70s BC
| Millennium: | 1st millennium BC |
| Centuries: | 2nd century BC – 1st century BC – 1st century |
| Decades: | 100s BC 90s BC 80s BC – 70s BC – 60s BC 50s BC 40s BC |
| Years: | 79 BC 78 BC 77 BC 76 BC 75 BC 74 BC 73 BC 72 BC 71 BC 70 BC |
| Categories: | Births – Deaths Establishments – Disestablishments |
70s BC: events by year
Contents: 79 BC 78 BC 77 BC 76 BC 75 BC 74 BC 73 BC 72 BC 71 BC 70 BC
79 BC
By place
Roman republic
- Lucius Cornelius Sulla renounces his dictatorship.
- Cicero travels to Athens and then to Rhodes to continue his studies of philosophy and oratory.
78 BC
By place
Roman Republic
- In Rome, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus becomes consul. He attempts to undermine the Sullan reforms and reinstates exiled citizens to reinstall democratic rule.
- The Senate sends Publius Servilius Vatia as proconsul governor to Cilicia, where he fights a campaign against the pirates in southern Anatolia (Lycia, Pamphylia and Isauria).
- The Tabularium is built in the Forum.
- The Third Dalmatian war begins.
77 BC
By place
Roman Republic
- Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, Roman consul and leader of the democratic party, is defeated by Quintus Lutatius Catulus outside Rome. The remnants of the rebels are wiped out by Gnaeus Pompeius in Etruria.
- Lepidus, with some 21,000 troops, manages to escape to Sardinia. Soon afterwards he becomes ill and dies, his battered army, now under command by Marcus Perperna, sails on to the Iberian Peninsula.[1]
- Pompeius marches along the Via Domitia through Gallia Narbonensis crossing the Pyrenees to Spain. He joints with Quintus Metellus Pius to suppress the revolt of Quintus Sertorius, but is first unsuccessful.
Armenia
- The city of Tigranakert of Artsakh is built.
76 BC
By place
Judea
- Salome Alexandra becomes queen of Judea, after the death of her husband, Alexander Jannaeus, until 67 BC.
- Hyrcanus II becomes high priest of Jerusalem for first time, on the death of his father, Alexander Jannaeus, until 66 BC.
Roman Republic
- The Third Dalmatian war ends with the capture of Salona by proconsul C. Cosconius and victory of Rome
75 BC
By place
Roman Republic
- In Rome, the tribune Quintus Opimius speaks out against Sullan restrictions on the tribunate, in orations noted for sarcasm against conservatives.
- Cicero is quaestor in Western Sicily.
- Nicomedes IV of Bithynia bequeaths his kingdom to Rome on his death (75/4 BC). Angered by the arrangement, Mithridates VI of Pontus declares war on Rome and invades Bithynia, Cappadocia and Paphlagonia, thus starting the Third Mithridatic War.
- Third Mithridatic War: M. Aurelius Cotta is defeated by Mithridates in the Battle of Chalcedon.
Greece
- Julius Caesar travels to Rhodes to study under Apollonius Molon. On his way across the Aegean Sea, he is kidnapped by Cilician pirates and held prisoner in the Dodecanese islet of Pharmacusa. The young Caesar is held for ransom of twenty talents, he insists they ask for fifty. After his release Caesar raises a fleet at Miletus, pursues and crucifies the pirates in Pergamon.
By topic
Literature
- Start of Golden Age of Latin Literature.
74 BC
By place
Roman Republic
- Nicomedes IV, last king of Bithynia bequeaths his kingdom to the Roman Senate upon his death (75/4 BC).
- Roman forces under Lucius Lucullus defeat the forces of Mithridates VI of Pontus in the Battle of Cyzicus.
- Marcus Antonius (father of Mark Antony), a praetor, receives wide-ranging powers and considerable resources to fight the pirates in the Mediterranean Sea.
- Publius Servilius Vatia returns to Rome, he has triumphed against the pirates in Anatolia and is given the agnomen Isauricus.
- Quintus Opimius is prosecuted for overstepping his authority, and ruined by a conviction.
- Cyrene becomes a Roman province.
Spain
- Pamplona is founded.
73 BC
By place
British Isles
- Traditional date that Lud became King of Britain, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth.
Roman Republic
- Third Servile War begins with gladiators, led by the Thracian Spartacus, breaking out of a gladiatorial training school in Capua and forming an army, made up of runaway slaves and others with little to lose. With some 70,000 men, Spartacus rampages throughout Campania, assaulting the prosperous cities of Cumae, Nola and Nuceria.
India
- The Sunga Empire comes to an end.
72 BC
By place
Roman Republic
- Battle of Cabira: Lucius Lucullus defeats Mithridates, overruns Pontus. Mithridates fled to Armenia, rules by his son-in-law Tigranes, who refuses to turn his father-in-law in to Lucius Lucullus.
- Quintus Sertorius was assassinated by his subordinate, Marcus Perperna, who was in turn defeated by Gnaeus Pompeius, thus ending the Sertorian War in Spain.
Gaul
- The Helvetii and other peoples under Ariovistus invade Gaul.
71 BC
By place
Roman Republic
- Third Servile War ends; Slave uprising under leadership of Spartacus is crushed by a Roman army under Marcus Licinius Crassus. Slaves taken prisoner are crucified all naked along the Via Appia.
- Marcus Antonius is defeated by the Cretans, who has made an alliance with the pirates, he is compelled to conclude a humiliating peace. Antonius dies in office the same year and is awarded, posthumously with the cognomen Creticus.[2]
- Nessebar in modern-day Bulgaria comes under Roman rule.
70 BC
By place
Roman Republic
- August – In Rome, Cicero prosecutes former governor Verres; Verres exiles himself to Marseille before the trial is over.
- The office of censor is reinstated in the Roman Republic.
- Lucullus captures Sinop, then invades Armenia.
Parthia
- Phraates III becomes the King of Parthia