240s

Events

Contents: 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249

240

By place

Roman Empire

• The Roman Empire is threatened on several fronts at the same time. Africa revolts and tribes in northwest Germania, under the name of the Franks, are raiding the Rhine frontier.

Asia

• April 12 – Shapur I becomes co-emperor of the Sasanian Empire with his father Ardashir I.
• Maharaja Sri-Gupta becomes Emperor of Gupta.
• Ardashir I, Sassanid king of Persia, destroys Hatra.
• The Kushan Empire falls.

By topic

Religion

• At the court of Ardashir I, Mani, a young mystic of Ctesiphon, proclaims himself a prophet and preaches his doctrine, Manichaeism, throughout the Persian Empire.

241

By place

Roman Empire

• Winter – Emperor Gordian III reaches Antioch and prepares with his army an offensive against the Persians.
• Timesitheus becomes Praetorian Prefect.
• Approximate date – The Dura-Europos church is converted from a house in Syria, the earliest surviving Christian church building.

Persia

• Shapur I succeeds his father Ardashir I as king of Persia.
• The ancient city of Bagram (Afghanistan) is abandoned.
• Shapur I annexes parts of the Kushan Empire.

Europe

• November 1 – The Battle of Samhain is fought in Ireland.

242

By place

Roman Empire

• Emperor Gordian III begins a campaign against king Shapur I; the Greek philosopher Plotinus joins him and hopes to obtain first-hand knowledge of Persian and Indian philosophies.
• Gordian III evacuates the Cimmerian cities in the Bosphorus (Crimea), as the territory is now controlled by the Goths.

Persia

• Shapur I makes a pre-emptive attack on Antioch to drive out the Romans. Gordian's father-in-law, Timesitheus, leads a Roman army to defeat the Persians at Carrhae and Nisibis.

By topic

Religion

• Patriarch Titus succeeds Patriarch Eugenius I as Patriarch of Constantinople.

243

By place

Roman Empire

• Battle of Resaena: A Roman army under Timesitheus defeats the Persians at Resaena (Syria); King Shapur I is forced to flee to the Euphrates.
• Timesitheus becomes ill and dies under suspicious circumstances. Shapur I retreats to Persia, giving up all the territories he conquered.
• Emperor Gordian III appoints Philip the Arab as his new praetorian prefect and proceeds with his campaign in Mesopotamia.
• Cohors I Ubiorum, the garrison at castra Capidava in Scythia Minor, is replaced by Cohors I Germanorum civium romanorum until the end of the 3rd century AD.

Southeast Asia

• Fan Chan of Funan sends a tribute mission to China.

244

By place

Roman Empire

• Between January 13 & March 14 – Battle of Misiche: King Shapur I of the Sasanian Empire delivers a counter-attack near Fallujah (Iraq) and defeats the Roman army upstream of the Euphrates.
• February 11 – Emperor Gordian III is murdered by mutinous soldiers in Zaitha (Mesopotamia). A mound is raised at Carchemish in his memory.
• Philip the Arab (Marcus Julius Philippus) declares himself co-emperor and makes a disgraceful peace with the Sasanian Empire, withdrawing from their territory and giving Shapur 500,000 gold pieces. The Sasanians occupy Armenia.
• Philip the Arab is recognized by the Roman Senate as new Roman Emperor with the honorific Augustus. He nominates his son Philippus, age 6, with the title of Caesar and heir to the throne; gives his brother Priscus supreme power (rector Orientis) in the Eastern provinces; and begins construction of the city of Shahba (Syria) in the province of his birth.
• The vassal Upper Mesopotamian kingdom of Osroene is absorbed into the Roman Empire, its last ruler being Abgar (XI) Farhat Bar Ma’nu.

Asia

• Guanqiu Jian of Cao Wei invades Goguryeo, devastating the capital.
• The Battle of Xingshi occurs.

By topic

Arts and sciences

• Plotinus, Greek philosopher, escapes the bloodshed that accompanies the murder of Gordianus III and makes his way to Antioch. Back in Rome he founds his Neoplatonist school and attracts disciples like Porphyry, Castricius Firmus and Eustochius of Alexandria.
• 244–249 – Bust of Philip the Arab (in Braccio Nuovo, Vatican Museums, Rome).

Commerce

• The silver content of the Roman denarius falls to 0.5 percent under emperor Philippus I, down from 28 percent under Gordian III.

Religion

• 244–245 – Last phase of construction of the house-style Dura-Europos synagogue in Syria, one of the oldest to survive (wall-paintings in the National Museum of Damascus, Syria).

245

By place

Roman Empire

• Emperor Philip the Arab entrusts Trajan Decius with an important command on the Danube.
• In Britain many thousands of acres of modern-day Lincolnshire are inundated by a great flood.^[1]
• The philosopher Plotinus goes to live in Rome.

Asia

• Lady Triệu, a Vietnamese warrior, begins her three year resistance against the invading Chinese.

246

By place

Roman Empire

• Emperor Philip the Arab fights the Germans along the Danube.
• First of the two Councils of Arabia in the Roman Christian Church is held in Bostra, Arabia Petraea.

Asia

• The Korean Baekje kingdom, under King Goi, attacks the Chinese command of Daifang.

247

By place

Roman Empire

• Marcus Julius Philippus Augustus and his 10-year-old son Marcus Julius Philippus Caesar become Roman Consuls.
• The Goths appear on the lower Danube frontier; they invade the Ukraine and Romania.
• Emperor Philip the Arab marks the millennium of Rome by holding the Ludi Saeculares.
• The last of the two Councils of Arabia in the Roman Christian Church is held in Bostra, Arabia Petraea.

Asia

• Himiko of Yamataikoku, in Japan, begins a war against Himikoko, the King of Kunukoku.

248

By place

Roman Empire

• The revolts of Pacatianus in Moesia and Iotapianus in Syria are put down by senator Decius, by order of emperor Philip the Arab.
• The Roman Empire continues the celebration of the 1,000th anniversary of the city of Rome, with the ludi saeculares, organized by Philip the Arab.

By topic

Religion

• Cyprian becomes bishop of Carthage.
• Origen writes an eight-volume work criticizing the pagan writer Celsus.

249

By place

Roman Empire

• Trajan Decius puts down a revolt in Moesia and Pannonia. Loyal legionaries proclaim him emperor and he leads them into Italy. At a battle at Verona, he defeats and kills Philip the Arab.
• Decius begins persecuting the Christians and others refusing to participate in Emperor worship.

Asia

• Sima Yi takes complete control of Cao Wei by executing his political rival Cao Shuang and his clan, marking the start of Sima family rule, which eventually gave rise to the Jin Dynasty.

By topic

Religion

• In Alexandria, the populace pillages the homes of Christians.

Births

• Publius Licinius Cornelius Saloninus Valerianus, better known as Saloninus. Born c. 242, he would eventually become a Roman emperor.
• Diocles, better known as Diocletian. Born c. 244, he would eventually become a Roman emperor.

Deaths

• Gordian III, Roman emperor. Died in 244.
• Philip the Arab, Roman emperor. Died in 249.
• Philippus II, Roman emperor. Died in 249.

References