The Origins of Rome timeline 3600-2450 BC Occupation of settlement at Skara Brae, Orkney.

3100-2686 Early dynastic period in Egypt.

3000-1400 Minoan civilization in Crete.

2500 Great pyramid and sphinx built in Egypt.

2000 Stonehenge in Britain, first phase.

1400-1200 Mycenaean civilization in Greece.

1250 Israelite settlements in Canaan.

1220 Destruction of Troy.

1152 Traditional date of founding of Alba Longa.

1150-1050 Period of the judges in Israel.

1000-750 Phoenician expansion overseas.

1000 Latins settle in Latium.

965-925 Solomon, king of Israel.

814 Traditional date of founding of Carthage.

776 First Olympic Games.

775 Euboean Greeks establish a trading post in Bay of Naples.

753 Traditional date of founding of Rome.

753-510 Period of the kings in Rome.

750 Greek alphabet, based on a Phoenician version of the Canaanite alphabet, begins to be used.

650 Etruscans occupy Latium.

616-578 Tarquinius Priscus.

578-534 Servius Tullius. Temple of Diana on Aventine hill.

568-488 Life of Buddha.

551-479 Life of Confucius.

534-510 Tarquinius Superbus.

524 Defeat of Etruscans at Cumae.

510 Ejection of kings.

505 Final defeat of Etruscans.

The Republic timelineFrom the establishment of the republic to the dissolution of the latin league

509 BCEstablishment of the republic. First consuls. Dedication of Temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill.

501 First dictator.

496 Romans defeat Latins at Lake Regillus.

494 Traditional date for the institution of the office of tribune of the people.

450 The Twelve Tables.

443 First censors.

409 First plebeian quaestor.

390 Gauls sack Rome, but withdraw in return for ransom.

367 First plebeian consul elected. Creation of praetorship.

356 First plebeian dictator

351 First plebeian censor.

340 War against Latins.

338 Latin league of states dissolved. Campania becomes Roman.

From the accession of Alexander the Great to the first Punic war

336 Accession of Alexander the Great, king of Macedon.

335-323 Campaigns of Alexander the Great.

327-290 Samnite wars.

323 Death of Alexander the Great.

321 Disaster at Caudine Forks.

310 Roman inroads into Etruria.

308 Surrender of Umbria.

306 Establishment of Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt.

283 Final capitulation of Etruscans.

280-275 Pyrrhus leads Greek cities in south of Italy against Rome.

272 Surrender of Tarentum and other Greek cities in south.

265 Rome holds all Italy south of the river Arno.

264 First show in Rome with gladiators.

From the first Punic war to the end of the Third Punic

264-241 First Punic War.

241 Western Sicily becomes first Roman province.

239-237 Rome takes over Corsica and Sardinia.

237 Hamilcar overruns southern Spain.

227 The whole of Sicily and Sardinia with Corsica become provinces

221 Hannibal assumes command of Carthaginian forces.

219 Hannibal captures Saguntum.

218-202 Second Punic War.

218 Hannibal invades Italy.

217 Hannibal defeats Romans at Lake Trasimene.

216 Hannibal defeats Romans at Cannae.

211-206 Scipio’s campaigns in Spain.

203 Hannibal recalled from Italy.

202 Battle of Zama.

197 Spain annexed and divided into two provinces.

191 Rome completes conquest of Cisalpine Gaul.

184 Cato elected censor, having been consul in 195.

167End of third war against the kingdom of Macedonia, which is now divided into four self-governing regions.

167-160 Maccabaean revolt in Judaea.

153 Roman year begins on 1 January.

149-146 Third Punic War.

146 Destruction of Carthage. Province of Africa established.

From the Gracchi to the death of Sulla

133Tiberius Gracchus is tribune of the people. Pergamum bequeathed to Rome and in 129 becomes the province of Asia.

123-122 Gaius Gracchus is tribune of the people.

121 Transalpine Gaul becomes a province.

c.115 Birth of Crassus.

112-106 Wars against Jugurtha.

107 First consulship of Marius.

106 Births of Cicero and Pompey the Great.

105 Cimbri destroy two Roman armies in Gaul.

102/1 Marius defeats Teutones and Cimbri.

100 Birth of Julius Caesar. Sixth consulship of Marius.

91-88Social 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 gain their point

88

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.

87The 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.

86 Seventh consulship of Marius (who dies 13 January) and second of Cinna.

85Third consulship of Cinna and first of Papirius Carbo. Sulla agrees peace terms with Mithridates.

84Fourth consulship of Cinna and second of Carbo. Cinna is murdered by his soldiers while crossing to Asia to confront Sulla.

83 Sulla lands in Italy, and is joined by Pompey and Crassus.

82Consuls are Gaius Marius junior and Carbo. Sulla defeats opposition forces. Marius commits suicide. Sulla proclaimed dictator. Proscriptions. Constitutional reforms.

80 Sulla resigns as dictator and goes into retirement.

78 Death of Sulla. The beginning of the end of the republic

Republic to empire: the Roman revolution timelineFrom the death of Sulla to Julius Caesar’ crossing of the Rubicon

74 BC Bithynia, bequeathed by Nicomedes IV, and Cyrenaica become provinces.

73-71 Slave revolt of Spartacus.

70 First consulship of Crassus and Pompey.

67 Pompey crushes the Mediterranean pirates.

66-63Pompey, 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.

63Consulship of Cicero. Conspiracy of Catiline. Caesar elected pontifex maximus. Birth of Caesar’s great-nephew, the future Augustus.

62 Caesar is praetor. Bona Dea affair.

60 “First Triumvirate”: Caesar, Crassus, Pompey.

59Consulship 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.

58-50Caesar’s Gallic wars, including invasions of Britain 55 and 54 BC, add the whole of Gaul beyond Gallia Narbonensis (Transalpine Gaul) to the empire.

56 Renewal at Lucca of “First Triumvirate”.

55 Second consulship of Crassus and Pompey. Caesar’s term extended.

53 Death of Crassus in Parthia.

52 Death of Clodius. Pompey appointed sole consul.

51-50 Manoeuvring between the senate, Caesar, and Pompey.

49Pompey authorized to deal with Caesar, who crosses the Rubicon, signifying that he comes as an invader. Pompey, with his troops, leaves for Greece. Caesar crushes Pompeian opposition in Spain. Appointed dictator, he resigns after 11 days, having been elected consul for 48.

From Caesar’s second consulship to the triumvirate

48After an extended but inconclusive engagement at Dyrrachium, 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.

47Alexandrian war concluded with Jewish help. Caesar leaves for Rome, on the way defeating Pharnaces, son of Mithridates, at Zela (“Veni, vidi, vici”).Reaches Rome in September.

46

Caesar 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 12-year-old 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 15 months. He leaves for Spain.

45 Final defeat of Pompey’s supporters at Munda in March. Caesar returns to Rome in October.

44

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. Mark 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.

43

Octavian is assigned the task of dislodging Antony, with the two new consuls, Hirtius and Pansa. Antony is forced to retreat to Transalpine Gaul, but both consuls are killed. The 19-year-old Octavian demands one of the two vacant consulships. When the senate refuses, he takes over the city and insists on elections, at which he and Pedius, his first-cousin once removed, are returned. Octavian, Antony, and Lepidus are now, by a law of the tribune Publius Titius, given responsibility for re-establishing the constitution; their rule is known as the Second Triumvirate. They institute proscriptions to finance their operation and dispose of enemies. Among their first victims is Cicero.

From Caesar’s deification to Ocatavian’s accession of special powers as Augustus

42Senate recognizes Caesar as a god. The chief conspirators Brutus and Cassius defeated at Philippi and commit suicide. Cisalpine Gaul incorporated into Italy. Antony goes to settle imperial affairs in the east.

41 Cleopatra journeys to Tarsus to meet Antony, who spends the winter with her in Egypt.

40Octavian 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.

40-35 Trouble with Sextus Pompeius, who finally surrenders in Asia and is executed.

38Octavian, 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.

37 Renewal of triumvirate.

33Second consulship of Octavian. Legal end of triumvirate. Octavian steps up propaganda campaign against Antony.

32 Antony divorces Octavia, and is attacked in the senate by Octavian. War declared against Cleopatra.

31 Battle of Actium 2 September.

31-23 Successive consulships of Octavian/Augustus.

30Having 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.

29Octavian celebrates triple triumph for victories in Dalmatia, at Actium, and in Egypt. Temple of the divine Julius dedicated.

28Octavian and his consular colleague Agrippa hold a census, the first since 70 BC. They also reduce the number of senators from 1000 to 800, of which the first name on the list is Octavian, as princeps senatus.

27Octavian 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 of Augustus. Agrippa builds the first Pantheon, which is completed in 25.

The Empire - Augustus to Domitian timeline

23 BCAugustus resigns his eleventh consulship, probably because of illness. He is awarded for life full tribunician powers, and extended imperium which gives him authority over any provincial governor and over the army (renewed for five years in 18 and 13, and for ten years in 8, and AD 3 and 13.)

22Famine 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.

21Agrippa is forced to divorce his wife and marry Augustus’s daughter Julia, whose husband Marcellus has died after being married to her for two years.

18 Senate is reduced to 600. Agrippa is granted special powers.

17Augustus adopts Agrippa’s and Julia’s two sons, Gaius and Lucius, as his own sons. Saecular Games celebrated.

15Tiberius and Drusus, Augustus’s stepsons, defeat the Raeti and Vindelici, whose territory becomes a Roman province.

13Tiberius’s 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.

12 Following the death of Lepidus, Augustus is elected pontifex maximus. Death of Agrippa.

11 Tiberius is forced to divorce his wife and marry Julia.

10 Birth of the emperor Claudius.

9 Dedication of the Ara Pacis in Rome.

8 Tiberius scores victories in Germany.

7 Tiberius awarded tribunician powers for five years; he retires to Rhodes.

4 Death of Drusus. Death of Herod the Great.

2 Banishment of Julia.

2 AD Death of Lucius. Tiberius returns to Rome.

4Death 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.

6Augustus establishes aerarium militare to provide for retired soldiers, and creates the post of praefectus vigilum.

9 Varian disaster.

12 Birth of Caligula.

13Augustus’s control of his provinces renewed for a further ten years. Tiberius’s powers are also renewed, with imperium equal to that of Augustus.

14Census enumerates 5 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.

16Germanicus advances to the river Elbe, but is recalled to Rome and the attempt to extend the Roman frontier is abandoned.

17 Germanicus celebrates a triumph, then is sent to the east with powers to reorganize the provinces.

18 Third consulship of Tiberius, with Germanicus, who falls out with Gnaeus Piso, legate of Syria.

19 Death of Germanicus in Syria, which Piso is forced by army pressure to leave.

20 Piso, charged with treason and with procuring the death of Germanicus, commits suicide.

21Fourth consulship of Tiberius, with his son Drusus. Tiberius, however, retires for a time to Campania.

22 Drusus awarded tribunician powers.

23Sejanus relocates the imperial guard to a camp immediately outside the city walls. Death of Drusus (attributed by Tacitus to Sejanus).

26 Pontius Pilate becomes administrator of Judaea. Sejanus persuades Tiberius to leave Rome.

27 Tiberius settles in Capri.

28 Marriage of Agrippina, daughter of Germanicus and Agrippina (elder), with Domitius Ahenobarbus.

29 Agrippina (elder) and her eldest son exiled. Death of Livia at the age of 86.

31Fifth consulship of Tiberius, with Sejanus. Acting on private information, Tiberius denounces Sejanus, on whom the senate pronounces the sentence of death. His children and his immediate supporters are also executed.

33Probable date of crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth under Roman law. Drusus, son of Germanicus, becomes one of over 60 well-known people executed for treason during the rule of Tiberius.

37Death of Tiberius (16 March). Gaius (Caligula), Tiberius’s great-nephew, becomes emperor and is suffect consul with his uncle Claudius. Death of Tiberius Gemellus, Tiberius’s grandson. Birth of the emperor Nero.

38 Death and deification of Caligula’s sister Drusilla. Riots in Alexandria between Jews and Greeks.

39Conspiracy 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.

40Caligula 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.

41

41 Caligula assassinated (24 January). 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 made king also of Judaea, Samaria, and Idumaea, which cease to be under the jurisdiction of the governor of Syria.

42 Mauretania is divided into two provinces.

43 Claudius successfully invades Britain, part of which becomes a province under Aulus Plautius

44Claudius 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.

46 Claudius annexes Thrace.

47Plautius celebrates a triumph for his successes in Britain, the last occasion on which a subject is so honoured.

48As censor, a post he revives, Claudius registers some 7 million citizens of Rome, and opens the way for more provincials to become senators. Death of the empress Messalina. Claudius marries Agrippina, the daughter of his brother Germanicus.

50 Claudius adopts Nero, son of Agrippina.

51Final 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.

53 Marriage of Nero and Claudius’s daughter Octavia.

54 Death of Claudius by poison (12 October). Accession of Nero. Claudius is deified.

55Nero rules initially with the advice of his tutor, Seneca, and Burrus, commander of the imperial guard. Claudius’s freedman who was his financial secretary, is dismissed. Britannicus is poisoned. Gn. Domitius Corbulo appointed to military command in the east.

56Quaestors are replaced by two imperial officers (ex-praetors) at the treasury, to which in 57 Nero transfers 40 million sesterces.

59 Nero finally succeeds in murdering his mother.

60Corbulo, after several military successes, settles the Armenian problem, and is appointed governor of Syria.

61In Britain, the Iceni (under Boudica) and Trinovantes revolt, causing great destruction and slaughter. They are finally defeated by Suetonius Paullinus, and Boudica commits suicide.

62Death of Burrus. Seneca withdraws from public life. Nero marries Poppaea, having divorced and subsequently murdered Octavia.

64 Great fire of Rome (19-28 July).

65In the wake of a high-level conspiracy, there are many executions and enforced suicides, including that of Seneca. Death of Poppaea.

66Beginning of First Jewish War; Vespasian appointed military commander in Judaea. Nero marries Statilia Messalina.

67 Death of Corbulo, having been ordered to commit suicide.

68 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.

69

Vitellius, governor of Lower Germany, is acclaimed emperor by his troops and those in Upper Germany. Galba and Piso, his nominee as successor, killed by the imperial guard, who make Otho emperor (15 January). In northern Italy Vitellius defeats Otho, who commits suicide (14 April). Vitellius 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).

70Vespasian and Titus are consuls. Titus takes Jerusalem; destruction of the Temple. Vespasian reaches Rome (October).

71Vespasian 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.

72 Vespasian and Titus are censors.

73 First consulship of Domitian.

74Fall of Masada marks end of First Jewish War. Vespasian confers Latin rights on all parts of the Spanish peninsular. Julius Frontinus is suffect consul.

76 Birth of Hadrian.

78 Agricola begins his terms of office as governor of Britain after being suffect consul.

79Death of Vespasian and accession of Titus (23 June). Eruption of Vesuvius and destruction of Herculaneum and Pompeii (August).

80 Fire in Rome destroys Capitoline Temple. Opening of the Colosseum.

81 Erection of Arch of Titus. Death of Titus and accession of Domitian (13 September).

83 Domitian campaigns in Germany.

84 Battle of Mons Graupius in Scotland. Agricola is recalled.

86-92 Domitian’s Danube wars.

96 Assassination of Domitian (18 September). Nerva is elected by the senate to succeed him.

Later Empire timeline

From the accession of Nerva to death of Trajan

AD 96 Accession of Nerva, who takes an oath that he will not execute any senator.

97

Nerva adopts Trajan as co-ruler and successor. He institutes alimentary schemes to help the urban poor, and loans to landowners, the interest on which will go to support the children of needy families. He appoints as superintendent of aqueducts Frontinus, who writes a book on the subject of water supply.

98 Death of Nerva. He is succeeded by Trajan, who is campaigning on the Rhine.

99Trajan arrives in Rome, having made preparations along the Danube frontier for a forthcoming campaign.

100Hadrian, first-cousin once removed of Trajan, who is also Hadrian’s guardian, marries Vibia Sabina, Trajan’s great-niece. Frontinus is consul with Trajan.

101 Trajan crosses the Danube with his army on a bridge designed by Apollodorus of Damascus.

102 Decebalus, Dacian king, capitulates and becomes a client king of Rome.

104 New war against Decebalus.

105 Arabia annexed.

106 Death of Decebalus and annexation of Dacia.

107 Trajan’s 123-day triumph.

111 Correspondence between Pliny, governor of Bithynia, and Trajan about the Christians.

112 Dedication of Trajan’s forum, incorporating Trajan’s market.

113 Dedication of Trajan’s column. Trajan prepares for Parthian campaign.

114-116 Trajan conquers Mesopotamia, capturing Babylon and Ctesiphon, capital of the Parthian empire.

116Jewish risings are brutally put down, with the virtual destruction of the Jewish communities in north Africa, Alexandria, and Cyprus.

117

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.

The rule of Hadrian

118Four former consuls and senior commanders, all Trajan’s men, are executed on the orders of the senate. Hadrian reaches Rome.

121 Hadrian in Gaul, Upper Germany, Raetia, and Noricum. Birth of Marcus Aurelius.

122Hadrian 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.

122/123 Hadrian’s rescript to Minicius Fundanus on procedure towards Christians.

123 Hadrian in north Africa, Crete, Syria, and Asia Minor.

124 Hadrian in western Europe and Greece.

125 Hadrian in Greece and Sicily, before returning to Rome.

c.126 Rebuilding of the Pantheon in its present form.

127Hadrian divides Italy into four regions, each under an imperial legate of consular rank, a system which was abolished by his successor.

128 Hadrian in Africa, Athens, and Sparta.

129 Hadrian tours eastern provinces.

130Hadrian 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.

131 Official publication of Salvius Julianus’s codification of praetors’ edicts, commissioned by Hadrian.

132-135Second Jewish War, at the end of which Jerusalem is razed and Judaea is renamed Syria Palaestina, or “Palestine”.

136 Death of Sabina. Hadrian adopts Ceionius Commodus as his successor.

138

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’s nephew. Death of Hadrian (10 July). Accession of Antoninus.

From the accession of Antonius to the death of Marcus Aurelius

139Antoninus persuades the senate to confirm Hadrian’s deification, for which act he is granted the surname Pius.

141Death of Antoninus’s wife, the empress Faustina. She is deified by the senate; Antoninus establishes in her honour an alimentary programme for the care of orphaned girls (“Puellae Faustinianae”).

142-143 Building of the Antonine Wall in Britain between the Clyde and Forth estuaries.

145 Marcus Aurelius marries Faustina, daughter of Antoninus.

147 Marcus Aurelius receives imperial powers.

161Death and deification of Antoninus in his 75th year, having named as his successor Marcus Aurelius, who, however, insists that Verus rules with him.

161-166 Parthian wars, successfully conducted by Verus with the help of his generals.

164 Verus marries Lucilla, 14-year-old daughter of Marcus Aurelius.

c.165 Antonine Wall is dismantled.

166Verus’s 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.

175 Revolt and death in Syria of Avidius Cassius. Death and deification of Faustina.

176From Syria, Marcus Aurelius travels to Alexandria and Athens, where he endows chairs of philosophy. Back in Rome, he celebrates a triumph and makes his 15-year-old son Commodus joint ruler.

177 Pogrom of the Christian community in Lugdunum (Lyon).

178 Further rising of Marcomanni and other tribes.

180Death of Marcus Aurelius at the age of 59. Accession of Commodus, who, having made peace with the northern tribes, enters Rome and holds a triumph.

From the accession of Commodus to the death of Septimus Severus

182Conspiracy 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.

184Commodus acclaimed as imperator and takes the title Britannicus for victories by Ulpius Marcellus in northern Britain.

185

Soldiers from the British station travel to Rome to complain about Perennis, whom, with his family, Commodus hands over to the imperial guard for execution. Aurelius Cleander, the emperor’s chamberlain, becomes commander of the imperial guard. Helvius Pertinax averts major mutiny in Britain.

190Death 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.

c.191 Decimus Clodius Albinus appointed governor of Britain.

192Pertinax, 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.

193

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 disbands the imperial guard, which he replaces with three of his own legions. Pescennius is defeated and his base of Byzantium is besieged.

194 Final defeat, and death, of Pescennius. Severus launches attacks on eastern tribes.

195

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, which proclaims him emperor.

197 Final defeat of Clodius near Lyon by Severus, who purges the senate and the provinces of supporters

of Clodius. He then departs for his second Parthian war.

198Severus 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.

199-202 Severus, with his family, tours the east, including Egypt.

202Severus holds lavish celebratory games but refuses a triumph. Marriage of Caracalla with 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.

203 Erection of Arch of Severus in the Forum.

205Plautianus and others are executed for alleged conspiracy; Caracalla divorces Plautilla. The lawyer Papinian replaces Plautianus, heralding an Augustan age of Roman law.

208 The imperial family and their court leave for Britain and establish their base at Eboracum (York).

209 Geta is promoted to Augustus, but is left behind while Severus and Caracalla campaign in Scotland.

210 Severus claims victory. Further revolt of the Caledonians and Maeatae.

211Severus dies at York (4 February). His family returns to Rome, Caracalla (22) and Geta (21) to be joint emperors.

From the murder of Geta to the Assassination of Severus Alexander

212Caracalla 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.

213 Caracalla defeats the Alamanni, and then campaigns on the Danube frontier and in Asia Minor.

215Caracalla 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.

217Caracalla, campaigning in the east, is killed near Carrhae by members of his entourage on the instructions of Macrinus, commander of the imperial guard, whose troops proclaim him emperor. Death of Julia Domna.

218Macrinus buys peace with Parthia. Julia Maesa, sister of Julia Domna, promulgates a story that her 15-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 put to death.

218-228The historian Cassius Dio is successively administrator of Pergamum and then Smyrna, governor of Africa, and military commander of Dalmatia and then Upper Pannonia.

219 Bassianus reaches Rome and takes office as Elagabalus.

221Elagabalus adopts his 15-year-old cousin Severus Alexander, son of Julia Maesa’s daughter, Julia Mammaea.

222Elagabalus is murdered by soldiers and succeeded by Severus Alexander, who rules with the help and under the influence of his mother.

225 Severus Alexander marries Sallustia Orbiana.

226 The Aqua Alexandrina, the last of Rome’s eleven significant aqueducts, is operative.

227Sallustia’s father, a senior figure in the establishment, is executed and she is banished, after an assassination threat. The Sasanid dynasty, having succeeded the Parthians, threatens to overrun all the former Persian territories in the east.

229 Cassius Dio is consul, with Severus Alexander, after which he retires to Bithynia, land of his birth.

231-233 Severus Alexander’s eastern campaign restores the status quo in the region.

234Trouble on the Rhine. Severus Alexander, and his mother, go to Mainz, to oversee a response to further threats from the Alamanni.

235Severus Alexander and his mother are killed in an army mutiny. A senior officer, Maximinus Thrax, becomes the emperor on the spot.

From the rule of Maximus the Thracian to the death of Carus

236 Maximinus campaigns successfully across the Rhine and Danube.

238

A year in which there are 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, 13-year-old nephew of Gordian II.

242 Roman victories over Goths.

243 Roman victories over Persians.

244Gordian is murdered in Mesopotamia. Philippus the “Arabian”, commander of the imperial guard, becomes emperor and makes peace with the Persians.

248Decius, commander in Moesia, proclaimed emperor by his troops. Celebrations of the thousandth anniversary of Rome’s foundation.

249 Decius defeats and kills Philippus near Verona.

250 Widespread persecution of Christians by Decius. Plague rages for 15 years.

251Invasion of Goths. Decius is killed trying to prevent them returning home. Trebonianus Gallus, governor of Moesia, declared emperor by the troops.

253 Aemilius Aemilianus, commander in Moesia, declared emperor by his troops, as also 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.

255 Further invasions of Goths, and also Scythians and Alamanni. Persians reach Antioch.

257Edict of Valerian against the Christians. The Alamanni are checked by Gallienus, and the Goths by his army commander Aurelian. Valerian goes to the east

258 Postumus makes himself ruler of Gaul, and the following year establishes the imperium Galliarum.

259 Gallienus defeats the Alamanni at Milan and also in Gaul. Valerian captured by the Persians.

260 First edict of toleration for Christians.

260-261 Some nine usurpers to the title of emperor come and go in various parts of the empire.

268Postumus 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.

270

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’s 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.

271Aurelian defeats Vandals in Pannonia and foils an invasion into Italy by the Alamanni. He begins the building of the Aurelian Wall round Rome and defences of other cities.

272Aurelian 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.

273In the west Aurelian defeats the Carpi, and in the east he puts down a revolt in Palmyra, which he destroys.

274Aurelian 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.

275Aurelian is murdered in Thrace in a palace plot 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.

276Tacitus 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.

277-280Probus 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.

280-281 Revolts of Proculus and Bonosus in the west, and of Saturninus in the east.

281 Probus celebrates a triumph and completes the Aurelian Wall.

282 Probus leaves Rome to embark on an invasion of Persia. Carus, commander of the imperial guard, is proclaimed emperor. Troops sent by Probus defect to Carus, and Probus is killed by those who are

still with him.

283Carus, after subduing the Quadi and Sarmatians in the west, embarks on a campaign against the Persians, but dies suddenly, probably of natural causes.

The rules of Diocletion and Constantine

284The empire is shared between Carus’s 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.

285Carinus is killed in battle. Diocletian appoints his Dalmatian colleague Maximian Caesar, with responsibility for the western empire.

286Maximian is promoted to Augustus. Carausius declares himself ruler of Britain and part of northern Gaul.

287-290 Diocletian campaigns on the Danube and in the east.

293Galerius and Constantius “Chlorus” are appointed Caesares, 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.

296 Constantius’s troops defeat and kill Allectus, and slaughter his Frankish mercenaries in London.

c.297 Diocletian begins a policy of dividing the provinces of the empire into smaller units.

298 Great victories by Galerius over the Persians.

301 Diocletian’s edict on prices.

303 Edict against the Christians. Diocletian visits Rome for the only time.

305Diocletian 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 Caesares.

306

Constantius dies at York while mounting a campaign against the Picts. His son Constantine, who is with him, 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.

307Constantine, in charge now 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.

308At Carnuntum in Pannonia, Galerius gives the title of Augustus to Valerius Licinianus Licinius, upon which Maximinus has his troops in the east proclaim him also Augustus.

309/310 Galerius recognizes Constantine and Maximinus as Augusti.

310 Death of Maximian.

311 Galerius, Constantine, and Licinius issue the Edict of Toleration, ending persecution of Christians.

Death of Galerius. Maximinus drives Licinius out of Asia.

312Vision 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. He abolishes the imperial guard, which he replaces with a corps of scholares.

313Constantine meets Licinius at Milan, and gives him his half-sister Constantia in marriage. In Nicomedia, Licinius issues an edict agreeing with Constantine on religious freedom. At Adrianople, Licinius defeats Maximinus, who commits suicide. Death of Diocletian.

315 Erection of Arch of Constantine, celebrating his visit to Rome.

316 War against Licinius, who cedes all his European territories except Thrace.

317Constantine appoints three new Caesares: his sons Crispus (12), with whose mother he had had a long-term affair, and Constantine (about 7 months), and Licinius’s son Licinius (20 months).

322/323 Great victories of Constantine over the Sarmatians and Goths.

324Further war against Licinius, who is defeated at Adrianople and Chrysopolis, and subsequently executed. Constantine appoints as Caesar his son Constantius.

325 Council of Nicaea, with Constantine in the chair. Formation of Nicene Creed.

326 Executions of the empress Fausta, Crispus, and Licinius junior.

330 Dedication of new capital city, Constantinople.

332 Great victory over the Goths, 40,000 of whom enter Roman service as allies.

333 Constantine appoints as Caesar his youngest son Constans.

334 Victories over the Sarmatians, 300,000 of whom settle within the empire.

335 Constantine appoints his nephew Flavius Dalmatius Caesar.

336 Constantine campaigns across the Danube.

337Baptism of Constantine, who dies on 22 May. Purge of rivals, including Dalmatius. Constantine II, Constantius II, and Constans recognized as Augusti (9 September).

Frome the rule of the sons of Constantine the Great to the death of Theosdosius the Great

340 Constans defeats and kills Constantine II in Italy and takes his territories.

343 Trouble in northern Britain, to which Constans crosses in January.

350In a palace revolution in Gaul, Constans is replaced by military commander Magnentius and is then murdered.

351 Magnentius is defeated by Constantius, who makes Gallus, nephew of Constantine I, Caesar in the

east.

353 Magnentius’s suicide sparks off official reprisals in Britain against his supporters.

354 Gallus is executed for misusing his authority.

355Julian, Gallus’s half-brother, is made Caesar with charge over Gaul and Britain, and marries Helena, Constantius’s sister. He wins victories over the Alamanni and Franks.

c.356 Alliance against Rome between the Picts and the Celtic Dál Riata (later known as Scots).

361Troops in Gaul, faced with being transferred to the east to bolster Constantius’s Persian war, mutiny and declare Julian Augustus. Constantius dies in Cilicia while marching to oppose Julian, who enters Constantinople as emperor, having publicly declared his paganism.

363Julian 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.

364Death of Jovian. A convention of civilian and military officials at Nicaea elect 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.

367Revolt in Britain of Picts, Scots, and Attacotti, aided by Franks and Saxons. Valentinian names as Augustus his 8-year-old son Gratian.

368-374 German wars.

375Death of Valentinian, whose 4-year-old son, Valentinian II, is named Augustus by the troops, without the consent of Valens and Gratian.

378Valens dies at Adrianopolis fighting the Goths. Gratian appoints Theodosius supreme commander against the Goths.

379 Theodosius made Augustus in succession to Valens.

382Theodosius 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.

383Theodosius names as Augustus his infant son Arcadius . Maximus crosses to Gaul and defeats Gratian, who is murdered at Lyon while escaping to Italy.

384 Theodosius and Valentinian II recognize Maximus as Augustus over Britain, Gaul, Spain, and Africa.

386 Death of the empress Flavia Flaccilla, mother of Arcadius and Honorius (b. 384).

387Theodosius marries Galla, sister of Valentinian II, and gives Serena, his niece and adoptive daughter, in marriage to his military commander Stilicho, son of a Vandal captain. Maximus invades Italy and expels Valentinian II.

388 Maximus is defeated and executed by Theodosius. Valentinian II is again ruler of the western empire.

390 Massacre of inhabitants of Thessalonica in response to the murder of one of Theodosius’s commanders, for which he is refused communion and ordered by the archbishop of Milan to do

penance.

391Theodosius sanctions the destruction of the temple of Serapis in Alexandria, and passes measures banning all forms of paganism.

392Death of Valentinian II. At the instigation of Arbogast, Valentinian’s cavalry commander, Eugenius, a teacher and keeper of imperial dispatches, is proclaimed Augustus, but is not recognized by Theodosius.

393Theodosius appoints Honorius Augustus in the west, with Stilicho as his military commander and also guardian.

394 Theodosius defeats Eugenius at the river Frigidus, and executes him. Arbogast commits suicide.

395Death of Theodosius (23 January). Arcadius becomes emperor in the east. Visigoths under Alaric in Greece.

Friom the accession of Arcadius and Honorius to the end of the roman empire in the west

396The division of the empire between east and west is now permanent. Augustine becomes bishop of Hippo.

398Gildo, son of the king of Mauretania, having held for 12 years a powerful commission from Rome, rebels against the western government and proposes the transfer of the north African provinces to the east. He is defeated and killed. Honorius marries Stilicho’s daughter Maria.

401 Alaric invades Italy.

402-403 Stilicho twice defeats Alaric, who, however, is allowed to get away.

404 Honorius transfers his court to Ravenna.

405-406 Ostrogoths under Radagaisus invade Italy, but are destroyed by Stilicho at Fiesole.

406Germanic tribes cross the frozen Rhine and occupy northern Gaul, causing devastation. Some reach Spain.

407In Britain, Constantine III, a soldier, is proclaimed emperor. He crosses to Gaul, where and in Spain his authority is accepted.

408

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 7-year-old son Theodosius II. Conspiracy against Stilicho, who is executed by Honorius. Alaric besieges Rome, but accepts bribes to go away.

409Alaric again besieges Rome, whose city prefect, Attalus, he acclaims as emperor. Britons revolt against Constantine, who is recognized by Honorius. Constantine raises Constans to Augustus.

410

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’s 20-year-old half-sister. Rescript of Honorius, allegedly informing the inhabitants of Britain that they must organize their own defence against Saxon invasions.

411 Deaths of Constantine and Constans.

414Galla Placidia is married to Ataulf, brother-in-law of and successor to Alaric; he is murdered the following year. Death of Anthemius, effectively regent of the eastern empire, after which the role is undertaken by Theodosius’s elder sister, (St) Pulcheria, born in 399.

417 Galla Placidia is married to Constantius III, Honorius’s commander-in-chief.

418 Honorius grants Visigoths federate status in their former lands in Gaul.

421 Constantius is made Augustus, but dies seven months later.

423 Death of Honorius, whose throne is temporarily seized by Johannes.

425Valentinian III, son of Galla Placidia and Constantius, is restored to the rule of the west with the help of Theodosius.

429-438Publication of Theodosian Code of laws, promulgated in 438 to the senate in Constantinople and presented also to the senate of Rome.

c.435 Attila becomes king of the Huns. Aetius is commander-in-chief of the western empire.

437 Marriage in Constantinople between Valentinian and Licinia Eudoxia, daughter of Theodosius.

439Vandals now occupy most of north Africa, Suevi north-west Spain, and Visigoths, Burgundians, Alans, and Franks almost all of Gaul.

440-461 Leo I is pope.

442-443 Attila ravages Balkan region of the eastern empire.

446Britons appeal to Aetius, consul for the third time, for help against the Saxon mercenaries introduced by Vortigern to fight the Picts.

450Death of Theodosius. Marcian, a soldier, accepts the imperial crown from Pulcheria, with whom he makes a political marriage, promising to respect her virginity. Soon afterwards, he marries his only daughter to Anthemius, future emperor in the west (467-472).

451 Attila invades Gaul, but is defeated for the only time by Roman and Visigoth troops under Aetius.

452Attila invades Italy and sacks several significant cities, but withdraws under persuasion from Pope Leo.

453 Attila dies during the night after his wedding feast.

454 Valentinian murders Aetius with his own hands.

455

Valentinian is assassinated by two of his bodyguard. 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 commander-in-chief, Ricimer, who until his death in 472 effectively decides who will be emperor, and for how long.

457 Death of Marcian. The new emperor in the east is Leo I, a serving military officer.

472 Death of Ricimer, after which there are four western emperors in four years.

474Death of Leo. His grandson, Leo II, whom he had made Augustus the previous year, rules for three weeks before promoting his father, Zeno, husband of Ariadne, daughter of Leo I, to be joint Augustus. Leo II dies of natural causes, after which Zeno rules alone until 491.

476

Romulus Augustulus (14), having ruled as western emperor for less than a year, is deposed by Odoacer, his Germanic mercenary commander, who informs Zeno that he will rule under his sovereignty. This marks the end of the Roman empire in the west, and the establishment of a Gothic kingdom in Italy.

From the accession of Anastasius to the fall of Constantinople

491 Anastasius, a minor palace official, succeeds Zeno and marries Ariadne.

493 Assassination of Odoacer. Theodoric the Ostrogoth rules Italy until 526.

518 Death of Anastasius, who is succeeded by Justin, commander of the elite palace guard.

527 Death of Justin, who is succeeded by his nephew and adopted son, Justinian.

528-529 Code of Justinian.

530-533 Digest of Justinian.

532 Nika revolt in Constantinople.

532-537 Building of St Sophia, the principal church of the Byzantine world.

534 Belisarius, Justinian’s general, overthrows the Vandal kingdom in Africa and annexes it.

535 Belisarius launches attack against the Ostrogoths in Italy, and occupies Rome (10 December 536).

537-538 Ostrogoths besiege Rome.

539-540Belisarius has successes against the Ostrogoths, and takes Ravenna, but is recalled by Justinian to fight the Persians.

542 Bubonic plague and earthquake.

544Belisarius returns to Italy, where Totila, chosen king of the Ostrogoths in 541, has taken northern Italy.

547 Totila, having taken Rome, is driven out by Belisarius, returns, and is again defeated.

548 Belisarius is recalled. Ostrogoths retake Rome. Death of Theodora, influential wife of Justinian.

552Justinian sends Narses, an Armenian eunuch, to Italy with enough troops to overwhelm the Ostrogoths and recapture Rome for the eastern empire. Death of Totila.

554 Narses defeats the Franks and Alamanni who are invading Italy.

558 Return of the plague.

559 Belisarius, called out of retirement, delivers Constantinople from the Huns.

565 Death of Justinian. He is succeeded by his palace administrator, Justin II, who rules until 578.

597 Pope Gregory (590-604) sends (St) Augustine to convert the Anglo-Saxons.

622 Traditional date for the founding of Islam.

633-655 Muslim conquest of Egypt, the Sassanid empire, and Syria.

664 Synod of Whitby; England becomes attached to the Roman Catholic Church.

731 Venerable Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum.

747 Muslim fleet destroyed off Cyprus by Byzantine ships, and is not re-formed until c.850.

760 Foundation of Turkish empire.

c.790 Beginning of Viking raids against Britain.

797-802Irene, widow of Leo II and mother of Constantine VI, whom she deposes and causes to be blinded, becomes sole ruler of the empire in the east.

800 Charlemagne crowned in Rome as emperor of the west.

858 Death of Kenneth mac Alpin, first king of the Picts and Scots.

871 Alfred the Great crowned king of Wessex.

907 End of T’ang dynasty in China.

939 Death of Æthelstan, first king of all England.

1018 Malcolm II adds Lothian and Strathclyde to his kingdom of Scotia.

1035 Death of Canute, king of Denmark, Norway, and England.

1053 Split between Church of Rome and the Church in the east.

1066Harold II defeats Norwegian invaders at Stamford Bridge (25 September). Duke William of Normandy invades England. Battle of Hastings (14 October). William crowned king of England (25 December).

1072 Malcolm III of Scotland submits to William.

1095 Pope Urban II proclaims First Crusade.

c.1138Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae includes first appearance of many elements of the legend of King Arthur.

1143-1180 Rule of Manuel I marks the highest point in Byzantine civilization.

1187 Saladin captures Jerusalem.

1212 Children’s Crusade.

1228-1229 Sixth Crusade, led by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, recovers Jerusalem.

1244 Final loss of Jerusalem, to Egyptian Khwarazami.

1284 Statute of Wales, regulating conquered territory.

1328 Peace between England and Scotland.

1337-1453 Hundred Years War between England and France.

1453 Fall of Constantinople to Mohammed II and the Turks. End of the eastern Roman empire.