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Tsu Ch’ung Chi values pi = 3.1416

Depopulation of the countryside in the Roman Empire due to low agricultural yields after centuries of exploitation of the topsoil

An African priest named Arius denies the equality of the Son and the Father (thus clashing with the Principle of the Trinity) and affirms that Christ was created by God as the first creature; Arianism is born.

In Britain, the invasions of the Saxons, a Germanic population, are repelled.

Massacre of Christians in Egypt

Emperor Probus repelled the invasions of the Alamanni and Franks in Gaul

The western part of the Roman Empire suffers the incursion of the Alamanni, the Franks and other Germanic peoples who devastate Gaul, Spain and northern Italy.

Zenobia’s rebel army and Aurelian’s imperial army clash in Asia Minor; the rebels are defeated and retreat into Palmyra. The city falls, and Zenobia seeks refuge among the Persians but is taken prisoner by the Romans. The integrity of the Roman Empire is restored once

Aurelian again pushes back the Alamanni, who had advanced as far as the Po, then faces the Vandals who have reached Piacenza, but is defeated.

Zenobia conquers Egypt and sets her sights on central power. She blackmails Rome with grain produced in the Nile Valley. Aurelian refuses, and Zenobia finds herself organizing a march on Rome.

As proposed by Zenobia, leader of the “Saracens” of the eastern part of the Roman Empire, Wahballat establishes himself as “Emperor” in the eastern part of the Empire, while Aurelian takes the title of Augustus and controls the western part.

Claudius II Gothicus, Aurelian, Tacitus, Probus, Carus and his sons Carinus and Numerian succeed one another as Roman Emperors

The Roman general Odaenathus is assassinated on the initiative of one of his own men. Upon his death, Zenobia inherits all of her husband’s power.

Orontes River, present-day Syria: Odenathus defeats the Persians and restores a balance on the eastern front that will hold for three centuries to come.

Roman Empire: the situation is so critical that the Emperor himself is taken prisoner by the king of Persia, Shapur I, after a military defeat. It will take the intervention of Odaenathus to defeat the Persians and restore balance on the eastern front.

Infiltrations of Franks, Alamanni and Goths in Spain, Northern Italy, Asia Minor

Emperor Decius falls near Nicopolis (in present-day Bulgaria) during a military campaign against the Goths

Gallienus is Roman Emperor

Palestine. The Mishnah is born: a collection, organization, and sometimes reformulation of thousands of teachings and precepts on Jewish worship and criminal, civil, and marital law.

Peak of Buddhism in China during the Han Dynasty

Maximum expansion of the Roman Empire: from Britain and North Africa to Dacia to Armenia and Georgia. East of Cyrenaica, Syracuse, Greece, Greek is spoken; in the rest of the empire, Latin is spoken.

Mississippi Plain and the eastern coast of North America, now the Eastern United States. Corn cultivation arrives from Mexico, much later than in Mexico due to the barrier of the North American deserts. And even later than in Eurasia. Bean cultivation, again from Mexico, only

The Cult of Isis (or Queen of Heaven, or Star of the Sea), wife of Osiris and mother of Horus, is at its peak; the Cult rivals Christianity, but will later be incorporated in the form of the adoration of the Virgin Mary.

The Cult of Mithras is at its peak: an all-male sect; Mithras was born on December 25th and this date will be incorporated into the Christian tradition.

Palmyra, now Syria, was elevated to the rank of Colony, and therefore placed on a par with the cities of the Roman metropolis.

Caracalla is Roman Emperor (office of Augustus held jointly with Septimius Severus)

Pertinax, Didius Julianus succeed one another as Roman Emperors

In Britain the peoples of the North cross the Antonine Wall and are then pushed back

Commodus is Roman Emperor

Bishop Irenaeus of Lyons refers to the Gospel of Judas in his work “Against Heresies”

Bishop Erenaeus declares the Gospel of Judas heretical and tries to limit the number of sacred texts; this double operation serves to make the Christian religion more digestible for the Roman Empire by placing the blame for the crucifixion on the Jews (Judas in the

Irenaeus, bishop of Lyon, a former student of St. Polycarp, speaks of the Quadriform Gospel; this is the first reference to the four canonical gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John).

Some Dacian tribes invade Greece, the Roman army manages to disperse them

The first barbarian invasion: Quadi and Marcomanni, Germanic peoples, cross the Danube and carry out raids in Rhaetia (Bavaria and Switzerland), Noricum (Austria) and Pannonia (Hungary); Marcus Aurelius manages to drive them back beyond the Danube.

The Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius sends an official delegation to the capital of the Celestial Empire: China, specifically to the city of Xian.

The Plague of Antoninus. Smallpox reaches Rome. It will kill millions of Roman citizens in just 15 years. Its origins are in Han Dynasty China, where it rages as a dual contagion: smallpox and measles, with a mortality rate of 24%. It is the first

Yucatan. The “Classic Maya States” thrive. Cities like Tikal, Calakmul, and Palenque are dominated by royal temples, ballgame courts, images of war and humiliated prisoners, and complex calendars. All of this is absent in Teotihuacan from 300 AD onward, which, however, shows no evidence of

Ptolemy publishes Harmonic, a text on music, in which he examines the nature of sounds from a mathematical point of view.

The so-called Muratorian Canon, the oldest known document containing the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, was written; it was discovered in 1740 at the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan by Ludovico Antonio Muratori.

The province of Judea, now that the revolt has been put down, is permanently garrisoned by two legions: the III Cyrenaica and the X Fretensis in Judea (while the III Gallica and the VI Ferrata are a little further north, in present-day Lebanon). The legions

The Romans defeated the insurgents in Israel, and Simon Bar-Cobah was executed. The revolt lasted about five years. The war’s effects were horrific: 985 villages and 50 fortresses were destroyed, with 580,000 victims, according to Cassius Dio, and many more perished from hunger and disease,

Israel. Second Jewish revolt led by Simon bar Kochba, who enjoys the recognition of Rabbi Aqiba.

The followers of John the Baptist retreated to the north of present-day Iraq where they still continue the cult today.

In India a great revolution in Buddhist thought takes place: the Mahayana system (Great Ferry) is born which opens the cult to lay people, not only to monks.

Hadrian is Roman Emperor

Death of John

Trajan is Roman Emperor

St. Evaristus of Bethlehem, Roman, martyr, is Pope. After him, 26 other Popes will follow, all martyred, up to St. Marcellus I, Roman, martyr (308 – 309)

Nerva is Roman Emperor

Britain. The northernmost reaches of England are abandoned by the Romans, as the legions are deployed to quell a revolt in Dacia (present-day Moldavia), at the other end of the Empire. The gigantic fort of Inchtuthill in Scotland is dismantled and abandoned just four years

Claudius Ptolemy publishes Geography

Roman Legions in the British Isles are reduced from 4 to 3

The Romans expand north and settle in Scotland as well

Domitian is Roman Emperor

Titus is Roman Emperor

Pliny the Elder (so called even though he was only 56 years old at the time) also died in the eruption of Vesuvius. In his Naturalis Historia, Pliny the Elder discusses how comets should be interpreted based on the shape of their tails: the Pagonias

St. Cletus, Roman, martyr, is Pope

Britain. Territories of the Brigantes, northern border of Roman territory. The territories of the brigand Venutius, husband of the former Roman ally, Queen Cartimandua, are attacked and conquered by the Roman legions, who reach what will become Hadrian’s Wall and extend the network of forts

The apostle Matthew wrote his gospel in Greek; the gospel that has come down to us is actually an anonymous work, probably written posthumously.

Rome. Construction of the Colosseum began in 70 AD, and was completed in 80. A recent rereading of the now-lost metal letters through the attachment holes has shown that the Flavian Amphitheater was built with the spoils collected during the Jewish War.

Menelaus of Alexandria investigates the geometry of the sphere

Titus captures Jerusalem, destroys the Temple, and causes the Jewish diaspora. Jerusalem is entrusted to the Tenth Legion, which is stationed in the city.

Luke, a converted Christian, wrote his gospel in Syria or Greece

Middle East. The Roman spoils from the sack of Jerusalem are such that the value of gold throughout Syria drops to half its former value. Part of the spoils will go towards the construction of the Colosseum in Rome.

Jerusalem. The city is unrecognizable. Calculating the losses is difficult today. Josephus speaks of 1.1 million victims. But, given the city’s size, it is estimated that no more than 150,000 people lived there. Regardless of the exact count, the fate of the city and its

Jerusalem. After gaining control of the city, at least on the surface, they descend underground to hunt down the last die-hard rebels and their leaders. Among them, they capture John of Giscala, who, prostrate with hunger, begs the Romans for mercy. Simon bar Giora, however,

Jerusalem. Titus extinguishes the flames and calls a council of war of his general staff. It includes Tiberius Julius Alexander, Prince Sextus’s right-hand man; Vettulenus Cerialis, commander of the Fifth Macedonica; Larcius Lepidus Supulcianus, at the head of the Tenth Fretensus; Tittius Frugi, who leads

8th of the month Av. Jerusalem. Titus orders the Temple gates set on fire. As the silver plating melts, the fire spreads.

Jerusalem. During the siege, one episode saw the Romans overwhelmed by yet another surprise Jewish counteroffensive; only commander Titus and a few others held their ground. The Jews were again repelled, thanks to the intervention of the bulk of the Tenth Fretensis. The battle nonetheless

Bethennabris, on the Jordan River, opposite Jericho, now Jordan. After several clashes with the Romans, the Jews retreat from Bethennabris toward Jericho, but the Jordan River blocks their path. A rare pitched battle ensues in the Jewish revolt. 15,000 fall under the Romans’ fire. The

Britain. Territories of the Brigantes, northern border of Roman territory. The Brigantes’ queen, Cartimandua, is an ally of the Romans, but her husband, Venutius, has been the rebels’ focal point in the region from the beginning. Venutius seizes the opportunity of the internal civil war

Vespasian is Roman Emperor

Galba, Otho, Vitellius succeed one another as Roman Emperors

Alexandria, Egypt: Hero’s Aeolipilius creates an object (without any practical purpose) that rotates thanks to the emission of steam generated by fire in contact with water; it is the first steam engine and the first mechanism that extracts mechanical work from fire (Third Fire); automobiles

There are 1 to 2 million hunter-gatherers, mainly in Australia, the Americas and Africa, while farmers already number as many as 250 million.

Gamala, Golan Heights, present-day Israel. The Romans killed 4,000 besieged soldiers, and over 5,000 (according to Josephus) threw themselves from the cliff to avoid capture alive. Gamala resisted the Empire for a month. Recent excavations have uncovered an unprecedented quantity of darts and ballistae, testifying

Taricheae (or Tarichea), eastern Galilee, present-day Israel. Titus leads the charge against the Galilean center, his horse being killed under him. This is typical of Titus’s recklessness, and it is an event always regarded by the Romans as an incredible act of heroism in battle

Jotapata (or Iotapata), Galilee, now Israel. After a 47-day siege, the Romans entered the city and devastated it. The death toll reached 40,000. It was the final act in a series of clashes, city by city, involving incredible subterfuge and cunning, such as sacks of

Great Jewish revolt to drive out the Romans who, after reorganizing, counterattacked, occupied the territory and destroyed the Second Temple of Jerusalem, of which today only the Western Wall remains (The Wailing Wall)

John the Apostle wrote the first nucleus of his Gospel; the Gospel that has come down to us is actually an anonymous work, probably written posthumously.