Timeline 300AD-599AD
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300
About this time Tiridates III, king of Armenia,
adopted Christianity as the religion of his kingdom, making Armenia the
first Christian state.
(CO Enc. / Armenia)
300 About this time Berbers from
North Africa began to rule Ghana and continued for about the next 400
years. They are thought to have originated as nomads from the Middle
East.
(ATC, p.113)
300 The Mayan city of Cancuen was
already established by this time. Ruins of the city were discovered in
1999 in Guatemala.
(SFC, 9/9/00, p.A2)
300 Mayans began building on
Cozumel Island off Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula about this time. The town
of San Gervasio was built and inhabited through 1650. Cozumel covers
189 square miles, about the size of Lake Tahoe.
(SSFC, 9/25/05, E4)
300 In India about this time
Vatsayana wrote the philosophical treatise "Kama Sutra" during the
classical age of the Gupta period. One of its 35 chapters dealt with
various sexual positions.
(SFEC, 3/2/97, DB p.32)
300 Iron-using people settled at
Zimbabwe in central Africa about this time.
(Enc. of Africa, 1976, p.169)
300-400 See the reference for this period.
(www.scholiast.org/history/timetables/300s.html)
300-400 Historian Egami Namio in 1948 proposed the
"horserider" thesis that cited equestrian goods and foreign culture
elements as evidence that the ancestors of the Japanese imperial line
had migrated from Korea about this time and conquered the northern part
of Kyushu.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.36)
300-400 The book "Deipnosophistae," The Dinner Table
Philosophers, described the use of "happy baskets" for leftovers.
(SFC, 9/10/97, Z1 p.5)
300-400 The Circus Maximus in ancient Rome, expanded
under Constantine in the 4th century CE, had an estimated seating
capacity of 250,000. The largest of hippodrome in Rome, a U-shaped
stadium with a low wall running in the middle around which chariots
raced, it seated an estimated 150,000 spectators at the time of Julius
Caesar in the 1st century B.C.
(HNQ, 8/29/99)
300-400 As long ago as the 4th century, an Egyptian
scientist named Papp suggested there should be a science called
heuristics to solve inventive problems.
(www.mazur.net/triz/)
300-400 During this time the 1st French church
dedicated to the Virgin Mary was built in the 4th century on the hill
site of the later Chartres cathedral.
(Hem., 10/97, p.83)
300-400 During this time Ammon Scholasticus, Greek
lawyer, worked in Panopolis, Egypt. In 1997 Prof. William H. Willis
(d.2000) of Duke Univ. completed an archive of his papers: "The
Archives of Ammon Scholasticus."
(SFC, 7/19/00, p.B2)
300-400 During this period Kuqa on the silk road in
western China was a Buddhist center of learning.
(SFEC, 11/22/98, p.T5)
300-400 By the 4th century El Mirador, the most
powerful city in the Preclassic Maya world, had become a ghost town.
(Arch, 9/00, p.28)
300-467 The well-run government of the Gupta Dynasty
existed during this period.
(ATC, p.35)
300-525 During the Gupta Dynasty, India trades with
the Eastern Roman Empire, Persia, and China.
(ATC, p.24)
300-645 Yamato Period of Japan. The Yamato clan had
taken root in the Nara basin and gave rise to the people called
“Japanese.”
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 214)(Hem, 9/04, p.41)
300-700 Goths, Huns, Avars, Serbs, Croats, and
Bulgars successively invade Illyrian lands.
(www, Albania, 1998)
c300-1000 During the 4th-10th century, Orhon Turks
were prominent in Mongolia.
(www.gobiexpeditions.com)
300-1300 During this period the Anasazis inhabited
the Canyon de Chelly and the Canyon del Muerto in northeast Arizona.
(SFEC, 11/29/98, p.T8)
301 In Armenia King Trdat III
declared Christianity to be the state religion. Armenia became the
first country to adopt Christianity.
(MH, 12/96)(SFEC, 3/22/98, p.A25)
301 San Marino traced its roots to
this time and later claimed to be the world’s oldest republic.
(WSJ, 1/16/06, p.A1)
303 Feb 23, Emperor Diocletian
ordered the general persecution of Christians in Rome.
(HN, 2/23/98)
303 Apr 23, St. George,
dragon-slaying knight, died. He was made the patron saint of England in
the 14th century. George, later fired by the Pope as mythical, was
tortured and beheaded at Nicomedia. He was a soldier who was reported
to have risen to a high rank under Diocletian.
(HFA, '96, p.28)(AHD, p.552)(MC, 4/23/02)
303 Lactantius, an early Christian
writer, said that Romula, mother of Roman emperor Galerius, encouraged
her son to persecute Christians in this year.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.29)
304-305 Massive persecution of the Christians under
Diocletian.
(V.D.-H.K.p.91)
305 May 1, Emperor Gaius Aurelius
Valerius Diocletianus Jovius of Rome abdicated. Constantius I Chlorus
(Flavius Valerius Constantius) became Western emperor. Galerius (Gaius
Galerius Valerius Maximianus) became Eastern emperor.
(www.ancienthistory.about.com)
305 San Gennaro, a pious bishop,
was beheaded by Roman Emp. Diocletian. In the 14th century Naples began
celebrating the miracle of San Gennaro, whereby the city’s archbishop
shakes a vial allegedly containing blood from Gennaro.
(SSFC, 11/6/05, p.A2)
306 Jul 23, Constantine was
proclaimed Caesar of the west by the army, while Severus, the former
Caesar, was proclaimed Augusta of the west by Galerius.
(HN, 7/23/98)
306 Oct 28, Marcus Aurelius
Valerius Maxentius was proclaimed emperor of Rome.
(MC, 10/28/01)
307 Nov 11, Flavius Valerius
Severus, compassionate emperor of Rome (306-07), died.
(MC, 11/11/01)
309 Feb 16, Pamphilus Caesarea,
Palestinian scholar, martyr, was beheaded.
(MC, 2/16/02)
309-310 Apr 18, St. Eusebius began his reign as
Catholic Pope. He ruled for just 4 months in either 309 or 310.
(PTA, 1980, p.62)(WUD, 1994 p.492)(HN, 4/18/98)
311 Apr 30, Emperor Galerius
recognized Christians legally in the Roman Empire.
(MC, 4/30/02)
311 May 5, Gaius VM Galerius
(~50), emperor of Rome, died in Dardania.
(SFC, 6/23/97, p.29)(MC, 5/5/02)
311 Jul 2, St. Miltiades began
his reign as Catholic Pope.
(SC, 7/2/02)
311 At the consecration of bishop
Caecilian of Carthage, one of the three bishops, Felix, bishop of
Aptunga, who consecrated Caecilian, had given copies of the Bible to
the Roman persecutors. A group of about 70 bishops formed a synod
and declared the consecration of the bishop to be invalid. Great
debate arose concerning the validity of the sacraments (baptism, the
Lord's Supper, etc.) by one who had sinned so greatly against other
Christians.
(http://religion-cults.com/heresies/fourth.htm)
311 The Donatists were a Christian
sect that developed in northern Africa [Numidia] and maintained that it
alone constituted the whole and only true church and that baptisms and
ordinations of the orthodox clergy were invalid. The Donatists insisted
that sinners must be re-baptized.
(WUD, 1994, p.425)(SFC, 9/19/98, p.C1)(Econ,
5/14/05, p.87)
311 Licinius (Valerius Licianus
Licinius) became Eastern emperor. He was deposed and executed by
Constantine in 325.
(www.ancienthistory.about.com)
312 cOct 27, Prior to a battle
between Constantine and Maxentius, Constantine experienced a vision of
Christ that ordered him to ornament the shields of his soldiers with
the Greek letters chi and rho, the monogram for Christ. Constantine won
the battle and attributed his success to Christ. He became emperor of
the West and an advocate of Christianity. [see Oct 28]
(MH, 12/96)(CU, 6/87)
312 Oct 28, Constantine the
Great defeated Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maxentius at the Mulvian
Bridge. Constantine’s smaller army (about 50,000 strong) won a decisive
victory there; while fleeing, Maxentius drowned in the river.
Constantine was instantly converted when he saw a cross in the sky,
with the inscription "In hoc signo vincit" ("In this sign you shall
conquer"). [see Oct 27]
(HN, 10/28/98)(DoW, 1999, P.398)
312 Appius Claudius began
construction of the Appian Way as a military highway.
(SFC, 8/2/07,
p.E2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Via_Appia)
313 Jan 1, A 15 year cycle used in
reckoning ecclesiastical calendars was established as a fiscal term to
regulate taxes. It is called the Roman Indiction.
(CFA, '96,Vol 179, p.23)
313 Apr 30, Co-emperor Licinius
unified the whole of the eastern empire under his own rule.
(HN, 4/30/98)
313 Constantine met with the
eastern emperor at Milan, capital of the late Roman Empire. They agreed
on a policy of religious tolerance. The Edict of Milan legalized
Christianity, but also allowed Romans religious choice.
(CU, 6/87)(ITV, 1/96, p.58)(SFEC, 7/13/97,
p.T13)(SSFC, 3/21/04, p.M6)
313 Constantine wrote a letter to
the proconsul of Africa in which he explained why the Christian clergy
should not be distracted by secular offices or financial obligations.
"When they are free to render supreme service to the Divinity, it is
evident that they confer great benefits upon the affairs of the state."
(V.D.-H.K.p.91)
313 Nanai-vandak, a Sogdian agent,
wrote that "The last emperor fled from Louyang [the eastern capital of
China] because of famine and fire" due to nomadic invasions.
(AM, 9/01, p.50)
313 Maximinus II Daia, Eastern
emperor, was killed at Tarsus.
(www.ancienthistory.about.com)
314 Licinius declared Valens
(d.314) as co-emperor during the war with Constantine. Licinius was
deposed and executed by Valens.
(www.ancienthistory.about.com)
314-335 Pope Sylvester I. A document from the 9th or
10th century called the "Donation of Constantine" was forged to show
Constantine granting to Sylvester and his successors spiritual
supremacy over all matters of faith and worship and temporal dominion
over Rome and the entire Western empire.
(V.D.-H.K.p.104)
316 Diocletian, former emperor of
Rome, died. By this time there were about 30,000 converts to
Christianity and some 33 popes had followed in the footsteps of St.
Peter.
(ITV, 1/96, p.58)
317 Aug 7, Flavius Julius
Constantius II, Emperor Egypt, Byzantium, Rome (337-61), was born.
(MC, 8/7/02)
320 In India the Gupta state began
with the accession of Chandragupta I. His son and grandson were
successful conquerors and extended the state across Northern India from
sea to sea. The journal of the Buddhist monk Fa-hsien provides most of
our knowledge of Gupta society.
(MWH, 1994)
324 Constantine chose Byzantium as
his new capital. He moved his court to Byzantium and chiseled his name
on the portal.
(ATC, p.24)(WSJ, 3/28/97, p.A1)
324 Licinius proclaimed Martinian
(Marcus Martinianus) as co-emperor. Martinian (d.325) was soon deposed
by Constantine.
(www.ancienthistory.about.com)
325 May 20, An ecumenical council
was inaugurated by Emperor Constantine in Nicea, Asia Minor. The Church
Council of Nicaea (aka Iznik) in Asia Minor condemned the teaching of
Arius, a Christian priest at Alexandria (d.336), who held that Christ
was not divine in the same sense as God the Father. The council fixed
Orthodox Easter as the first Sunday after the first full moon following
the vernal equinox unless the date falls on the 1st day of Passover, in
which case it moves to the next Sunday.
(WUD, 1994, p.80,81)(Sky, 4/97, p.56)(SFC, 4/25/97,
p.A21)(HN, 5/20/98)
325 Aug 25, Council of Nicaea
ended with adoption of the Nicene Creed establishing the doctrine of
the Holy Trinity. The Council also decreed that priests cannot marry
after their ordination.
(MC, 8/25/02)(SFC, 3/16/02, p.A3)
325 Emperor Constantine and his
mother Helena reportedly announced the discovery of Christ’s tomb. The
site became the Shrine of the Holy Sepulchre.
(Econ, 3/26/05, p.81)
325 Licinius (Valerius Licianus
Licinius), Eastern emperor, was deposed and executed by Constantine.
(www.ancienthistory.about.com)
325 Martinian (Marcus Martinianus)
was executed by Constantine.
(www.ancienthistory.about.com)
326 Jul 25, Constantine refused to
carry out the traditional pagan sacrifices.
(HN, 7/25/98)
326 Constantine executed his son
Flavius Julius Crispus, born to his 1st wife, under the persuasion of
his 2nd wife Fausta.
(PCh, 1992, p.48)
326-330 The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem was
built by the Roman emperor Constantine. The church was rebuilt under
Justinian (527-565).
(SFC, 12/26/96, p.B2)(WSJ, 4/5/02, p.A1)
330 May 11, Constantine renamed
the town of Byzantium to: "New Rome which is Constantine’s City." It
became know as Constantinople.
(ATC, p.31)(HN, 5/11/98)
330 Constantine began the building
of the Great Palace in Constantinople.
(SFC, 7/27/98, p.A8)
330 Ezana (Aezianas), ruler of
Aksum (northeast Ethiopia), converted much of his realm to
Christianity. During his rule he constructed much of the monumental
architecture of Aksum, including a reported 100 stone obelisks, the
tallest of which loomed 98 ft over the cemetery in which it stood and
weighed 517 tons. Most of the obelisks were later destroyed, but one
was hauled off by Italian forces after their 1937 invasion. It was
returned in 2003.
(http://archaeology.about.com/cs/africa/a/aksum.htm)(SSFC, 11/9/03,
p.A2)
330-379 Saint Basil of Caesarea. His followers
erected monastic communities in Turkey.
(SFEM, 3/12/00, p.30)
330-1025 This is the period covered by John Julius
Norwich, historian, in his Byzantium: The Decline and Fall.
(WSJ, 10/14/95, p.A-12)
331 Nov 17, Flavius Claudius
Julianus, [Julian the Apostate], emperor (361-363), was born.
(MC, 11/17/01)
335 Oct 21, Constantinople emperor
(Constantine the Great) enacted rules against Jews.
(MC, 10/21/01)
335 Byzantine Emperor Constantine
built the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem on the hill of
Golgotha, where his mother claimed to have found the remains of the
True Cross. It was raised by the Persians in 614, reconstructed and
again destroyed by Caliph Hakim of Egypt in 1009. It was rebuilt by the
Crusaders.
(WSJ, 1/27/07, p.W13)
336 Dec 25, The first recorded
celebration of Christmas on this day took place in Rome. By this year
Dec 25 was established in the Liturgy of the Roman Church as the
birthday of Jesus. [see 354] The Basilica of St. Anastasia was built as
soon as a year after the Nicaean Council. It probably was where
Christmas was first marked on Dec. 25, part of broader efforts to link
pagan practices to Christian celebrations in the early days of the new
religion. In 2007 Italian archaeologists unveiled an underground
grotto, near St. Anastasia, that they believe ancient Romans revered as
the place where a wolf nursed Rome's legendary founder Romulus and his
twin brother Remus.
(WSJ, 12/18/98, p.W15)(AP, 12/25/99)(AP, 12/22/07)
336 Arius, Christian priest from
Alexandria and teacher of the doctrine of Arianism, died.
(WUD, 1994, p.80,81)
337 May 22, Constantine (47),
convert to Christianity and Emperor of Rome (306-37), died. He had made
Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire and had the
Chapel of the Burning Bush built in the Sinai Desert at the site where
Moses was believed to have witnessed the Miracle of the Burning Bush.
He was baptized just before death.
(V.D.-H.K.p.92)(PCh, 1992, p.48)(MC, 5/22/02)
337 Sep 9, Constantine's three
sons, already Caesars, each took the title of Augustus. Constantine II
and Constans shared the west while Constantius II took control of the
east.
(HN, 9/9/98)
340 Ambrose (d.397), later Bishop
of Milan (374-397), was born about this time. He set to music the
principal prayer of the Mass and, according to St. Augustine, set the
fashion for silent reading.
(WUD, 1994, p.46)(WSJ, 5/10/96, p.A-8)
340 St. Jerome (d.420), Christian
ascetic and biblical scholar, was born about this time. He was the
chief preparer of the Vulgate version of the Bible. Jerome condemned
the use of potions that caused sterility and murder of those not yet
conceived. [Wired dates him 321-420]
(WUD, 1994, p.524)(Wired, 8/96, p.98)(AM, Mar/Apr 97
p.13)
340-360 The Codex Sinaiticus, a manuscript of the
Christian Bible, was written in the middle of the fourth century and
contains the earliest complete copy of the Christian New Testament. For
most of its history it resided at St. Catherine’s Monastery built
(527-565) on Egypt Mt. Sinai. It left the monastery in the 19th century
for Russia, in circumstances that were later disputed.
(Econ, 7/18/09,
p.82)(www.codexsinaiticus.org/en/codex/default.aspx)(Econ, 3/26/05,
p.80)
345 Dec 6, Nicholas of Myra (later
Demre) died on this day in either 345 or 352. He reported as bishop to
the Byzantine church in Constantinople. In 2005 Jeremy Seal authored
“Nicholas: The Epic Journey from Saint to Santa Claus.”
(WSJ, 8/31/98,
p.B1)(www.newadvent.org/cathen/11063b.htm)(Econ, 12/24/05, p.115)
346 Theodosius was born in Spain.
He served as emperor East Roman Republic 379-395.
(WUD, 1994 p.1471)(SSFC, 3/21/04, p.M6)
347 May 14, Pachomius, Egyptian
monastery founder, abbot (Coenobieten), died.
(MC, 5/14/02)
347 St. John Chrysostom (d.407),
was born about this time. He was the ecumenical Patriarch of
Constantinople.
(WUD, 1994 p.264)
350 In Teotihuacan 3 men were
buried amid lavish goods about this time. Their graves were discovered
in 2002 in a tomb at the top of the 5th of 7 layers of the Pyramid of
the Moon near Mexico City.
(SFC, 11/22/02, p.J2)
350 A new state with its capital
at Axum in the Ethiopian mountains grew and controlled the coast of
Eritrea and the sea trade route to southern Arabia. The rulers spoke a
Semitic language and about this time conquered Kush, which broke in
two, the kingdom of Dongola and the kingdom of Alwa. By the mid 500s,
Alwa, Axum and Dongola had become Christian.
(Enc. of Africa, 1976, p.169)
350 The Huns invaded Persia.
(ATC, p.33)
350 In Sudan the last pyramid in
the Egyptian tradition was built at Meroe about this time.
(Arch, 9/02, p.55)
352 May 17, Liberius began his
reign as Catholic Pope replacing Julius I.
(MC, 5/17/02)
352 Sep 12, Maximinus van Trier,
bishop of Trier, saint, died.
(MC, 9/12/01)
353-431 St. Paulinus, poet and Bishop of Mola: "For
it is after the Solstice, when Christ born in the flesh with the new
sun transformed the season of cold winter, and giving to mortal men a
healing dawn, commanded the nights to decrease at his coming with
advancing day."
(WSJ, 12/18/98, p.W15)
354 Augustine (Aurelius
Augustinus, d.430) was born in Tagaste, North Africa (modern Souk
Ahras, Algeria). Augustine of Hippo, Church Father and philosopher,
held that as long as the fetus was "shapeless" homicide laws did not
apply because it had no senses and no soul. "Total abstinence is
easier than perfect moderation." He fused the New Testament with Greek
philosophy. "Nothing is so powerful in drawing the spirit of a man
downwards as the caresses of a woman."
(http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jod/augustine.html)(AM,
Mar/Apr 97 p.13)(HN, 11/13/98) (SFC, 3/16/02, p.A3)
354 Winter, Emperor Julian the
Apostate came ashore at Hissarlik, the site of ancient Troy, and found
a fire still burning on an altar to the Trojan hero, Hector.
(Nat. Hist., 4/96, p.50)
354 Pope Liberius decided to add
the Nativity to the Church calendar and selected December 25 to
celebrate it. [see 336]
(WSJ, 12/21/07, p.A19)
355 Donatus, bishop of Casae
Nigrae in North Africa, died. He taught that the effectiveness of the
sacraments depends on the moral character of the minister. In other
words, if a minister who was involved in a serious enough sin were to
baptize a person, that baptism would be considered invalid.
(http://religion-cults.com/heresies/fourth.htm)
356 Feb 19, Emperor Constantius II
shut all heathen (non-Christian) temples.
(MC, 2/19/02)
357 Apr 28, Constantius II visited
Rome for the first time.
(HN, 4/28/98)
357 Aug 25, Flavius Claudius
Julianus, the cousin of Constantius, beat the Alamanni in a Battle at
Strasbourg. Chonodomarius was caught.
(PCh, 1992, p.48)(HN, 8/25/99)
359 Christians allegedly
established a camp in Skythopolis, Syria, to torture and execute pagans
from around Europe. This can only be a reference to the Arian Bishop of
Scythopolis, Patrophilus, who cruelly abused Christian bishops exiled
to his see under Constantius. These included Eusebius of Vercelli. It
was not a death-camp, nor did it last 30 years, nor were pagans the
victims.
(Arch, 1/05,
p.70)(www.tektonics.org/af/crimeline.htm)
360 Feb 15, The first Hagia Sophia
was inaugurated by Constantius II. It was built next to the smaller
church Hagia Eirene in Constantinople. Both churches acted together as
the principal churches of the Byzantine Empire.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia)
361 Nov 3, Flavius Julius
Constantius II (44), the 1st Byzantine Emperor, died. Flavius Claudius
Julianus, Julian the Apostate, succeeded Constantius and tried to make
paganism the official religion of the empire.
(V.D.-H.K.p.92)(PCh, 1992, p.48)(MC, 11/3/01)
362 Jun 17, Emperor Julian issued
an edict banning Christians from teaching in Syria.
(HN, 6/17/98)
363 Jun 27, The death of Roman
Emperor Julian brought an end to the Pagan Revival. Julian received a
mortal wound in battle with the Sassanian Persians, whom he tried to
conquer.
(HN, 6/27/98)(WSJ, 3/24/99, p.A27)
363 A devastating earthquake
leveled half the city of Petra, the principal city of Nabatea.
(AP, 6/21/03)
364 Feb 17, Flavius Jovianus
(~32), Christian emperor of Rome (363-64), died.
(MC, 2/17/02)
364 Feb 26, On the death of
Jovian, a conference at Nicaea chose Valentinian, an army officer who
was born in the central European region of Pannania, to succeed him in
Asia Minor.
(HN, 2/26/99)
365 Jul 21, An earthquake, whose
epicenter was in Crete, leveled the Egyptian Port of Alexandria as well
as the Roman outpost of Leptis Magna in Libya. Some 50,000 people died.
(www.earthscape.org/r2/jos/vol1-1june1997/pg55.html)(AM, Mar/Apr 97
p.18)
366-384 Pope St. Damasus I located martyr’s graves
and had verse inscriptions composed for their tombs. He transformed the
catacombs into popular and venerated shrines.
(ITV, 1/96, p.58)
367 Much of Gortyn, the Roman
capital of Crete, was destroyed be an earthquake. It was 1st inhabited
around 3,000 BC and was destroyed by an Arab invasion in
824.
(AP, 9/30/05)
370-415 Hypatia, female mathematician born in
Alexandria, Egypt. She was a professor of mathematics and philosophy at
the Univ. of Alexandria. She lectured on Plato, Aristotle, astronomy,
geometry, Diophantine algebra, and the conics of Apollonius.
(Alg, 1990, p.145)
374 Emperor Valentinian ended the
parental right to kill their infants.
(SFEC, 2/13/00, Z1 p.2)
374-397 Ambrose served as the Bishop of Milan. Later
proclaimed St. Ambrose.
(WUD, 1994, p.46)(SFEC, 7/13/97, p.T13)
375 Nov 17, Enraged by the
insolence of barbarian envoys, Valentinian, the Emperor of the West,
died of apoplexy in Pannonia in Central Europe.
(HN, 11/17/98)
376 Dec 25, In Milan, Ambrose, the
Bishop of Milan, forced the emperor Theodosius to perform public
penance for his massacre.
(HN, 12/25/98)
377 Niall of the Nine Hostages,
warlord and head of the most powerful dynasty in ancient Ireland, was
crowned king. He reportedly had 12 sons, many of whom became powerful
Irish kings themselves. In 2006 scientists in Ireland presented
evidence that he was the country's most fertile male, with more than 3
million men worldwide among his offspring.
(Reuters,
1/17/06)(www.irishclans.com/articles/famirish/niall9hostages.html)
378 Aug 9, In the Battle of
Adrianople the Visigoth Calvary defeated Roman Army.
(MC, 8/9/02)
378 Tikal saw the establishment of
a new line of kings following its military victory over many cities of
the Maya Lowlands. The 1st king was Nuun Yax Ain (Green Crocodile) and
he claimed descent from a Teotihuacan lord that scholars later dubbed
Spear-thrower Owl.
(Arch, 9/00, p.27)
379 In Milan the brick Basilica of
St. Ambrose was begun.
(SFEC, 7/13/97, p.T3)
379-395 Theodosius I (c.346-395) served as emperor
East Roman Republic.
(WUD, 1994 p.1471)
380 Theodosius I ordered that all
people under his rule embrace Christianity.
(SSFC, 3/21/04, p.M6)
383 Aug 25, Flavius Gratianus
(25), Emperor of Rome (375-383), was murdered.
(MC, 8/25/02)
384 May 13, Servatius (Aravatius),
bishop of Tongeren, died at age 65.
(MC, 5/13/02)
384 Sep 9, Flavius Honorius,
emperor East Roman Republic (395-423), was born.
(MC, 9/9/01)
385 Pope Siricius left his wife to
become pope and told priests to stop sleeping with their wives.
(SFC, 3/16/02, p.A3)
385 Priscillian, bishop of Avila
in Spain, was convicted of sorcery and executed by the Roman emperor
Maximus.
(NH, 9/96, p.20)
386 Augustine (354-430) became a
priest and soon after bishop of Hippo, a Roman city in what is now
Algeria. He wrote "The City of God," in which he laid out a plan of
world history, showing how two cities vied with each other for
dominance and would continue to do so until the end of time. One city
was human- material, fleshly, downward-turning. The other city was
divine- spiritual, turning upward toward the Creator of all things...
An individual thinking being, Augustine said, does not make the truth,
he finds it. He discovers it within himself as he listens to the
teachings of the magister interiore, the "inward teacher," who is
Christ, the revealing Word of God. According to Augustine, St. Ambrose
set the fashion for silent reading and marveled at the innovation.
(V.D.-H.K.p.94)(WSJ, 5/10/96, p.A-8)
386-535 The Northern Wei Dynasty is associated with
the spread of Buddhism from India to China.
(AM, 9/01, p.49)
387 Apr 24, Bishop Ambrose
baptized St. Augustine in Milan at the Baptistry of San Giovanni alle
Fonti, later the site of the Duomo Cathedral.
(SFEC, 7/13/97, p.T12)
387 The Parthians and Romans
agreed to settle the Armenian question by the drastic expedient of
partition. The Sassanid kings of Persia (who had superseded the
Parthians in the Empire of Iran) secured the lion's share of the
spoils, while the Romans only received a strip of country on the
western border which gave them Erzeroum and Diyarbakir for their
frontier fortresses.
(http://raven.cc.ukans.edu/~kansite/ww_one/docs/bryce2.htm)
388 Aug 28, Magnus Maximus,
Spanish West Roman Emperor (383-88), was executed.
(MC, 8/28/01)
c389 Mar 17, St. Patrick (d.461),
the patron saint of Ireland, was born. Calpurnius, his father, was a
deacon and local official who lost his son to Irish raiders when
Patrick was 16. Patrick allegedly drove all the snakes (i.e. pagans)
out of Ireland.
(HN, 3/17/99)(HNQ, 3/17/01)(WSJ, 3/12/04, p.W13)
c389-461 St. Patrick, an English missionary and
bishop of Ireland. March 17 is celebrated in his honor. He was a Celt
born in Romanized Britain and was kidnapped by Irish pirates at 16,
sold into slavery, and served for 6 years as a shepherd until he
escaped.
(SFC, 3/15/97, p.A16)(WUD, 1994, p.1057)(SFC,
3/17/97, p.A20)
390 Jul 16, Brennus and Gauls
defeated the Romans at Allia.
(MC, 7/16/02)
392 May 15, Valentinianus II (21),
emperor of Rome (375-392), was murdered.
(MC, 5/15/02)
392 Nov 8, Theodosius of Rome
passed legislation prohibiting all pagan worship in the empire and
declared Christianity the state religion.
(HN, 11/6/98)(MC, 11/8/01)
393 The ancient Olympic Games
were held at intervals beginning in 776 BC until about 393 CE when they
were abolished by Roman emperor Theodosius I after Greece lost its
independence. The modern Olympic Games were started in 1896. [see 396CE]
(HNQ, 11/23/98)
394 Sep 6, Theodosius became sole
ruler of Italy after defeating Eugenius at the Battle of the River
Frigidus.
(HN, 9/6/98)
394 Sep 8, Arbogast, French
general, committed suicide.
(MC, 9/8/01)
395 Jan 17, Emperor Theodosius I
(49), the Great, Spanish head of Rome, died. Theodosius I wrote into
his will that upon his death the eastern and western sections of the
empire should be declared separate empires. His death in this year
marks the split of the Roman and Byzantine Empire.
(ATC, p.24)(MC, 1/17/02)
396 The last Olympic Games were
held under Emp. Theodosius I, who halted them due to increasing
professionalism and corruption. [see 393CE] In 2004 Nigel Spivey
authored “The Ancient Olympics.”
(SFC, 7/14/96, p.T1)(WSJ, 8/13/04, p.W8)
397 Nov 8, Martin of Tours, [St
Martin], bishop of Tours, died. [see Nov 11]
(MC, 11/8/01)
397 Nov 11, Martinus (81), (St
Martin), Roman bishop of Tours, died. [see Nov 8]
(MC, 11/11/01)
397 In southeastern Turkey the Mor
Gabriel monastery was founded by Syriac Christians. In 2009 it had just
3 monks and 14 nuns and faced the loss to the state of some 100 acres
representing 60% of its core property.
(WSJ, 3/7/09, p.A8)
400 A stable form of ink was
developed with iron-salts, nutgalls and gum.
(SFC, 7/26/04, p.F4)
400 The Barbarians, Hsiung-nu
nomads, moved West. These "Huns" displaced the Goths and the Vandals,
who moved west. The displaced Goths broke into two groups, one moving
west into Gaul forcing the native Germanic peoples south, the other
branch, called the Visigoths, headed south into Italy. The Vandals
continues to move west, and turned south through Gaul and into Spain.
They ravaged Spain and crossed into Africa and later recrossed the
Mediterranean into Italy.
(V.D.-H.K.p.88)
400 Afghanistan was invaded by
the White Huns. They destroyed the Buddhist culture, and left most of
the country in ruins.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/-web.com/history/)
400 About this time sage-prince
Kambu of the Cambodian legends, who belonged to the Kamboja lineage,
appears to have sailed from Indian subcontinent, probably from
Saurashtra/Gujarat on the west coast of India and established a small
Kamboja kingdom in Bassac around Vat-Ph'u hill in Mekong Basin. The
first Khmer or king, know as Kambu, founded Kambujadesa, which means
the Sons of Kambu or Kambuja for short.
(SFEC, 10/20/96,
T5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kambu_Svayambhuva)
400 By this time the Chinese had
developed rigid metal stirrups which gave the rider more security in
the saddle.
(ATC, p.11)
400 In Ireland the Celtic ruler
Niall of the Nine Hostages lived around this time.
(SFC, 7/14/97, p.E1)
400 About this time Kalidassa
wrote the great Indian literature: "Kumara’s Fight Against the Demon
Taraka."
(ATC, p.33)
400 About this time Nubia faded as
a independent civilization.
(MT, 10/95, p.10-11)
400 About this time people from
the chiefdom Dal Riata in northern Ireland crossed the Irish Sea and
settled along the Scottish coast of County Argyll.
(AM, 7/01, p.46)
400-500 The Angles and Saxons crossed the North Sea
to England bringing with them the 5 day week: Tiwsday - of the god Tiw;
Wodensday - of the god Woden; Thorsday - of the god Thor; Frigsday - of
the goddess Frig; and Seternesday - of the god Seterne. The
Anglo-Saxons, a group of Germanic tribes, gradually invaded England by
sea starting in the 5th century in the wake of the collapse of the
Roman Empire.
(K.I.-365D, p.107)(AP, 9/24/09)
400-500 About this time Apicius, a Roman gourmand,
authored “De re coquinara” (concerning cookery). It is considered to be
the first Western cookbook. The first printed edition came out in 1483.
(Econ, 12/20/08,
p.140)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apicius)
400-500 The Quraysh tribe of west-central Arabia
makes treaties with neighboring areas to ensure the safe passage of
trade caravans through the desert around Mecca.
(ATC, p.56)
400-500 During this period the Jutes of Jutland, at
the northern tip of the Danish peninsula, migrated to Britain as part
of a Germanic invasion. The notion that they settled in what is now
Kent and the Isle of Wight, as is recorded by Anglo-Saxon chronicler
Bede the Venerable, has been confirmed by archaeological evidence.
(HNQ, 10/7/00)
400-500 A tomb in 1996 was found in the ruins of the
Maya city of La Milpa in Belize near the Mexican border. It contained
the skeleton of a man adorned with a pendant depicting the head of a
vulture, signifying lord or ruler. Archeologist Norman Hammond
speculated that it could be the burial place of the king known as Bird
Jaguar, who lived around 450, or his successor.
(SFC, 6/23/96, p.A10)
400-500 Yax K’uk Mo (Blue-Green Quetzal Macaw) was
the 5th century founder of Copan in Honduras, although the site was
occupied from early preclassic to late classic times.
(AM, May/Jun 97 suppl. p.F)
400-500 In Ashkalon, Israel, bones from this period
of some 100 infants were discovered in 1988 in the debris of a sewer
adjacent to a bath house of this time.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.12)
400-500 The Aymara people lived on the shores of Lake
Titicaca between Bolivia and Peru since the 5th century. Their ancient
capital was Tiahuanaco. Their world is described in "Valley of the
Spirits" (1996) by Alan L. Kolata.
(NH, 8/96, p.14)
400-500 St. Ursula, a legendary British princess, and
her 11,000 martyr virgins were said to have been slaughtered by the
Huns at Cologne in the 5th century.
(WUD, 1994, p.1573)(SFEC, 2/15/98, p.T8)
400-500 During this period the Indian philosopher
Yashomitra made commentaries on Buddhism and described it as "awakened"
(vibuddha) and "full-bloomed" or "perfected" (prabuddha).
(SFEM,12/14/97, p.46)
400-500 In Japan two imperial tombs of this time in
Miyazaki Prefecture, Kyushu, are held by legend to belong to Ninigi,
grandson of the sun goddess Amaterasu and his wife.
(AM, Jul/Aug ‘97 p.12)
400-500 The leap year tradition of women proposing
marriage to men began in 5th century Ireland.
(SFEC, 6/8/97, Z1 p.6)
400-600 The large Buddha at Bamiyan, Afghanistan, 170
feet tall, was constructed during this period. It was an enlargement of
an Indian Buddha of the Gupta period.
(WSJ, 3/5/00, p.A22)
401 Apr 10, Theodosius II, the
Younger, Eastern Roman emperor, was born.
(MC, 4/10/02)
401 Dec, St. Innocent, born in
Albano, Italy, became pope. He was the pope nine years later when the
Visigoths captured and sacked Rome.
(AP, 3/21/09)
402 Apr 6, Battle at Pollentia:
Roman army under Stilicho beat the Visigoths.
(MC, 4/6/02)
402 The capital of the Roman
empire was moved from Rome to Ravenna on the Adriatic.
(V.D.-H.K.p.88)
405 In Northern Ireland St.
Patrick (16) was sold about this time as a slave by King Niall’s men.
(WSJ, 3/15/02, p.W15)
405 The Armenian alphabet was
invented.
(MH, 12/96)
406 Aug 23, At the Battle at
Florence the Roman army under Stilicho beat the Barbarians under
Radagaisus.
(PC, 1992, p.50)
406 Dec 31, Godagisel, king of the
Vandals, died in battle as some 80,000 Vandals attacked over the Rhine
at Mainz.
(MC, 12/31/01)
406 Some of the inscriptions from
a stone monument from the Maya city of La Milpa have been deciphered to
give this date.
(SFC, 6/23/96, p.A10)
407 Sep 14, Johannes Chrysostomus
(b.c347), patriarch of Constantinople (398) and exiled in 404, died in
Pontus (later northeast Turkey). He is generally considered the most
prominent doctor of the Greek Church and the greatest preacher ever
heard in a Christian pulpit.
(http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08452b.htm)
408 May 1, Theodosius II succeeded
to the throne of Constantinople.
(HN, 5/1/98)
408 Aug 22, Flavius Stilicho (48),
West Roman field leader (395-408), died.
(MC, 8/22/02)
408-450 Theodosius II was emperor of Rome.
(MH, 12/96)
410 Aug 18, King Alaric I's
Visigoths occupied and plundered Rome. [see Aug 24]
(PC, 1992, p.50)
410 Aug 24, Rome was overrun by
the Visigoths, an event that symbolized the fall of the Western Roman
Empire. German barbarians sacked Rome [see Aug 18].
(V.D.-H.K.p.87)(AP, 8/24/97)(HN, 8/24/98)
410 Rome abandoned its British
provinces.
(AM, 11/04, p.41)
411 Proclus (d.485), Greek
mathematician and theologian, was born. [see 412]
(WUD, 1994 p.1147)(MC, 4/17/02)
412 Feb 8, St. Proclus, Patriarch
of Constantinople, was born. [see 411]
(HN, 2/8/98)
413 Oct 10, Nicias, Athens
politician (Peace of Nicias), killed at about age 57.
(MC, 10/10/01)
415 Archbishop Cyril of Alexandria
sent a mob of religious police to stop Hypatia, an eccentric pagan
ascetic and scholar. The mob kidnapped her, dragged her to a church,
stripped and tortured her with broken shards of pottery. Her body parts
were then butchered, put on public display and burnt to a crisp. In
2004 Jonathan Kirsch authored "God Against the Gods: The History of the
War Between Monotheism and Polytheism."
(SSFC, 3/21/04, p.M1)
418 Mar 10, Jews were excluded
from public office in the Roman Empire.
(MC, 3/10/02)
418 Dec 27, Zosimus, Greek Pope
(417-8), died.
(MC, 12/27/01)
419 Jul 2, Valentinian III,
Roman emperor (425-55), was born.
(SC, 7/2/02)
420 Padua, Italy, was founded on
the edge of the Adriatic.
(SFC,12/19/97, p.F3)
421 Feb 8, Flavius Constantine
became emperor Constantine III of Roman Empire West.
(MC, 2/8/02)
421 Mar 25, Venice was founded on
a Friday at 12 PM.
(MC, 3/25/02)
421-438 King Bahram V ruled Persia.
(MH, 12/96)
422-432 The Bible and the works of the church fathers
were translated into Armenian.
(MH, 12/96)
425 Feb 27, Theodosius effectively
founded a university in Constantinople.
(HN, 2/27/99)
425-550 Independent Yaftalee ruled in Afghanistan.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/-web.com/history/,
5/25/98)
426 Yax K’uk Mo’ founded Copan in
what is now western Honduras.
(AM, May/Jun 97 suppl. p.A)
427 Dec, The Patriarch of
Constantinople died.
(Usenet, 3/4/97)
428 Apr 10, John Nestorius from
Antioch was consecrated as the new Patriarch of Constantinople by
Emperor Theodosius.
(Usenet, 3/4/97)
428 The Arsacid (Arshakuni)
monarchy of Armenia ended and control fell under the rule of the
Persian Sassanids.
(MH, 12/96)
429 Roman Africa was invaded by
the Vandals, barbarians who had fought and conquered their way across
Germany, France, Spain and across the Strait of Gibraltar.
(Enc. of Africa, 1976, p.168)
430 Aug 28, Augustine (b.354) died
in Hippo (Annaba, Algeria) with a Vandal army outside the gates of the
city. His writings included "The Confessions." In 1999 Garry Wills
authored the biography "St. Augustine." Augustine had developed the
theory of a "just war" and said a nation’s leaders must consider among
other things, anticipated loss of civilian life and whether all
peaceful options have been exhausted before war starts. In 2003 Garry
Wills authored "Saint Augustine's Sin." In 2005 James J. O”Donnell
authored “Augustine: A New Biography.”
(SSFC, 12/21/03, p.M6)(Econ, 5/14/05,
p.86)(www.connect.net/ron/august.html)
431 The Council of Ephesus was
held to deal with the heretics and heresies of the day such as Arianism
and Apollinarianism. The council condemned Nestorianism, which taught
that there were 2 person in Christ and that Mary was the mother of the
human Christ but not of God. In 2009 Miri Rubin authored “Mother of
God: A History of the Virgin Mary.”
(Usenet, 3/4/97)(PTA, 1980, p.86)(Econ, 2/21/09,
p.84)
431 The Assyrians and Chaldeans
broke from what was to become the Roman Catholic Church over a
theological dispute.
(WSJ, 3/12/00, p.A10)
431 A great Mayan dynasty arose at
Palenque and soon began trading with communities hundreds of miles away.
(SSFC, 12/7/03, p.C10)
432 About this time St. Patrick
was consecrated a bishop and returned to Ireland as missionary. He
established Ireland’s first monasteries and Irish monks made it their
mission to copy all literature, sacred and secular, while barbarism
swept the continent. This period is covered in the 1995 book "How the
Irish Saved Civilization" by Thomas Cahill.
(SFC, 3/17/97, p.A20)(WSJ, 11/5/99, p.W12)
434-453 Attila the Hun was known in western Europe as
the "Scourge of God." Attila was the king of the Huns from 434 to 453
and one of the greatest of the barbarian rulers to assail the Roman
Empire.
(HNQ, 12/19/98)
435 John Nestorius was banished
from his monastery in Antioch by Emperor Theodosius II.
(Usenet, 3/4/97)
435-808 In Mexico Yaxchilan on the bank of the
Usumacinta was occupied at least over this period. King Mah K’ina Skull
III was one of the rulers during the construction of some 90 stone
structures.
(AM, May/Jun 97 suppl. p.G)
437 Nov 30, A glyph in Copan [in
later Honduras] records this date and mentions the 1st and 2nd rulers
of the city-state.
(NG, 12/97, p.81)
438 Easter, In Ireland St. Patrick
used the 3-leaf clover to illustrate the Trinity.
(SFEC, 3/15/98, p.D7)
438-457 The Persian King Yazdegird II ruled. He
pressured the Armenians to accept Zoroastrianism and worship the
supreme god Ahura Mazda. Mihr-Nerseh, the Persian grand vizier,
promulgated an edict that enjoined the Armenians to convert.
(MH, 12/96)
439 Oct 9, Ancient city of
Carthage was captured by Genseric the Vandal. [see Oct 19,24]
(MC, 10/9/01)
439 Oct 19, The Vandals, led by
King Gaiseric, took Carthage and quickly conquered all the coastal
lands of Algeria and Tunisia. Egypt and the Libyan coast remained in
Roman hands. [see Oct 24]
(Enc. of Africa, 1976, p.168)(HN, 10/19/98)
439 Oct 24, Carthage, the leading
Roman city in North Africa, fell to Genseric and the Vandals. [see Oct
19]
(HN, 10/24/98)
439 Oct 29, Vandals under Genseric
occupied Carthage. [see Oct 24]
(MC, 10/29/01)
439 In Mauretania (now northern
Morocco and Algeria) Roman rule ceased about this time when barbarian
incursions forced the legions to withdraw.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.)
440 Aug 19, Pope Sixtus III
(432-440) died.
(PTA, 1980, p.88)
440-790 The Mayan city of Palenque flourished.
(AM, 5/01, p.49)
441 Bishop Patrick allegedly
fasted for 40 days on a 2,500-foot peak later named Croagh Patrick in
county Mayo. He allegedly banished snakes from Ireland during this time.
(SFCM, 10/14/01, p.23)
444 In Ireland St. Patrick
selected the site for the Cathedral of Armagh. It later became
Ireland’s ecclesiastical center and preceded the 360 churches that he
established.
(SFEC, 3/15/98, p.D7)
449 The Armenians held a General
Assembly to ponder the Persian edict that demanded conversion to
Zoroastrianism. They chose to remain Christian and their leaders were
summoned to Persia to answer to the king. The leaders opted to yield
under heavy pressure but were renounced on their return home.
(MH, 12/96)
450 St. Benedict (d.547) was born
in Norcia, Italy, about this time.
(V.D.-H.K.p.106)
450 The Hun invasions of India
began.
(ATC, p.33)
450 In Peru a tattooed Moche woman
was entombed about this time, at a site later called El Brujo, with a
sacrificed teenage slave and a collection of weapons and jewelry. In
2006 her mummy was discovered in a pyramid called Huaca Cao Viejo.
(SFC, 5/17/06, p.A2)
450-470 The Vakataka emperor Harisena, ruled over
central India. He is recognized as bringing India's Golden Age to its
apogee. He oversaw the greatest building phase at the monasteries of
Ajanta, where monks lived in rock-cut cells.
(LSA., pp. 10-16)
451 Apr 13, A Persian Army of
300,000 men under Mushkan Nusalavurd arrived at a place between her and
Zarevand (now Khoy and Salmast in Iran) to face the Armenian forces.
(MH, 12/96)
451 May 26, The Battle of Avarair.
Vardan Mamikonian, son of Sparapet (general) Hamazasp Mamikonian and
Sahakanush, daughter of the Catholicos Sahak Bartev, led a force of
66,000 Armenians to face the Persians. Prior to battle Vardan read
aloud the story of the Jewish Maccabees. Persian losses tripled the
Armenian dead, but Mushkan won and Vardan was killed.
(MH, 12/96)
451 Apr 7, Attila's Huns plundered
Metz.
(MC, 4/7/02)
451 Jun 20, Roman and Barbarian
warriors halted Attila’s army at the Catalaunian Plains (Catalarinische
Fields) in eastern France. Attila the Hun was defeated by a combined
Roman and Visigoth army. The Huns moved south into Italy but were
defeated again.
(V.D.-H.K.p.88)(HN, 6/20/98)(MC, 6/20/02)
451 Sep 20, General Aetius
defeated Attila the Hun at Chalons-sur-Marne.
(MC, 9/20/01)
451 Oct 8, Council of Chalcedon
(4th ecumenical council) opened. The Council declared that the two
natures of Christ, divine and human, were united without change,
division or confusion in Christ. This led to the formation of the
Coptic Monophysite Church which continued to hold that Jesus had but
one divine nature. Copt comes from the Arabic word for Egyptian.
(CU, 6/87)(SFC, 3/31/97, p.A9)(MC, 10/8/01)
451 The Armenians were the first
Christians to take up arms in defending their right to worship.
(HN, 7/25/98)
451 Clan leaders of Armenia united
to defeat the Sassanians at Avarair.
(CO Enc. / Armenia)
451 John Nestorius, former
Patriarch of Constantinople, died about this time. Prior to his death
he wrote his book "Bazar of Heracleids."
(Usenet, 3/4/97)
451-484 Vahan Mamikonian led the Armenians in a
33-year guerrilla war. The Persian Sassanids underwent 3 rulers and
pressure from the Ephthalites, White Huns, and when King Peroz was
killed by the White Huns, his successor, Balash, sued for peace. Vahan
demanded and was granted religious freedom.
(MH, 12/96)
452 Feb 4, The Mayan city of Tikal
has a monolith in hieroglyphics that reports an inferior conjunction of
Venus".
(K.I.-365D, p.164)
452 Jun 8, Italy was invaded by
Attila the Hun.
(HN, 6/8/98)
452 Pope Leo I met Attila the Hun
on the banks of the Mincio and Attila agreed to make peace and spare
Rome.
(PTA, 1980, p.90)
452 Attila the Hun died.
(V.D.-H.K.p.88)
454 Sep 21, In Italy, Aetius, the
supreme army commander, was murdered in Ravenna by Valentinian III, the
emperor of the West.
(HN, 9/21/98)
455 May 31, Petronius Maximus,
senator, Emperor of Rome, was lynched.
(MC, 5/31/02)
455 Jul 9, Avitus, the Roman
military commander in Gaul, became Emperor of the West.
(HN, 7/9/98)
455 Jun 16, Rome was sacked by
the Vandal army. Gaiseric looted and burned Rome for 14 days. He took
the looted treasure, which likely included the 70AD plunder from
Jerusalem, by ship to the temple of Carthage.
(V.D.-H.K.p.88)(HN, 6/16/98)(SFC, 10/23/06, p.A15)
455 Genseric, at the invitation of
Eudoxia, Valentinian's widow, sailed to Italy, and took Rome without a
blow. At the intercession of Leo the Great, he abstained from torturing
or massacring the inhabitants and burning the city, but gave it up to
systematic plunder. For 14 days and nights the work of pillage
continued. Genseric then returned unmolested to Africa, carrying much
booty and many thousand captives, including the empress Eudoxia and her
two daughters. The elder became the wife of his son Hunneric; the
younger, with her mother, was eventually surrendered to the emperor Leo.
(www.earlychristianwritings.com/info/galen-wace.html)
457 Feb 7, A Thracian officer by
the name of Leo was proclaimed as emperor of the East by the army
general, Aspar, on the death of the Emperor Marcian.
(HN, 2/7/99)
457 A Monophysite was named
patriarch of Alexandria.
(SFC, 3/31/97, p.A9)
461 Mar 17, According to
tradition, St. Patrick (b.c389), the patron saint of Ireland, died in
Saul, County Down. Some sources say he died in 493AD. He was an English
missionary and bishop of Ireland. In 2004 Philip Freeman authored "St.
Patrick: A Biography."
(SFC, 3/15/97, p.A16)(WSJ, 3/12/04, p.W13)(AP,
3/17/08)
461 Nov 10, Leo I the Great, Pope
(440-61), died.
(MC, 11/10/01)
468 Mar 3, St. Simplicius was
elected to succeed Catholic Pope Hilarius.
(SC, 3/3/02)
472 Aug 18, Flavius Ricimer,
general of the Western Roman Empire, kingmaker, was born.
(MC, 8/18/02)
473 An ancient king in Sri Lanka
constructs an impenetrable fortress atop a giant rock that rises 200
yards above the plains. The site is called Sigiriya.
(WSJ, 8/3/95, p.A-8)
474 Jan 18, Leo I, Roman Byzantine
Emperor (457-74), died. He was succeeded by his grandson Leo II.
(www.roman-emperors.org/leo1.htm)
474 Nov 17, Leo II (b.467), Roman
Byzantine Emperor, died.
(www.roman-emperors.org/leo2.htm)
476 Aug 28, The western Roman
Empire formally ended at Ravenna as the barbarian general Odoacer
deposed the last of the Roman emperors, the young boy Romulus Augustus.
(ATC, p.32)(PC, 1992, p.52)
477 In Sri Lanka the usurper King
Kasyapa I founded Sigiriya and built his castle atop a 550-foot
outcrop. He had murdered his father Dhatusena.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.D)(Arch, 7/02, p.32)
477 Harisena, emperor of Central
India dies.
(LSA., p. 12)
480 Boethius (d.524) was born in
Rome about this time. He acquired an important post under the Ostrogoth
King Theodoric, but later fell into disfavor and was imprisoned. In
prison he wrote his famous The Consolation of Philosophy.
(V.D.-H.K.p.113)
480 Hun invasions began to weaken
the Gupta Dynasty in India.
(ATC, p.33)
483 Mar 13, St. Felix began his
reign as Catholic Pope.
(HN, 3/13/98)
484 The Church of Mary Theotokos
was built over the presumed site of a Samaritan Temple that is believed
to be a copy of the Second Temple of Jerusalem at Mt. Gerizim in the
Israeli occupied West Bank.
(SFC, 5/23/95, p.A-10)
484 The Armenians signed a treaty
in the village of Nuwarsak with the Persians and Vahan Mamikonian was
appointed marzban of Armenia.
(MH, 12/96)
485 Apr 17, Proclus (b.411), Greek
mathematician, died in Athens.
(WUD, 1994 p.1147)(MC, 4/17/02)
485-505 In Armenia Vahan Mamikonian began his rule
with services at the Cathedral of Dvin with the Catholicos Hovhan I
Mandakuni presiding.
(MH, 12/96)
490 Oct 29, Petrus Mongus,
patriarch of Alexandria, died.
(MC, 10/29/01)
492 Mar 1, St. Felix III ended his
reign as Catholic Pope.
(SC, 3/1/02)
492 Mar 1, St Gelasius I began his
reign as Catholic Pope (492-496).
(PTA, 1980, p.98)(SC, 3/1/02)
493 Mar 3, Odovacar, the Herulian
leader, surrendered Ravenna to Theodorik, king of the Ostrogoths.
Theodorik invited Odovacar to dinner and had him murdered. Theodorik
united Italy as an Ostrogoth kingdom until 554. [see Mar 15]
(PCh, 1992, p.52)(V.D.-H.K.p.88)(SC, 3/3/02)
493 Mar 15, Theodoric the Great
beat Odoacer of Italy. Odoacer, German army leader, King of Italy
(476-93), died. [see Mar 3]
(MC, 3/15/02)
495 May 3, Pope Gelasius asserted
that his authority was superior to Emperor Anastasius.
PTA, 1980, p.98)(HN, 5/3/98)
496 Nov 21, Pope Gelasius, an
African by birth or descent, died. He changed the mid-February lottery
rules for young Roman men so that they drew names of Catholic Saints to
emulate instead of young girls for play. The Lupercalia pagan rite had
been revived to bring good luck to the city following a plague. He
named Feb 14 as St. Valentine’s Day.
(PTA, 1980, p.98)(SFEM, 2/9/97, p.11)(SSFC, 2/11/01,
DB p.40)
496 In China the Shaolin Temple
was built in the foothills of Mount Songshan in Henan province. It was
later considered as the birthplace for Shaolin boxing, a combination of
Buddhism and Chinese martial arts that evolved into kung fu (gongfu).
(SFC, 9/26/02, p.B3)
496 Clovis, king of the Salian or
Merovingian Franks, became the first of the pagan barbarians to adopt
Catholicism.
(www.patmospapers.com/daniel/in508.htm)
498 Nov 19, Anastasius II, Pope
(496-98), (Dante Inferno XI, 8-9), died.
(MC, 11/19/01)
500 The northern California
Emeryville Shellmound, CA-Ala 309, dates to about this
time.
(Buckeye, Winter 04/05)
500 In England, the Anglo-Saxons
brought Futhark from continental Europe in the 5th century and modified
it into the 33-letter "Futhorc" to accommodate sound changes that were
occurring in Old English, the language spoken by the Anglo-Saxons. An
early offshoot of Futhark was employed by Goths, and so it is known as
Gothic Runes. It was used until 500 CE when it was replaced by the
Greek-based Gothic alphabet.
(www.ancientscripts.com/futhark.html)
500 About this time the Ridgeway,
the oldest road in Europe, wandered along empty, open ridges over
Wiltshire’s Marlborough Downs in England. Invading Saxons gave this
ancient track its present name: “The Ridgeway,” but even then it was
already old beyond all memory. Fifty centuries earlier, Stone Age
traders probably followed this track to barter stone axe heads with
farmer folk in the valleys. These Neolithic merchants picked up The
Ridgeway at the Thames River ford at Goring, then followed it westward
and southward along the crest of the Downs, into what would become the
counties of Berkshire and Wiltshire in the times of the Wessex kings.
Since those first Neolithic peddlers, 200 generations have found their
own good reasons to tramp along the Ridgeway track.
(HNQ, 7/29/01)
500 By this time the Chalchihuites
culture (New Mexico) engaged in extensive turquoise mining and
exporting raw turquoise to West Mexican centers like Alta Vista.
(Arch, 1/05, p.28)
500 By this time the Kaaba at
Mecca housed more than 360 idols of the gods of various tribes.
Protection of the Kaaba was organized by the Quraysh tribe, who
encouraged other tribes to deposit their idols their for protection and
a fee. During four months of each year the Quraysh forbade fighting and
raiding along the trade routes and this allowed both merchants and
travelers make their pilgrimages in peace for a fee.
(ATC, p.57)
500 The Manteno people inhabited
the area of northern Ecuador about this time. It was believed that they
ran a vast maritime empire and traded with the Aztecs in Mexico and
made voyages of 3,000-4,000 miles. In 1998-99 a team led by John
Haslett (34) attempted to duplicate their maritime voyages with a
20-ton, 60-foot balsa raft.
(SFC, 1/6/99, p.A8
500 About this time Nubians turned
from their Egyptian-influenced religion to Christianity. A thousand
years later the people of their region will convert heavily to Islam.
(MT, 10/95, p.10-11)
500 About this time the Indian
monk Bodhidharma hit on the idea of Zen after staring at a wall for
nine years.
(WSJ, 10/23/96, p.A1)
500 Teotihuacan people built a
60-foot pyramid about this time in what later became known as
Iztapalapa, Mexico. It was abandoned after about 300 years, when the
Teotihuacan culture collapsed. Archeologists began to unveil the site
in 2004.
(AP, 4/6/06)
500 In Peru a Moche pyramid from
about this time at Dos Cabezas contained tombs that archeologists found
in 1997. The tombs revealed people of unusual height along with
miniatures of the deceased and the tomb’s contents.
(SFC, 2/15/01, p.A7)
500 Ancient Turks are believed to
have originated in Mongolia about this time.
(Arch, 1/06, p.17)
500-600 Arabs about this time brought back home from
India the numerals we refer to as Arabic numbers.
(SFEC, 1/23/00, Z1 p.2)
500-600 The Arabian city of Ubar, disappeared in the
early 6th century. The event was later cited by Muhammad in the Quran.
In 1992 a team of investigators announced the discovery of he long lost
Arabian city of Ubar. George Hedges (1952-2009), a Hollywood litigator,
and filmmaker Nicholas Clapp, participated in the find. Clapp later
authored “The Road to Ubar: Finding the Atlantis of the Sands” (1999).
(WSJ, 3/20/09, p.A12)
500-600 In England the 6th century Gildas was the
only historian whose work survived. He made no mention of King Arthur.
He described the Picts as “Loathsome hordes, dark swarms of worms that
emerge from the narrow crevices of their holes when the sun is high,
preferring to cover their villainous faces with hair rather than their
private parts and surrounding areas with clothes.
(WSJ, 3/27/98, p.W10)(AM, 11/04, p.41)
500-600 The rulers of Ghana stored grain in mud huts
on high, steep land.
(ATC, p.106)
500-600 About this time Irish monks brought an
alembic from the Middle East that was initially used to distill
perfumes. They soon applied it to spirits and produced Uisce Beatha
(water of life), better known as whiskey.
(WSJ, 8/14/02, p.D8)
500-600 In Laos a local legend describes a military
celebration for which the stone jars of the Plain of Jars were created
to ferment and store alcohol.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.E)
500-600 El Pital, a Maya regional hub on the gulf
coast since c300 BC, suddenly became inactive. It was later suspected
that a catastrophic flood hit the area.
(SFC, 9/14/00, p.C8)
500-600 The Picts of Scotland developed a script
about this time made up of 30 symbols. In 2005 it still defied
interpretation.
(AM, 11/04, p.43)
500-700 A Babylonian earthenware demon bowl from
Seleucia-on-Tigris dated to this period.
(MT, 3/96, p.5)
500-700 The clay Lydenburg Heads from southern
Africa, dated to this period. These earliest know South African
sculptures were later exhibited at the Guggenheim.
(NYT, 6/7/96, p.B9)
500-700 Chronicles of the 8th century record the
peaceful arrival of immigrants from Korea in the 6th and 7th centuries.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.38)
500-700 Evidence in 2005 suggested that Polynesians
visited California during this period and transferred their canoe
building technology to the local Chumash and Gabrielino Indians.
(SFC, 6/20/05, p.A5)
500-800 Curse tablets are widely used in this era.
"Lead scrolls, used to place curses against lawyers, lovers, and
horses, have been discovered in a Roman-era well at King Herod’s palace
in Israel."
(USAT, 10/28/94, 1A)
c500-1100 The Sinagua people lived in the area of
Sunset Crater, Az.
(AM, 3/04, p.48)
500-1315 The Fremont Indians lived in Utah’s Range
Creek Canyon during this period and etched into rock designs of animals
and people.
(WSJ, 1/31/06, p.B6)
502-557 In China the Liang stele dates to this time.
(WSJ, 2/19/98, p.A20)
508 The Franks, led by Clovis,
took Paris and made it their capital. Under Charlemagne, the capital
was moved to Aachen and Paris waned, raided repeatedly by Norsemen
during the 9th and 10th centuries.
(HNQ, 4/18/02)
508 Clovis, king of the Franks
(later France), defeated the Visigoths and pushed into Spain.
(www.patmospapers.com/daniel/in508.htm)
510 Boethius began the translation
of the works of Aristotle from Greek into Latin. He only completed the
"Organon," or works on logic.
(V.D.-H.K.p.113)
511 Nov 11, Clovis (45), king of
Salische France and founder of Merovingians, died. [see Nov 27]
(MC, 11/11/01)
511 Nov 27, Clovis, king of the
Franks, died and his kingdom was divided between his four sons. [see
Nov 11]
(HN, 11/27/98)
515 Boethius in his treatise on
the Trinity writes "As far as you are able, join faith to
reason."
(V.D.-H.K.p.113)
520 St. Benedict founded the
Benedictine Order at Monte Cassino. From there monks went forth and
created a network of monasteries all over Europe. The monks taught the
values of agricultural living to the nomadic barbarians.
(CU, 6/87)
520 Guptas invent the decimal
system in India.
(ATC, p.69)
521-597 St. Columba, Irish missionary in Scotland.
The Irish monks of Columba preceded the Benedictines in Northern
Europe, but their ascetic otherworldliness did not meet the needs of
the practical barbarian people.
(CU, 6/87)(WUD, 1994, p.292)
523 May 6, Thrasamunde, king of
Vandals (496-523), died.
(MC,
5/6/02)(http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15268b.htm)
524 Jun 21, Battle at Vezerone:
Burgundy beat France.
(MC, 6/21/02)
525 By this time the Hun invaders
have conquered India. The Gupta Dynasty ends.
(ATC, p.35)
526 May 18, St. John I, Catholic
Pope (523-526), died.
(HN, 5/18/98)(SC, 5/18/02)
526 May 20, An earthquake killed
250,000 in Antioch, Turkey. This was the capital of Syria from
300-64BCE. [see May 29]
(MC, 5/20/02)
526 May 29, Antioch, Turkey, was
struck by an earthquake and about 250,000 died. [see May 20]
(AM, 11/00, p.69)(SC, 5/29/02)
526 Aug 30, Theodorik the Great
(72), King of Ostrogoths, died of dysentery. He was succeeded by his
grandson Athalaric (10), who reigned until 534 with his mother
Amalasuntha as regent.
(PC, 1992, p.54)
527 Apr 1, Emp. Justin named
Justinianus co-emperor of Byzantium. [see Apr 4]
(OTD)(PC, 1992 ed, p.54)
527 Apr 4, In Constantinople,
Justin, seriously ill, crowned his nephew Justinian as his co-emperor.
[see Apr 1]
(HN, 4/4/99)
527 Aug 1, Justinus I, Byzantine
emperor (518-27), died.
(PC, 1992 ed, p.54)
527-548 Empress Theodora, considered the most
powerful woman in Byzantine history, ruled with her husband Justinian.
(ATC, p.24)
527-565 Justinian ruled the Byzantine Empire.
(WSJ, 4/5/02, p.W12)
527-565 Emperor Justinian built the St. Catherine
monastery in Egypt’s Sinai Desert to house the bones of St. Catherine
of Alexandria, who was tortured to death for converting to
Christianity. The site was thought to be the place where Moses saw the
Miracle of the Burning Bush.
(SFEC, 8/28/98,
p.T6)(http://interoz.com/egypt/Catherines.htm)
528 Justinian assigned 10 men the
task of condensing the 1,600 books of classic Roman law.
(ATC, p.43)
529 Justinian, ruling from
Constantinople (517-565), promulgated the Codex Constitutionum, the
chief source and authority of Roman law.
(V.D.-H.K.p.68)
529 The new Justinian Code was
composed of 4,652 laws. It extended the rights of women, children and
slaves, and also called for harsher penalties for crime.
(ATC, p.43)
529 Justinian closed the Platonic
academy at Athens.
(V.D.-H.K.p.107)
529 The Monte Cassino monastery in
Italy was founded by St. Benedict (450-547).
(V.D.-H.K.p.107)(NW, 10/28/02, p.16)
530 Oct 14, Dioscurus, anti-Pope
(530), died.
(MC, 10/14/01)
532 Jan 13-532 Jan 14, The 2nd
Hagia Sophia cathedral burned down in Constantinople during the Nika
uprising, which failed leaving some 30-40,000 people dead. Justinian
and his wife Theodora had attended festivities at the Hippodrome, a
stadium for athletic competition. Team support escalated from insults
to mob riots and in the end Constantinople lay in ruins. Justinian
proceeded to rebuild the city with extensive commissions for religious
art and architecture, including the new Hagia Sophia.
(ATC,
p.33)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia)
532 Oct 17, Boniface II, 1st
"German" Pope, died.
(MC, 10/17/01)
533-565 Justinian’s armies regained parts of Spain,
all of Italy and North Africa.
(ATC, p.45)
534 Justinian brought the Vandal
king into Constantinople and resurrected the triumphal procession of
71AD.
(SFC, 10/23/06, p.A15)
535 Feb, In Southern China the Nan
Shi Ancient Chronicle reported that "yellow dust rained down like snow."
(WSJ, 5/15/00, p.A46)
535 Apr 30, Amalaswintha, queen of
Ostrogoten, was murdered.
(MC, 4/30/02)
535 May 13, St Agapitus I began
his reign as Catholic Pope
(SS, Internet, 5/13/97)
535 Feb, There is evidence that
the Krakatoa volcano had a major eruption about this time. In 1869
Rangawarsita, a Javanese royal courtier, compiled the Books of
Kings, which mentioned an event from the middle of the first millennium
that sounded like a major eruption.
(WSJ, 5/15/00, p.A46)(Disc., 7/4/03)
535-536 John of Ephesus, a Syrian bishop, reported
that the sun darkened for a period of 18 months with feeble light for
only about 4 hours a day.
(WSJ, 5/15/00, p.A46)
536 Apr 22, St. Agapitus I ended
his reign as Catholic Pope (535-36).
(HN, 4/22/98)(MC, 4/22/02)
536 Dec 9, Byzantine Count
Belisarius entered Rome through the Asinarian Gate at the head of 5,000
troops. At the same time, 4,000 Ostrogoths left the city through the
Flaminian Gate and headed north to Ravenna, the capital of their
Italian kingdom. For the first time since 476, when the Germanic king,
Odoacer, had deposed the last Western Roman emperor and crowned himself
"King of the Romans," the city of Rome was once more part of the Roman
empire—albeit an empire whose capital had shifted east to
Constantinople. Belisarius had taken the city back as part of Emperor
Justinian’s grand plan to recover the western provinces from their
barbarian rulers. The plan was meant to be carried out with an almost
ridiculously small expeditionary force. The 5,000 soldiers that General
Belisarius led included Hunnish and Moorish auxiliaries, and they were
expected to defend circuit walls 12 miles in diameter against an enemy
who would soon be back, and who would outnumber them at least 10-to-1.
(HN, 12/9/98)(HNC, 10/1/99)
537 Mar 11, The Goths laid siege
to Rome. The Goths cut the aqueducts to Rome in the 6th century.
(HN, 3/11/98)(SFEC, 7/2/00, p.T4)
537 Dec 27, The Hagia Sophia
Byzantine cathedral in Constantinople was consecrated. St. Sophia
(meaning "the holy wisdom" in Greek) was built by Emperor Justinian. It
remained a symbol of Byzantine grandeur until Istanbul was conquered by
Muslim armies.
(Sky, 4/97,
p.55)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia)
538 Nov 30, St. Gregory of Tours,
chronicler and bishop, was born.
(MC, 11/30/01)
538-552 Introduction of Buddhism to Japan from Korea.
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 214)
538-600 Buddhist missionaries introduced the art of
flower arranging to Japan. The 1st school of flower arranging, ikenobo,
was founded by Ono no Imoko in the early 7th century. Ikebana became
the umbrella name for the schools of flower arranging.
(SFEC, 4/23/00, Z1 p.2)
541-543 Plague swept Asia Minor.
(AM, 11/04, p.38)
541-750 The beginning of a pandemic of plague that
swirled around the Mediterranean for more than two centuries. It killed
as many as 40 million people and weakened the Byzantine Empire. "The
bodies of the sick were covered with black pustules... the symptoms of
immediate death," wrote Procopius, historian of the Byzantine Emperor
Justinian. At its peak in Constantinople, he reported, the plague
killed 10,000 people a day.
(NG, 5/88, p.678)
542 The St. Columbas monastery was
founded on Iona. [see 563]
(SSFC, 8/12/01, p.T8)
544 In India about this time
Pulakeshin I instituted the Chalukyan kingdom and his son established
Vatapi, identified as Badami, as the capital.
(http://tinyurl.com/mdkhf)
546 Colmcille, an Irish saint,
founded a monastery at Derry.
(SFC, 12/1/97, p.A14)
546 Totila the Goth besieged Rome.
(PTA, 1980, p.120)
547 St. Benedict (b.450),
Italian monk, died. He lived for years as a hermit near the ruins of
Nero's palace above Subiaco, 40 miles east of Rome. He established the
monastery of Monte Cassino, the founding house of the Benedictine
order. His rules and standards of communal life are known as the rules
of St. Benedict.
(V.D.-H.K.p.68)
548 In Ireland St. Kieran founded
a monastery at Clonmacnoise, an Irish phrase meaning "the meadow of the
sons of Nos."
(SFEC, 8/1/99, p.T8)
549 Jerusalem held to a Jan 6 date
for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus until this year. In the
end the West added the Epiphany and the East added the Dec 25 nativity
to their liturgical calendars.
(WSJ, 12/18/98, p.W15)
550 Native peoples in southwest
Colorado began building pit houses. Found the world over, these are
rooms dug in the ground with roofs of mud and logs. To get in or out,
people used a ladder through a hole in the roof that doubled as a smoke
vent-unpleasant for humans but a good way to keep animals out. You can
see several excavated pit houses at the National Park.
(HN, 2/11/97)
550 Aryabhata (b.476), Indian
astronomer and mathematician, died. The Aryabhatiya, an astronomical
treatise, is the magnum opus and only extant work of Aryabhata.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryabhata)
c550 Japanese rulers allow their
subjects to practice the Buddhist faith.
(ATC, p.50)
550 Persians reasserted control
over all of what is now Afghanistan. Revolts by various Afghan tribes
followed.
(www.afghan-web.com/history/)
550-577 The Northern Qi dynasty ruled in China. A
wall parallel to the Great Wall in the Jinshanling area is attributed
to their rule.
(SFC, 2/9/06, p.E4)
550-730 Ancient Turkic people flourished in Mongolia
during this period.
(Arch, 1/06, p.19)
550-1200 The period of Irish Monasticism.
(NGM, 5/77)
552 Jul 10, Origin of Armenian
calendar.
(MC, 7/10/02)
552 Aug 5, In Italy snow fell in
the town of Panicale in Umbria. The Church of the Virgin of Snows
commemorated the rare event.
(SFEM, 10/12/97, p.49)
552 Agents from Byzantium
impersonating monks smuggled silkworms and mulberry leaves out of China
in hollow canes.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R50)(Econ, 8/23/08, p.51)
553-578 Moon-Jaguar, the tenth Mayan ruler of Copan,
reigned over this period.
(Nat. Hist., 4/96, p.28)
554 Aug 14, Ravenna became the
seat of the Byzantine military governor in Italy.
(MC, 8/14/02)
555 Jun 7, Vigilius ended his
reign as Catholic Pope (537-555).
(PTA, 1980, p.118)(SC, 6/7/02)
556 Feb 21, Maximianus van
Ravenna, bishop (Basilica S Stefano), died.
(MC, 2/21/02)
556 Apr 16, Pelagius I began his
reign as Catholic Pope.
(HN, 4/16/98)
c556 Dionysius Exiguus, Scythian
monk, died. He devised the current system of reckoning the Christian
era.
(WUD, 1994, p.405)
558 May 7, The dome of the church
of St. Sophia in Constantinople collapsed. Its immediate rebuilding was
ordered by Justinian.
(HN, 5/7/99)
560 Emperor Justinian about this
time returned the treasure of Jerusalem, plundered by the Romans in
70AD, to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
(SFC, 10/23/06, p.A15)
561 Mar 4, Pelagius I, Italian
Catholic Pope (556-61), died.
(PTA, 1980, p.120)
561 Jul, John III was consecrated
Pope.
(PTA, 1980, p.122)
562 Tikal in Guatemala was
conquered possibly by the Mayans of Calakmul city in Mexico. Calakmul
is one of the largest of Mayan cities with more than 6,000 structures.
It was the capital of a widespread hegemony of Lowland Maya kingdoms
during the Late Classic (600-900).
(AM, May/Jun 97 suppl. p.G)(Arch, 9/00, p.27)
562 Mayans from the city of Ah
Witz Na, in what is now Belize, conquered Tikal.
(SFEC, 6/1/97, p.T3)
563 The Irish Catholic monk
Columba (Colum Cille) arrived on the Scottish island of Iona. [see 542]
(SFC, 2/10/99, p.A10)(AM, 7/01, p.51)
563-594 In northern Peru a 30-year mega el nino
weather period began that caused major flooding in areas populated by
the Moche people.
(PBS, 10/1/06)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moche)
565 Aug 22, St. Columba reported
seeing a monster in Loch Ness.
(MC, 8/22/02)
565 Nov 14, Justinian I, [Petrus
Sabbatius], Byzantine emperor (527-565), died at age 83.
(Baker, 2002)
570 Jan 19, Mohammed (d.632), "The
Prophet", founder of Islam and speaker in the “Koran,” was born into
the Quraysh tribe in Makkah. He was orphaned at an early age and found
work in a trade caravan. He married a wealthy widow and this gave him
the freedom to visit Mount Hira each year to think. His birthday is
observed on the 12th day of Rabi ul'Awwal, the 3rd month of the lunar
calendar, in a festival known as Mawlid-al-Nabi. The Koran was probably
not fixed for the 1st two centuries after the emergence of Islam.
(ATC, p.59)(SFC, 7/6/98, p.A14)(WSJ, 11/15/01,
p.A16)(Econ, 4/28/07, p.97)
573 Aug 20, Gregory of Tours was
selected as the bishop of Tours.
(MC, 8/20/02)
573 In Copan the Rosalila
structure on the Acropolis culminated a period of intense construction
(NG, 12/97, p.92)
574 Jul 13, Pope John III died.
(PTA, 1980, p.122)
574 Prince Shotoku was born in
Japan. He later brought the Kongo family from Korea to Osaka and had
them build a Buddhist temple. The temple took 15 years to build and the
Kongo family became established as the premier temple builders in Japan.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R46)
575 Jun 2, Benedict I began his
reign as Catholic Pope.
(SC, 6/2/02)
578 Oct 5, Justinus II, Byzantine
emperor (565-78), died.
(MC, 10/5/01)
578 The family business Kongo Gumi
was founded in Japan by a Korean in Osaka to build Buddhist temples.
The company continued to flourish in 2004 as general builder.
(Econ, 12/18/04, p.104)
579 Jul 30, Pope Benedict I died.
(PTA, 1980, p.124)
580 Pope Pelagius left married
priests alone if they kept their wives and children from inheriting
church property.
(SFC, 3/16/02, p.A3)
580-728 Pallava kings ruled in southern India, later
Tamil Nadu state. The port town of Mahabalipuram was the capital of
their ancient kingdom.
(AP, 9/21/05)
581-618 The Sui Dynasty ruled in China. The "Sui Shu"
are the annals of the Sui Dynasty and mention of cormorant fishing in
Japan is made.
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 214)(SFEC, 8/11/96, Z1,
p.6)(NH, 10/98, p.69)
587 Nov 28, Treaty of Andelot:
King Guntram took cousin Childebert II as heir.
(MC, 11/28/01)
590 Feb 7, Pelagius II, Gothic
Pope (579-90), died from plague.
(MC, 2/7/02)
590 Sep 3, St. Gregory I began his
reign as Pope. Gregory the Great reigned until 604 and established the
popes as the de facto rulers of central Italy, and strengthened the
papal primacy over the Churches of the West.
(CU, 6/87)(MC, 9/3/01)
590 Pope Gregory said he spotted
an angel atop Hadrian’s Mausoleum. The site was then reconfigured as a
fortress called Castel Sant’Angelo. In 1925 it became a national museum.
(SSFC, 5/1/05, p.F8)
592-710 The Asuka Period of Japanese history.
(www.japan-101.com)
593-622 The Regency of Prince Shotoku on Japan.
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 214)
594 In Peru a 30-year drought
began about this time that followed years of flooding in areas
populated by the Moche people.
(PBS, 10/1/06)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moche)
598-658 Chu Suilang: Tang Dynasty calligrapher.
(SFC, 5/14/03, p.D1)
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