Teil VIII – 227 CE bis 379 CE

230 – 235 n. Chr. – Italien – Pontian (oder Pontianus) war vom 21. Juli 230 bis 28. September 235 Papst. Von ist etwas mehr bekannt Pontian als von seinen Vorgängern, anscheinend aus einer verlorenen päpstlichen Chronik, die dem Verfasser von zur Verfügung stand der liberianische Bischofskatalog von Rom aus dem vierten Jahrhundert.
Während seines Pontifikats endete das Schisma des Hippolytus. Pontian und andere Kirchenführer, darunter Hippolytus, wurden vom Kaiser verbannt Maximinus Thrax nach Sardinien und traten infolge dieses Urteils am 25. oder 28. September 235 n. Chr. Zurück. Es ist nicht bekannt, wie lange er im Exil blieb, aber laut Liber Pontificalis starb er aufgrund der unmenschlichen Behandlung, die er in den sardischen Minen erhalten hatte. Seine sterblichen Überreste wurden von Papst nach Rom gebracht Fabian und in der Katakombe von Callistus beigesetzt. Sein Epitaph wurde 1909 n. Chr. In der Krypta der heiligen Cäcilie in Rom in der Nähe der päpstlichen Krypta mit der , Aufschrift PONTIANOS EPISK, wiederentdeckt. („Pontianus, Bischof“) . Die Inschrift „MARTUR“ („Märtyrer“) war in einer anderen Hand hinzugefügt worden.
Sein Festtag war der 19. November, aber jetzt ist der 13. August, der er mit dem Anti-Papst Hippolytus teilt.
230 CE – Ägypten – Dass Weihnachten ursprünglich ein heidnisches Fest war, steht außer Zweifel. Die Jahreszeit und die Zeremonien, mit denen es noch gefeiert wird, beweisen seinen Ursprung. In Ägypten wurde zu dieser Zeit „um die Zeit der Wintersonnenwende“ der Sohn der Isis, der ägyptische Titel für die Königin des Himmels, geboren. Die Ägypter feierten diesen Tag als den Geburtstag ihres großen Erlösers Horus, des Ägyptischer Lichtgott und Sohn der „jungfräulichen Mutter“ und „Königin der Himmel“, Isis. Osiris, der Gott der Toten und der Unterwelt in Ägypten, der Sohn der „heiligen Jungfrau“, soll am 25. Dezember wiedergeboren worden sein.
Der Name, unter dem Weihnachten unter uns im Volksmund bekannt ist – der Weihnachtstag – beweist sofort seinen heidnischen und babylonischen Ursprung. „Yule“ ist der Chaldee-Name für ein „Kind“ oder „kleines Kind“; und als der 25. Dezember von unseren heidnischen angelsächsischen Vorfahren „Weihnachtstag“ oder „Kindertag“ und die Nacht davor „Mutternacht“ genannt wurde, lange bevor sie mit dem Christentum in Kontakt kamen , das beweist hinreichend seinen wahren Charakter. – Tertullian (A)
In der Enzyklopädie von Grolier heißt es: „Weihnachten ist das Fest der Geburt Jesu Christi, das am 25. Dezember gefeiert wird. Trotz des Glaubens an Christus, den die Geburtsgeschichten zum Ausdruck brachten, hat die Kirche erst im 4. Jahrhundert ein Fest zur Feier des Ereignisses begangen. seit 274 hatte unter Kaiser Aurelian Rom am 25. Dezember das Fest der „unbesiegbaren Sonne“ gefeiert. In der Ostkirche wurde der 6. Januar, ein Tag, der auch mit der Wintersonnenwende verbunden war, von vornherein bevorzugt. Im Laufe der Zeit fügte der Westen jedoch das östliche Datum als Dreikönigsfest hinzu, und der Osten fügte das westliche Weihnachtsdatum hinzu. “
Die Griechen feierten den 25. Dezember als Geburtstag von Herkules, dem Sohn des höchsten Gottes der Griechen, Zeus, durch die sterbliche Frau Alcmene. An diesem Tag wurde auch Bacchus geboren, der Gott des Weins und des Rummels unter den Römern (unter den Griechen als Dionysos bekannt).
Adonis, der unter den Griechen als „sterbender und aufsteigender Gott“ verehrt wurde, wurde auf wundersame Weise auch am 25. Dezember geboren. Seine Anbeter veranstalteten im Hochsommer ein jährliches Fest, das seinen Tod und seine Auferstehung darstellte. Die Zeremonien zu seinem Geburtstag sollen in derselben Höhle in Bethlehem stattgefunden haben, in der angeblich Jesus geboren wurde.
Die Skandinavier feierten den 25. Dezember als Geburtstag ihres Gottes Freyr, des Sohnes ihres höchsten Himmelsgottes Odin.
Die Römer beobachteten diesen Tag als Geburtstag des Sonnengottes Natalis Solis Invicti („Geburtstag von Sol dem Unbesiegbaren“). Es gab große Freude und alle Geschäfte waren geschlossen. Es gab Beleuchtung und öffentliche Spiele. Geschenke wurden ausgetauscht und die Sklaven wurden mit großen Freiheiten verwöhnt. Denken Sie daran, dies sind dieselben Römer, die später das Konzil von Nicäa Vorsitzten, (325 n. Chr.) was zur offiziellen christlichen Anerkennung der „Dreifaltigkeit“ als „wahre“ Natur Gottes und der „Tatsache“, dass Jesus geboren wurde, führte am 25. Dezember auch.

Weihnachten ist nicht das einzige christliche Fest, das aus dem alten Heidentum entlehnt und der Religion Jesu aufgezwungen wurde. Es gibt auch Ostern, das Johannesfest, die heilige Kommunion, die Verkündigung der Jungfrau, die Annahme der Jungfrau und viele andere, die ihre Wurzeln in der alten heidnischen Anbetung haben.
230 – 237 CE – Türkei – Castinus wird Bischof von Byzanz.
234 – 304 CE – Syrien – Porphyr wird in Tyrus oder Batanaea in Syrien als Malchus („König“) geboren, aber sein Lehrer in Athen, Cassius, gab ihm den Namen Porphyrius (in Purpur gekleidet), eine scherzhafte Anspielung auf die Farbe des kaiserliche Gewänder. Bei Longinus studierte er Grammatik und Rhetorik. 262 n. Chr. Ging er nach Rom, angezogen vom Ruf des Plotin , und widmete sich sechs Jahre lang dem Studium des Neuplatonismus. Nachdem er sich durch Überarbeitung die Gesundheit verletzt hatte, zog er für fünf Jahre nach Sizilien. Bei seiner Rückkehr nach Rom hielt er Vorlesungen über Philosophie und bemühte sich, die obskuren Lehren des inzwischen verstorbenen Plotin (Plotin) für das gewöhnliche Verständnis verständlich zu machen. Sein angesehenster Schüler war Lamblichus, der sich in der Frage der Theurgie von Porphyr unterschied. In seinen späteren Jahren heiratete er Marcella, eine Witwe mit sieben Kindern und begeisterte Philosophiestudentin. Über sein Leben ist wenig mehr bekannt, und das Datum seines Todes ist ungewiss.
Porphyr ist als gewalttätiger Gegner des Christentums und Verteidiger des Heidentums bekannt. Von seinem Adversus Christianas (Gegen die Christen) in fünfzehn Büchern, dem vielleicht wichtigsten seiner Werke, sind nur noch Fragmente übrig. Gegenabhandlungen wurden von Eusebius von Cäsarea, Apollinarius (oder Apollinaris) von Laodizea, Methodius von Olymp und Macarius von Magnesia verfasst, aber alle diese sind verloren. Porphyrs Ansicht über das Buch Daniel, dass es das Werk eines Schriftstellers in der Zeit von Antiochus Epiphanes war, wird von Hieronymus gegeben. Es gibt keinen Beweis für die Behauptung von Sokrates, dem Kirchenhistoriker, und Augustinus, dass Porphyr einst ein Christ war.
Er schrieb auch viel über Religion, Philosophie und Musiktheorie; und produzierte eine Biographie seines Lehrers Plotin. Sein berühmtestes existierendes Buch handelt von Pythagoras, genannt Vita Pythagorae oder Leben von Pythagoras , nicht zu verwechseln mit dem gleichnamigen Buch von Iamblichus.

235 – 238 n. Chr. – Italien – Maximinus Thrax regiert als römischer Kaiser mit Aufständen von Magnus und Quartinus . Maximinus Thrax wurde der römische Kaiser, der entschlossen war, die Führer der römischen Kirche anzugreifen. Er verhaftete sowohl Hippolytus (217 – 235 n. Chr.) Als auch Pontian und deportierte sie nach Sardinien. Pontian abdankte am 28. September 235 n. Chr. Und wurde damit der erste Papa von Rom, der dies tat. Dies rettete jedoch nicht sein Leben. Beide Papas starben kurz nach einer harten Behandlung auf Sardinien, das als Insel des Todes bekannt war . Einige Kirchenhistoriker haben versucht, einige seiner Schriften von Hippolytus zu lösen und sie einer anderen Hand zuzuweisen.
235 – 236 n. Chr. – Italien – Anterus , ein Grieche, wurde Papa von Rom und starb im folgenden Jahr eines natürlichen Todes. Papa Donatus von Karthago exkommunizierte Papa Privatus von Lambaesis auf der Afrikasynode. Papa Fabian aus Rom unterstützte diese Aktion später.
236 – 250 n. Chr. – Italien – Fabian , ein Römer, wird Papa von Rom. Kaiser Thrax belästigte diesen Papa nicht, während Kaiser Gordian III. Und Kaiser Philipp der Araber ihm ebenfalls Sympathie entgegenbrachten. Fabian hatte großen Einfluss auf die römischen Gerichte und nutzte diese Position, um die römische Kirche umzustrukturieren. Donatus, Papa von Karthago, verurteilte Privatus, Papa von Lambaesis, in einem afrikanischen Rat mit Unterstützung des Papa von Rom. Die römische Kirche spricht von einer großen Kirche mit einer einzigen Glaubensregel, die Extremität und Exzentrizität meidet. Die römisch-orthodoxe Kirche verbot die gnostischen, marcionitischen und montanistischen Sekten des Christentums.
237 – 242 n. Chr. – Türkei – Eugenius I. wird Bischof von Byzanz.

238 CE – Italien – Römische Themen in Afrika Aufstand gegen den Kaiser Maximin und wählte als Kaiser ihre Prokonsul Marcus Antonius Gordianus Africanus , 80. Ein reicher Nachkomme des Gracchi und dem Kaiser Trajan , Gordianus Erträge öffentlichen Nachfrage dass er Erfolg Maximin . Der Senat und die meisten Provinzen unterstützen ihn, aber ein Anhänger von Maximinus belagert Gordianus für 36 Tage in Karthago. Gordianus begeht Selbstmord bei der Nachricht, dass sein Sohn und Namensvetter Gordian II , 46, tot ist, nachdem er gestorben ist, um Rom vor einer Armee zu verteidigen, die treu Maximinus bleibt .
Nach dem Tod von Gordian I und Gordian II und dem Zusammenbruch ihrer Rebellion gegen Maximinus Thrax im April 238 befand sich der Senat in einer äußerst schwierigen Lage. Nachdem er den Kaiser Maximinus zum Staatsfeind erklärt hatte, musste er sich einer bevorstehenden Invasion stellen, da Maximinus an der Spitze seiner Armee bereits von seinem Winterquartier in Sirmium nach Italien eingereist war. Mit ungewöhnlicher Schnelligkeit wählte der Senat in einer Notfallsitzung im Tempel des Jupiter Capitolinus zwei Kaiser, Clodius Pupienus und D. Caelius Calvinus Balbinus .

Die Prätorianergarde, frustriert über die Wahl der Senatoren des Senators besorgt, dass sie von kassiert Pupienus und und durch seinen deutschen Leibwächter ersetzt würden, der ihn aus Aquileia zurück begleitet hatte, marschierte auf den Palast, um einen Staatsstreich durchzuführen. Pupienus Nachdem von der Gefahr erfahren hatte, bat er Balbinus , den deutschen Leibwächter zu rufen. Balbinus seinerseits befürchtete, dass die ganze Angelegenheit inszenieren würde Pupienus , um ihn zu ermorden, lehnte ab, und es kam zu heftigen Auseinandersetzungen zwischen den beiden, als die Wache in mörderischer Wut in den Raum stürmte, beide Kaiser ergriff und schleppte sie zurück in ihr Lager, wo sie inmitten eines Hagels von Schwertschlägen und Beleidigungen zu Tode gehackt wurden.
In der Zwischenzeit proklamierte die römische Bevölkerung den Enkel von Gordian I. zum Kaiser Marcus Antonius Gordianus III. , Der damals 14 Jahre alt war. Die Prätorianer verschworen sich den Kaiser zu ermorden Maximinus Mitte Juni, um , die Prätorianergarde ernannte den jungen Gordianus zum alleinigen Kaiser und er begann eine sechsjährige Regierungszeit.

238 – 244 n. Chr. – Italien – Gordian III. Regiert Rom als Kaiser und lässt daraufhin die Politik der christlichen Verfolgung fallen.
240 – 272 n. Chr. – Persien (Iran) – Shapur I. regiert als der große König des sassanidischen Reiches.
240 n. Chr. – Italien – Sabinian versucht nach einem kurzlebigen Aufstand in Afrika, Rom als Kaiser zu regieren.
242 – 272 CE – Türkei – Titus wird Bischof von Byzanz.
244 n. Chr. – Iran – Der römische Kaiser Gordianus III. Treibt eine persische Armee über den Euphrat zurück und besiegt die Perser in der Schlacht von Resaena. Meutersoldaten ermorden den Kaiser auf Drängen des Arabers Marcus Julius Philippus . Sie proklamieren den Philippus- Kaiser, und er schließt einen schändlichen Frieden mit den Persern.

244 – 249 n. Chr. – Italien – Philipp der Araber wurde in der römischen Provinz Arabien im heutigen Dorf Shahba, etwa 90 km südöstlich von Damaskus, geboren. Das Dorf war zum Zeitpunkt der obskuren Philipps Geburt, obwohl er einmal Kaiser wurde, Philip die Gemeinde Philippopolis und begann eine wichtige Gebäude Kampagne umbenannt.
244 n. Chr. – Italien – Der römische Philosoph Plotin brachte die neoplatonische Lehre nach Rom, wo er eine Schule gründete. Er gilt als Begründer des Neuplatonismus. [Enc]
246 – 266 CE – Nubien (Sudan) – König Teqerideamani II regiert Nubien .
247 – 249 n. Chr. – Italien – Philipp Iunior, Sohn Philipps des Arabers , wurde zum Kaiser von Rom ernannt. Innerhalb von sechs Monaten nach Beginn seiner Regierungszeit hatte Philip seinen Sohn zum Cäsar und Erben ernannt. Drei Jahre später, im Sommer 247 n. Chr., Wurde der Junge Augustus und Mitherrscher genannt, obwohl er wahrscheinlich noch keine 10 Jahre alt war. Seine Mutter, Otacilia Severa, wurde zuletzt im Jahr 248 n. Chr. Auf Münzen genannt, was zu Spekulationen führte, dass sie in diesem Jahr gestorben sein könnte.
248 n. Chr. – Italien – Pacatianus , Iotapianus , Silbannacus und Sponsianus waren rivalisierende Antragsteller als Kaiser des Römischen Reiches gegen Philipp den Araber .

249 n. Chr. – Italien – Der in Pannonien geborene römische Befehlshaber Gaius Messius Quintus Traianus Decius (48) setzt einen Truppenaufstand in Moesia und Pannonien nieder. Loyale Truppen proklamieren den Decius Kaiser von und töten den Kaiser Philippus , der sich ihm in Verona widersetzt hat. Als die Nachricht von Philipps Niederlage und Tod Rom erreichte, ermordete die Prätorianergarde Philipps Sohn und Kollegen.
249 – 251 n. Chr. – Italien – Decius wurde zum römischen Kaiser für das Gebiet in Europa ernannt, das die Donau bedeckt. Decius leitet die erste umfassende Verfolgung von Christen ein, um die Religion und die Institutionen des alten Roms wiederherzustellen. Die Verfolgung bringt Märtyrer hervor, die als Heilige verehrt werden.
Ein möglicherweise schwerwiegender Aufstand brach aus, als Decius 250 n. Chr. Nicht in Rom war und gegen die Goten kämpfte. Julius Valens Licinianus , ebenfalls Mitglied der senatorischen Aristokratie mit Unterstützung der Bevölkerung, nahm das Purpur in der Hauptstadt des Imperiums. Es scheint eine relativ kurzlebige Machtübernahme gewesen zu sein, die in wenigen Tagen mit seiner Hinrichtung endete.
T. Julius Priscus , der Gouverneur von Mazedonien, ließ sich gegen Ende des Jahres 251 n. Chr. In Philippopolis auch zum Augustus proklamieren, wahrscheinlich mit gotischer Absprache. Der Senat erklärte ihn fast sofort zum Staatsfeind, als er sich für die Usurpation entschied. Er hat wahrscheinlich überlebt Decius , ist aber wahrscheinlich umgekommen, als Gallus Kaiser wurde.
250 n. Chr. – Italien – Die Schwarze Pest traf das Römische Reich, und in Rom gab es fünfhundert Todesfälle pro Tag. Bevor es 265 n. Chr. Endete, wurde ein Großteil des Reiches entvölkert. Es gibt einige Beweise, die die Behauptung stützen, dass die mongolischen Völker die Schwarze Pest mit ihrem westlichen Eindringen gebracht haben. Die Römer unter Kaiser Decius beschuldigten jedoch die Juden und Christen und begannen eine weitere Verfolgungssitzung. Fabian , Papa von Rom, ist einer der ersten, der hingerichtet wurde. Nur wenige Menschen werden hingerichtet, aber viele haben den Glauben verlassen.
250 – 330 CE – Italien – Iamblichus (Neoplatoniker) wird geboren. [>]
3. Jh. CE – Frankreich – Kybele (Cybele) war die höchste Gottheit unter den Galliern in der Stadt Lyon, die später Schauplatz eines Kultes der Schwarzen Madonna wurde. [p37MA]
250 – 950 CE – Mittelamerika – Die klassische Maya-Zeit beginnt. Die Architektur-, Mathematik-, Astronomie- und Kalenderwissenschaften entwickelten sich schnell. [$ 13]

251 – 253 n. Chr. – Italien – ein römischer Priester, Cornelius, wurde während der Flaute der Verfolgung unter Kaiser Decius und nachdem das Papsttum nach dem Papst St. mehr als ein Jahr lang vakant gewesen war, gewählt Fabian Martyrium von . Cornelius ‚ Pontifikat wurde durch ein Schisma kompliziert, dessen eine Ursache die Selbsternennung des römischen Priesters Novatian zum Anti-Papst war (der zweite in der päpstlichen Geschichte); und zweitens der Streit um die Haltung der Kirche gegenüber christlichen Abtrünnigen. Cornelius wurde von St. Cyprian, Bischof von Karthago, und vielen afrikanischen und östlichen Bischöfen unterstützt.
Als die christliche Verfolgung 253 n. Chr. , wurde Wieder aufgenommen Cornelius wurde nach Centumcellae verbannt, wo er entweder an Schwierigkeiten oder an Enthauptung starb. Einige seiner Briefe, darunter einige an Cyprian, sind erhalten. Sein Festtag wird bei Cyprian gehalten.

251 n. Chr. – Italien – Herennius Etruscus und Hostilian werden Kaiser von Rom. Decius und Herennius Etruscus , Sohn von Trebonianus Gallus , wurden die ersten römischen Kaiser, die von ausländischen Feinden auf dem Schlachtfeld getötet wurden.
Der Kaiser Decius und sein Sohn sterben im Kampf gegen die Goten auf sumpfigem Boden in der Dobrudscha. Die überlebenden Männer proklamierten den Trebonianus Gallus Kaiser , obwohl Decius ‚ junger Sohn Hostilian bereits in Rom die nominelle Macht innehatte. Sein tückischer General Gaius Vibius Trebonianus Gallus , 46, tritt als Kaiser auf, schließt Frieden mit den Goten, erlaubt ihnen, ihre Plünderung zu behalten, und bietet ihnen ein Bestechungsgeld an, nicht zurückzukehren. Dieser potenzielle Konflikt löste sich später in diesem Jahr auf, als ein virulenter Pestausbruch dem Jungen das Leben kostete und seine Mutter (die Augusta Herennia Etruscilla) abgesetzt wurde.
251 – 253 n. Chr. – Italien – Trebonianus Gallus und Volusianus regieren Rom als Mitkaiser. 252 n. Chr. Trebonianus Gallus Verhaftete Papa und sperrte Cornelius ihn ein. Später verbannte er ihn nach Centumcellae in der Nähe von Rom.
Während die Perser die Ostgrenze angriffen, kam es auch an der Nordgrenze zu Problemen. Gallus ‚ Nachfolger als Gouverneur von Ober-Moesia, Aemilius Aemilianus, weigerte sich, den von Goten den jährlichen Tribut zu zollen Gallus 251 n. Chr. Einigten . Als Vergeltung für den römischen Verstoß gegen den Friedensvertrag fielen die Goten erneut in die untere Donau ein. Aemilianus sammelte eine Armee und konnte die einfallenden Goten besiegen. Als Belohnung proklamierten ihn seine dankbaren Truppen als Kaiser. Er beraubte sofort das Truppengebiet und marschierte mit seiner Armee nach Rom. Um zu verhindern, dass Aemilianus Italien erreicht, Gallus und Volusianus versammelten eine Armee und marschierten nach Norden. Gallus forderte auch Publius Licinius Valerianus auf, Verstärkungen aus Deutschland nach Süden zu bringen, um sich seinen nach Norden marschierenden Streitkräften anzuschließen, aber sie kamen nie an. Die Gallus Armee von bewegte sich langsam und hatte Interamna erst im August 253 n. Chr. Erreicht, als sie erfuhren, dass Aemilianus bereits mit einer großen Streitmacht nach Italien gekommen war und sich rasch näherte. Als Niederlage befürchtete, Gallus davon erfuhr und eine meuterten und ermordeten sie die beiden Mitkaiser.

Centumcellae ist eine Stadt an der Via Aurelia, 4 Meilen nördlich von Cape Linaro, dem ersten echten Vorgebirge am Tyrrhenischen Ufer nördlich des Tiber. Es wurde gegründet, um einen Hafen zu unterstützen, den Trajan dort gebaut hatte. C. 106 CE und hat seinen anhaltenden Wohlstand der Exzellenz seines Hafens zu verdanken.
252 – 712 n. Chr. – Spanien – Der Heilige Gral des letzten Abendmahls wird nach katholischer Tradition in Aragón, Spanien, aufbewahrt.
253 CE – Schweden – Die Alemannen und Franken waren bis nach Spanien vorgedrungen und stammen vermutlich ursprünglich aus Schweden. Die Franken sind eine Gruppe von Menschen, die nicht von Rom versklavt werden wollen und deshalb eine Konföderation gebildet haben. Die Franken sind eine Gruppe verschiedener skandinavischer Krieger, die sich durch langes Haar, blaue Augen und große Gliedmaßen auszeichnen. Die Frank-Konföderation ist eine Gruppe von Sklavenhändlern, Schwertverkäufern, Söldnerräubern und Bauern. Sie etablierten ihre Führer durch Wahlen, durch die Versammlung freier Männer.
253 n. Chr. – Italien – Uranius Antoninus wird römischer Kaiser. Er wurde unter den ungeklärten Bedingungen der Mitte des 3. Jahrhunderts bekannt, nur um durch Umstände zu verschwinden, die in der historischen Dunkelheit unbekannt waren.
Aemilius Aemilianus wird römischer Kaiser. Der epigraphische und numismatische Beweis für Aemilianus ‚ Regierungszeit ist unauffällig. Zahlreiche Löschungen aus Inschriften zeugen von einer offiziellen Damnatio Memoriæ , die sich vielleicht in Johannes von Antiochias Kommentar widerspiegelt, dass Aemilianus „aus der Menschheit verschwunden“ ist. Aemilianus ‚ historische Bedeutung kann einfach darin bestehen, dass sein Aufstieg und Fall ein Signalbeispiel für einige systemische Probleme darstellt, die die Wechselbeziehungen zwischen ihnen betreffen Truppen, Kommandeure, Senat und Kaiser, die zum Teil die sogenannte „Krise des dritten Jahrhunderts“ definieren. Auf einer bestimmten Ebene brachte die Abfolge der Ereignisse nach seiner Usurpation den unglücklichen an die Macht Baldrian .
Römische Soldaten, die gegen die Barbaren an der Donau gekämpft hatten, wählten den Gouverneur von Pannonien und Moesia zum Kaiser. Der Kaiser Gallus marschierte aus, um seinen Rivalen zu treffen. Der neue Kaiser Aemilianus besiegte Gallus und tötete ihn, starb jedoch bald darauf selbst, und ein Anhänger von Gallus, der zu spät kam, um ihn zu retten, gewann die Unterstützung der Legionen, die ihn zum Kaiser wählten. Publius Licinius Valerianus , 60, begann eine siebenjährige Regierungszeit als Kaiser Valerian .
253 – 260 n. Chr. – Italien – Baldrian stammte als römischer Kaiser aus einer alten römischen Senatorfamilie. Der Senat war vermutlich erfreut, die Position von zu ratifizieren Valerian , einem ihrer eigenen, als Kaiser , und sie akzeptierten auch seinen Sohn und Kollegen P. Licinius Egnatius Gallienus als Augustus und nicht nur als Cäsar.
Während eines Exkurses über einen persischen Überraschungsangriff auf Antiochia während der Regierungszeit von Gallienus erwähnt Ammianus Marcellinus, dass ein gewisser „ Mareades , der die Perser rücksichtslos dorthin gebracht hatte, um sein eigenes Volk zu zerstören, lebendig verbrannt wurde“.

253 – 268 n. Chr. – Italien – Gallienus wird römischer Kaiser. 268 n. Chr. Gallienus Sah seinen dritten Sohn Marinianus als Konsul, doch im Frühjahr brachte eine weitere gotische Invasion den Kaiser nach Griechenland zurück. Er besiegte die Invasoren bei Naissus in Moesia, wurde jedoch durch einen Aufstand des Kommandanten seiner Elitekavallerie Aureolus davon abgehalten, sie weiter zu verfolgen. Er belagerte diesen letzten Rebellenkaiser in Mailand, aber eine Verschwörung, an der sein Präfekt Prätorianer und zwei zukünftige Kaiser, Claudius II. Und Aurelian, beteiligt waren , alle drei bei vielen Soldaten beliebten Illyrer, lockten Gallienus unter einem falschen Vorwand aus der Stadt und ermordeten ihn Der Bruder des Kaisers Valerian und der junge Sohn Marinianus wurden ebenfalls ermordet. Trotz des bitteren Grolls, den viele Senatoren gegenüber dem toten Kaiser und seiner Reformpolitik empfunden haben müssen Claudius II. , überredete , Vielleicht nur um seine eigene Regierungszeit zu legitimieren, den Senat, zu vergöttern Gallienus .
253 – 254 CE – Italien – Lucius I. war acht Monate lang Papst. Zu einem unbekannten Zeitpunkt in Rom geboren, ist nichts über seine Familie bekannt, außer dem Namen seines Vaters, Porphyrian. Die Wahl könnte am 25. Juni 253 n. Chr. Gewesen sein, und er starb am 5. März 254 n. Chr. Seine Wahl fand während der Verfolgung statt, die zur Verbannung seines Vorgängers Papst Cornelius führte , und er wurde auch bald nach seiner Weihe verbannt, aber es gelang ihm, die Erlaubnis zur Rückkehr zu erhalten. In mehreren Briefen von Cyprian (siehe Epist. Ixviii. 5) wird darauf hingewiesen, dass er mit seinem einverstanden war Cornelius darin , die mildere Ansicht zu bevorzugen, die Wiederherstellung verfallener Büßer zuzulassen.
Die Tradition behauptet, dass er bei der Verfolgung von Märtyrertod Baldrian den erlitten hat , aber da bekannt ist, dass dies später als im März 254 n. Chr. Begonnen hat, scheint dies unwahrscheinlich.
Sein Grabstein ist noch auf dem Friedhof von St. Calixtus erhalten. Seine Reliquien wurden später zusammen mit den Reliquien von St. Cecilia und anderen in die Kirche Santa Cecilia in Trastevere gebracht. Sein Kopf wird in einem Reliquiar in der katholischen Kathedrale St. Ansgar in Kopenhagen, Dänemark, aufbewahrt. Das Relikt wurde um das Jahr 1100 n. Chr. Nach Roskilde gebracht, nachdem Lucius zum Patron der dänischen Region Seeland erklärt worden war. Es gehört zu den wenigen Reliquien, die die Reformation in Dänemark überlebt haben.

254 – 257 n. Chr. – Italien – Stephen I. , ein leidenschaftlicher Römer, wird zum Papa von Rom gewählt und stößt mit dem einflussreichen Cyprain Papa Cyprian (200 – 258 n. Chr.) Von Karthago zusammen. Papa Cyprian und die Kirchen in Syrien, Kleinasien und Nordafrika waren der Ansicht, dass jede von einem Ketzer durchgeführte Taufe ungültig sei und die Person daher von einem Nicht-Ketzer erneut getauft werden müsse. Die Kirchen von Rom, Alexandria und Palästina sind fest davon überzeugt, dass die ketzerische Taufe gültig ist. Die Papas hielten zwei Synoden, 255 n. Chr. Und 256 n. Chr., Die diese Position bekräftigten. Stephen , Papa von Rom, entschlossen, den Kirchen römische Theologie aufzuzwingen, hielt seine eigene Synode ab und exkommunizierte die kleinasiatischen Kirchen. Viele Papas beschuldigen Stephen , die Kirche aufgrund seiner kompromisslosen Position gespalten zu haben. Cyprian (gest. 258 n. Chr.) Behauptete, Papas von Rom seien keinem anderen Papas überlegen. Stephen I. versuchte, seine Autorität zu etablieren, indem er den Ausdruck „der Vorsitzende von Peter“ übernahm, was bedeutet, dass der Papa von Rom Autorität über alle anderen Kirchen hat. Dieser Schritt konnte niemanden beeindrucken und das Thema wurde zur Ruhe gelegt, bis Damasus I. und Leo I. das Thema erneut zur Sprache brachten.
256 n. Chr. – Deutschland – Die römische Rheingrenze ist zerstört und die Gallier werden von der Konföderation der Franken und Alemannen überrannt. Die Franken und Alemannen dringen in Richtung Spanien und Italien vor. Die Kelten schlugen in Richtung Balkin nach Anatolien ein. Licinius Valerianus (Baldrian), der römischer Kaiser wurde, ist der General, der erfolglos gegen die Franken kämpfte.

257 – 258 n. Chr. – Italien – Der heilige Sixtus II . Alias Xystus, ein Grieche, wird zum Papa von Rom gewählt. Der römische Kaiser Baldrian befahl den Christen, an römischen Zeremonien teilzunehmen, und verbot ihnen, sich zu versammeln. Der Kaiser erließ ein zweites Edikt, das die Hinrichtung von Christian Papas, Priestern und Diakonen anordnete. Der Papa von Rom und sechs Diakone werden am 6. August 258 n. Chr. Auf dem Friedhof von Praetextatus hingerichtet. Der Kaiser beseitigte effektiv das gesamte diakonische Kollegium von Rom und trieb die römische Kirche in den Untergrund. Es würde viele Monate dauern, bis die römische Kirche wieder aufgebaut wird.
258 n. Chr. – Italien – Der römische Kaiser Baldrian befiehlt jedem, der nicht auf das Christentum verzichten möchte, den Tod zu bringen.

259 – 268 n. Chr. – Italien – Dionysius war vom 22. Juli 259 n. Chr. Bis 26. Dezember 268 n. Chr. Papst. Er wurde möglicherweise in Griechenland geboren, dies wurde jedoch nicht bestätigt. Dionysius wurde am Ende der Verfolgungsperiode von Kaiser Valerian I. gewählt , der 260 n. Chr. Vom König von Persien gefangen genommen und getötet wurde. Dem neuen Papst fiel die Aufgabe zu, die in große Unordnung geratene römische Kirche neu zu organisieren. Auf Protest einiger Gläubiger in Alexandria forderte er vom Bischof von Alexandria, auch Dionysius genannt, Erklärungen zu seiner Lehre über das Verhältnis Gottes zum Logos, die befriedigt war.
Papst Dionysius sandte große Geldsummen an die von den plündernden Goten zerstörten Kirchen Kappadokiens, um die Gefangenen wieder aufzubauen und freizulassen. Er brachte Ordnung in die Kirche und verschaffte sich Frieden, nachdem Kaiser Gallienus ein Toleranzedikt erlassen hatte, das bis 303 n. Chr. Dauerte. Dionysius ist der erste Papst, der nicht als Märtyrer aufgeführt ist. Er starb am 26. Dezember 268 n. Chr.

260 n. Chr. – Persien (Iran) – Die Sassaniden besiegen und erobern unter dem persischen König Shapoor I. den römischen Kaiser Baldrian , einen von nur zwei römischen Kaisern, die jemals von einem ausländischen Feind in der Schlacht gefangen genommen wurden – der andere ist Romanus IV. , Der in Manzikert gefangen genommen wurde 1071 CE.
Roms Kaiser Baldrian wird in Edessa von Persiens Shapur I besiegt, bei einem Streit verräterisch ergriffen und lebendig geschunden. Sein Sohn und Mitkaiser Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus (42) regiert allein, als das Reich von allen Seiten von Berbern, Franken, Goten, Palmyranern, Vandalen und der Pest angegriffen wird.

260 – 269 n. Chr. – Frankreich – Postumus wird durch Usurpation und Rebellion zum gallischen römischen Kaiser. Gallienus , der Kaiser in Rom, war nicht in der Lage, schnelle und wirksame militärische Maßnahmen zu ergreifen, als – wahrscheinlich im Sommer 260 n. Chr. – ein anderer Usurpator, M. Cassianius Latinius Postumus, an der Rheingrenze rebellierte. Die genaue Position von Postumus zum Zeitpunkt des Aufstands ist nicht bekannt, aber der Zusammenhang macht deutlich, dass er Truppen an der Rheingrenze befehligte. Der direkte Grund für diese Rebellion scheint ein Streit um die Beute einer barbarischen Razzia gewesen zu sein, die auf dem Heimweg von Postumus und seinen Soldaten zerstört wurde. Während Postumus die Beute an seine Männer verteilt hatte, befahl ihm der Prätorianerpräfekt Silvanus, die Beute sich selbst und dem Cäsar Saloninus, dem Sohn des Gallienus , den sein Vater als seinen Vertreter in der Stadt Köln zurückgelassen hatte, unter der Vormundschaft zu übergeben von Silvanus. Postumus- Truppen rebellierten und proklamierten ihren Befehlshaber-Imperator. Sie marschierten gegen Köln und belagerten es. Die Garnison in der Stadt musste Saloninus und Silvanus übergeben, beide wurden getötet.
Das von Kontrollierte Gebiet Postumus nach seinem Aufstand im Jahr 260 n. Chr. bestand aus Germania inferior und Germania superior sowie aus Raetien und ganz Gallien (mit Ausnahme der südlichen Teile von Lugdunensis und vielleicht auch Narbonensis). Ab 261 n. Chr. Umfasste es auch Großbritannien und Spanien. Weder er noch seine Nachfolger unternahmen einen Versuch, das Gallische Reich weiter nach Süden oder Osten auszudehnen.
Ein Aufstand von Ulpius Cornelius Laelianus in Moguntiacum (Mainz) ereignete sich 269 n. Chr. Es gibt keine direkten schriftlichen oder epigraphischen Beweise für das Amt, das Laelianus zum Zeitpunkt seines Aufstands gegen Postumus innehatte, aber es scheint höchstwahrscheinlich, dass er ein Amt in Germania Superior innehatte, entweder als legatus legionis XXII Primigenie oder als Gouverneur von Germania Superior. Sein Aufstand kann nur aufgrund einer wachsenden Unzufriedenheit der Truppen der Rheinarmee mit ihrem Oberbefehlshaber und Kaiser Postumus erklärt werden . Wie tief diese Spannungen geworden waren, zeigte sich nach der erfolgreichen Aktion gegen den Usurpator: Kaum hatte Postumus Moguntiacum erobert und damit den vergänglichen Aufstand von Laelianus beendet, wurde er von seinen eigenen Truppen ermordet, weil er ihnen die Entlassung der Stadt verweigert hatte. An seiner Stelle erhoben die Truppen einen einfachen Soldaten, Marcus Arelius Marius , der kurz darauf getötet und durch Marcus Piav (v) onius Victorinus ersetzt wurde .

260 CE – Italien – Ingenuus wird römischer Kaiser. Ingenuus war einer der vielen alternativen Antragsteller für das kaiserliche Purpur, mit denen Gallienus während seiner fünfzehnjährigen Regierungszeit (253 – 268 n. Chr.) Zu tun hatte. Offensichtlich wurde er von zu einem Oberkommando in Pannonien ernannt Gallienus selbst . Zu diesem Befehl gehörte möglicherweise die Aufsicht über Gallienus ‚ kleinen Sohn Valerian II. Wenn dies der Fall war, hörte seine Vormundschaft für den Jungen auf, als Valerian II. 258 n. Chr. Starb. Von diesem Zeitpunkt an muss seine politische Position schwächer gewesen sein. Wenn ja, profitierte er sicherlich davon, dass Gallienus von anderen Dingen abgelenkt wurde.
Eine Quelle, und die am wenigsten verlässliche, datiert Ingenuus ‚Aufstand gegen Gallienus auf 258 n. Chr. Dieses Zeugnis steht im Widerspruch zu den Informationen aus den gängigsten literarischen Quellen, in denen dass festgestellt wird Ingenuus ‚ , Aufstand einer von vielen war, nachdem Baldrian 260 von den Persern ergriffen worden war. Die Gefangennahme des älteren Baldrian durch die Perser lieferte ihm ebenso andere, mit der Ermutigung, seine Position durch den Sturz des Überrests einer scheiternden Dynastie zu festigen.

Wie sich herausstellte, war es Gallienus, der sich als Sieger erwies. Auf einen schnellen Marsch nach Pannonien folgte der Sieg bei Mursa, bei dem sich der neue Kavalleriearm auszeichnete und die Tapferkeit von Aureolus empfahl Gallienus . Ingenuus selbst starb entweder auf der Flucht oder als Selbstmord, um der Gefangennahme zu entgehen.
Die Überlebenden der Ingenuus- Rebellion wurden von versammelt Regalianus , der den Aufstand in Pannonien erneuerte. Die Historia Augusta stellt fest, dass Regalianus nicht von besiegt wurde Gallienus , sondern von einer Kombination seines eigenen Volkes und der Roxolani, nachdem er sich tapfer mit den Sarmaten gestritten hatte.
Der heilige Dionysius , ein Grieche, wird Papa von Rom und organisiert die Kirche neu. Der römische Kaiser Gallienus stellt das Eigentum und die Positionen der Kirche wieder her.

260 – 261 n. Chr. – Italien – Die Usurpatoren des Römischen Reiches aus dem Osten, bekannt als Macriani – Macrianus Senior , Macrianus Iunior und Quietus . Als Baldrian 260 n. Chr. Von den Persern gefangen genommen wurde, wurde sein Sohn Gallienus , der bereits seit 253 n. Chr. Koregent war, alleiniger Kaiser, aber er war weit weg im Westen. Als Reaktion auf die militärische Katastrophe wählte die östliche Armee ihren eigenen Kaiser. Der prätorianische Präfekt Ballista schlug Macrianus Senior als neuen Herrscher vor. Aber Macrianus Senior lehnte die Ehre wegen seines Alters und seines fragilen Gesundheitszustands ab. seine beiden Söhne Macrianus Iunior und Quietus Stattdessen wurden vor dem 17. September 260 n. Chr. Proklamiert. Zwei Faktoren waren für die Usurpation der Macriani wichtig. Als Prokurator arcae et praepositus annonae hatte Macrianus Senior die Kontrolle über den Schatz von Baldrian : Daher konnten die Usurpatoren Münzen prägen. Andererseits besiegte der Präfekt der Prätorianer Ballista die Perser nach Valerians Gefangennahme. Dies trug dazu bei, den Machtanspruch der Macriani zu legitimieren.
Ihre Herrschaft wurde im Osten des Reiches und in Ägypten anerkannt. Früher oder später mussten sich die Macriani Gallienus stellen , der immer noch Italien und den Balkan kontrollierte. Daher Macrianus marschierten , Vater und Sohn, nach Westen, während Quietus und Ballista im Osten blieben, um die Kontrolle über diese Region zu sichern. Im Herbst 261 n. Chr. Wurden die Macriani in Illyricum (nahe der Grenze zu Thrakien) von Aureolus oder Domitianus besiegt und von ihren eigenen Soldaten getötet. Nach dieser Niederlage verlor Quietus die Kontrolle über den Osten, während Odaenathus von Palmyra die Macht erlangte. Zusammen mit Ballista zog sich Quietus nach Emesa zurück, wo er von den Einwohnern der Stadt getötet wurde.
261 n. Chr. – Griechenland – Valens war mit dem Cognomen „Thessalonicus“ Gouverneur der Provinz Achaia (und vielleicht auch Mazedonien) unter Gallienus . Als die Macriani nach Westen marschierten, mussten sie sich mit Gouverneuren wie Valens auseinandersetzen, die versuchten, Treue zu halten Gallienus die . Deshalb schickte Macrianus Senior Piso nach Griechenland, um sich um zu kümmern Valens . Valens ‚ Truppen reagierten mit der Proklamation ihres Gouverneurskaisers, wahrscheinlich im Jahr 261 n. Chr. Da die problematische Historia Augusta unsere einzige Quelle für Piso ist, können wir nicht sicher sein, ob alle Berichte zuverlässig sind. Er soll aus der Gens Calpurnia stammen, einer adeligen Konsularfamilie, die in der späten Republik familiäre Beziehungen zu Cicero hatte. Als Mann mit strengen römischen Tugenden soll er das Kognom „Frugi“ erhalten haben. Als Piso Thessalien erreichte, versuchte er selbst Kaiser zu werden (wahrscheinlich 261 n. Chr.). Nach Angaben der Historia Augusta nahm er den Namen „Thessalicus“ an, wahrscheinlich eine Verwechslung mit Valens „Thessalonicus“ . Er wurde von den Soldaten von Valens getötet . Dieses Senatus Consultum, das offensichtlich vom anonymen Autor der gefälscht wurde, Historia Augusta weihte Piso und gewährte ihm eine Statue. Valens selbst starb durch die Hände seiner eigenen Soldaten.
Ballista erscheint in den Quellen auch unter dem Namen „Callistus“. Er war der Präfekt der Wache (praefectus praetorio) unter den Macriani, vielleicht auch unter Baldrian . Als praefectus equitum besiegte er die Perser, nachdem sie gefangen genommen hatten Baldrian . Danach spielte er eine entscheidende Rolle bei der Rebellion der Macriani. Im Herbst 261 n. Chr. War er mit in Emesa Quietus . Laut der Historia Augusta wurde er nach dem Tod von zum Kaiser ernannt Quietus , aber dies scheint eine der vielen Erfindungen des anonymen Autors zu sein. Er wurde von Odaenathus von Palmyra getötet.
261 n. Chr. – Ägypten – Die Karriere von L. Mussius Aemilianus (signo Aegippius) , möglicherweise kursiv, ist aus einer Inschrift bekannt. Er war Reiter, diente als praefectus vehiculorum trium provinciarum Galliarum (wahrscheinlich unter Philipp dem Araber , dh 244 – 249 n. Chr.), Prokurator Alexandreae Pelusi Paraetoni, Prokurator portus utriusque Ostiae (247 n. Chr.), Vizepräfekt Ägyptens (am Ende) der fünfziger Jahre) und schließlich Präfekt von Ägypten (259 – 261 n. Chr.). Er war verantwortlich für die Umsetzung von Valerians Gesetzen gegen die Christen.
Mussius unterstützte die Usurpation der Macriani. Als ihr Aufstand zusammenbrach, Mussius scheint selbst in Ägypten zum Kaiser ernannt worden zu sein. Nachdem er sich durch die Unterstützung der Macriani kompromittiert hatte, hatte er keine andere Wahl, als gegen zu rebellieren Gallienus . Gallienus sandte Truppen unter dem Kommando von Aurelius Theodotus, der Besiegte Mussius vor dem 30. März 262 n. Chr. . Der Usurpator wurde hingerichtet.
262 CE – Ägypten – Memor kam aus Nordafrika. Er war verantwortlich für die Gewährleistung der Lebensmittelversorgung der römischen Provinz aus Ägypten und soll einen Aufstand vorbereitet haben. Theodotus ‚Soldaten töteten ihn (wahrscheinlich 262 n. Chr.), Bevor er zum Kaiser ernannt wurde. Es ist nicht sicher, ob Aemilianus und Memor wirklich versucht haben, selbst Kaiser zu werden, oder ob sie getötet wurden, weil sie die Macriani unterstützten.
262 – 268 n. Chr. – Italien – 265 n. Chr. der Zentralkaiser Gallienus Versuchte , den Usurpator zu vernichten Postumus , scheiterte jedoch zweimal daran. Bei der ersten Gelegenheit der flüchtige Postumus verdankte sein Leben nur der Nachlässigkeit von Gallienus ‚ Kavalleriekommandeur Aureolus . Beim zweiten Mal wurde der Kaiser, der den Usurpator in einer gallischen Stadt belagerte, von einem Pfeil verwundet und musste den Angriff abbrechen. Es scheint, dass danach Gallienus keinen weiteren ernsthaften Versuch unternahm, diese Usurpation zu überwinden, und seine Aufmerksamkeit den politischen und militärischen Problemen im östlichen Teil des Römischen Reiches widmete.
Die Erwähnung anderer Usurpatoren des Purpurs – Trebellianus, Celsus und Saturninus während der Regierungszeit von Gallienus – hat sich lediglich als fiktive Person erwiesen.

263 – 340 n. Chr. – Palästina – Eusebius, „der Vater der Kirchengeschichte“, wird geboren. [$ 6] Eusebius studierte bei Pamphilius (ca. 240 – 309 n. Chr.), Einem christlichen Gelehrten und Presbyter in der Kirche von Cäsarea. Pamphilius war ein leidenschaftlicher Schüler von Origenes und Eusebius wurde tief von der Tradition der Origenisten beeinflusst. Sein Hauptwerk war seine Geschichte der Kirche , eine umfangreiche Forschung, die Zitate vieler älterer Schriftsteller bewahrt, die sonst verloren gegangen wären. Trotz der Breite seiner Lektüre sind sich die meisten Gelehrten einig, dass „seine Gelehrsamkeit nicht mit Klarheit des Denkens oder Attraktivität der Darstellung übereinstimmt.“ Vielleicht überraschend folgte Eusebius nicht den Extremen von Origenes allegorischer Interpretation. Einige Schriftsteller bemerken, dass genau wie Cäsarea auf halbem Weg zwischen Antiochia und Alexandria lag, Eusebius ‚Hermeneutik auf halbem Weg zwischen den Traditionen dieser beiden Städte lag.
Obwohl Eusebius als Exegeter oder Apologet des Christentums zu wünschen übrig lässt, hatte er eine Eigenschaft, die allen seinen Vorgängern und Zeitgenossen fehlte – den Instinkt für historische Forschung. Seine Kirchengeschichte gibt uns Zugang zu einer Vielzahl von Quellen und Traditionen, die sonst längst verloren gegangen sind. Der „Vater der Kirchengeschichte“ verfügte über die Bibliothek in Cäsarea, die Origenes aufgebaut hatte, nachdem er gezwungen war, Alexandria zu verlassen und sich in Palästina niederzulassen. Pamphilus, ein begeisterter Anhänger von Origenes, hatte viele Bände aufgesucht und in die Bibliothek aufgenommen, und Eusebius, der Schüler, Mitarbeiter und Freund von Pamphilus, wurde sein Nachfolger, als er (ca. 305 n. Chr.) Als Märtyrer in der Bibliothek starb Diokletianische Verfolgung.
266 – 589 n. Chr. – Das nördliche und südliche Königreich Chinas – Das kaiserliche China sah aus, als würde es das gleiche Schicksal erleiden wie das Römische Reich. Nach dem Fall der Han, dem kurzen Zwischenspiel der drei Königreiche und der noch kürzeren Wiedervereinigung unter dem westlichen Tsin spaltete sich das Land in Nord und Süd, wobei der Norden von Barbaren überrannt wurde. Der Hauptunterschied bestand jedoch darin, dass keine geografischen Barrieren einen wiedervereinigten Süden daran hindern würden, den Norden wiederzugewinnen, und dass keine massive externe Invasion wie das Aufkommen des Islam den Prozess behindern würde.
Chinesische Historiker betrachteten die südlichen Dynastien als die legitime Nachfolge des chinesischen Throns, weshalb die Periode bis 589 n. Chr. Verlängert wird, und die Sui begann 590 n. Chr., Obwohl Yang Chien 581 auf einen einheitlichen nördlichen Thron kam.
Die Popularität des Buddhismus leitete die große Ära der Missionare und Pilger ein. Buddhistische Missionare kamen, um den zu verbreiten Dharma . Einer davon war Kumârajíva (344 – 413 n. Chr.), Der große Übersetzer des Lotus Sutra, der 401 nach China kam. Ein anderer war der halbmythische Bodhidharma (gestorben um 528 n. Chr.), Der den Ch’an (Zen) gründete ) Schule des Buddhismus, die Buddhismus mit chinesischen Ideen aus dem Taoismus verband. Diese Missionsbemühungen wurden von chinesischen Pilgern erwidert, die nach Indien reisten, wie Fa-Hsien, der Route, die über Land (auf der Seidenstraße) führte und auf dem Seeweg zurückkehrte. Der Zweck der Pilger bestand normalerweise nicht nur darin, heilige Stätten zu besuchen, sondern Sanskrit zu lernen und Texte zurückzuholen, um sie ins Chinesische zu übersetzen.
266 – 283 CE – Nubien (Sudan) – König Maleqorobar regiert Nubien .
267 n. Chr. – Palmyra – Palmyras Prinz Odenaethus, ein überzeugter Verbündeter Roms seit seiner Ablehnung durch Persiens Shapur I., wird zusammen mit seinem ältesten Sohn ermordet, offensichtlich auf Befehl des Kaisers Gallienus . Seine zweite Frau, die einige jüngere Fürsten geboren hat, übernimmt die Macht als Septimia Zenobia und bereitet sich darauf vor, ihr Wüstenreich vom Nil bis zum Schwarzen Meer zu erweitern.
268 – 270 n. Chr. – Italien – Der Kaiser Gallienus wird von seinen eigenen Soldaten in Mediolanum (Mailand) getötet, während er den Prätendenten Aureolus belagert, der seinerseits vom Prätendenten Marcus Aurelius Claudius getötet wird , der bis 270 n. Chr. Regieren wird.
269 n. Chr. – Jugoslawien – Claudius II. Besiegt die Goten als Naissus (Niš, Jugoslawien). Der Kaiser Claudius II. Weist eine gotische Invasion auf dem Balkan ab und erhält für seinen Sieg den Titel Gothicus. Die Cladius II. Könnte kurze Regierungszeit von auf einen Aufstand zurückzuführen sein, der von Censorinus angeführt wurde . Berichten zufolge wurde er von seinen Soldaten zum Kaiser ernannt, aber bald darauf von ihnen wegen seiner Durchsetzung strenger Disziplin getötet.
269 n. Chr. – Palmyra – Palmyras Zenobia erobert Ägypten und gibt ihr die Kontrolle über Roms Getreideversorgung.
269 n. Chr. – Frankreich – Laelianus und Marius werden gallische römische Kaiser.

269 - 274 n. Chr. – Italien – Der heilige Felix I. war ein Römer, der Sohn von Constantius. Ein Brief an Bischof Maximus von Alexandria wurde einst als sein Brief angesehen, aber spätere Gelehrte haben entschieden, dass es sich um eine Fälschung handelt.
Während des Pontifikats des heiligen Felix I. wurde der fähige Organisator und kluge General Aurelian Kaiser. Aurelian hat eine sehr interessante Verbindung zum Papst. Das Pontifikat des heiligen Dionysius war durch die Häresie von Paulus von Samosata beunruhigt worden. Ein in Antiochia abgehaltener Rat hatte Paulus als Bischof von Antiochia abgesetzt, aber der listige Ketzer hielt am Eigentum der Kirche fest und weigerte sich, es seinem Nachfolger Demetrianus zu überlassen. Kaiser Aurelian , der durch Antiochia ging, wurde aufgefordert, die Angelegenheit zu regeln. Der Kaiser entschied, dass er wirklich der Bischof war, der in Gemeinschaft mit den Bischöfen von Rom und Italien stand, was es dem orthodoxen Demetrianus ermöglichte, den ketzerischen Paulus von Samosata abzulösen.
Felix wird zugeschrieben, die Feier der Messen über den Gräbern der Märtyrer angeordnet zu haben.
Papst St. Felix I. wird vom Märtyrer genannt Liber Pontificalis , der auch sagt, dass er auf dem Aurelianischen Weg eine Basilika gebaut hat, in der er begraben wurde. Moderne Gelehrte halten dies jedoch nicht für wahr. Duchesne glaubt, dass es eine Verwechslung von Papst Felix mit einem anderen Felix ist, der Märtyrer war und auf dem Aurelianischen Weg begraben wurde. Jedenfalls starb Papst St. Felix I. 274 n. Chr. Und wurde höchstwahrscheinlich auf dem Friedhof von Calixtus beigesetzt. Sein Festtag ist am 30. Mai.
269 - 270 CE – Frankreich – Victorinus wird gallischer römischer Kaiser.

270 n. Chr. – Italien – Der illyrische römische Kaiser Claudius Gothicus stirbt an der Pest und wird von seinem Bruder Quintillus abgelöst , der zum Marcus Aurelius Claudius Quintillus ernannt wird, aber von seinen Truppen verlassen wird. Er begeht Selbstmord und wird von einem Mitarbeiter seines Bruders abgelöst, der bis 275 n. Chr. Als regieren wird Lucius Domitius Aurelianus .
270 – 275 CE – Italien – Aurelian wird Cäsar von Rom. Er würde während seiner Regierungszeit Tausende von Christen töten und schließlich von seinen eigenen Offizieren getötet werden.

270 – 272 n. Chr. – Palmyra – Vaballathus und Zenobia revoltieren gegen die römische Autorität.
271 n. Chr. – Italien – Die Alamannen werden vom römischen Kaiser aus Italien vertrieben. Er Aurelianus hat die transnanubische Dacia verlassen, seine römischen Bewohner in einer neuen Dacia aus Moesia niedergelassen, neue Mauern zum Schutz Roms errichtet und heißt Restitutor Orbis (Restaurator der Welt).
271 n. Chr. – Italien – Felicissimus war Chef (rationalis) des Fiskus unter Aurelian . Er stiftete seine Mitarbeiter an, Münzen zu fälschen. Als dies bekannt wurde, begann er eine Revolte gegen den Mons Caelius. Die kaiserlichen Truppen unterdrückten den Aufstand mit großen Schwierigkeiten, wobei Felicissimus im Kampf getötet wurde. An dem Aufstand scheinen mehrere Senatoren und Equiten beteiligt gewesen zu sein; Auf jeden Fall hat Aurelian mehrere Senatoren hingerichtet. Keine Quelle erwähnt, dass Felicissimus versucht hat, Kaiser zu werden, und es gibt auch keine erhaltenen Münzen in seinem Namen.

271 – 273 n. Chr. – Frankreich – Tetricus I. wird als britischer und gallischer römischer Kaiser anerkannt.
271 – 272 CE – Italien – Domitianus , Septimius , Urbanus proklamieren sich während der Regierungszeit von als Kaiser Aurelian , jedoch wird jeder von ihnen in Kürze getötet.
Das Römische Reich versuchte, den Sonnengott als ein einziges Gottkonzept durchzusetzen, um die zersplitterten römischen Religionen zu vereinen. Der Dezember wird gewählt, um den einen wahren Sonnengott zu feiern. Die römischen Christen wählten später den 25. Dezember aus, um die Geburt Jesu Christi, der Sonne Gottes, zu feiern, die wahrscheinlich mit dieser römischen Initiative in Einklang steht.

272 n. Chr. – Palmyra – Der Kaiser Aurelianus belagert Palmyra und seine Reiter erobern Zenobia und ihren kleinen Sohn Vaballathus am Ufer des Euphrat. Sie ist gezwungen, in Goldketten vor dem Streitwagen des Kaisers in seinem Siegeszug zu marschieren, aber Aurelianus schont ihr Leben.
272 n. Chr. – Frankreich – Drei Christen werden auf dem Weg zum Tempel des Merkur enthauptet, der auf einem Hügel steht, der in Lutetia Montmartre (Berg der Märtyrer) genannt wird und später Paris genannt wird.
272 – 284 n. Chr. – Türkei – Dometius wird Bischof von Byzanz.
272 – 273 n. Chr. – Persien (Iran) – Hormizd I. regiert als König des Sassanidenreiches.
273 – 276 n. Chr. – Persien (Iran) – Varahran I. regiert als König des Sassanidenreiches.
273 – 274 n. Chr. – Frankreich – Tetricus II. Regiert als gallischer römischer Kaiser
273 CE – Italien – Firmus , ein Verkäufer aus Seleukeia, war aufgrund seiner Geschäftsbeziehungen, die sich bis nach Indien erstreckten, sehr reich. Er war ein Freund von Zenobia . Nach dem zweiten Überfall auf Palmyra löste er 273 n. Chr. In Alexandria einen Aufstand aus, um die Palmyrene zu unterstützen, und unterbrach die Maisversorgung für Rom. Aurelian unterdrückte den Aufstand und Firmus wurde getötet. Tatsächlich wurde Firmus nie zum Kaiser ernannt. Seine erhaltenen Münzen haben sich als Fälschungen erwiesen.
274 n. Chr. – Frankreich – Faustinus proklamiert sich selbst zum gallischen römischen Kaiser.
274 n. Chr. – Frankreich – Der Kaiser Aurelianus holt Gallien in einer Schlacht bei Chalons von den aufständischen Kräften zurück und kehrt triumphierend nach Rom zurück.
274 CE – Japan – Für den japanischen Kaiser Ojin wird ein 100-Fuß-Schiff mit Ruderantrieb gebaut. Die Japaner werden für weitere sieben Jahrhunderte keine Segel mehr benutzen.

275 n. Chr. – Italien – Roms Legionen ziehen sich aus Siebenbürgen und dem Schwarzwald zurück und fallen auf Rhein und Donau zurück. Die Situation ist so gefährlich geworden, dass der Kaiser Aurelianus den vor vier Jahren begonnenen Bau von Befestigungsanlagen für Rom vorantreibt.
275 – 276 CE – Italien – Aurelianus wird von einigen seiner Offiziere getötet, als er sich auf die Invasion in Persien vorbereitet. Er wird von einem älteren Senator abgelöst, der gegen seinen Willen ernannt wird und kurz als regieren wird Marcus Claudius Tacitus .
275 – 283 n. Chr. – Italien – Der hl. Eutychian aus der Toskana stammende wird zum Papa von Rom gewählt.
Abgesehen von den Informationen des Liber Pontificalis ist wenig über Papst St. Eutychian bekannt , und die Richtigkeit des von Liber Pontificalis Eintrags zu Papst Eutychian ist eher verdächtig. Es gibt sogar Verwirrung über die Länge seiner Regierungszeit zwischen dem Liber Pontificalis , der besagt, dass Papst Eutychian die Kirche acht Jahre und elf Monate regierte, und Eusebius, der ihm eine Regierungszeit von nur zehn Monaten gibt.
Papst Eutychian hat eine Verordnung erlassen, die es erlaubt, Obst – aber nur Trauben und Bohnen – auf dem Altar zu segnen.
Er soll 324 Märtyrer mit eigenen Händen begraben haben. Er machte die Regelung, dass Märtyrer in einer Dalmatik (einer lila Tunika) begraben werden sollten, und er wünschte, dass alle Bestattungen von Märtyrern ihm gemeldet werden sollten.
Papst St. Eutychian wird als Märtyrer bezeichnet, aber dass er eines gewaltsamen Todes gestorben ist, wird als unwahrscheinlich angesehen. Er wurde auf dem Friedhof von Calixtus beigesetzt, da dort sein Grabstein entdeckt wurde. Sein Fest wird am 8. Dezember gehalten.
276 – 293 n. Chr. – Persien (Iran) – Varahran II. Regiert als König des Sassanidenreiches. Bahram II. Soll den Thron durch politische Intrigen erobert haben, angeführt vom Hohenpriester Kerdir und den Adligen. Gerichtsintrigen und eine Reihe von militärischen Niederlagen schwächten die sassanianische Position. Es war Khosrow I (Anoushirvan) und auch Khosrow II, der das Imperium wiederbelebte. Khosrow II. Nahm dem sassanianischen Traum nahe, die Grenzen der Achämeniden wiederherzustellen, als Jerusalem auf ihn fiel und Konstantinopel unter seiner Belagerung stand. Die beiden Khosrows werden in Ferdowsis als große Helden gefeiert Shahnameh . Khosrow I war bekannt für seine militärischen und diplomatischen Fähigkeiten und gilt als „gerechter“ Anoushirvan Adel. Während seiner Zeit, als das Schachspiel aus Indien an seinen Hof gebracht worden war, soll sein Ministerpräsident Buzarjomehr den Backgammon erfunden haben. Die Pracht von Khosrows Palast am Cetesiphon (Tag-i Kasra) ist legendär.

276 CE – Italy – The emperor Tacitus is killed by his troops after having defeated the Goths and Alans who invade Asia Minor. He is succeeded by his brother Marcus Annius Floranius, who is soon killed and succeeded by the Illyrian Marcus Aurelius Probus, who will rule until 278 CE.
276 CE – Persia – The Persian sage Mani is executed at age 60, after thirty years of preaching his „heresy“ at the court of the late Sassanian king Shapur I and on long journeys to Turkestan, India, and China. Mani has claimed that he received divine revelations and was the final prophet of God in the world; his system combines Zoroastrian dualism with Christian salvation. He has incurred the hostility of the Zoroastrian priests at Ctesiphon, but his disciples will gain wide support for Manichaeism despite opposition from Byzantine and Roman emperors.
280 CE – Italy – The writer of the Vita Probi in the Historia Augusta indicates that in 280 CE Proculus revolted in the vicinity of the city of Lugdunum, which had been severely dealt with by Aurelian and, for reasons not given, spurred on by this fear, had adopted a hostile attitude towards Probus. Proculus apparently had some connections to the Franks and he had hoped to rally them to his cause. They appear, however, to have handed him over to Probus when he arrived on the scene. Probably at the same time, Bonosus revolted. His rebellion seems to have been serious as it appears to have required considerable force to be suppressed. Bonosus, an officer in charge of the Rhine fleet, had somehow let the Germans slip over the border and burn the fleet. Fearful of retribution, he apparently took shelter in proclaiming himself emperor. He was, in spite of his lapse with the fleet, an excellent soldier. The fighting was only stopped when Bonosus, despairing of his position, hanged himself. Probus spared the lives of his sons as well as that of his wife.
281 CE – Italy – Julius Saturninus, one of Probus’s commanders in Syria, probably seized power in the year 281 CE. A close friend and associate of Probus, he may have been compelled to adopt the purple by his unruly troops. Although he initially rejected a request of the people of Alexandria to put on the purple, he later changed his mind and proclaimed himself Augustus. In any case, Probus planned to put down the rebellion. However Saturninus was killed by his own troops before Probus had a chance to act.
282 CE – Italy – The emperor Probus tries to employ his troops in such peaceful projects as clearing the canals of Egypt after having driven the Franks and Alamanni out of Gaul, suppressed pretenders in Gaul, quieted Asia Minor, and strengthened defenses on the Danube. Probus is murdered by his troops in the autumn and is succeeded by an Illyrian who has served as praetorian prefect to the late Aurelianus and who conducts a successful campaign against the Persians to begin a brief reign until 283 CE as M. Aurelius Carus.
283 CE – Italy – The emperor Marcus Aurelius Carus dies and is succeeded by his son and co-emperor Marcus Aurelius Numerius Numerianus.
283 – 285 CE – Italy – Numerianus (283 – 284 CE) and Carinus (283 – 285 CE) were co-rulers of the Roman Empire.
Despite the dynastic continuity reflected in Carinus‚ succession, the death of Carus did present opportunities for the ambitious and discontented. The revolt of Sabinus Iulianus in Pannonia occurred soon after the news of the death of Numerianus, in November 284 CE, arrived in the west. It required a response from Carinus, busy in distant Britain. Early in 285 CE, he marched south against Iulianus and defeated his forces near Verona. From there he proceeded to Moesia where his army met that of Diocletian in battle at the Margus River in July. According to hostile tradition, his army was victorious, but at the moment of triumph he was slain by a trusted officer whose wife he had seduced. A variant tradition records that he was deserted by his army, an assertion made more plausible by the continuity in office of his Praetorian Prefect, the consul Aurelius Aristobulus, under Diocletian.
283 – 296 CE – Italy – St. Gaius, alias Caius, a Dalmatin and possible relative of Emperor Diocletian, was Papa of Rome, resulting in a peaceful reign. St. Gaius decreed that before a man could be bishop, he must first be porter, reader, exorcist, acolyte, subdeacon, deacon, and priest. He also divided the districts of Rome among the deacons.
If an account of the martyrdom of St. Susanna were correct, there would be a very interesting fact about Pope St. Gaius – that he was a relative of the terrible persecutor, Diocletian. But scholars give small credit to the account of the martyrdom of St. Susanna. It is true that the Liber Pontificalis confirms this relationship of Gaius with Diocletian, but the Liber Pontificalis apparently gleaned the unhistorical account of St. Susanna for its information.
There is little information available on Pope St. Gaius except that given by the Liber Pontificalis. The accounts of popes and acts of the martyrs were quite probably destroyed when Diocletian made a determined effort to do away with all Christian writings.
When the persecution of Diocletian began to rage, St. Gaius supposedly took refuge in the catacombs and died there a confessor. But actually the persecution of Diocletian did not even begin until six or seven years after the death of Gaius. It is true that during the pontificate of Gaius, Diocletian ascended the imperial throne, but at first the great organizer was anything but hostile to the Christians.
At this period, however, work on the catacombs was pushed vigorously. New galleries were excavated and small churches built over them.
Gaius died in 296 CE and was buried in the Cemetery of Calixtus. His tombstone has been pieced together. The feast of St. Gaius together with that of Pope St. Soter is celebrated on April 22.
283 – 300 CE – Nubia (Sudan) – King Yesbokheamani rules Nubia.
284 CE – North Africa – August 29 is the first day of the calendar used by the Coptics in Egypt and Ethiopia.
284 CE – Germany – The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius Numerius Numerianus is assassinated in late summer and succeeded by his Illyrian general Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus Jovius, 39, who is proclaimed emperor at Chalcedon on August 29, and will reign with oriental despotism at Nicomedia in Bithynia until 305 CE while his colleague Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus Herculius controls the West from Mediolanum (Milan).
284 – 305 CE – Germany – Under the throne name of Diocletian, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus Jovius became Caesar of the Roman Empire. He would kill thousands of Christians during his reign including Marcellinus, Papa of Rome.
284 – 293 CE – Turkey – Rufinus I becomes Bishop of Byzantium.
285 – 286 CE – Italy – Amandus and Aelianus proclaim themselves as Roman Emperors. Maximianus Herculius would put down their rebellion in 286 CE.
286 – 293 CE – Italy – Iulianus rules shortly as a Roman Emperor. The Epitome de Caesaribus reports that about the time of the elevations of Maximian to the rank of Augustus on March 1, 286 CE, and of Constantius Chlorus and Galerius to that of Caesar on March 1, 293 CE: „Carausius in Gaul, Achilles in Egypt, and Julianus in Italy were made imperatores and, by a diverse death, perished. Of these Julianus, when an attack had breached his walls, threw himself into a fire.“
286 – 293 CE – England – Carausius, whose full name is attested as Marcus Aurelius Maus, was of the Menapii who were from Belgica. Although he had initially earned his living at sea as a helmsman, he served with honor in the military against the Bagauda under the Emperor Maximianus Herculius. Because of his naval background, he was commissioned by the emperor to build a fleet and clear the seas of Saxon and Frankish pirates in the autumn of 286 CE; he operated from out of Boulogne (Bononia). Although he carried out his commission with speed, for one reason or another he did not turn over to imperial treasury all of the loot that he obtained. Due to these financial irregularities, Herculius ordered his arrest and execution. Rather than submitting to the emperor’s will, Carausius fled to Britain with his fleet and declared himself emperor. His realm included Britain and perhaps the area around Bononia (Boulogne).
Because he spent much of 287 CE waging war against the Germans, Maximianus Herculius did not begin preparations to repress Carausius apparently until the spring of the next year. He began to build a fleet which he would be able to use against the rebel. While he and his colleague Diocletian invaded Germany, Herculius‘ praefectus praetorio Constantius Chlorus campaigned against the Franks, who had allied themselves with Carausius, and succeeded in forcing them to submit to the emperor. The emperor’s fleet was ready in 289 CE; it was destroyed by a storm, however, before it could be used against the usurper. Although Herculius attempted to push Carausius out of northern Gaul in 290 CE, his attempt came to naught. The tide turned in 293 when Constantius Chlorus was appointed Herculius‘ Caesar. His assigned task was to break the back of Carausius‘ rebellion. He did this by besieging the city of Bononia and by closing its harbor. Although the city surrendered, the victory must have left a bitter taste in the Caesar’s mouth because Carausius was murdered by his rationalis Allectus, who claimed the throne for himself. The latter was able to escape to Britain and Constantius, lacking a fleet of ships, was unable to follow him.
286 CE – Italy – When the Emperor Diocletian determined that the empire was too large for one man to govern on his own, he made Maximianus Herculius his Caesar in 286 CE and elevated him to the rank of Augustus in perhaps the spring of 286 CE.
292 CE – Central America – Guatemala – The earliest known date on a royal monument at the Maya city of Tikal. (Stela 29). [p77LR]
293 CE – Persia (Iran) – Varahran III rules as king of the Sassanid Empire.
293 – 302 CE – Persia (Iran) – Nerseh rules as king of the Sassanid Empire.
293 – 306 CE – England – Soon after Constantius I Chlorus was appointed Caesar by his father-in-law Maximianus Herculius in 293 CE, he moved his army immediately into northern Gaul where he overcame the forces of his foe, the British usurper Carausius, at the Battle of Boulsogne. Probably soon after the fall of the city, the defeated usurper was murdered by his rationalis summae rei Allectus who then seized his throne which he held for three more years. In 296 CE, Constantius and his praefectus praetorio Asclepiodotus each took a fleet and headed for Britain; although some of the Caesar’s fleet seems to have turned back because of inclement weather, Asclepiodotus‘ forces succeeded in landing on the English coast with the intention of taking London. In order to stop the praetorian prefect’s advance on his capital, Allectus engaged his opponent and, during the ensuing battle, perished. Subsequently some of the Caesar’s forces, which had become separated from his fleet, landed on the coast, marched on London, and slaughtered the remainder of the fleeing army of Allectus.
Constantius I Chlorus eventually crossed to Britain to face incursions by the Picts where he died at York on 25 July 306 CE with his son at his side.
293 – 306 CE – Turkey – Probus becomes Bishop of Byzantium.
296 – 298 CE – Egypt – Although papyrological and numismatic evidence indicates that L. Domitius Domitianus, in Egypt revolted against Diocletian in June or July of 297 (296?), literary evidence attributes the revolt to Aurelius Achilleus who seems to have been Domitianus‘ corrector. In any case, Diocletian went to Egypt and probably put the revolt down in March 298 CE. There may not be any contradiction between the literary and papyrological sources. Domitianus seems to have died in December 297 CE and Achilleus, who was in charge of the defense of Alexandria, may well have succeeded him. Although Diocletian seems to have regained control of Egypt by the end of December 297 CE, Alexandria did not fall until March 298 CE.
296 – 304 CE – Italy – Marcellinus is elected Papa of Rome. He was to see the end of the long period of peace and the start of a most violent persecution, the persecution of Diocletian.
Marcellinus was a Roman, the son of Projectus. When he first became pope, Diocletian was already on the throne, but he had not yet drawn the sword against the Christians. Indeed, at first under the influence of his wife, Prisca, and his daughter, Valeria, the despot left the Christians fairly free. The peace, however, had caused Christianity to grow and grow. This provoked a fierce reaction among the pagans, and they had a leader in no less a dignitary than the Caesar Galerius.
According to Lactantius, the historian of the persecution, Diocletian was first angered by the Christians when the augurs or soothsayers told him that they could not prophesy because Christians made the sign of the cross. The Emperor promptly ordered all Christians to apostatize or get out of the army in 302 CE. The next year at a conference in Nicomedia, Galerius urged the Emperor to extend himself against the Christians. Diocletian asked the opinion of the oracle of Apollo at Miletus. Naturally, the oracle saw eye to eye with Galerius. But Diocletian started easily. At first he ordered the confiscation of Church property and the destruction of Christian books. When a rash Christian actually tore down the imperial edict right under the imperial nose at Nicomedia and two very convenient fires broke out in the imperial palace, Diocletian, enraged, took off the gloves. It was apostatize or die, and soon blood was streaming.
The persecution hit Rome with disastrous results for the historians. The papal archives were seized and destroyed. The famous Cemetery of Calixtus was saved by the Christians, who blocked up the entrance.
Pope St. Marcellinus was accused by Donatist heretics of having handed over the sacred books. Some went so far as to accuse him of having sacrificed to idols. The Liber Pontificalis repeats this but adds that St. Marcellinus repented and died a martyr. Actually it is not certain either that St. Marcellinus weakened or that he was a martyr. St. Augustine denies openly that the Pope had weakened, and there is no conclusive evidence of his having been killed.
St. Marcellinus did die a confessor of Christ in 304 CE. According to the Liber Pontificalis, after his head was cut off, his body, along with those of other martyrs, was left lying on the street for twenty-six days to terrify the Christians. Then a priest buried the Pope in the Cemetery of Priscilla. His feast day is kept on April 26.
296 – 273 CE – Egypt – Athanasius is elected Papa of Alexandria, Egypt.
297 CE – England – The first mention of Picts by the Romans is made this year. These northern Peoples of Britain were called Picti (Pict). The Scots called them Cruithni, the mother of Gaelic, Irish and Manx.
300 CE – Italy – During the life time of Eusebius (Eusebiau) (260 – 339 CE), the Christian Churches are divided concerning which books are canonical, not canonical and out right fraud. The gospel according to John who died about 98 CE is considered the first of the Gospels and the greatest of the four. Disputed books include Revelations of John, James, Jude, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, the Shephard by Paul, Revelations by Peter, Epistle by Barnabas, Teachings of the Apostles, Gospel of Hebrews, Gospels of Peter, Thomas, Matthias, Acts of Andrew, John and other Apostles. The second Epistle of Peter is still being used in many Churches. The Epistle to the Romans is also rejected. The Shephard by Hermas is also not canonical but some consider it indispensable. Eusebius believed all the tribes of Israel are hostile to the tribe of Judah and The Christ, Essenes, Galilaeans, Hemerobaptists, Masbotheans, Samaritans, Sadducces and Pharisees. This is according to Hegesippus (160 CE) and Irenaeus of Lyons (180 CE).
300 – 320 CE – Nubia (Sudan) – Nubia during this era was ruled by two queens whose names are unknown.
301 CE – Armenia – Armenia is the first nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion.
302 – 309 CE – Persia (Iran) – Hormizd II rules as king of the Sassanid Empire.
303 CE – Italy – A general prosecution of Christians in the Roman Empire began February 24 by an edict of the emperor Diocletian, who has been persuaded to revive the old religion in a move to strengthen the empire.
Diocletian ordered the destruction of churches, the surrender of sacred books and the offering of sacrifice by those attending courts of law. It is believed that Marcellinus, Papa of Rome, and future Papas Marcellus I, Miltiades and Silvester I complied with the order and offered incense to the Roman Gods. In retaliation, Marcellinus is removed from the official list of Papas of Rome. Surrender of the sacred books disqualified anyone from the priesthood, a form of self-excommunication. It is noteworthy that the Church of Rome is rich and would eventually become the wealthiest of all the Churches. The death of Marcellinus caused the papacy to be vacant until 308 CE due to internal bickering.
303 / 304 CE – Turkey – Eugenius was a tribune of 500 soldiers that were stationed in Seleucia. In 303 / 304 CE, the soldiers raised him to the purple and marched on Antioch. In the ensuing battle, Eugenius died.
305 CE – Italy – On 1 May 305 CE, Diocletian, at Nicomedeia, and Maximianus Herculius, at Mediolanum, divested themselves of the purple. Their resignations seem largely due to the almost fatal illness that Diocletian contracted toward the end of 304 CE. Diocletian seems to have forced his colleague to abdicate. In any case, Herculius had sworn an oath at the temple of Capitoline Jupiter to carry out the terms of the abdication. Constantius and Galerius were appointed as Augusti, with Maximinus Daia (305 – 313 CE) and Severus (306 – 307 CE) as the new Caesars. The retired emperors then returned to private life. Diocletian’s retirement was at Salonae in Dalmatia, while Herculius‘ retreat was either in Lucania or Campania.
Daia was the son of Galerius‚ sister and had served in the army as a scutarius, protector, and tribunus. He had been adopted by Galerius ; his name had been Daia even before that time.
Rich landowners dominate the Roman Empire and enjoy the title of senator, which makes them exempt from the crushing taxes imposed on the rest of the population. The Senate has lost all its power and the landowners almost never attend Senate sessions. Labor and property is evaluated in terms of a unit of wheat-producing land (iugum), members of municipal senates (curiales or decuriones) are charged with the responsibility of collecting taxes and paying arrears; smaller landowners are held responsible for providing recruits for the legions and with keeping wastelands under cultivation.
305 – 311 CE – Illyricum – Caius Galerius Valerius Maximianus, more commonly known as Galerius, was from Illyricum; his father, whose name is unknown, was of peasant stock, while his mother, Romula, was from beyond the Danube. Galerius was born in Dacia Ripensis near Sardica.
306 – 314 CE – Turkey – Metrophanes becomes Bishop of Byzantium.
306 – 312 CE – Italy – Herculius‚ retirement, however, was of short duration because, a little more than a year later on 28 October 306 CE, his son Maxentius was proclaimed emperor at Rome. To give his regime an aura of legitimacy, Maximianus was forced to affirm his son’s acclamation. When Galerius learned of Maxentius‘ rebellion, he sent Severus against him with an army that had formerly been under his father’s command. Maxentius invested his father with the purple again to win over his enemy’s troops, a ruse which succeeded.
306 – 337 CE – England – Flavius Valerius Constantinus is proclaimed Roman Emperor at York, England. Known as Constantine the Great, he rules only in Britain and Gaul.
308 – 309 CE – Italy – St. Marcellus is elected Papa of Rome even though he is excommunicated for surrendering sacred books. He likely survived by passing the blame to Marcellinus and having him removed from the official Papal list. His harsh hard-line judgments aroused majority church opinion against him. Emperor Maxentius banished Marcellus from Rome to prevent more public disorder and bloodshed.
308 – 309 CE – Italy – L. Domitius Alexander, either of Phrygian or Pannonian extraction, was vicarius of Africa. Probably in the spring or autumn of 308 CE, Maxentius, when he was uncertain whether or not he could depend on the loyalty of troops in Africa, demanded that the vicarius send his son as a hostage to him. Alexander disobeyed the order and was acclaimed Augustus by his troops, even though he was an old man. The revolt was of short duration; probably by late 309 CE, the praefectus praetorio Rufius Volusianus and Zenas, paucissimis cohortibus, succeeded in overthrowing the usurper and in executing him. Alexander has been identified with Valerius Alexander who was vicarius of Africa between 303 and 306 CE.
308 – 324 CE – Italy – The Roman co-emperor Severus dies on November 11. The emperor Galerius replaces him with the Illyrian Flavius Galerius Valerius Licinianus, who will rule until 324 CE as the emperor Licinius.
309 CE – Italy – Anthrax or a similar plague begins to spread across the Roman Empire. The disease will sharply reduce the empire’s population in the next five years.
309 – 379 CE – Persia (Iran) – Shapur II rules as king of the Sassanid Empire.
309 – 309 CE – Italy – Eusebius, is elected Papa of Rome. He was probably born in Magna Grecia, and his pontificate lasted for only four months. By the order of emperor Maxentius, he was exiled to Sicily, where he died. Maxentius, meanwhile, confiscated part of the church property and didn’t permit the election of a new pope.
311 – 314 CE – Italy – St. Miltiades, alias Melchiades, an African or Roman, is elected Papa of Rome even though he is also excommunicated for surrendering sacred books under the reign of Marcellinus.
311 CE – France – The Celtic Seminary for Druids at Bordeaux, France is still functioning in the fourth century and is believed started by the Celts from Armdrica.
311 CE – China – Hun (Hsiung-nu) invaders from the north pillaged the Chinese city of Luoyang, slaughtering 30,000 people. The northern and southern dynasties will divide China from 317 to 589 CE.
311 CE – Italy – The Roman emperor Galerius died in May after the despot Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maxentius had driven him out of Italy. The despot’s father Maximian committed suicide in Gaul in 310 CE when authorities discovered his conspiracy against the emperor Constantine, who began to march on Rome.
312 CE – Italy – The world experiences red letter days that no historian dare ignore. One of them occurred on this day, October 28, 312 CE when a 32-year-old claimant to the Roman Empire defeated his chief rival to the throne.
Constantine’s father had been one of the rulers of the sprawling empire. After his death, his troops named Constantine as Augustus. However, others wanted a piece of the action. One of them, Maxentius, was determined to hold Italy and Africa for himself. Constantine would have to defeat him in order to make good his claim to the throne. Constantine’s trusted friend and church historian Eusebius tells what happened as the „Augustus“ prepared for one of the most decisive battles of history:

Constantine claimed to have seen a vision in the sky of a luminous cross bearing the words In hoc signo vinces (By this sign thou shalt conquer). He will adopt the words as a motto.
The Battle of Milvian Bridge (or Saxa Rubra), four miles north of Rome, on October 28, gives the emperor Constantine a victory over the despot Maxentius. He kills Maxentius and becomes absolute master of the western Roman Empire. Constantine’s victory over Maxentius at Pons Milvius came to supposedly represent a triumph of Christianity over Paganism. [p385+] [p267$11]
A new wave of power began with the reign of Constantine, who had converted to the Christian faith in 312. Christianity became legalized by the Roman Emperor Constantine the following year. [p12H]
Some believed Rome would change their position on slavery after becoming Christian but it was not to be. Under Emperor Constantine, slave masters were absolved from responsibility for any death that may result from use of chains, whippings and beatings. Masters were discouraged from using torture because that was reserved for judicial uses.
The rapidly growing cult following of the teacher Jeshua of Nazareth provided the basis for this new „Universal“ religion. The Greek churches taught that this teacher was the embodiment of the ancient teacher, Chiron, whose Wisdom inspired the early Mystery Schools of Hermes Trismegestus, Socrates and Plato. The name of Chiron took the Roman form of Christus, and Jeshua became „Jesus.“ The events of Jeshua’s life were arranged to be synchronistic with the seasonal festivals celebrated by all the native cultures of the Empire so that the new religion could be acceptable to everyone.
The Winter Solstice (the birth of the Sun God) became the birth time of the Son of God, or Christ-mass. The Spring Equinox (the festival of the Renewal of Life) was the assigned time for the Resurrection of Chiro after his death. The names of tribal traditional gods were given new titles of Sainthood to give them a place in the new pantheon of Christian tradition. In 330 CE this enlightened ruler had moved the seat of power from Rome to the Greek city of Byzantium, which he renamed Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey).
On October 27, 312 CE, Constantine (born a bastard in 274 CE), entered Rome in triumph as the new Emperor. Sylvester I, the Papa of Rome had no conflict in a warrior coming to faith by slaughtering his enemies. So began the fatal alliance between Caesar and Papa of Rome. Throne and Altar became part of orthodoxy and the Roman Church. Emperor Constantine retained his title Pontifex Maximus, head of the pagan state cult. Constantine established religious freedom for everyone without distinction, thereby allowing the Christian Church and the Jewish Church to come out of the catacombs in Rome. The tragedy is that this fundamental Christian principle is never accepted by the Roman Catholic Church until the late 20th century. It is noteworthy that Constantine is a pagan throughout his life and is allegedly baptized by an heretical Arian Papas named Eusebius just before his death. Emperor Constantine the pagan, established the idea of a council of all Christian communities as the only way to formulate the faith incontestably and forever. He saw the church as an instrument of political and cultural cohesion, a pillar of the Imperial structure he was building. He would call the first Ecumenical Council, the Council of Nicaea, in 325 CE in which a decree of religious freedom was imposed and creed was established to unite all the Roman Empire into a universal brotherhood with a common religious philosophy. This became the basis of the Catholic, or „Universal“ Church of Rome. Constantine ordered that the Roman Paul’s letters and other manuscripts be placed into one book. The Emperor’s actions represent the Roman obsession with order rather than any religious conviction. It is noteworthy that future Kings of Europe would also view the Church as one of their tools of Empire building. Others have considered Constantine as the thirtieth Apostle.
The Basilica of Maxentius (Basilica Maxentii) or the Basilica of Constantine (Basilica Constantini) was the last of the great civilian basilicas on the Roman Forum.
The ruins of the basilica are located between the Temple of Amor and Roma and the Temple of Romulus, on the Via Sacra.The construction of the basilica was initiated by Maxentius in 308 CE, and finished by Constantine after he had defeated Maxentius at the battle of Milvian Bridge in 312 CE.
313 CE – Italy – The Edict of Milan by Lucinus in 313 CE finally granted official sanction to Christianity within the Roman Empire, putting an end to the persecution. This milestone marks the beginning of the Roman Church that would be built upon many of the historic Roman Empire beliefs and values including many that are in direct conflict with the teachings of Jesus. The violent killing games of the Roman Christian Colosseum continued with a vengeance. More capital crimes are added to ensure a continuous supply of human victims. These early Roman Christians would support this barbaric practice for the next three hundred years. No fewer than twenty-eight Papas of Rome would condone this practice with some maintaining their own gladiators. Traditional Roman human executions included crucifixion, burning and exposure to wild beasts. The Roman Christians dropped crucifixion as unbecoming only of slaves and criminals. This is considered the final conversion of Christianity to the Roman tradition. Emperor Constantine would solidify this conversion by informing the Papa of Rome, Miltiades, alias Melchiades, that the Church is entrusted to the Emperor by divine providence and he intended not to leave schism or division in any place. It is made very clear that the Papa’s of the church will be forced into one doctrine.
314 – 335 CE – Italy – St. Silvester, a Roman, is elected Papa of Rome, even though he was also excommunicated for surrendering sacred books under the reign of Marcellinus. Most evidence suggests he is a puppet under complete domination of the heathen Roman Emperor.
314 CE – Gaul (France) – Constantine called the first Ecumenical Council of Arles in August to resolve Church problems, primarily to deal with the problem of the Donatists, a schismatic Christian group in North Africa. Constantine named Chrestus, Papa of Syracuse, as chairman and excluded Silvester, Papa of Rome. Silvester is later ordered to endorse and circulate the results of the First Council. The Papa of Rome is also excluded from the second Ecumenical Council of Nicaea (Turkey) in the summer of 325 CE.
The Council of Arles passed an edict condemning the veneration of trees, fountains and stones under threat of excommunication. The edict would be repeated until 658 CE. This appears to be directed against the Celtic Church. In the end, the Roman Church aligned with the Celtic belief by proclaiming the Virgin Mary as Our Lady of the Pines, Our Lady of the Water and Our Lady of the Mounds, most Druidic of all.
314 CE – Croatia – The Battle of Cibalae on October 8, gives the Roman emperor Constantine a victory over his co-emperor Licinius, who loses all of the Balkans except for Thrace.
314 – 337 CE – Turkey – Alexander becomes Bishop of Byzantium.
315 – 403 CE – Palestine – One of the first and most vociferous opponents of Origen, St. Epiphanius [#] was born c. 315 CE in Palestine. His parents were Christians, and he studied languages in Egypt before returning to his native land, where he established a monastery near Eletheropolis. An ardent proponent of monasticism and Nicene Christianity, Epiphanius was elected metropolitan of Constantia in 367 CE and continued as abbot of his monastery until his death. He also attacked the theology of Apollinaris of Laodocia and of Melitus of Antioch, but he regarded Origen as the source of all error and urged Patriarch John of Jerusalem to condemn Origen and his thought. When John refused, Epiphanius excommunicated him, an action which Jerome supported. Epiphanius later ordained Jerome’s brother Paulinus to the priesthood, although Paulinus was under John’s jurisdiction.
When Patriarch John Chrysostom of Constantinople granted refuge to the Tall Brothers, whom Patriarch Theophilus of Alexandria had condemned as Origenist, Epiphanius began to attack Chrysostom, his friend. Epiphanius left Constantinople before the Council of the Oak, which deposed Chrysostom, and died at sea in 403 CE.
Epiphanius‘ most famous work is the Panarion, also known as a Refutation of All Heresies. Ancoratus is an exposition of tritarian theology that contains a draft of the Nicene Creed. He also wrote On Weights and Measures, a manual for studying the Bible, and On Gems, an explanation of the priest’s breastplate. His criticisms of the use of art in worship prefigure iconoclasm.
315 CE – Italy – The Arch of Constantine, completed by the Roman emperor, commemorates his victory at the Milvian Bridge in 312 CE.
316 CE – Italy – As soon as the Emperor Licinius realized that the cease-fire of 314 CE between himself and the Emperor Constantine would soon be abrogated, he appointed Aurelius Valerius Valens as his fellow Augustus probably during the opening days of December 316 CE. He may have taken this action to make it clear to his brother-in-law that he was severing relations with him. The new Augustus had formerly been dux limitis in Dacia. When Licinius surrendered to Constantine on 1 March 317 CE, after being defeated at Campus Ardiensis, the defeated emperor was forced to depose and to execute his newly appointed colleague.
317 CE – Central America – A sequence of fourteen rulers reigned at the Maya city Tikal from 317 to 869 CE according to Mayan stelas. [p75LR]
320 – 355 CE – Nubia (Sudan) – Nubia during this era was ruled by two kings whose names are unknown. The Kushite / Nubian kingdom at this time was overthrown by the Ethiopian kingdom of Axum.
320 CE – Egypt – The first Qumran-style desert community was established by Pachomius around 320 CE – at precisely the time that the Pauline orthodoxy of Rome was gaining official sanction for itself from Constantine. Pachomius’s monastery quickly generated a number of offshoots. By the time of his death in 346 CE, there were several thousand monks scattered about the Egyptian desert, and the principles underlying the monastic system were being transmitted elsewhere. Perhaps the most famous exemplar of Egyptian monasticism is Saint Antony. It is significant that both Antony and Pachomius avoided ordination. The point is that the monastic system was not just a spontaneous occurrence. It represented a form of opposition to the rigidly hierarchical structures of Rome.
320 – 550 CE – India – The Classical Age refers to the period when most of North India was reunited under the Gupta Empire. Because of the relative peace, law and order, and extensive cultural achievements during this period, it has been described as a „golden age“ that crystallized the elements of what is generally known as Hindu culture with all its variety, contradiction, and synthesis. The golden age was confined to the north, and the classical patterns began to spread south only after the Gupta Empire had vanished from the historical scene. The military exploits of the first three rulers – Chandragupta I (c. 319 – 335 CE), Samudragupta (c. 335 – 376 CE), and Chandragupta II (c. 376 – 415 CE) – brought all of North India under their leadership. From Pataliputra, their capital, they sought to retain political pre-eminence as much by pragmatism and judicious marriage alliances as by military strength. Despite their self-conferred titles, their overlordship was threatened and by 500 CE ultimately ruined by the Hunas (a branch of the White Huns emanating from Central Asia), who were yet another group in the long succession of ethnically and culturally different outsiders drawn into India and then woven into the hybrid Indian fabric.
321 CE – Italy – The Roman Catholic Church has been allowed to hold and transfer property since 321 CE. The donations of private property grew greatly from of the pious and the wealthy; the Lateran Palace was the first significant donation, a gift of Emperor Constantine I. Other donations soon followed, mainly in Italy around Syracuse, Palermo, Ravenna, and Genoa and also around Rome, but also on Sicily, in France, Africa, and in the East among other areas. Large gifts became less common after the 600s because economic and political conditions had changed. The Pope had become the largest landowner in Italy, a privilege that brought with it certain political issues and pressures.
The nucleus of the states consisted of endowments given to the popes from the 4th century in and around Rome, in other areas of the Italian mainland, and in Sicily, Sardinia, and other lands; these came to be called the Patrimony of St. Peter. The popes gradually lost their more distant lands, but in the duchy of Rome, papal power became stronger and increasingly independent of the Eastern emperors and of the other states in Italy.
The Roman emperor Constantine forbids work on the Sabbath and endorses Sunday as the day of rest. Constantine assigns convicts to grind Rome’s flour in a move to hold back the rising price of food in an empire whose population has shrunk as a result of plague. Barbarian peoples have used waterpower for years and pressure mounts to use such power in Rome, where rulers have opposed it in the past lest it cause unemployment.
324 CE – Turkey – Martinianus was the Emperor Licinius‚ magister officiorum. After his defeat at the Battle of Adrianople on 3 July 324 CE, the eastern emperor made Martinianus an Augustus; he was sent to Lampsacus to impede Constantine’s army as it crossed from Thrace to the Hellespont. After Constantine defeated Licinius‚ forces at the Battle of Chrysopolis on 18 September 324 CE, both Licinius and his colleague were exiled. He was sent to Thessalonica, where he was confined under house arrest; Martinianus, his associate, was imprisoned in Cappadocia. Constantine had both his rivals put to death no later than 325 CE. The Byzantine Empire and Constantinople is subsequently founded by Constantine the Great. [p482$3]
325 CE – Turkey – The Council of Nicaea was convened in 325 CE by the Roman emperor Constantine – the first Christian emperor (baptized only on his deathbed in 337 CE, at that time still a pagan emperor), established by a vote the divinity of Jesus and the precise nature thereof.
The Council of Nicaea supports the doctrine that God and Christ are of the same substance. The priest Arius has maintained the opposite view; he will be tortured to death in 336 CE, but Constantine and his successors will move the Church increasingly toward Arianism. Athanasianism will not become the dominant view until after 379 CE.
Constantine had his wife, his son, a nephew and his wife put to death, and had Licinius (his co-emperor) and his son strangled after promising them their lives. These chores out of the way, he convened the bishops and patriarchs of the realm to define the nature of the Trinity and decide which of the squabbling factions of believers should be given the royal patent for orthodoxy.
Constantine the pagan is horrified that after being freed from persecution there is bloody fighting between various Christian factions. Arianism as an example claimed that Jesus is subordinated to God the Father. The burning question of the council was the argument between Arius and Bishop Athanasius of Alexandria. Arius claimed Jesus was essentially distinct from the Father, having been created ex nihilo by the latter. Athanasius, however, claimed „as God is eternal, so is his Son – when the Father, then the Son – the Son is present in God without birth, ever-begotten, an unbegotten-begotten.“ The majority of Papa’s favored the Arian position, but Constantine the pagan for no apparent reason other than to show his authority, proposed the doctrine that the Son of God is of one substance with the Father. The vote by the slimmest of margins supported the position of bishop Athanasius. By a packed vote, Arius was condemned as a heretic, excommunicated, and exiled. Arius is commanded by the bishop of Alexandria to quit his beliefs or be declared a heretic, and his writings are ordered destroyed. It is important to remember that throughout the writings and compiling of the Gospels and Epistles, those not consistent with the ruling authority are rejected and destroyed.
All dissident Papa’s gave in, except two who are promptly deposed and sent away. Constantine later wrote to Alexandria, the Arian foothold, saying „what has pleased three hundred Papa’s is nothing other than the will of God.“ The Arian heresy, as it is later called, continued for generations (more than 60 years) as did the immersion of the state in church affairs. The result, wrote Burckhardt, is a „Church rapidly disintegrating in victory.“ This position would not become official dogma until the Council of Chalcedon in 451 CE.
Three years later, however, Constantine went soft on heresy (or changed his mind as to who were the heretics) and recalled Arius to Constantinople. On the very day Arius was to re-enter the Cathedral in triumph, his bowels suddenly burst out in a privy, obviating any need to redefine orthodoxy. The orthodox considered it a miracle; the Arians knew it was murder. As a result of council, Rome became the official centre of Christian orthodoxy, issuing the Nicene Creed –

This was the turning point between Christianity and Mithraism. Constantine, a great supporter of the Christian religion, although not converting to it until the time of his decease, gathered together 2,000 leading figures in the world of theology, the idea being to bring about the advent of Christianity as the official state religion of Rome. It was out of this assembly that Jesus was formally declared to be the Son of God, and Saviour of Mankind, another slain saviour god, bringing up the tally of slain god-men to seventeen, of which Mithra, together with such men as Bel and Osiris, was included.
Following his victory over the heresiarch Arius and the Arians, Athanasius traveled throughout Europe promoting monasticism and asceticism. He is credited with monasticism specifically to the Romans and Germans.
In the Gnostic theology of Athanasius, only ascetics were considered the Bride of Christ, a pernicious teaching which influenced many devout Christians to seek Christ in monasteries and convents. Although the religious orders had the outward appearance of spiritual piety, they were often, however, fronts for occult as well as homosexual/lesbian activity. That asceticism, enforced celibacy and monastic life have borne evil fruit throughout the centuries is evident in the rampant sexual perversion of the Roman Catholic priesthood and hierarchy.
It was through the establishment of monasteries that the Merovingian Jews, whose forefathers were the Alexandrian Gnostics, began to infiltrate and mold the theology and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. Many of the popes were Merovingian monks who forced masses of European Jews to convert to Roman Catholicism, with the result that the Church incorporated traditions from both Judaism, the Talmud and the Kabbalah. [MB]
Just as Nicaea can be regarded as the birthplace of Christianity, so too it can be regarded as the graveyard of what we imagine Jesus taught. From that time onwards, Christianity was to absorb the superstitions of Mithraism, and many other older religions, and what was believed to have happened to earlier saviour gods, was made to centre around the Nazarene. The coming of Christianity under state control was to preserve it as a religion, and was the death knell of all other sects and cults within the Roman Empire.
Had Constantine decided to retain Mithraism as the official state religion, instead of putting Christianity in its place, it would have been the latter that would have been obliterated. To Constantine however, Christianity had one great advantage, it preached that repentant sinners would be forgiven their sins, provided that they were converted Christians at the time of their passing, and Constantine had much to be forgiven for. He personally did not convert to the new religion until he was on his death bed, the reason being that only sins committed following conversion were accountable, so all sins committed by a convert, prior to conversion, didn’t matter, and he could hardly have sinned too much whilst he was lying on his death bed. Mithraism could not offer the same comfort to a man like Constantine, who was regarded as being one of the worst mass-murderers of his time.
„The Historical Apollonius Versus the Mythical Jesus“
By Dr. R. W. Bernard, B.A., M.A., Ph.D. –

That the original Gospels were rewritten and altered at the Council of Nicea is indicated by the following statement by Archdeacon Wilberforce, who wrote –

There is evidence to indicate that not only were the original doctrines of early Essene Christianity radically changed at the Council of Nicea and replaced by others entirely different, but that the MAN whose life was an embodiment of the original doctrines was likewise replaced by another man who exemplified the new doctrines. The name of the second man, who was not a vegetarian and who did not prohibit the killing of animals, was Jesus Christ, who was put in the place of Apollonius of Tyana, the historical world teacher of the first century.
The first act of the Church Fathers, after they created their new religion and its messiah, neither of which existed previously, was to burn all books they could lay their hands on, especially those written during the first few centuries, which made no mention of Jesus and which referred to Apollonius as the spiritual leader of the first century, realizing as they did that such books, if they were not destroyed, constituted a dangerous menace to the survival of their deception. It was for this reason that the churchmen took such great pains to burn the ancient libraries, including the famous Alexandrian Library with its 400,000 volumes, which was burnt to the ground by edict of Theodosius, when a Christian mob destroyed the Serapeum where the scrolls and manuscripts were kept.
However, the churchmen failed to their purpose, for prior to its burning which they foresaw, the librarians of the Alexandrian Library had secretly removed from it some of the most precious volumes, which they carried eastward for safety.
Among the works which were thus saved from the flames of the Alexandrian Library, the one which has created the most widespread and long-continued discussion was the „Life of Apollonius of Tyana,“ written by Flavius Philostratus at the beginning of the third century CE. As if by an ironic fate, this book – which of all books burnt in the Alexandrian Library, was one of the most dangerous – was preserved down through the centuries, resisting all attempts to destroy it. The reason why this book was so much dreaded by the churchmen was because, while it made no mention whatsoever of the existence of Jesus or of Christianity, it presented Apollonius of Tyana as the universally acclaimed world teacher of the first century, reverenced from one end of the Roman Empire to the other, by everyone, from the lowest slave to the Emperor himself.“
W. B. Wallace, writing on „The Apollonius of Philostratus,“ calls Philostratus‘ biography a „pagan counter blast to the gospel of Galilee, representing a Greek saviour as an alternative to the Semitic one.“ (A). Furthermore, the main events of the lives of both men were so closely parallel that the reader cannot help but conclude that if Jesus is not a fictitious imitation of Apollonius, then Apollonius must be an imitation of him, since it would be highly improbable for two such similar men to have been born the same year and to have such similar biographies
From Phliostratus‘ biography, we gather the following facts about the life and character of Apollonius of Tyana. He was born in the year 4 BCE. At the age of twelve he was sent to Tarsus in Cilcia, the alleged birthplace and home of „St. Paul.“ There he studied every system of philosophy, and perfected himself in rhetoric and general literature. He took up residence in the temple of Aescalupius, famed for its marvellous cures, and was initiated by its priests into their mysteries, after which he performed cures that astonished not only the people but those masters of the art of healing. He then finally decided to adopt the philosophy of Pythagoras [who believed number is the essence of all things, the soul is immortal and goes to another body after death], and rigorously observed the trying discipline instituted by the Samian sage. He abstained from animal food, wine and women – and lived upon fruits and herbs, dressed only in white linen garments of the plainest construction, went barefooted and with uncovered head, and wore his hair and beard uncut. He was especially distinguished for his beauty, his genial bearing, his uniform love and kindness, and his imperturbable equanimity of temper.
In these respects he was the personal embodiment of the imaginary traits of the Christian Jesus, and was no doubt the original of the pictures of the so-called Nazarene, now so venerated by the uninformed professors of the Christian religion. (Almost every picture that in modern times is recognized as a likeness of Jesus really have their origins in a portrait of Apollonius of Tyana painted in the reign of Vespasian.)

325 CE – Ethiopia – The Book of Enoch, having been supressed by the Church, was declared apocryphal by St. Jerome. [p228)]
The Book of Enoch is translated by Richard Laurence in 1821 CE from scrolls found hidden in caves in Ethiopia in 1773 CE. These scrolls were evidently hidden during the same historical period as the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Richard Laurence translation should not be confused with The Secrets of Enoch written in 1925 CE by another author, or a more recent fanatical tome fabricated by Elizabeth Clare Prophet.
Enoch means „learned one.“ There were many „Enochs“ over the eons. The Book of Enoch talks of 200 „fallen angels,“ who „fell to earth“ and were then stuck here while they tried to „repair“ their conveyance. Orders from their „leader“ were to not fraternise with the „women“ of earth. Of course the first thing all these „angels“ did was to mate with every earth woman they could find. In Genesis: 6:6 of the Bible – and the „sons of God took the daughters of men for wives.“
The Book of Enoch was declared apocryphal, and like the Book of Seth, and other ancient manuscripts, was denied entrance into the „approved“ version of the original Bible by the Nicene Council of 325 CE.
But what is an Apocrypha? The etymology of the term shows that it is simply a SECRET BOOK, i.e. one that belonged to the catalogue of temple libraries under the guardianship of the Hierophants and initiated priests, and was NEVER meant for the common folk. Apocrypha comes from the verb „crypto,“ „to hide“. For ages the „Enoichion“ (the Book of the SEER) was preserved in the „city of letters“ and secret works, the ancient Kirjath-Sepher, later on called the Debir. Some writers have tried to identify Enoch with Thoth of Memphis, the Greek Hermes, and even with the Latin Mercury. As individuals, all these are distinct from one another. Professionally, if one can use the word, now so limited in its sense, they belong ONE AND ALL to the same category of sacred writers, of Initiators and Recorders of Occult and ancient Wisdom.
Those in the „Kuran“ (see Surat XIX), generically termed the Edris, or the „Learned“ (the Initiated), bore in Egypt the name of „Thoth,“ the inventor of arts, sciences, writing or letters, of music and astronomy.
Among the Jews, the „Edris“ became „Enoch,“ who, according to Bar-Hebraeus, „was the first inventor of writing,“ books, arts, and sciences, the FIRST to reduce to a system the progress of the planets.
In Greece he was called Orpheus, and thus changed his name with every nation! The number Seven was attached to, and connected with, each of those primitive Initiators, as well as the number 365, of the days in the year, astronomically, it identifies the mission, character, and the sacred office of ALL those men, but certainly NOT their personalities!
Enoch is the SEVENTH patriarch; Orpheus is the possessor of the „phorminx,“ the seven-stringed lyre, which is the seven-fold mystery of initiation.
Thoth, with the seven-rayed Solar Discus on his head, travels in the Solar boat, the 365 degrees, jumping out every fourth (leap) year for one day.
Finally, Thoth-Lunus is the septenary god of the seven days, or the week.
Esoterically and spiritually, „Enoichion“ means „The Seer of the Open Eye“.
The story about Enoch, told by Josephus, namely, that he had concealed under the pillars of Mercury or Seth his precious rolls or books, is the same as that told of Hermes, the „Father of Wisdom,“ who concealed his books of Wisdom under a pillar, and then, finding the two pillars of stone, found the science written thereon.
Yet Josephus, notwithstanding his constant efforts to give Israel unmerited glorification, by attributing the science (Wisdom) to the Jewish „Enoch,“ shows the pillars as still existing during his time. He tells us that they were built by Seth; and so they may have been, only neither by the Patriarch of that name, the fabled son of Adam, nor by the Egyptian god of Wisdom – Teth, Set, Thoth, Tat, Sat (the later Sat-an), or Hermes, who are ALL ONE, – but by the „sons of the Serpent-god,“ or „Sons of the Dragon,“ the name under which the Hierophants of Egypt and Babylon were known BEFORE THE DELUGE, as were their forefathers, the Atlanteans.
Quetzalcoatl, „the Great White Reformer“ (Aryan), thought there were „two totems“ in conflict when he took his „aerial tour“ of North America. These conflicting totems were called the“Wind God“ and the „Great Dragon“. The Great Dragon easily turns into the „Sons of the Dragon“ and the Wind God easily transforms into the „Eagle clutching the arrows“ that flys on the wind. Two tribes warring from eons ago.
326 CE – Italy – In a public mark of his acceptance of Christianity as the official state religion, Constantine refused to carry out the traditional pagan sacrifices. The infamous forgery of the Roman Catholic Church dated to 326 CE called the ‚Donation of Constantine‚ among many other dogmas including the confirmation of the bishop of Rome over all the Christians. It is composed over the period of 754 to 796 CE but many suggest it is finalized in 774 CE. The Roman Catholic Church would cling tenaciously to this deception until the twentieth century.
330 – 375 CE – India – After the decline of the Mauryan Empire in the 2nd century BCE, India went through a long period of political fragmentation. But the memory of the Mauryan was not lost. In the 4th century CE a ruler came to power in Magadha – the state from which the Mauryan Empire had originated – who consciously took the Mauryans as a model to imitate. Chandragupta I claimed descent from his namesake, the founder of the Mauryan Empire, and set about extending his rule over as wide an area as possible. In about 330 his son Gamudragupta succeeded to what had become the Gupta Empire. As so often occurs in Ancient Indian history, the evidence for the military activities of Samadragupta is very limited – all of it being based on a single inscription found on a partly destroyed pillar in Allahabad, in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Yet Samudragupta does appear to have been a formidable war leader who achieved substantial conquests: it is recorded that he performed a horse sacrifice in celebration of his victories over 21 kings. The list of his triumphs includes the defeat of the kingdoms of Kota and Andhra in southeastern India. Samudragupta forced the kings of Kota and Andhra to pay him tribute, while other kingdoms he took over entirely, with the result that he built an empire stretching from the Bay of Bengal to the Arabian Sea and north as far as the Himalayas. Gupta rule over some of this wide area was, however, probably little more than nominal. [Grant]
330 CE – Turkey – The city of Constantinople, formerly the Greek town of Byzantium, was inaugurated. Roman emperor Constantine renamed it after himself and made the capital of the empire. For more than 1,000 years, Constantinople would remain the most culturally advanced and politically important city in the east.
As Constantine the Great had made Byzantium „New Rome“, it was thought appropriate that its bishop, once a suffragan of Heraclea, should become second only to the Bishop of Old Rome. Soon after the transfer of the Roman capital, the bishopric was elevated to an archbishopric. For many decades Roman popes opposed this ambition, not because anyone thought of disputing their first place, but because they were unwilling to change the old order of the hierarchy. In 381 CE, however, the First Council of Constantinople declared that „The Bishop of Constantinople shall have the primacy of honour after the Bishop of Rome, because it is New Rome“ (can. iii).
Popes Damasus and Gregory the Great refused to confirm this canon, a very unusual and controversial step, as Ecumenical Councils were considered binding on all Christian churches. Nonetheless, the prestige of the office continued to grow under the patronage of the Byzantine emperor.
The Patriarch of Constantinople is the Ecumenical Patriarch, ranking as the „first among equals“ in the Eastern Orthodox communion. In this capacity he is first in honor among all the Orthodox bishops, presides over any council of bishops in which he takes part and serves as primary spokesman for the communion, but has no jurisdiction over the other patriarchs or the other autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches.
In addition to being spiritual leader of 300 million Orthodox Christians worldwide, he is the direct administrative superior of the (arch)dioceses serving some four million Ukrainian, Greek, Carpatho-Russian and Albanian Orthodox in the U.S., Canada, Central and South America, and Western Europe (where his flock consists mainly of the Greek, Slavic and other Balkan diaspora).
His titular position is Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Constantinople, one of the sixteen autocephalous churches and one of the five patriarchal Christian centers comprising the ancient Pentarchy. In his role as head of the Orthodox Church of Constantinople, he additionally holds the title Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome. He should not be confused with the Latin Patriarch of Constantinople, an office that is now extinct. His official title is „His Most Divine All-Holiness the Archbishop of Constantinople New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch“.
330 CE – Ethiopia – Aksum became one of the first kingdoms to accept Christianity as its national religion. It is noteworthy that Ethiopia, the Land of Punt, also has a long-standing Jewish tradition.
332 CE – Italy – Constantine I, decreed every man would henceforth be compelled to follow the profession of his parents and marry into the same family profession. Some zealots believe he saw himself as Christ’s representative on earth and the head of the Church. For some five centuries after Constantine’s reign, the Emperor called and presided over all Ecumenical Councils, promulgated their decisions by Imperial decree and ratified elections to all the Patriarchies. All religious doctrines, documents and claims developed during this period should be rationalized. It is said that Emperor Constantine had a cold and terrible lust for power.
Four early heresy issues arose within the Roman Catholic Church –

333 CE – Italy – Emperor Constantine condemned astrology as a „demonic“ practice. [p35EE]
333 CE – England – The Romans begin pulling troops out of Britain and abandon work on the 72-mile Hadrian’s Wall begun in 122 CE. The wall includes at least 16 forts.
333 – 334 CE – Cyprus – On the island of Cyprus, the Magister pecoris camelorum Calocaerus revolted and took up the purple. He was defeated by Dalmatius the Censor. The usurper and his accomplices were tried and executed at Tarsus in Cilicia.
335 CE – Palestine – Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre is consecrated September 17 on the site of Christ’s tomb on Golgotha.
336 – 336 CE – Italy – St. Mark, a Roman, is elected Papa of Rome, but was pope for only nine months. He was given even less importance from the side of Constantine than Silvester. The Liber Pontificalis attributed to him emission of a decree which reserved to the bishop of Ostia the right of consecration of the bishop of Rome. He also built the basilica, Juxta Pallacinis, identified later as the actual Church of St. Mark.
337 – 352 CE – Italy – St. Julius, a Roman, is elected Papa of Rome. Constantine I had murdered his second wife, and some say he built a church to ease his conscience. On his deathbed, it is alleged he converted to Christianity and promised to visit all the holy places if God would spare his life. Upon the death of Constantine as the effective head of the Roman Catholic Church, squabbling again broke out among the various Christian Churches.
337 – 339 CE – Turkey – Paul I becomes Bishop / Archbishop of Constantinople.
337 – 340 CE – Italy – The emperor Constantine dies May 22 at the age of 49. His wife Fausta persuaded him eleven years earlier to execute Flavius Julius Crispus, his son by his first wife, and he is succeeded by three sons born to Fausta. Constantine II, whose full name was Flavius Claudius Constantinus, was the son of Constantine I and Fausta. Following the death of their father and the subsequent murder of other relatives and heirs, Constantine II and his two brothers met in September of 337 CE in Pannonia, where they were acclaimed Augusti by the army, and began to apportion the empire among themselves.
337 – 361 CE – Italy – Constantius II, or Flavius Julius Constantius, second son of Constantine I and Fausta, was born on 7 August 317 CE in Illyricum. He was proclaimed co-emperor with his two brothers.
337 – 350 CE – Italy – Constans I, or Flavius Julius Constans, third and youngest son of Constantine I and Fausta, was born between 320 and 323 CE. He was proclaimed co-emperor with his two brothers.
339 – 341 CE – Turkey – Eusebius of Nicomedia becomes Archbishop of Constantinople.
340 CE – England – Romans cease building new roads in Britain.
340 CE – Italy – Julius, Papa of Rome, held a Roman Church synod at Rome but the Eastern Churches refused to attend. The Eastern synod extended no special status to the Papa of Rome. The Council of Antioch in 341 CE had reaffirmed the condemnation of Athanasius of Alexandria (d – 373 CE) and attacked the theology of Marcellus, one in being with the Father. Cyril, the bishop of Jerusalem, did not accept the Book of Revelation as part of the New Testament.
The Council of Gangra stated – „if anyone, on the pretext of religion, teaches another man’s slave to despise his master, and to withdraw from his service, and not to service his master with good will and all respect, let him be anathema (damned).“ This was encoded in canon law and clearly condones slavery as an institution.
The Roman co-emperor Constantius II defeats and kills his brother Constantine II in March at Aquileia in northern Italy and unites all of the West under his rule.
341 CE – Italy – Despite the constant squabbling between the various Christian Churches, the Papa’s of the Catholic Church began acquiring monarchical qualities like a Bishop of later times without reducing the superiority of the patriarchs. The five patriarchies are of Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexander, Constantinople and a poorly represented Rome. The Orthodox Christian Church power base resided in the Eastern Church and not in the Western Roman Church. It is noteworthy that the Eastern Churches also trace their Papal authority back to Peter. Peter is to the Eastern Church as Paul is to the Western Church.
341 CE – Ethiopia – Coptic Christianity is introduced into Ethiopia. A variant of this communion will be the state religion.
341 – 342 CE – Turkey – Paul I, restored, becomes Archbishop of Constantinople.
342 CE – Italy – The two Roman Emperors, Constans and Constantius II called a General Council at Serdica (Sofia). The Roman Church held its opinion against the Federation of Eastern Churches. The Federation of Eastern Churches issued an encyclical excommunicating the leading Roman Papa’s, including Julius, whom it branded as the cause of all the trouble. The Roman Papa’s continued to hold council but Julius did not attend. Likely the Emperors saw him as a divisive factor.
342 – 346 CE – Turkey – Macedonius I becomes Archbishop of Constantinople.
346 CE – Egypt – Several thousand monks are scattered in the Heterodox Egyptian Desert Monasteries. [pp144+-]
346 – 351 CE – Turkey – Paul I, restored for the second time, becomes Archbishop of Constantinople.
4th cent. CE – Egypt – In the Egyptian calendar, these three days (11/1 – 11/3) are the Isia, the Feast of Isis, which commemorates the dismemberment of Osiris by his brother and murderer, Set, and the healing and love skills of Isis in collecting and reintegrating the King’s body, bringing Osiris back to life a second time – after having already revived him once after Set first killed Osiris by apparently suffocating him inside a wooden box. The love union of Isis and Osiris after this second resurrection produces the solar hero Horus, who will seek to kill his father’s murderer – the Hamlet plot first appears on Earth – and to restore balance in the Realm between order and chaos, life and death.
350 CE – Belgium – The Roman empire allows the Franks to settle in Belgium.
350 – 353 CE – England – The Roman co-emperor Constans is murdered in a coup d’état by his military commander Magnentius, who usurps the Western Empire. Magnentius and Decentius are the Emperors of Rome. Romans cease building new roads in Gaul (France). Emperor Constantius invites Germanic tribes to cross the Rhine River to attack Gaul and the Roman Rhineland.
350 CE – Italy – Julius Nepotian, the son of Eutropia, the half-sister of Constantine the Great, declared himself emperor at Rome on 3 June 350 CE. With a band of gladiators he attacked Rome but was killed by Magnentius‘ generals on 30 June 350 CE, twenty-eight days after the beginning of the revolt. His head was put on a spear and carried around Rome.
Vetranio was born of humble origin in Moesia and had served well under Constantine I; under Constans he became a magister militum. Fearing the revolt of Magnentius, Constantia, the sister of Constantius, persuaded Vetranio to assume the title of Caesar. He was in Illyricum when he received the news about the revolt of Magnentius and the death of Constans. Constantia sent her brother a letter briefly informing him about the turn of events; he received the letter at Edessa, where he was facing the Persian menace. He sent Vetranio a diadem and recognized him as a fellow ruler.
Later, Constantius met with Vetranio at Serdica, and both moved on to Naissus in Serbia. On 25 December 350 CE, both men mounted a platform before the assembled troops; Constantius managed, by means of a strong speech, to have the soldiers acclaim him emperor. He then took the purple away from Vetranio. The emperor led the old man down the stairs of the platform, called him father, and led him to the dinner table. Vetranio was allowed by Constantius to live as a private citizen at Prusa on the equivalent of a state pension for six years until his death.
351 – 360 CE – Turkey – Macedonius I, restored, becomes the Archbishop of Constantinople.
351 CE – France – Magnentius is defeated at Mursa by Constantius II, who pursues him into Gaul.
352 – 366 CE – Italy – Liberius, a Roman, is elected Papa of Rome. Liberius is the first official listed Papa of Rome not recorded as a saint. The anti-Papa of Rome, Saint Felix II, is elected by the same Papa’s who elected Liberius. These Papa’s had solemnly sworn an oath they would not elect another Papa of Rome until Liberius died. The election of Saint Felix provoked a violent popular reaction, but many considered Liberius, the Papa of Rome to be a traitor to orthodoxy and a persecutor of the faithful.
There is little doubt that Emperor Constantius II is the official head of the Roman Church and is trying to force the Eastern and Western Churches to resolve their differences. Liberius decreed that the birth of Jesus should be celebrated on the same day as the birth of the sun gods – December 25th. Before this, the Christian church had no official observance of the birth of Jesus.
This was the first year that Christmas was definitely celebrated on December 25th. The festival of Christmas got its name from the term Christ’s Mass, or a mass performed in honor of Christ. It was at this time that Christians celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ.
The exact dating of Christmas has been a subject of great debate and disagreement, although tradition and custom has it affixed now to December 25th. This date has little to do with actual Christian history and much to do with attempts by Christians to appeal to potential pagan converts by appropriating their own festivals of Saturnalia and Brumalia. Indeed, the earliest calendars to even list December 25 as Christmas did not appear until 336 CE.
There is no hint in the Gospels about the time of the year when Jesus is supposed to have been born – except that it couldn’t have been midwinter, because in that part of the world it is the rainy season and shepherds would not be out at night. This meant that early Christianity found itself in the odd position of trying to tell everyone about what they claimed was the most tremendous birth ever without being able to say when it happened.
It is entirely coincidental that in 274 CE, when the winter solstice fell on December 25th, pagan emperor Aurelian proclaimed this day as Natalis Solis Invicti, the festival of the birth of the invincible sun. Throughout pagan Europe, Christianity was known for supplanting pagan celebrations and holy places in an effort to speed conversion, and it is easy to see this as another example of the same.
It is important to note the fact that celebrating the memory of a person on the day of their birth isn’t normal to Christianity. Typically, a saint’s „day“ is placed on the date of their supposed death – and in the early days, their martyrdom. It was in the pagan, and especially in the Roman world, where celebrations on the anniversary of a person’s birth was more likely to be found.
353 CE – France – England – Emperor Constantius defeats Magnentius, but the result of inviting Germanic intervention was that armed bands of Germanic tribesmen maraud through the Western Empire. Since Britain supported Magnentius, Constantius decimated the British ruling class.
354 – 430 CE – Algeria – Considered to be one of the most outstanding theologians in the history of the Catholic Church, Augustine of Hippo was born at Tagaste on 13 November, 354 CE, in Tagaste, now Souk-Ahras, Algeria, about sixty miles from Bona (ancient Hippo-Regius), and died almost seventy-six years later in Hippo Regius. Tagaste was at that time a small free city of proconsular Numidia which had recently been converted from Donatism. Although eminently respectable, his family was not rich, and his father, Patricius, one of the curiales of the city, was still a pagan.
355 CE – France – Finding himself in an untenable position, Silvanus revolted and declared himself emperor at Colonia Agrippina on 11 August. He was driven to this action because he heard that his own men would put him to death or sell him to the emperor.
When Constantius, at Mediolanum (Milan), received the news about the revolt of Silvanus, he called a meeting of his consistory and dispatched Ursicinus to Gaul with a letter naming him as Silvanus‚ successor. When the general arrived at Colonia Agrippina, he was well received; the letter he carried simply ordered Silvanus to return to Mediolanum and contained no evidence that the emperor knew of the revolt. Although Silvanus hoped that his replacement would support him, Ursicinus, by means of bribes, was able to win over the auxilia; some of them put Silvanus to death while he was on his way to a Christian service at dawn on 7 September 355 CE; he had been in power for twenty-eight days.
Liberius requested a synod to resolve East-West differences, but when the Papa’s own legates sided with the Eastern Church he demanded a new general council at Milan. Emperor Constantius II used bullying tactics to extract a condemnation of Athanasius from all the delegates except three Nicenes, who were promptly exiled. Liberius, Papa of Rome, however resisted bribery and threats to compromise, and was brought by force to Milan. Proving unyielding, he was banished to Beroea in Thrace.
Alamanni tribesmen cross the Rhine and wreak havoc in eastern Gaul (France).
357 CE – Greece – Liberius, the Papa of Rome exiled at Beroea, under pressure from the local Papa, capitulated to the Papa’s and submitted to the Emperor of Rome. His own letters suggest he was ready to pay almost any price to return to Rome.
357 CE – Italy – Constantius II issues a decree February 19 closing all pagan temples in the Roman Empire.
357 CE – France – In 356 CE the emperor Constantius II sent the 24-year-old Caesar Julian to fight the Alemanni, a confederation of Germany tribes led by King Chnodomar that was raiding across the Rhine. After a year of indecisive fighting, Julian met Chnodomar’s army as it crossed the Rhine near Argentorate (present-day Strasbourg). Julian’s forces were heavily outnumbered, since reinforcement from Rome had failed to arrive, and at first the battle went badly for them. Their cavalry almost bolted when Alemanni light infantry got among them, creeping low and stabbing at the horses, but the Roman infantry stood firm, subjecting the Alemanni to a sustained missile barrage from field artillery, bows, and slingshots. When it came to hand-to-hand combat, the Romans and their auxiliaries – many of whom were also German tribesmen – put the Alemanni to flight, pursuing them to the Rhine, where many drowned. [Grant]
358 CE – Yugoslavia – Emperor Constantius II allowed Liberius, Papa of Rome, to be brought to Sirmium (Mitrovica in Yugoslavia) where he signed a proclamation rejecting the Nicene, one in being with the Father, declared the Son to be like the Father in being and in deed in everything. The Roman Church was told that Liberius could return to Rome only if he reigned jointly with Saint Felix II. The Roman Empire had been jointly ruled several times, and subsequently the Roman Church was jointly ruled for the next seven years. The supporters of Liberius acclaimed one God, one Christ and one Papa. The Roman government supported Felix as Papa of Rome and, Liberius as Papa of Rome, was not invited to the Synod of Rimini in 359 CE.
359 CE – Italy – The Eastern Papa’s synod of Rimini adopted the Arianizing creed. Liberius in retaliation for not being invited to the synod, issued a decree after the death of Emperor Constantius II in 361 CE which set aside the Arianizing decision.
360 – 363 CE – Italy – Julian the Apostate becomes Roman Emperor upon appointment by Constantius II. In the preceding decades, the Church had grown in political power, and basic philosophical differences caused a widening schism between the leaders of the Church of Greece and the Church of Rome. The Roman bishops used their influence to gain political power, and the Emperor allowed them to mobilize troops to enforce their expansion of the New Roman Empire into the lands of the Celts. In 361 CE, Emperor Julian sought to check this growing power and abolished Christianity as the official religion of the Empire, reinstating pagan worship.
Julian went back to Mithraism, but his short reign of only two years could not change what Constantine had decreed regarding Christianity as the state religion of Rome. His defeat, and death, at the hands of the Persians, was used by the Christians as an argument in favour of the new, against the old, being looked upon as an omen that Christianity had divine approval. If Julian had been spared to reign some years longer, the entire history of international religion would almost certainly have been different.
The Christian Church was considered a radical sect by the Romans and was meeting in private homes. This Roman Cult used a symbol of a fish as their icon.
360 – 370 CE – Turkey – Eudoxius of Antioch becomes the Archbishop of Constantinople.
360 CE – England – Picts and Scots cross Hadrian’s Wall and attack Roman forces in Britain.
361 CE – Italy – The emperor Constantius II dies November 3 near Tarsus in Cilicia at age 44 as he marches to join his cousin Flavius Claudius Julianus, 30. Constantinople acknowledges Julianus as sole head of the empire, and he enters the city December 11, beginning an 18-month reign as the emperor Julian.
The new Roman emperor Julian tries to organize a pagan church under Mithraism and substitute it for Christianity.
362 CE – Egypt – Liberius, Papa of Rome, adopted a conciliatory posture at the Synod of Alexandria and subsequently allowed communion to those who objected to his positions provided they adhered to the Nicene faith. This posture would continue until his death. His attempt at atonement suggested to the Roman Catholic Church that he was a weak Roman and this only tended to continue to divided their support. The Roman belief of absolutism did not sit well with any conciliatory posture. The Romans provided the Modern Bible into which the Roman principle of absolutism is incorporated. Any reference in the bible with regard to re-incarnation was removed.
363 CE – Persia – The emperor Julian sustains a mortal wound June 26 in a battle with the Persians. The last champion of polytheism, he is succeeded by the captain of his imperial bodyguard, Flavius Iovianus, 32, who will reign for seven months as the emperor Jovian.
363 – 364 CE – Italy – Under Emperor Jovian, who followed Julian, the substitution of Christianity for Mithraism made further progress, and old Pagan beliefs, like the Virgin Birth, Baptism and Holy Trinity, became generally accepted as the basis of the state religion. The early Christian idea of Unitarianism was quickly squashed in favour of Trinitarianism, and those who refused to accept the Holy Trinity were put to the sword, the beginning of mass slaughter in the name of religion, which was to go on for centuries.
364 CE – Turkey – The emperor Jovian signs a humiliating treaty with the Persian shah Shapur II, yielding the kingdom of Armenia and most Roman holdings in Persia. He is found dead in February at Dadastana en route back to Constantinople and is succeeded by the Pannonian general Valentinian, 42, who later appoints his brother Valens, 36, co-emperor. Valentinian I rules from Caledonia to northwestern Africa; Valens from the Danube east to the Persian border.
364 – 375 CE – Italy – Valentian I was one of Rome’s last great warrior emperors. There was a power vacuum after the death of Julian, last ruler of the Neo-Flavian line. His immediate successor Jovian did not really survive long enough to leave his stamp on late Roman society. In general terms, Valentinian’s challenge was to hold together an empire that had experienced sixty years of internal unrest, something which was of major import.
364 – 378 CE – Italy – On March 28, 364 CE, precisely one month after his accession by Roman reckoning, Valentinian appointed his brother Flavius Valens co-emperor at the Hebdomon, the first in a long line of emperors proclaimed there.
365 CE – Italy – Saint Felix II, Papa of Rome, died in November and was included in the list of Papas of Rome and martyrs, whereas Liberius, Papa of Rome, was not sainted.
365 – 366 CE – Turkey – Procopius was born about 326 CE and spent his early years in Cilicia. After holding positions in the Roman military, he eventually left his military position and went into hiding. Stories regarding his motives are conflicting.
When Valens left Constantinople for Antioch at the end of the winter of 365 / 366 CE, Procopius considered conditions in the city ripe for rebellion. With the help of a wealthy former palace eunuch, he bribed two legions based in Constantinople, then armed slaves and volunteers. By night he entered Constantinople, rousing the populace, which looked on in confusion.
It happened that the legions Divitenses and the Thungricani Iuniores, which were enroute to Thrace, were billeted in the Anastasian Baths of Constantinople during a two-day break in march. Procopius, in exchange for promised advancement, won over friends in their ranks. After an all-night meeting, they acted. The cadre presented Procopius to the legionaries and they, in anticipation of rewards, acclaimed him emperor. Under their escort, Procopius marched to the to the vicinity of the palace and senate house – the buildings themselves, together with the monuments associated with them, testimony to the grandeur of Procopius‚ lineage – where he first addressed a crowd seeded with his supporters. Hailed as imperator, he next entered the Senate chambers, there to find but a few low-ranking members.
Valens learned what had transpired from the notarius Sophronius, who, hastening from Constantinople, reached the disheartened emperor in Caesarea and convinced him to march posthaste to secure Galatia. Others, too, among them some former soldiers, fled toward Valens. In the west Valentinian learned of these events about 1 November while enroute to Paris. Distracted by war against the Alammani and uncertain whether news of Procopius‚ revolt meant that Valens was dead, he initially decided to move east to check Procopius, but was soon convinced that the German problem should take precedence.
Meanwhile, Procopius acted quickly, spurred by reports that Valentinian was dead. Procopius‚ initial encounter with units of Valens‚ forces at Mygdus was a bloodless victory, as the Jovii and Victores deserted to Procopius‚ standards. Valens‚ attempt to regain control of Nicaea (captured for Procopius by Rumitalca) and Chalcedon, which, together with Helenopolis, were in enemy hands nearly resulted in disaster.
In the spring of 366 CE, Valens, after linking up with his magister equitum Flavius Lupicinus, launched an offensive. Their initial objective was Pessinus, which would be used as a base of operations for a thrust into Lydia against enemy units under the command of Gomoarius. To counter the effect on the soldiers of Procopius‚ dynastic claim, Valens, heartened by Arbitio, now played on the authority of the old commander, whose pleas undermined the loyalty of Gomoarius‘ troops and precipitated their voluntary surrender – a mass defection which Eunapius alleges that heroic action by Hormisdas nearly overcame. As the main forces advanced, the armies apparently missed one another, with the result that Procopius‚ contingent ended up in Phrygia, that of Valens in Lydia at Sardis. But Valens quickly turned about towards Phrygia, where, in battle near Nacolia, the desertion during combat of Procopius‚ general Aglio sealed the usurper’s fate. Procopius went into hiding, accompanied by Florentius, commander of the garrison of Nicaea, and Barchalba. However, these two quickly gave Procopius over to Valens. According to Ammianus, the usurper was beheaded on the spot and his betrayers then executed.
366 CE – Turkey – After the revolt of Procopius, the elevation of Marcellus‚ as Emperor began in its immediate aftermath. Procopius had sent Marcellus from Constantinople to Bithynia to attack cavalry units detailed there under the command of Serenianus. Serenianus occupied Cyzicus, but Marcellus took the city and had Serenianus, who had escaped and fled to Lydia, was hunted down and killed. After Procopius‚ defeat at Nacolia and subsequent execution on 27 May 366 CE, the victorious Valens captured Marcellus and, enraged at the discovery of imperial regalia passed to Marcellus by Procopius, liquidated him along with his followers, friends, relatives, and any suspected of withholding information.
366 – 384 CE – Italy – Liberius, Papa of Rome, died and a papal war erupted between Ursinus and Damasus I, a Roman, keeping in mind St. Felix II, Papa of Rome, was still considered as an anti-papa to Liberius. Damasus I, Papa of Rome, who had followed Liberius into exile in 355 CE, took service with Felix in Rome and in 358 CE returned to Liberius. Damasus I also had requested and received the support of the Roman Government. The followers of Liberius elected Ursinus, a deacon of Liberius, as the Papa of Rome. Ursinus lost the papal battle and became the anti-papa of Rome.
Damasus I immediately hired assassins to storm the Julian basilica to massacre the Ursinians. Fighting ensued for three days and 137 bodies were finally removed from St. Mary Major when the fighting ended – all were followers of Ursinus. The Emperor sent Ursinus into exile and Damasus I, as Papa of Rome, claimed his authority as successor to St. Peter. To obtain the position, he had to renounce his wife and family. This claim was not made by the Fathers of the Church, but began a precedent hitherto unsupported by theology. Mob violence continued for another three weeks. The Papa of Rome required constant police protection against the followers of Ursinus. The Papa’s of Italy were shocked by the events that weakened the moral authority of the Roman Catholic Church. Damasus I became known as ‚the matrons‘ ear-tickler due to his attention to the wealthy ladies. He led a magnificent life style and was considered to be impossibly arrogant.
Damasus I asked the prefect of Rome, a pagan with many priestly titles, to convert to Christianity. He replied, „Willingly, if you make me Papa of Rome.“ The Papacy had acquired much property, power and luxury that even surpassed that of the Emperor’s table. St. Jerome, devoted to pagan learning and the secretary to Damasus, compiled the first Latin bible called the Vulgate. Jerome loathed women and said St. Peter only washed away the dirt of marriage by the blood of martyrdom. Understandably the Vulgate bible that is still authoritative in the Roman Catholic Church contained many errors. Jerome (340 – 420 CE) realized that the Semitic-Hebrew name Joshua had been incorrectly translated as Jesus. The correct translation of Jesus Christ (the anointed one) is correctly Joshua, the Messiah. Saint Jerome acknowledged the ancient copies of the Gospel of the Birth of Mary attributed to Saint Matthew and that it is considered genuine and authentic by several of the ancient Christian sects. Epiphanius, bishop of Salamis, and Austin, also mentioned a Gospel under this title. It was acknowledged that the Jerome version of the Mary Gospel according to Matthew differed in some specifics from other more ancient copies.
367 CE – England – The Celt of Caledonia continued to cross the Hadrian wall and attack the Roman army.
367 CE – France – The Scandinavian Germanic Saxon, Frank and Anglo tribes began to raid the coast of Celtic Gaul.
367 CE – Italy – Ursinus returned to Rome in triumph being allowed to do so by Emperor Valentinian. His jubilation is short lived as Damasus I, Papa of Rome, bribed the court to again exile the anti-Papa of Rome, his clergy and many of his followers to Gaul. Many followers continued to meet in the cemeteries but are soon brutally dislodged by the Papa’s henchmen.
Gratian became emperor of the Western Roman Empire. It was not until the Empire split in two, with the Western Empire going to the pious, youthful Emperor Gratian (c. 370 CE) that the Pope was given the title Pontifex Maximus. Indeed, feeling that it was not right for he himself to carry that title (since he was, after all, not a Christian priest) the pious young Emperor bestowed it upon Pope Damasus I, who became the first Pope in history to hold the title „Pontifex Maximus.“
368 CE – Italy – A Roman synod called by Damasus I to excommunicate Ursinus resulted in his request being turned down by the Italian Papa’s.
370 CE – Germany – Germanic Christianity embraced the Arian Doctrine that Jesus was the Son and creature of God the Father, neither eternal nor equal in substance with his creator. This Doctrine raised by the Libyan theologian Arius (256 – 336 CE) raged until being condemned and put down. The importance of this incident was not the doctrine but a shift in policy from freedom of debate and reason to one of monopolistic belief. The credo became ‚I believe that I may understand.‘ This simple credo would lead the church into the dark ages. Arianism also stressed local law, personal loyalty and war as the most highly prized occupation leading Europe into cultural decay. This ‚contractual society‘ as compared to an ‚agreement society‘ would dominate Europe into the 21st century.
370 – 379 CE – Turkey – Demophilus becomes the Archbishop of Constantinople.
371 CE – Persia (Iran) – The neo-Persian Empire reaches the height of its power under Shapur II as the Romans and Persians renew their wars. Hostilities will continue for the next five years.
372 – 375 CE – Africa – Firmus was one of the many children of the Moorish prince Nubel, who was also a Roman military officer and a Christian. When Nubel died sometime in the early 370s, his children began fighting over his estate. Firmus killed his brother Zammac, an illegitimate heir but a favorite of the comes Africae Romanus. Romanus was infuriated by this act, and, using his acquaintance with the magister officiorum Remigius, he began a campaign to discredit Firmus at the imperial court of Valentinian I. Fearing for his safety, Firmus decided to revolt against Romanus.
This revolt occurred against the backdrop of Romanus‘ general mismanagement of the African provinces. Firmus‚ revolt caused Valentinian to send his magister militum Theodosius (father of the later emperor) to Africa.
Theodosius arrived at Sitifis and arrested Romanus before heading into Mauretania Caesariensis to deal with Firmus. Firmus tried to reconcile with Theodosius, explaining that Romanus had left him no choice but to revolt. Theodosius, however, was intent on punishing Firmus. In fact Firmus made three appeals for peace, even going so far as to send Christian priests as envoys, but each time Theodosius chose to continue hostilities. At some point, perhaps even before Theodosius‘ arrival, Firmus was proclaimed emperor. According to Ammianus, a tribunus Constantianorum peditum put his neck chain on Firmus‚ head, and Firmus rode around in a purple cloak. The neck chain on Firmus‚ head symbolized the royal diadem, while the purple cloak was a traditional symbol of imperial power.
During his conflicts with Theodosius, which ranged throughout the southern regions of Mauretania Caesariensis and Mauretania Sitifensis, Firmus was aided by some of his siblings. His brothers Mascizel and Dius led the Tyndenses and Masinissenses peoples, while his sister Cyria led a confederation of African peoples on Firmus‚ behalf. Theodosius‘ campaign almost turned into a fiasco as his army was vastly outnumbered and Firmus was able to stir up support among the various native peoples of the two provinces. Theodosius was almost defeated and forced to withdraw several times, but in the end Firmus was betrayed and captured by Igmazen, a chieftain of the Isaflenses, who apparently wanted to win the support of Theodosius. Not wanting to fall into the hands of Theodosius, Firmus committed suicide.
372 CE – Asia – Russia – The Huns swept across Asia, invaded the lower Volga valley, and moved westward, pushing the Ostrogoths (Eastern Goths) and Visigoths (Western Goths) into the Roman Empire. The Scandia Ostrogoth (Eastern Goth) were living relatively peacefully north of the Black Sea for the past two hundred years, having migrated from Scandia (Sweden) and having subjected the Mongol-Sarmatians. The Scandia Visigoth (Western Goth) were also settled in this area for the past one hundred seventy five years.
375 CE – Germany – The emperor Valentinian I dies November 17 at age 53 in a fit of apoplexy while attending a meeting on the Danube. Extreme cruelty has marked his 11-year reign, but he has founded schools and provided physicians to serve the poor of Constantinople. Valentinian I is succeeded nominally by his son of 4, who is hailed as Valentinian II, but the boy’s half brother Flavius Gratianus, 17, assumes the real power. He will rule from Milan until 383 CE as the emperor Gratian.
375 – 392 CE – Italy – Valentian II, or Flavius Valentinianus, was born in 371 CE. He was the son of the emperor Valentinian I. When Valentinian I died at Bregetio on November 17, 375, the younger Valentinian was proclaimed Augustus by the army on November 22. This was problematic because his half-brother, Gratian, was already the legitimate Augustus in the west, having been so designated in 367 CE by Valentinian I himself. But the army and its leaders were apparently unwilling to accept Gratian, who was not as effective military leader as his father Valentinian had been. Thus, to prevent a possible split of the army, which might have proven disastrous since Valentinian had died in the middle of a campaign against the Quadi and the Sarmatians, the general Merobaudes summoned the four-year-old Valentian II, who was only 100 miles away with his mother, and proclaimed him Augustus.
Valentian II died on 15 May 392 CE, killed by Arbogastes, who was Valentinian’s magister militum.
375 – 395 CE – Spain – Theodosius I, aka Flavius Theodosius, was born at Cauca in Spain in about 346 CE to Thermantia and Theodosius the Elder (so-called to distinguish him from his son). Theodosius the Elder was a senior military officer serving in the Western empire and rose to become the magister equitum praesentalis under the emperor Valentinian I from late 368 CE until his execution in early 375 CE. As the son of a soldier, Theodosius was legally obliged to enter upon a military career.
Due to military defeats, Valentinian dismissed Theodosius and sent him home to Cauca in Spain in the same manner, and for the same reason, that the emperor Constantius II had dismissed Valentinian himself in 357 CE. He had found him guilty of cowardice.
The best explanation for the death of Theodosius the Elder is that he had tried to intervene on behalf of his son, and Valentinian had had him executed as a result, most probably during the early new year of 375 CE. His son regained his commission within the army only following the death of Valentinian himself on 17 November 375 CE. He seems to have obtained a position similar to that which he had originally held at his dismissal, that of dux Valeriae perhaps. He campaigned against the Sarmatians again in 376 CE, during which he was promoted as the magister militum per Illyricum. He remained as magister militum per Illyricum from 376 CE until 19 January 379 CE when the western emperor Gratian appointed him to succeed his eastern colleague Valens who had been killed at the Battle of Adrianople on 9 August 378 CE. The fact that Gratian chose him as his new colleague does not necessarily mean that he enjoyed a particularly good reputation as the best general of his day. Gratian had effectively been forced to choose him since he seems to have been the most senior officer of Roman birth available to him at the time.
Theodosius was Catholic and received baptism at the hands of bishop Acholius of Thessalonica during the autumn of 380 CE when serious illness threatened his life. Two days after his first arrival in Constantinople on 24 November 380 CE, Theodosius expelled the „Arian“ bishop Demophilus of Constantinople from the churches of that city and surrendered them to Gregory of Naziaznus who happened to be the leader of the small Catholic or „Nicene“ community there at the time. This was greatly resented and may even have resulted in an attempt to assassinate the emperor. He also called a synod of 150 Catholic bishops who assembled at Constantinople in May 381 CE. An early meeting of this synod, when all the bishops had not yet arrived, elected Gregory of Nazianzus as the new Bishop of Constantinople, but he was quickly forced to resign. The synod then elected the senator Nectarius, who obviously enjoyed the strong backing of the emperor himself, in his stead. Theodosius‘ early reign witnessed the gradual expulsion of all heretical bishops from the towns and cities of the East and the transfer of all church buildings and property to their Catholic rivals. The depth of resentment which such policies caused can best be judged by the fact that in 388 CE „Arian“ mobs at Constantinople rioted and caused widespread damage in reponse to the false rumour that Magnus Maximus had inflicted a severe defeat upon Theodosius.
Theodosius I and his two co-emperors declared Christianity the state religion in that form that the Roman Empire had received from St. Paul (and/or St. Peter) and Saint Damasus of Rome and Peter of Alexandria. They declared the Papa of Rome as the guardian of the true faith and those who espoused this doctrine are given the title Christians. This primacy is not based on decisions of synod, as are the claims of Constantinople but exclusively on his claim to being the direct successor of St. Peter and so the rightful heir of the promise made to him by Christ. It is noteworthy that only the intervention of the Roman Emperor in 371 CE saved the Papa of Rome from claims of adultery, and that he secured his position through murder not a valid election. He advanced the cult of the martyrs to ensure a direct successor from St. Peter to the present reigning Papa of Rome is maintained at all costs. Forgery and falsification of records is consider acceptable. Papal reigns are expanded or contracted to conveniently record an unbroken Papal rule.
The Roman Catholic Christian Church became the Roman Empire Church in action and words. In the beginning the state trespassed on the Church’s domain trying to mould the principles of faith to meet the law. Eventually the Roman Church would trespass on the State demanding the right to appoint or remove Kings and Emperors. The Gospel message became a means to power and glory. The later Puritan Church revolution movement would consider that about this time the Roman Catholic Church began to formally deviate from Christian ideals. The Puritans especially resented the heathenish Roman traditions that began to dominated this Roman Church. Some historians believe this was the beginning of the Roman Catholic doctrine of absolutism.
Theodosius‚ importance rests on the fact that he founded a dynasty which continued in power until the death of his grandson Theodosius II in 450 CE. This ensured a continuity of policy which saw the emergence of Nicene Christianity as the orthodox belief of the vast majority of Christians throughout the middle ages. It also ensured the essential destruction of paganism and the emergence of Christianity as the religion of the state, even if the individual steps in this process can be difficult to identify. On the negative side, however, he allowed his dynastic interests and ambitions to lead him into two unnecessary and bloody civil wars which severely weakened the empire’s ability to defend itself in the face of continued barbarian pressure upon its frontiers. In this manner, he put the interests of his family before those of the wider Roman population and was responsible, in many ways, for the phenomenon to which we now refer as the fall of the western Roman empire.
375 CE – Ukraine – The Scandia Visigoth (Western Goth) crossed into Roman territory in flight from the Huns, a Mongol-Turkish tribe. The Ostrogoth (Eastern Goth) followed their kinsmen shortly thereafter. The successors to the Turkish Huns were the Mongol Avars and the Magyars. The Romans permitted the fleeing Visigoths to enter the Empire at Foederati, but so mistreated them that the Visigoths eventually revolted.
377 CE – Italy – It was at this time that Christianity became sufficiently strong to suppress its rival, Mithraism. The former mainstay of the Roman empire, Mithraism, was to remain a formidable opponent for some time after that, only slowly being forsaken by the people. It was only the absorption of many Mithraist ideas into Christianity which finally saw its downfall.
378 CE – Turkey – The pressure on the Roman Empire from barbarian migration or invasion inceased as the 4th century progesssed. In the 370s the Huns – central-Asian nomadic horsemen – began to move westward, attacking the Germanic Goths living northwest of the Black Sea. Although they were fierce warriors, the Ostrogoths (the Greuthungi) and Visigoths (the Tervingi) fled the Huns, their whole tribes migrating in search of refuge. In 376 the Visigoths sought and received permissions from Valens, the Roman emperor in the east, to cross the Danube into Thrace, in northern Greece. Valens refused a similar request from the Ostrogoths, but they crossed into the empire regardless. Inevitably, this influx of barbarians – possibly number two million in total – led to friction with Roman officials. Soon the Visigoths, led by Fritigern, and the Ostrogoths, led by Alatheus and Saphrax, were at war with Rome and rampaging through Thrace, joined by bands of Sarmatians, Alans, and even Huns. By August 378 the Goths had established a camp outside Adrianople from which their horsemen went raiding and foraging in the surrounding area. Without waiting for reinforcement from the western emperior, Gratian, Valens marched an army out from Constantinople to attack the Goths. When his marching column aproved their camp – a circle of wagons protected by a ditch – the Goths‘ horsemen, including Alatheus and Saphrax, were away on a raid. Fritigern called for a parley, which Valens, his men tired from marching in the heat and not yet in battle formation, accepted. As negotiations were starting, however, fighting broke out between the two sides. Valens ordered a general attack, even though his infantry were still not fully prepared. At this point, the cavalry of Alatheus and Saphrax returned, in the words of Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus, „descending from the mountains like a thunderbolt.“ Charging down upon the Roman right flank they routed the cavalry and wheel to attack the infantry from the rear. Fritigern’s footsoldiers then emerged from behind their wagons to strike the legionaries from the front. As his soldiers were slaughtered in their tens of thousands, Valens was first wounded, then killed. In typical fashion, the Romans recovered from this disaster and, under Valens‚ successor Theodosius, fought back vigorously against the Goths. Fritigern died resisting the Romans five years later. Many Goths ended up as „federate“ allies of the Romans, providing armies to fight for the empire instead of against it. [Grant]
The emperor Gratian summons his general Flavius Theodosius, 32, to replace Valens as emperor in the East. A veteran of many campaigns with his late father, who was executed at Carthage two years earlier on charges of conspiring against Valens, the new co-emperor has fought the Picts in Britain and defeated the Sarmatians in Moesia.
The Christians in Antioch first introduced Christ’s Mass (Christmas) as a liturgical celebration on December 25. This date is used to align with Jewish and pagan festivals. The Jewish people celebrated Hanukkah and the Romans celebrated Saturnalia from December 17 to 24 when a slave and his master are regarded as equal. Sigillaria followed where parents gave dolls to children, beginning a tradition of gift giving. The Christians in Edessa accused the Roman Catholic Christians of idolatry and sun worship having aligned with the pagan sun worship festivals and rejected this tradition.
378 CE – Italy – Damasus I persuaded the Roman Government to recognize the Holy See as a court of first instance and also of appeal for the Western episcopate. The Roman Emperor Gratian supported this request as it supported the centralized Roman authority.
379 CE – Persia (Iran) – The Persian shah Shapur II dies at age 70 after a lifetime reign in which he has humbled the Romans, conquered Armenia, transferred multitudes of people from western lands to Susiana (Khuzistan), rebuilt Susa, and founded Nishapur.
379 – 383 CE – Persia (Iran) – Ardashir II ruled as king of the Sassanid Empire.
379 CE – Turkey – Evagrius becomes the Archbishop of Constantinople.
379 – 380 CE – Turkey – Gregory I Nazianzus the Theologian becomes the Archbishop of Constantinople.
379 CE – Italy – The co-emperor Theodosius assumes office at Sirmius January 19 with power over all the eastern provinces, he comes to terms with the Visigoths, and he settles them in the Balkans as military allies (foederati).