230s

Events

Contents: 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239

230

By place

Roman Empire

• Emperor Alexander Severus decides that Thessaly should be a separate province from Macedonia. He increases taxes in order to maintain the war against the Sassanids and strengthen the defenses of the Roman Empire.

Persia

• King Ardashir I, ruler of the Persian Empire, invades the Roman province of Mesopotamia and unsuccessfully besieges the fortress town of Nisibis (Turkey). His army threatens the border outposts of Syria and Cappadocia.
• Alexander Severus assembles the Roman army and establishes his headquarters at Antioch. He attempts a diplomatic solution, but the Persians decline and choose war.

By topic

Religion

• July 21 – Pope Pontian succeeds Pope Urban I as the eighteenth pope.
• Patriarch Castinus succeeds Patriarch Ciriacus I as Patriarch of Constantinople.
• Seventy Bishops hold the Council of the Christian Church of Africa.

231

By place

Roman Empire

• Emperor Alexander Severus accompanies his mother Julia Mamaea to Syria and campaigns against the Persians. Military command rests in the hands of his generals, but his presence gives additional weight to the empire's policy.

Asia

• Zhuge Liang launches the fourth of his Northern Expeditions against the state of Cao Wei.

By topic

Religion

• Origen, disciple of Ammonius Saccas, founder of Neoplatonism, is exiled in Caesarea.

232

By place

Roman Empire

• Roman–Persian Wars: Emperor Alexander Severus launches a three-pronged counterattack against the Persian forces of king Ardashir I, who have invaded Mesopotamia. However, the Roman army advancing through Armenia is halted. Alexander gives the order to march to the capital at Ctesiphon, but the Romans are defeated and withdraw to Syria. The result is an acceptance of the status quo and after heavy losses on both sides, a truce is signed.

By topic

Religion

• Relics of St. Thomas are brought to Edessa from India.
• Origen founds a school of Christian theology in Palestine.
• Pope Heraclas of Alexandria is the first Bishop of Alexandria to use the appellation of "Pope".

233

By place

Roman Empire

• Emperor Alexander Severus celebrates a triumph in Rome to observe his "victory" the previous year over the Persians. He is soon summoned to the Rhine frontier, where the Alamanni invade what is now modern day Swabia. German tribes destroy Roman forts and plunder the countryside at the Limes Germanicus.

234

By place

Roman Empire

• Emperor Alexander Severus and his mother Julia Mamaea move to Moguntiacum (modern Mainz), the capital of Germania Superior. His generals have planned a military offensive and built a bridge across the Rhine. Alexander prefers to negotiate for peace by buying off the Alemanni. This policy outrages the Roman legions and he loses the trust of the troops.

China

• Zhuge Liang, Chancellor of Shu Han, embarks on his last Northern Expedition against Cao Wei. During the Battle of Wuzhang Plains, he falls sick and sends secret orders for his army to retreat.
• Wei Yan is executed for treason after refusing to accept orders from Zhuge Liang.

235

By place

Roman Empire

• Said to have been the beginning of the decline of the Roman empire.
• March 19 – Emperor Alexander Severus and his mother Iulia Mamaea are murdered by their own soldiers near Moguntiacum (modern Mainz); Legio XXII Primigenia mutinies. The Severan dynasty ends.
• March 20 – Maximinus Thrax, age 62, is proclaimed Augustus. He is not a senator but the second emperor of the equestrian order since Macrinus 17 years earlier. Maximinus had been a common soldier in the army, serving in the Auxilia and the Imperial Horseguards to become governor of several provinces.
• Widely considered to be the beginning of the Crisis of the Third Century: The Roman Empire is under pressure by the Alamanni, Franks, Goths, Quadi and Sassanids (Persia).

China

• Future Emperor of Cao Wei, Cao Fang, is instated as the Prince of Qi.

By topic

Religion

• September 28 – Pope Pontian resigns, the first to abdicate, because he and Hippolytus, church leader of Rome, are exiled to the mines of Sardinia. Emperor Maximinus persecutes the Christians.
• November 21 – Pope Anterus succeeds Pontian as the nineteenth pope.
• Origen makes revisions to the Septuagint.

236

By place

Roman Empire

• Emperor Maximinus Thrax and Marcus Pupienus Africanus Maximus become Roman consuls.
• The Roman Senate appoints a twenty-man committee to co-ordinate operations against Maximinus.
• Maximinus campaigns against Dacians and Sarmatians from his supply depot at Sirmium.

By topic

Religion

• January 10 – Pope Fabian succeeds Pope Anterus as the twentieth pope.
• Fabian separates Rome into seven deaconships.
• Fabian sends seven missionaries to Gaul to evangelize in the large cities.

237

By place

Roman Empire

• Emperor Maximinus Thrax campaigns on the rivers Danube and Rhine in Germania, defeating the Alemanni and never visits Rome. He is accepted by the Roman Senate, but taxes the rich aristocracy heavily and engenders such hostility among them that they plot against him.

Persia

• King Ardashir I of Persia renews his attacks on the Roman province of Mesopotamia.

By topic

Religion

• Patriarch Eugenius I succeeds Patriarch Castinus as Patriarch of Constantinople.
• Saint Babylas becomes Patriarch of Antioch.

238

By place

Roman Empire

• Emperor Maximinus Thrax campaigns against the Carpians on the Danube in Moesia (Balkans). In spite of the payment of a tribute, the Romans fail to persuade the Goths and the Germanic tribes.
• March 22 – Roman subjects in Africa revolt against Maximinus and elect Marcus Antonius Gordianus (Africanus) as emperor. He is a rich descendant of the Gracchi and the late emperor Trajan. Gordianus yields to public demand that he succeed Maximinus and rules jointly with his 46-year-old son Gordian II.
• April 12 – Battle of Carthage: Numidian forces loyal to Maximinus invade Africa with support of Legio III Augusta. Gordian II is killed and after a siege of 36 days, Gordian I commits suicide by hanging himself with his belt.
• April 22 – Year of the Six Emperors: The Senate outlaws Maximinus for his bloodthirsty proscriptions in Ancient Rome and nominates two of its members, Pupienus and Balbinus, to the throne.
• Maximinus advances to the town Aquileia in northern Italy; his army suffers from famine and disease, while the city is besieged. Soldiers of Legio II Parthica kill him in his tent, along with his son Maximinus (who is appointed co-emperor). Their corpses are decapitated and their heads carried to Rome.
• July 29 – The Praetorian Guard storms the palace and captures Pupienus and Balbinus. They are dragged naked through the streets of Rome and executed. On the same day Gordian III, age 13, is proclaimed the new emperor. Timesitheus becomes his tutor and advisor.
• Future Roman Emperor Valerian becomes princeps senatus.
• The Colosseum is restored after being damaged.
• The Goths, coming from Ukraine, cross the Danube and devastate the Roman Empire up to the border with Anatolia.
• In North Africa, Legio III Augusta is dissolved. Until its reconstitution in 253, Africa is defended by auxiliary forces only.

Asia

• The Cao Wei general Sima Yi destroys the outlying northeastern Chinese warlord Gongsun Yuan in his Liaodong campaign.

By topic

Commerce

• The silver content of the Roman denarius falls to 28 percent under emperor Gordianus III, down from 35 percent under Alexander Severus.

239

By place

China

• In the Chinese Kingdom of Wei, Wei Qi Wang succeeds Cao Rui (Wei Ming Di).
• A Chinese expeditionary force discovers the island of Taiwan.

By topic

Religion

• Origen publishes the Old Testament in five languages.

Births

• Gaius Valens Hostilianus Messius Quintus, better known as Hostilian. Born c. 230, he would eventually become a Roman emperor.
• Marcus Aurelius Probus. Born c. 232, he would eventually become a Roman emperor.
• Marcus Julius Philippus Severus, better known as Philippus II. Born in 238, he would eventually become a Roman emperor.

Deaths

• Severus Alexander, Roman emperor. Died in 235.
• Gordian II, Roman emperor. Died in 238. He reportedly predeceased his father Gordian I.
• Gordian I, Roman emperor. Died in 238.
• Maximinus Thrax, Roman emperor. Died in 238.
• Balbinus, Roman emperor. Died in 238.
• Pupienus, Roman emperor. Died in 238.

References