant of the high kings of the temple of Baal in Syria
190: In another round of executions Commodus has Cleander himself killed
192: the Praetorian Guard kills emperor Commodus
193: Septimius Severus seizes power, executes scores of senators, confiscates huge lands from the Italian aristocracy, and turns Roma into a military dictatorship
194: Rome annexes Palmyra to the province of Syria
197: Septimius Severus wins the civil war at the Battle of Lugdunum and reforms the Praetorian Guard with non-Italians
198: Septimius Severus enters the Parthian capital Ctesiphon and annexes the northern half of Mesopotamia
202: Septimius Severus expands the southern frontier of African Roma
203: Christians are massacred in Carthage
208: Septimius Severus begins a campaign in Britain
211: Septimius Severus dies in Britain and is succeeded by his sons Lucius Septimius Bassianus (Caracalla) and Geta
211: Septimius Severus is the last emperor to die of natural causes until 284, most of the others being murdered by the Praetorian Guard or the soldiers and all of them reigning an average of three years
212: Caracalla murders his brother Geta and sentences to death 20,000 of Geta's followers
212: Caracalla grants Roman citizenship on all free people who live in the Roman Empire, but only to subject them to the same taxes
214: Caracalla murders King Abgar IX of Edessa and declares Edessa a Roman colony
215: Caracalla massacres the inhabitants of Alexandria
217: The Baths of Caracalla are inaugurated
217: Caracalla, accompanied by his mother Julia, begins a campaign against the Parthians but is murdered in Edessa by his soldiers, while the head of the Praetorian Guard appoints himself emperor
219: Julia Maesa, Julia Domna's sister, leads a Syrian army that defeats the imperial army and installs her teenager grandson Varius Avitus (Elagabalus), a Syrian priest of Baal, as emperor, but Maesa is the de facto ruler while Elagabalus worships a conical black stone representing Baal as the supreme god
222: The Praetorian Guard murders Elagabalus and installs as emperor Elagabalus' cousin Alexianus (Alexander Severus), also a grandson of Maesa's, and another teenager, with real power in the hands of his mother Julia Mamaea, who restores Jupiter as supreme Roman god, restores the power of the senate, and restores morality by banning homosexuals and prostitutes
230: The Sassanids invade Mesopotamia
233: Alexander defeats the Sassanids
235: Alexander is assassinated by soldiers loyal to Julius Maximinus, general of the Pannonian legions, the beginning of a 50-year civil war
238: Maximinus is assassinated by his own soldiers and dies without ever having visited Roma, while the senate declares Maximus the new emperor, but he is in turn promptly assassinated by the Praetorian Guard that appoints the ten-year old Gordian III
244: Shapur I becomes king of the Sassanids and attacks Roma , and Gordian is assassinated by his soldiers while fighting that war
249: The emperor Philip the Arab is killed in battle by a rebel king, Decius
250: The emperor Decius orders the first empire-wide persecution of Christians that also kills the bishop of Roma
251: Decius is killed in battle by the Goths
253: Both the emperor Gallus and his successor Aemilianus are killed by their soldiers and are succeeded by the old Valerian who appoints his son Gallienus as co-emperor in the west
253: Gallienus becomes emperor but 30 "tyrants" carved out their own kingdoms around the empire
255: The Goths invade Macedonia, Dalmatia and Asia Minor
256: the Persians/Sassanids defeat the Romans and conquer Dura Europus in Mesopotamia
257: Valerian reconquers Syria from the Sassanids
258: The Sassanids conquer Armenia
258: Valerian persecutes Christians and even the pope, Sixtus II, is executed
258: Postumus declares the independence of Gaul
260: Valerian is captured by the Sassanid king Shapur I after the Battle of Edessa, the first Roman emperor to become a prisoner of war
260: The plague spreads thoughout the Roman empire, decimating its population
261: Gallienus forbids aristocrats from serving in the army and relaxes the laws against Christianity
261: The king of Palmyra, Odenathus, defeats the Sassanids on behalf of Roma, annexing Arabia, Anatolia and Armenia
263: The Goths raid Ephesus and destroy the Temple of Arthemis, one of the seven wonders
266: Odenathus is assassinated and his wife Zenobia becomes the new ruler of Syria
267: Goths raid the Greek cities
268: Gallienus is assassinated by his own officers
269: The Goths raid the Greek cities for a second time but are defeated by Roman emperor Claudius II
269: Zenobia conquers Egypt expelling the Roman goernor
270: Claudius II dies of the plague and the army chooses Aurelian as the new emperor
271: The emperor Aurelian defeats the invading Germans
273: The emperor Aurelian destroys the rebellious city of Palmyra in Zenobia's kingdom
274: The emperor Aurelian defeats Zenobia and brings her as a hostage to Roma, reuniting the eastern empire
274: The emperor Aurelian defeats the rebellious Gauls
275: Aurelian is killed by his officers and is succeeded by the old Tacitus who dies within months
276: Probus restores peace by repelling the last barbarians on Roman soil
282: Probus is assassinated by his soldiers
284: Diocletian, the son of a Dalmatian slave, becomes emperor but rules from Nicomedia in the East
285: Diocletian, proclaiming himself the human manifestation of Jupiter, reunites the empire and ends the 50-year civil war
286: Diocletian appoints Maximian to rule the West, with capital in Milano
293: Diocletian institutes the "tetrarchy" under which each emperor choose his successor ahead of time, and Diocletian chooses Galerius while Maximian chooses Constantius Chlorus
295: The Sassanids invade the Eastern empire again
299: The Sassanids surrender to Roman emperor Galerius, who annexes Armenia, Georgia and Upper Mesopotamia
300: the population of the Roman Empire is 60 million (about 15 million Christians)
303: Diocletian and Maximian order a general persecution of the Christians, including the destruction of all churches (1,500 Christians will be killed in eight years)
303: the thermae of Diocletian are built
305: Diocletian and Maximian abdicate in favor of Galerius and Constantius, but civil war erupts again
306: Constantius dies and his son Flavius Valerius Constantinus (Constantine) is acclaimed by the troops as new vice-emperor of Galerius, while the Praetorian Guard appoints Maximian's son Maxentius emperor instead of Galerius' choice Severus
308: Galerius appoints another emperor, Licinius
311: Galerius relaxes the ban on Christianity
311: Galerius dies leaving Maxentius and Constantine to fight for the throne of the West
312: Constantine defeats Maxentius, becomes emperor of the West and disbands the Praetorian Guard
313: Constantine's ally Licinius defeats Maxentius' ally Maximinus and becomes co-emperor in the East
313: Constantine ends the persecution of the Christians (edict of Milano)
313: the Basilica of Maxentius is completed
314: Constantine defeats Licinius and obtains all Roman Europe except Thracia, while Licinius keeps Africa and Asia
323: Constantine defeats Licinius again and becomes the sole emperor
324: Constantine I founds a new city, Constantinople (Byzantium)
326: Constantine has his son Crispus and his wife Fausta Flavia Maxima executed
330: Constantine I moves the capital of the Roman empire to Constantinople (Byzantium)
337: Constantine dies, and his sons split the empire: Constantine II (Spain, Britain, Gaul), Constans I (Italy, Africa, Illyricum, Macedon, Achaea) and Constantius II (the East)
356: Roma has 28 libraries, 10 basilicas, 11 public baths, two amphitheaters, three theaters, two circuses, 19 aqueducts, 11 squares, 1,352 fountains, 46,602 insulae (city blocks)
359: Constantinople becomes the capital of the Roman empire
360: pagan (Mithraist) general Julian (the "apostate") defeats an invasion of Barbarians and is declared emperor by his German troops
363: Julian dies attempting to invade the Sassanid kingdom of Persia, which recaptures Nisibis and Armenia, and general Valentinian becomes emperor
363: an earthquake destroys Petra
364: Valentinian delegates Valens as emperor of the East
376: Valens allows Visigoths to settle within the empire
378: The Visigoths defeat the Roman army at Hadrianopolis/Adrianople
380: Theodosius I proclaims Christianity as the sole religion of the Roman Empire
393: Theodosius forbids the Olympic Games because pagans and shuts down the temple of Zeus at Olympia
395: Theodosius divides the Roman empire in the Western and Eastern Empires, with Milano and Constantinople as their capitals
402: the western Roman empire moves the capital from Milano to Ravenna
406: Barbarians invade France from the north
410: the Visigots sack Roma
410: Roma withdraws from Britannia
418: the emperor grants Wallia's Visigoths to settle in Aquitaine (Atlantic coast of France)
425: the eastern emperor Theodosius II installs Valentinian III as emperor of the west
427: Gensenric's Vandals crosses the strait of Gibraltar and lands in Africa
443: the emperor grants Burgundi to settle in Savoy
450: Theodosius II dies and Marcian succeeds him, the first Roman emperor to be crowned by a religious leader (the patriarch of Constantinople)
452: the Huns invade Italy
455: the Vandals sack Roma
476: Odoacer, a mercenary in the service of Roma, leader of the Germanic soldiers in the Roman army, deposes the western Roman emperor and thereby terminates the western Roman empire
488: emperor Zeno sends Theodoric's Ostrogoths (still settled in Pannonia) to conquer Italy
493: the Ostrogoths led by Theodoric conquer Italy
500: Roma's population has declined to less than 100,000 people
526: Antioch in Syria is destroyed by an earthquake
527: Justinian becomes eastern Roman emperor and decides to reconquer Italy
527: Byzantium enforces anti-Jewish laws and the Jews all but disappear from the eastern Roman Empire
529: Roman emperor Justinian shuts down the Academia of Plato
532: Riots in Constantinople kill 30,000 people and almost dethrone Justinian
533: Justinian's code of law ("Corpus Juri Civilis") is published
534: Justinian's general Belisarius destroys the Arian kingdom of the Vandals and reconquers southern Spain and northern Africa
536: the Ostrogoths surrender and Belisarius reconquers Rome (beginning of the Barbar wars in Italy)
537: Justinian's general Belisarius deposes pope Silverius and replaces him with pope Vigilius
537: Justinian builds the church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople
540: Justinian's general Belisarius takes Ravenna from the last Ostrogothic resistance and thus reconquers Italy to the empire
542: the plague decimates the Empire
546: Visigothic rebels led by Totila sack Roma
551: imperial troops reconquer Rome
552: Nestorian monks smuggle silkworm eggs from China to Byzanthium
552: End of Ostrogothic resistance in Italy
554: Rome is reduced to a camp of about 30,000 people, while Constantinople has about one million people
554: the new king of the Visigoths, Athanagild, accepts the emperor's sovereignity over Spain
554: the empire reorganizes Italy as an imperial province (end of the Barbar wars)
565: Justinian dies
568: Alboin's Lombards invade northern Italy
600: Constantinople has 500,000 inhabitants
602: the Persians (Sassanids) attack the eastern Roman empire in Asia Minor
610: Heraclius I (son of the Orthodox bishop of Africa) overthrows the tyrant Phocas, becomes emperor and establishes Greek as the official language
614: the Persians (Sassanids) raid Jerusalem and destroy its churches
619: the Persians capture Egypt
621: the Visigoths reconquer all of Spain from the Roman empire
626: the Sassanids besiege Constantinople
627: the Sassanid king Khusrau II is defeated by Roman emperor Heraclius at Niniveh
628: the Romans retake Syria from the Sassanids
636: Arabs invade Syria and Palestine
639: the Arabs invade the southern provinces of the Empire
673: the Arabs besiege Constantinople
714: the Arabs besiege Constantinople again
717: Leo III becomes emperor
718: Leo III defeats the Arabs that are besieging Constantinople
726: Emperor Leo III orders the destruction of all icons (iconoclasm)
730: Germanus is deposed and replaced by the iconoclast Athanasius
739: emperor Leo III issues the Ecloga that introduces Christian principles into law
800: Charlemagne, king of the Franks, is crowned emperor by Pope Leo III and founds the Holy Roman Empire
811: the eastern Roman emperor recognized Charlemagne as emperor of Roma
812: a peace treaty between Charlemagne and the Eastern Roman Empire surrenders Venezia to the Eastern empire but grants Venezia the right to trade with the Holy Roman Empire
813: an Armenian general becomes eastern Roman emperor Leo V
840: Basil's fleet retakes Bari from the Muslims
843: Empress Theodora allows the worship of icons to be restored
846: the city of Roma has 17,000 inhabitants
860: the Rus attack Constantinople
867: Basil I becomes the Byzantine emperor and founds the Macedonian dynasty
879: Basil I defeats the Arabs and reconquers Cappadocia
896: Symeon of Bulgaria defeats the Byzantine army for the first time
913: Alexander II dies and is succeeded by his seven-year old nephew Constantine VII but real power is wielded by empress mother Zoe
919: Admiral Romanos Lekapenos/ Romanus Lacapenus seizes power and marries his daughter Helen to the 14-year old Constantine VII, who devotes himself to literature and art
922: Symeon of Bulgaria defeats the Byzantine army for the fourth and last time
934: Magyars raid Constantinople
945: Romanos Lekapenos is deposed by his own children and Constantine VII assumes real power
968: Nicephorus II defeats the Arabs and reconquers Syria
969: Nicephorus II defeats the Bulgars
976: Basil II becomes the Byzantine emperor
1018: Basil II annexes Bulgaria and the Byzantine empire reaches its zenith
1025: Basil II dies
1054: The patriarch of Constantinople and the pope in Roma excommunicate each other (the Great Schism)
1057: end of the Macedonian dynasty
1064: the Seljuks invade Armenia
1071: the Byzantine army of Romanus IV Diogenes is defeated by the Seljuks at Manzikert in Armenia, who establish a sultanate in Anatolia
1071: Normans led by Robert Guiscard conquer southern Italy from the eastern Roman empire
1081: Alexius I Komnenos establishes the Komnenos dynasty
1099: the first Crusade captures Jerusalem
1187: Saladin defeats the crusaders
1195: Alexius III deposes his brother and becomes the new emperor
1197: Alexius III imposes taxes and melts the gold of the imperial tombs to pay the tribute to Frederick Barbarossa, causing anger against the Latin dynasty among the Greek population
1204: the Crusaders, led by the Doge of Venezia, sack Constantinople, expel the Greek emperor Alexius III and set up a Latin kingdom, led by Baldwin I of the Flanders, and Venezia acquires territories in the Mediterranean and Black Seas
1204: Theodore I Lascaris, son-in-law od Alexius III, flees from Constantinople to Nicaea (Bithynia), where he founds a the empire, whereas Alexius founds the empire of Trebizond further east
1208: Theodore I Lascaris is crowned emperor by the patriarch and Nicaea becomes a rival to Constantinople for legitimate capital of the empire
1211: Nicaea emperor Theodore I Lascaris conquers most of Anatolia after defeating an alliance of Seljuqs of Rum and Latin kingdom of Constantinople near Antioch
1261: Constantinople is liberated by the Nicaean emperor Michael VIII Paleologus and Greek becomes the official language of the ever smaller eastern Roman empire
1291: the Moslems expel the Crusaders from the Middle East
1345: Serbia defeats the eastern Roman empire and annexes Macedonia and Thrace
1347: the plague (Black Death) strikes Constantinople and it will kill half the population of the city
1348: Serbia defeats the eastern Roman empire and annexes Thessaly and Epirus
1453: the Ottoman Turks under Mehmet II capture Constantinople
1461: the Ottomans conquer the empire of Trebizond, the last Greek state
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