c300 The Berbers from North Africa rule Ghana 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)
c300 In India 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)
c300 Iron-using people settled at Zimbabwe in central Africa.
(Enc. of Africa, 1976, p.169)
300-400 http://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, describes
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 A.D., 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)
c300-400 Nicholas of Myra (later Demre) reported as bishop to the Byzantine
church in Constantinople.
(WSJ, 8/31/98, p.B1)
c300-400 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)
c300-400 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)
c300-400 Kuqa on the silk road in western China was a Buddhist center
of learning.
(SFEC, 11/22/98, p.T5)
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.
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 214)
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)
c300-1300 The Anasazis inhabited the Canyon de Chelly and the Canyon
del Muerto in northeast Arizona over this period.
(SFEC, 11/29/98, p.T8)
301 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)
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.
(MC, 5/1/02)
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 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.
(WUD, 1994, p.425)(SFC, 9/19/98, p.C1)
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 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)(MC, 10/28/01)
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.
(CU, 6/87)(ITV, 1/96, p.58)(SFEC, 7/13/97, p.T13)
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)
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)
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)
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. (CU, 6/87)(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)
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)
330-379 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)
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.
(WSJ, 12/18/98, p.W15)(AP, 12/25/99)
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.
(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?-397 Ambrose, later Bishop of Milan (374-397). 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)
c340-420 St. Jerome [348-420], Christian ascetic and biblical scholar.
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)
347 May 14, Pachomius, Egyptian monastery founder, abbot (Coenobieten),
died.
(MC, 5/14/02)
c347-407 St. John Chrysostom. He was the ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
(WUD, 1994 p.264)
c350 In Teotihuacan 3 men were buried amid lavish goods. 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)
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
(V.D.-H.K.92)(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)
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)
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 leveled the Egyptian Port of Alexandria
and some 50,000 died.
(MC, 7/21/02)(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.18)
366-384 Pope St. Damasus located martyr’s graves and had composed verse
inscriptions for their tombs. He transformed the catacombs into popular
and venerated shrines.
(ITV, 1/96, p.58)
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)
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)
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 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, 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
out of Ireland.
(HN, 3/17/99)(HNQ, 3/17/01)
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]
(SFC, 7/14/96, p.T1)
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)
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, 5/25/98)
400 By this time the Chinese had developed rigid metal stirrups
which gave the rider more security in the saddle.
(ATC, p.11)
c400 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.
(K.I.-365D, p.107)
c400 In Ireland the Celtic ruler Niall of the Nine Hostages lived
around this time.
(SFC, 7/14/97, p.E1)
c400 Kalidassa wrote the great Indian literature: "Kumara’s Fight
Against the Demon Taraka."
(ATC, p.33)
c400 Nubia faded as a independent civilization.
(MT, 10/95, p.10-11)
c400 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 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)
c400-500 The Jutes hailed from Jutland, at the northern tip of the Danish
peninsula and migrated to Britain in the 5th century as part of the 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)
c400-500 In Ashkalon, Israel, the bones 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)
c400-500 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)
400-500 In Sri Lanka the usurper King Kasyapa I founded the city of
Sigiriya around a 550-foot outcrop on top of which he built his castle.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.D)
c400-600 The large Buddha at Bamiyan, Afghanistan, 170 feet tall, was
constructed. 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)
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)
c405 St. Patrick, aged 16, was sold in Northern Ireland as a slave by
King Niall’s men.
(WSJ, 3/15/02, p.W15)
405 The Armenian alphabet was invented.
(MH, 12/96)
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, patriarch, died.
(MC, 9/14/01)
408 May 1, Theodosius II succeeded to the throne of Constantinople.
(HN, 5/1/98)
408-450 Theodosius II was emperor of Rome.
(MH, 12/96)
410 Aug 24, Rome was overrun by the Visigoths, an event that symbolized
the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Germanic barbarians sacked Rome.
(V.D.-H.K.p.87) (AP, 8/24/97)(HN, 8/24/98)
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)
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, 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 Augustine died in Hippo 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.
(V.D.-H.K.p.94)(SSFC, 7/21/02, p.M2)(SFC, 10/12/02, p.A16)
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.
(Usenet, 3/4/97)(PTA, 1980, p.86)
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)
c432 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)
c439 In Mauretania (now northern Morocco and Algeria) Roman rule
ceased in the mid 5th century 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 The Hun invasions of India began.
(ATC, p.33)
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)
c450-547 St. Benedict was born in Norcia, central Italy. 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.106)
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)
c451 John Nestorius, former Patriarch of Constantinople, died. 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 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 Jun 16, Rome was sacked by the Vandal army.
(V.D.-H.K.p.88)(HN, 6/16/98)
455 Jul 9, Avitus, the Roman military commander in Gaul, became
Emperor of the West.
(HN, 7/9/98)
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. He was an English missionary and
bishop of Ireland.
(SFC, 3/15/97, p.A16)(WUD, 1994, p.1057)(AP, 3/17/98)
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)
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 Feb 3, Leo I, Byzantine Emperor (457-74), died.
(MC, 2/3/02)
474 Nov 17, Leo II, Byzantine Emperor, died.
(MC, 11/17/01)
476 Aug 28, A barbarian general overthrew the last of the Roman
emperors. The Western Roman Empire was formally disbanded and emperor Romulus
August was ousted. [see Sep 4]
(ATC, p.32)(MC, 8/28/01)
476 Sep 4, Romulus Augustulus, last Roman emperor in West, was
deposed. [see Aug 28]
(MC, 9/4/01)
477 Harisena, emperor of Central India dies.
(LSA., p. 12)
480 Hun invasions began to weaken the Gupta Dynasty in India.
(ATC, p.33)
c480-524 Boethius born in Rome and acquires an important post under
the Ostrogoth King Theodoric. He later fell into disfavor and was imprisoned.
In prison he wrote his famous The Consolation of Philosophy.
(V.D.-H.K.p.113)
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)
498 Nov 19, Anastasius II, Pope (496-98), (Dante Inferno XI, 8-9),
died.
(MC, 11/19/01)
c500 The Ridgeway, the oldest road in Europe, wanders along empty,
open ridges over Wiltshire’s Marlborough Downs in England. Fifteen centuries
ago invading Saxons gave this ancient track its present name, `The Ridgeway`,
but even then it was 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 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)
c500 The Manteno people inhabited the area of northern Ecuador.
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
c500 Nubians turn 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)
c500 The Indian monk Bodhidharma hit on the idea of Zen after
staring at a wall for nine years.
(WSJ, 10/23/96, p.A1)
c500 In Peru a Moche pyramid from 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)
c500-600 Arabs brought backed home from India the numerals we refer
to as Arabic numbers.
(SFEC, 1/23/00, Z1 p.2)
500-600 In Egypt St. Catherine's Monastery was built by Emperor Justinian
at Mt. Sinai at the reputed site where Moses encountered the burning bush.
(SFEC, 2/27/00, p.A20)
c500-600 In England Gildas of the 6th century was the only historian
whose work survived. He made no mention of King Arthur.
(WSJ, 3/27/98, p.W10)
500-600 The rulers of Ghana stored grain in mud huts on high, steep
land.
(ATC, p.106)
c500-600 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)
500-700 Babylonian earthenware demon bowl from Seleucia-on-Tigris dates
to the 6th or 7th cent. CE.
(MT, 3/96, p.5)
500-700 The clay Lydenburg Heads, the earliest know sculptures from
southern Africa, were on exhibit at the Guggenheim from Cape Town.
(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)
500-800 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)
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)
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, King of Ostrogoths, died.
(MC, 8/30/01)
527 Apr 1, Justinianus became the emperor of Byzantium. [see Apr
4]
(OTD)(MC, 4/1/02)
527 Apr 4, In Constantinople, Justin, seriously ill, crowned his
nephew Justinian as his co-emperor. [see Apr 1]
(HN, 4/4/99)
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)
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.
(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 18, The Nika uprising at Constantinople failed and 30-40,000
died. Justinian and his wife Theodora 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)(MC, 1/18/02)
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)
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, St. Sofia church in Constantinople was consecrated.
The Hagia Sophia (meaning "the holy wisdom" in Greek) was built by Emperor
Justinian.
(Sky, 4/97, p.55)(MC, 12/27/01)
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)
541-750 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)
546 Colmcille, an Irish saint, founded a monastery at Derry.
(SFC, 12/1/97, p.A14)
547 St. Benedict died.
(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 Persians reasserted control over all of what is now
Afghanistan. Revolts by various Afghan tribes followed.
(www.afghan, 5/25/98)
c550 Japanese rulers allow their subjects to practice the Buddhist
faith.
(ATC, p.50)
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)
550-1200 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.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R50)
553-578 Moon-Jaguar, the tenth Mayan ruler of Copan, reigned over this
period.
(Nat. Hist., 4/96, p.28)
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)
561 Mar 3, Pelagius I, Italian Catholic Pope (547-51, 556-61),
died.
(SC, 3/3/02)
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.
(AM, May/Jun 97 suppl. p.G)
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)
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", Islamic founder (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. [see Aug 30, 580]
(ATC, p.59)(SFC, 7/6/98, p.A14)(WSJ, 11/15/01, p.A16)(MC, 1/19/02)
573 In Copan the Rosalila structure on the Acropolis culminated
a period of intense construction
(NG, 12/97, p.92)
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 In Japan Prince Shotuku brought a 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)
580 Pope Pelagius left married priests alone if they kept their
wives and children from inheriting church property.
(SFC, 3/16/02, p.A3)
581-618 The Sui Dynasty ruled in China. The first Great Wall was begun
during the Sui Dynasty. 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, zone 1, 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)
593-622 The Regency of Prince Shotoku on Japan.
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 214)
598-658 Chu Suilang: Tang Dynasty calligrapher.
(SFC, 5/14/03, p.D1)