60s BC
| Millennium: | 1st millennium BC |
| Centuries: | 2nd century BC – 1st century BC – 1st century |
| Decades: | 90s BC 80s BC 70s BC – 60s BC – 50s BC 40s BC 30s BC |
| Years: | 69 BC 68 BC 67 BC 66 BC 65 BC 64 BC 63 BC 62 BC 61 BC 60 BC |
| Categories: | Births – Deaths Establishments |
60s BC: events by year
Contents: 69 BC 68 BC 67 BC 66 BC 65 BC 64 BC 63 BC 62 BC 61 BC 60 BC
69 BC
By place
Roman Republic
- Consuls: Quintus Caecilius Metellus Creticus and Quintus Hortensius.
- Antiochus XIII Asiaticus is installed as king of Syria.[1]
- Roman troops under Lucius Lucullus defeat the army of Tigranes II of Armenia in the Battle of Tigranocerta, and capture Tigranocerta, capital of Armenia.
- Parthians and Romans re-establish Euphrates as a frontier.
- Gaius Julius Caesar is a quaestor in Spain.
Egypt
- Ptolemy XII deposes Cleopatra V, and becomes sole ruler.
Greece
- Kydonia, an ancient city on the island of Crete falls to Roman military forces.[2]
- Rhodes becomes a bulwark against pirates, the Rhodians are unable to suppress piracy in the Aegean Sea. Delos gets the status of a free port.
68 BC
By place
Roman Republic
- Consuls: Lucius Caecilius Metellus and Quintus Marcius Rex.
- October 6 – Lucius Lucullus defeats Tigranes II of Armenia in the Battle of Artaxata.
- Gaius Antonius Hybrida elected praetor.
- Ostia, the harbour city of Rome, is sacked by pirates. The port is set on fire and the consular war fleet is destroyed.
Osroene
- Abgar II becomes ruler of Osroene.
67 BC
By place
Roman Republic
- Consuls: Manius Acilius Glabrio and Gaius Calpurnius Piso.
- Pompey's war against the pirates, he raises a fleet of 500 warships and fights with great success.
- The lex Gabinia gives Pompey command of the Mediterranean and its coasts for 50 miles inland for three years. He defeats the pirates in three months and pacifies Cilicia.
- Pompey divides the Mediterranean into 13 zones – six in the West and seven in the East – to each of which he assigns a fleet under an admiral.
- Pompey offers the ex-pirates and their families clemency, he settled them in agricultural colonies in eastern Mediterranean lands.
- Pompey takes over the command of Lucius Lucullus in the war against Mithridates VI, and reaping the fruit of the latter's victories.
- Lex Acilia Calpurnia: permanent exclusion from office in cases of electoral corruption.
- Lex Roscia theatralis.
Judea
- Hyrcanus II becomes king of Judea, for first time (until 66 BC), on death of his mother, Salome Alexandra.
Pontus
- Mithridates VI invades Pontus. He besieged the Romans in Chalcedon (opposite Byzantium) and pressed westward along the south shores of the Sea of Marmara to attack Cyzicus.
- Lucullus disperse Mithridates's invading armies and launched a counter-offensive into Pontus, where he penetrates the chain of fortress towns that defended the kingdom.
China
- December – The army of the Han Dynasty Chinese commander Zheng Ji is victorious over the Xiongnu in the Battle of Jushi.
66 BC
By place
Roman Republic
- Consuls: Manius Aemilius Lepidus and Lucius Volcatius Tullus.
- Catiline accused of conspiring against the Roman Republic with Autronius and the younger Sulla (also in 63 during the consulship of Cicero).
- The alliance between Mithridates VI of Pontus and Tigranes II of Armenia is broken.
- Tigranes II is forced to surrender, by a payment of 6,000 talents, and is reinstated by Pompey as a "friend of the Roman people" to hold Armenia as a buffer zone.
- Battle of the Lycus: Pompey the Great decisively defeats Mithridates VI, effectively ending the Third Mithridatic War.
- Gaius Antonius elected Roman praetor.
- The lex Manilia, supported by Cicero gives Pompey command over all of Asia.
- Cicero becomes praetor in Rome.
Judea
- Aristobulus II becomes king and high priest of Judea, until 63 BC.
65 BC
By place
Roman Republic
- In response to the illegal exercise of citizen rights by foreigners, the Roman Senate passed the Lex Papia, which expelled all foreigners from Rome.
- Tigranes of Armenia was defeated and captured by Pompey, thus ending all hostilities on the northeastern frontier of Rome.
64 BC
By place
Roman Republic
- Servilius Rullus, Roman tribune, proposes an agrarian reform law.
- Pompey destroys the kingdom of Pontus; Mithridates VI commits suicide after escaping to the Crimea.
- Pompey first annexed Syria, then captured Jerusalem, annexing Judea.
Syria
- Antiochus XIII Asiaticus deposed; this is considered by some the end of the Seleucid dynasty.
63 BC
By place
Roman Republic
- Lucullus holds a triumph, then retires from war and politics to live a life of refined luxury.
- Establishment of the Decapolis and Year 1 of the Pompeian era.
- Pompey conquers Phonecia, Coele-Syria, and Judea for the Roman Republic.
- Roman annexation of Judea as a client kingdom. King Judah Aristobulus II removed from power, while his brother John Hyrcanus II is reappointed king (ethnarch) under Roman suzerainty and high priest, until 40 BC.
- Massacre of over 12,000 Jews on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem by Roman troops, in support of John Hyrcanus II against Aristobulus II.
- Julius Caesar is elected Pontifex Maximus and praetor for 62 BC.
- Marcus Tullius Cicero is senior consul. He is the first novus homo (new man) to be elected to the consulship in 31 years.
- Cato the younger is elected tribune of the people for 62 BC, taking office in early December 63 BC.
- Catiline's conspiracy against the Roman Republic is foiled by Cicero.
Pontus
- Pharnaces II becomes King of Pontus.
62 BC
By place
Roman Republic
- January 5 – The forces of the conspirator Catiline are defeated by the loyal Roman armies of Antonius Hybrida led by Gaius Antonius in the Battle of Pistoria.
- Julius Caesar divorces Pompeia, following the sacrilege of Clodius.
- Cicero delivers his Pro Archia Poeta in defense of Aulus Licinius Archias' claim to Roman citizenship.
- Cato the Younger, as tribune, presents a lex frumentaria (enacting a grain dole).
- Metellus Nepos, also tribune, leaves Rome.
- Caesar and Bibulus are praetors.
Commagene
- King Antiochus I Theos of Commagene builds his mountain-top tomb-sanctuary at Mount Nemrut.
61 BC
By place
Roman Republic
- September 29 – Pompey, the Great celebrates his third triumph for victories over the pirates and the end of the Mithridatic Wars.
- Marcus Pupius Piso Frugi as consul attempts to gain ratification of Pompey's Eastern Settlement.
- Gaius Julius Caesar becomes governor in Hispania and creates Legio X Gemina (3,500 men). He puts down the Callaici and Lusitani rebellions.
60 BC
By place
Roman Republic
- Gaius Julius Caesar suppresses an uprising and conquers all of Lusitania for Rome
- Creation of the First Triumvirate, an informal political alliance between Julius Caesar, Pompey the Great and Marcus Licinius Crassus (or 59 BC)
Syria
- The Seleucid Empire comes to an end with the last two Emperors being murdered on orders from Rome.
China
- The Han Dynasty government establishes the Protectorate of the Western Regions, the highest military position of a military commander on the Western frontier (Tarim Basin).
Significant people
- Pompey, Roman general, (lived 106 BC–48 BC)
- Mithridates VI, King of Pontus, (lived 132 BC–63 BC)
- Philip II Philoromaeus
- Gaius Antonius Hybrida, elected praetor in 66 BC
- Cleopatra VII is born (69 BC–30 BC) and grows into a young girl passing age 9.
Births
Deaths
References
- ↑ Joseph Thomas, Universal Pronouncing Dictionary of Biography and Mythology, 1908, Lippincott, 2550 pages
- ↑ C. Michael Hogan, Cydonia, Modern Antiquarian, January 23, 2008