9 10 Jesus Christ, twelve years of age, disputes with the doctors in the temple, who are astonished at his understanding and answers. OVID banished by Augustus to Tomos in Pontus. Baton, the Dalmatian general, surrenders the town of Anduba to Germanicus, which puts an end to the Dalmatian war. Memorable defeat of the Romans under P. Quintilius Varus, governor of Germany, by Arminius, chief of the revolted Germans. Tiberius marches against the Germans; and, in the course of this and the following year, reduced the Germans again under the Roman yoke; upon which a profound peace takes place in the whole Roman world. 11 Tiberius, in consequence of his very important services, is made by Augustus his colleague in the empire, both in the civil and military government, August 28. 13 15 4020 769 16 Augustus Cæsar is again appointed emperor for ten years longer, the last prorogation expiring the Death of Augustus Cæsar (in the consulship of Sextus Pompeius and Sextus Apuleius) at Nola, There are four epochs from which historians date the years of this emperor's reign. The first is that of the second year of the Julian æra, or the 709th of Rome; when, after the death of Julius Cæsar, coming from Macedonia into Italy, he took upon him the rank of emperor, without making any change in the republic, and assembled by private authority some veteran soldiers. The second epoch is the third year of the Julian æra, or the 711th of Rome, when, after the death of the two consuls, Hirtius and Pansa, he entered into the consulate with Q. Pedius, Sept. 22; or when, on the 27th of November following, he was declared triumvir with Mark Antony, and Æmilius Lepidus. The third epoch is the third of September, A. U. C. 723, and the 15th of the Julian æra, that is to say, on the day of the battle of Actium. The fourth epoch is the following year, when, after the death of Antony and Cleopatra, he entered triumphantly into Alexandria, the 29th of August, or the first day of the Ægyptian year. Thus Augustus, according to the first epoch, reigned fifty-eight years, five months and four days. This is the epoch which Josephus appears to have followed. According to the second epoch, Augustus reigned fifty-five years, ten months, and twenty-eight days, if we reckon from the time in which he was first made consul; or fifty-five years, eight months, and twenty-two days, from his becoming one of the triumviri. It is from one of these two periods, that Suetonius, Eusebius, Epiphanius, and some others, compute the fifty-six years which they assign to this But the most common mode of computing the years of the reign of Augustus, is from the battle of Actium, from which time he lived and reigned forty-four years, all but thirteen days. Tiberius Nero Caesar succeeds Augustus in the empire, August 19. emperor. Death of Julia, daughter of Augustus, in the sixteenth year of her exile. She was banished by Extraordinary overflowing of the Tiber, by which several houses are destroyed, and lives lost. Battle of Idistavisus gained by the Romans over the Germans under Arminius. Second battle gained by Germanicus over Arminius, in the neighbourhood of the Elbe. Expedition of Germanicus against the Cattans and Marsians, who immediately submit. Conspiracy of Drusus Libo against Tiberius, discovered; upon which the conspirator kills himself. 17 Triumph of Germanicus over the Cheruscans, the Cattans, the Angrivarians, and other nations between the Rhine and the Elbe, May 26. TABLE III. Continued. 4023 772 19 2220 21 4026 775 Terrible earthquake in Asia, which overthrew twelve celebrated cities: among these was Sardis, which suffered the most. Death of Titus Livy, the historian, at Padua ; and of Ovid, in his exile in Scythia. About this time Rhascupolis, called also Rhascoporis, and Rhescuporis, king of Thrace, is deprived of his kingdom, and banished. About this time a new island made its appearance in the Archipelago, Pliny ii. 87. Expedition of Germanicus into the East. Zeno, the son of Polemon, ascends the throne of Armenia, through the favour of Germanicus. The kingdoms of Cappadocia and Commagena reduced into the form of Roman provinces. Q. Veranius is made governor of the former, and Q. Servæus of the latter. Death of Germanicus. He is buried at Antioch. Rhascupolis put to death at Alexandria. Death of Arminius, general of the Germans, in the 37th year of his age. Maroboduus, king of the Lombards, dethroned. Death of Sallust, the emperor's minister. He was grandson of a sister of Sallust the historian. Sacrovir, chief of the Eduans, defeated by Silius, which puts an end to the Gallic war. 24 4030 779 26 Death of Junia, niece of Cato, sister of Brutus, and wife of Cassius. She had survived the battle of Philippi sixty-three years. Death of Lucilius Longus, the emperor's most particular friend. The Pantomimes expelled Italy. The second war of Tacfarinas ended by Dolabella, in which Tacfarinas is slain. John Baptist began to baptize in Judea, about this time. Pontius Pilate made governor of Judea, which office he held for ten years. In the fifteenth year of the principality of Tiberius Cæsar, which was the twelfth of his monarchy, 27 Fifty thousand men are said to have been killed by the fall of an amphitheatre at Fidena. The Jews, by the permission of Pontius Pilate, crucify Jesus Christ; who, on the third day after his crucifixion, rises from the dead; and forty days after his resurrection ascends up into heaven. Miserable death of Judas the traitor. Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost, by means of which three thousand persons are converted to Christianity. Ananias and his wife Sapphira suddenly struck dead for their hypocrisy. Death of Nero, eldest son of Germanicus. Stephen stoned to death by the Jews. A great persecution of the followers of Christ at Jerusalem, takes place after the martyrdom of TABLE III. Continued. A. M. A.U.C. A. D. At Lydda, Peter cures Eneas of the palsy; and at Joppa restores Tabitha to life. Commotions in Cappadocia, which are soon quelled by the Romans. Fire at Rome, which destroyed part of the circus, and the quarter of Mount Aventine. Death of Tiberius Nero Cæsar, on the 16th or 26th of March, in the seventy-eighth year of his Antiochus again put in possession of the kingdom of Commagena, which had been reduced into a Roman province by Germanicus. Disgrace and death of Pilate, governor of Judea. 38 Vespasian, afterwards emperor, was ædile in this year, i. e. a magistrate, who had the care of the public buildings of the city. 39 42 4047 796 4048 797 Getulicus and Lepidus put to death upon suspicion of a conspiracy against the emperor. The conversion of Cornelius, the centurion, happened about this time. The emperor Caligula slain on the fourth day of the Palatine games. He is succeeded by his uncle Seneca banished to the island of Corsica. War of the Romans against the Germans and Moors. Mauritania reduced into a Roman province. The followers of Jesus first called CHRISTIANS at Antioch. 43 Claudius vanquishes the Britons in several battles; and at his return to Rome is honoured with a triumph. Dearth in Rome, occasioned by Messalina and the freedmen monopolizing and raising the price of Vespasian fought thirty battles with the Britons, took twenty of their towns, subdued two of the James, the brother of John, put to death by Herod. An eclipse of the sun on the birth-day of the emperor Claudius. To prevent the superstitious drawing thence any inauspicious omens concerning him, he caused notice to be posted up some time before it happened, giving a physical explanation of the phænomenon. The dreadful famine foretold by Agabus, rages in Judea, Acts xi. 27, 28. Asinius Gallus, half-brother to Drusus, son of Tiberius, conspires against the emperor, and is banished. Thrace, which had hitherto its own kings, is made a Roman province. About this time a new island makes its appearance in the Ægean sea. It is named Therasia by Seneca. Secular games celebrated at Rome, in honour of the 800th year of Rome. Claudius adds three new letters to the Roman alphabet, the names of two of which only remain ; the Æolic digamma, which answers to our v; and the Antisigma, which answers to a p and an s joined together. Many of the greatest men in Rome are put to death by Claudius, to gratify the revenge and covetousness of Messalina, his wife. Commotions in the East, and in Germany. Incursions of the Cauci into Lower Germany. Corbulo reduces them to subjection. 48 Claudius by a census is said to find 6,900,000 citizens in Rome. The Gauls admitted into the senate, and to the dignities of the empire. L. Salvius Otho, the emperor Otho's father, made patrician. Herod Agrippa, king of the Jews, eaten up of worms: Acts xii. 23. Great dearth in the Roman empire. The Britons making incursions into the Roman settlements, are vanquished by P. Ostorius 52 The Jews expelled Rome by Claudius. Caractacus, the British king, is defeated, made prisoner, and carried to Rome. The aqueduct at Rome begun by Caligula, fourteen years before; finished this year by Claudius. 53 Nero's marriage with Octavia. Claudius Felix made governor of Judea in the room of Ventidius Cumanus. Caius Tiberius Claudius Nero Cæsar, the Roman emperor, poisoned by the empress Agrippina, after a reign of thirteen years, eight months, and twenty-one days; and is succeeded in the empire by Nero Cæsar, his wife's son. Paul preaches at Athens. Death of Azisus, king of the Emesenians. 55 Britannicus, son of Claudius Cæsar by Messalina, poisoned by the emperor his brother. Apollos, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, preaches at Corinth, Acts xviii. 24. 58 Artaxata, the capital of Armenia, burnt by Corbulo. 60 Tigranocerta taken by Corbulo. Armenia totally subdued by Corbulo, and given by Nero to Tigranes, great-grandson of Archelaus, formerly king of Cappadocia. Nero puts his mother Agrippina to death. Death of Domitius Afer, the orator. Laodicea, one of the most famous cities in Asia, destroyed by an earthquake. The pantomimes recalled by Nero. Appearance of a comet, with which the vulgar are greatly alarmed. The city of Puteoli, or Pozzuola, obtains from Nero the title of August or Imperial Colony. 61 The Britons form a league to recover their independence. They take advantage of the absence of Suetonius Paulinus, their governor, to take up arms against the Romans. Boadicea, the British queen, defeats the Romans, killing 70,000 in various places; but the Britons are at last defeated by Suetonius, the Roman general, with the loss of 80,000. Pedanius Secundus, prefect of Rome, assassinated by one of his slaves. King Agrippa confers the high priesthood on Israel, the son of Phabius. Death of Mark the evangelist. He is said to have been buried at Alexandria. St. Paul sent in bonds to Rome. He is shipwrecked at Malta. Nero puts his empress Octavia to death. Aulus Persius Flaccus, the poet, dies in the thirtieth year of his age. On the fifth of February, a violent earthquake happened in Campania, which destroyed great part About this time Nero reduced the Cottian Alps into a Roman province, after the death of king The Parthians vanquished by the Romans under Corbulo. Tiridates, king of Parthia, lays down James, the brother of our Lord, is, according to Eusebius, thrown down from a pinnacle of the temple, and stoned; and a fuller striking him on the head with a club, kills him. The emperor sends two centurions up the Nile, in order to explore its source; but the centurions failed in their expedition, being stopped by the cataracts and marshy grounds. Great fire in Rome, by which upwards of two-thirds of this great city was consumed. Nero charging the late conflagration of the city upon the Christians, persecutes them with all manner of cruelties and torments. TABLE III.- Continued. A. M. JA.U.C. A.D. | 64 65 The Jews revolt from the Romans, and pelt their governor Florus with stones, which begins the Several great men conspire against the emperor; but the plot is discovered. Campania wasted by an epidemical sickness, and great tempests. Great fire at Lyons, which nearly consumed the whole city. Nero made the inhabitants of this city a present of four millions of sesterces, (about thirty-two thousand pounds,) towards repairing their losses. 66 Tiridates receives the crown of Armenia from the hands of Nero. Vespasian sent by Nero to make war against the Jews. Disturbances in Cæsarea, between the Jews and the idolaters who inhabited that city. Sedition in Jerusalem, occasioned by Florus. This may be considered the proper commencement of the Jewish war. It took place, according to Josephus, on the sixteenth day of the month Artemisius, which, according to Scaliger's calculation, corresponds to our May. The Jews of Cæsarea slain, to the number of twenty thousand. All Syria filled with slaughter by the battles between the Jews and the Syrians. Cypros and Macherontum taken by the Jews from the Romans. Jerusalem besieged by Cæstius Gallus. The Christians leave Jerusalem, and fly to Pella in Cælosyria. Vespasian invades Judea with an army of 60,000 men, and carries fire and sword wherever he goes; immense numbers of Jews are slain in the various sieges. St. Peter and St. Paul put to death about this time. Jotapata taken by the Romans after a siege of forty-six days. Japha taken by the Romans. Eleven thousand six hundred Samaritans, that had assembled on the top of Mount Gerizim, slain by order of Vespasian. Joppa taken and destroyed by the Romans. Tarichæa taken by the Romans, and nearly 40,000 persons, who had taken refuge in it, slain. Dreadful calamities in Jerusalem, occasioned by the zealots, who divide themselves into two differ- On the kalends of January, the images of Galba, in Germany, are thrown down; and on the third Civil war betwixt Vitellius and Otho. Engagement in an island in the Po, betwixt the troops of Otho and Vitellius, wherein the latter have the advantage. Battle of Bedriacum, in which Otho's army is defeated; upon which Otho kills himself, after a reign of three months. He is succeeded by Vitellius. Dolabella put to death by order of Vitellius. Civil war betwixt Vitellius and Vespasian. Cremona sacked by Primus. Junius Blæsus poisoned by order of Vitellius. Vespasian acknowledged emperor by a great part of Italy, and all the western provinces The capitol besieged and taken by Vitellius's soldiers. The temple of Jupiter Capitolinus destroyed by fire. Vitellius is killed, after a reign of eight months and a few days, and Vespasian succeeds him in the empire. |