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83 BC

83 BC

Centuries: 2nd century BC - 1st century BC - 1st century Decades: 130s BC 120s BC 110s BC 100s BC 90s BC - 80s BC - 70s BC 60s BC 50s BC 40s BC 30s BC Years: 88 BC 87 BC 86 BC 85 BC 84 BC - 83 BC - 82 BC 81 BC 80 BC 79 BC 78 BC ---- Events
- Sulla returns to Italy from his campaigns in Greece, defeats the popular forces of Gaius Norbanus in the Battle of Mount Tifata.
- L. Licinius Murena, the Roman Govenor of Asia, clashed with the Pontic forces of Mithridates VI, starting the Second Mithridatic War. Births
- Mark Antony, Roman politician (approximate date) Deaths Category:83 BC

Centuries

These pages contain the trends of millennia and centuries. The individual century pages contain lists of decades and years. See history for different organizations of historical events. See calendar and list of calendars for other groupings of years. For earlier time periods, see cosmological timeline, geologic timescale, evolutionary timeline, pleistocene, and logarithmic timeline.
- Paleolithic
- 10th millennium BC | 9th millennium BC | 8th millennium BC
- 7th millennium BC | 6th millennium BC | 5th millennium BC
- 5th millennium | 6th millennium | 7th millennium
- 8th millennium | 9th millennium | 10th millennium
- 11th millennium and beyond
- ja:年表 th:คริสต์ศตวรรษ simple:Centuries

1st century BC

(2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium) The 1st century BC starts on January 1, 100 BC and ends on December 31, 1 BC. An alternative name for this century is the last century BC. This AD/BC notation does not use a year zero. Scientific notation does, however, and uses a minus sign, so '2 BC' is equal to 'year -1'.

Events

- The Roman Republic becomes the Roman Empire
- Birth of Jesus of Nazareth See: Chronology of Jesus' birth and death and Anno Domini for further details
- 57 BC Silla is founded in southeastern Korea (traditional date according to Samguk Sagi)
- 53 BC The Parthians defeat the Romans under Crassus in the Battle of Carrhae
- 44 BC Julius Caesar murdered
- 37 BC Goguryeo is founded in southern Manchuria (traditional date according to Samguk Sagi)
- 31 BC Roman Civil War: Battle of Actium - Off the western coast of Greece, forces of Octavian defeat troops under Mark Antony and Cleopatra.
- 18 BC Baekje is founded in midwestern Korea (traditional date according to Samguk Sagi)

Significant persons

- Caesar Augustus, Roman emperor
- Cicero, Roman politician and writer
- Cleopatra VII of Egypt, Egyptian ruler
- Horace, Roman poet
- Julius Caesar, Roman politician
- Livy, Roman historian
- Lucretius, Roman philosopher
- Marcus Antonius, Roman politician
- Marcus Junius Brutus, Caesar's adopted son, supposedly killed him
- Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, Roman statesman and general
- Ptolemy XIII of Egypt, drowned in Nile
- Ovid, Roman poet
- Virgil, Roman poet
- Spartacus, gladiator
- Tigranes the Great, king of Armenia

Inventions, discoveries, introductions

Decades and years

Category:1st century BC ko:기원전 1세기 ja:紀元前1世紀

1st century

The 1st century was that century which lasted from 1 AD to 100 AD, or from 0 to 99 in a more scientific notation (using a year zero), as in astronomical year numbering.

Events

- Beginning of Christianity
- Spread of the Roman Empire
- Masoretes adds vowel pointings to the text of the Tanakh
- 70: destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans under Vespasian
- Pompeii and Herculaneum destroyed by eruption of Mount Vesuvius in August 79
- Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka first write down Buddha's teachings, creating the Pali canon
- Buddhism reaches China
- Tacitus mentions the Suiones, who will one day be called the Swedes.
- Kaundinya, a Indian Brahmin marries Soma and establishes the Pre-Angkor Cambodian Kingdom of Funan.
- Arena (colosseum) is constructed, origin of the name Arena
- The Goths settle in northern Poland, which they called Gothiscandza, and shape the Wielbark culture.

Significant persons

- Apollonius of Tyana.
- Arminius.
- Boudica.
- Caesar Augustus.
- Caligula.
- Claudius.
- Domitian.
- Galba.
- Hero of Alexandria.
- Jesus Christ.
- Josephus.
- Livy.
- Nero.
- Nerva.
- Otho.
- Saint Paul of Tarsus.
- Pliny the Elder.
- Seneca the Younger.
- Tacitus.
- Tiberius.
- Titus.
- Trajan.
- Vespasian.
- Vitellius.

Inventions, discoveries, introductions

- Codex, the first form of the modern book, appears in the Roman empire
- Year 78 - the beginning of the Saka Era South Asian calendar system.
- Bookbinding
- Various inventions by Hero of Alexandria, including the steam turbine (aeolipile), vending machine, machine gun, water organ, and various other water-powered machines.

Decades and years

Category:1st century 01st century ko:1세기 ja:1世紀

130s BC

Centuries: 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC - 1st century BC Decades: 180s BC 170s BC 160s BC 150s BC 140s BC - 130s BC - 120s BC 110s BC 100s BC 90s BC 80s BC Years: 139 BC 138 BC 137 BC 136 BC 135 BC 134 BC 133 BC 132 BC 131 BC 130 BC ----

Events and trends

- Category:130s BC

120s BC

Centuries: 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC - 1st century BC Decades: 170s BC 160s BC 150s BC 140s BC 130s BC - 120s BC - 110s BC 100s BC 90s BC 80s BC 70s BC Years: 129 BC 128 BC 127 BC 126 BC 125 BC 124 BC 123 BC 122 BC 121 BC 120 BC ----

Events and trends

- Category:120s BC

110s BC

Centuries: 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC - 1st century BC Decades: 160s BC 150s BC 140s BC 130s BC 120s BC - 110s BC - 100s BC 90s BC 80s BC 70s BC 60s BC Years: 119 BC 118 BC 117 BC 116 BC 115 BC 114 BC 113 BC 112 BC 111 BC 110 BC ----

Events and trends

- Category:110s BC

90s BC

Centuries: 2nd century BC - 1st century BC - 1st century Decades: 140s BC - 130s BC - 120s BC - 110s BC - 100s BC - 90s BC - 80s BC - 70s BC - 60s BC - 50s BC - 40s BC Years: 99 BC 98 BC 97 BC 96 BC 95 BC 94 BC 93 BC 92 BC 91 BC 90 BC ----

Events and trends

- Category:90s BC

70s BC

Centuries: 2nd century BC - 1st century BC - 1st century Decades: 120s BC - 110s BC - 100s BC - 90s BC - 80s BC - 70s BC - 60s BC - 50s BC - 40s BC - 30s BC - 20s BC - 10s BC Years: 79 BC 78 BC 77 BC 76 BC 75 BC 74 BC 73 BC 72 BC 71 BC 70 BC ----

Events and trends

- Spartacus leads a slave revolt against Rome. His troops are eventually defeated, and Spartacus slain in battle, by Roman legionaires under Marcus Licinius Crassus. Category:70s BC

60s BC

Centuries: 2nd century BC - 1st century BC - 1st century Decades: 110s BC - 100s BC - 90s BC - 80s BC - 70s BC - 60s BC - 50s BC - 40s BC - 30s BC - 20s BC - 10s BC Years: 69 BC 68 BC 67 BC 66 BC 65 BC 64 BC 63 BC 62 BC 61 BC 60 BC ----

Events and trends

Philip II Philoromaeus briefly reigned over parts of Syria.

People

- Pompey, Roman general, (lived 106 BC - 48 BC)
- Mithridates VI, King of Pontus, (lived 132 BC, 62 BC)
- Philip II Philoromaeus
- Gaius Antonius Hybrida, elected praetor in 66 B.C. Category:60s BC

50s BC

Centuries: 2nd century BC - 1st century BC - 1st century Decades: 100s BC - 90s BC - 80s BC - 70s BC - 60s BC - 50s BC - 40s BC - 30s BC - 20s BC - 10s BC - 0s BC Years: 59 BC 58 BC 57 BC 56 BC 55 BC 54 BC 53 BC 52 BC 51 BC 50 BC ----

Events and trends

- First Triumvirate: a secret pact for mutual advantage between Roman politicians Julius Caesar, Pompey and Marcus Licinius Crassus (ca. 59 - 53 BC).
- Gallic Wars: Julius Caesar conquers much of Gaul, crosses the Rhine and leads two expeditions to Britain ( 58 - 49 BC).
- Foundation of the kingdom of Silla in Korea by Bak Hyeokgeose (57 BC)
- Pompey builds Rome's first permanent theatre (54 BC)
- Battle of Carrhae: the Roman general Marcus Licinius Crassus's attempt to invade the Parthian Empire is defeated by Surena at Carrhae, now Harran in Turkey; Crassus is killed (53 BC).
- Battle of Alesia: Julius Caesar defeats a united Gaulish rebellion led by Vercingetorix (52 BC).

Significant people

- Julius Caesar, Roman politician and general (lived 100 - 44 BC)
- Pharaoh Cleopatra VII of Egypt (lived 70/69 - 30 BC, reigned 51 - 30 BC).
- Pompey, Roman general (lived 106 BC - 48 BC)
- Marcus Licinius Crassus, Roman politician and general (lived 115 - 53 BC)
- Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman politician (lived 106 - 43 BC)
- Vercingetorix, Chieftain of the Arverni (d. 46 BC)
- Cassivellaunus, British war-leader
- Ariovistus, German king
- Commius, Gaulish king
- Phraates III, King of Parthia (reigned 70 - 57 BC)
- Mithridates III, king of Parthia and Media (reigned 57 - 54 BC)
- Orodes II, king of Parthia (reigned 57 - 38 BC)
- Surena, Parthian general (lived 84 - 54 BC)
- Bak Hyeokgeose, king of Silla in Korea

Births

- Livy, Roman historian (ca. 59 BC)
- Seneca the Elder, Roman orator (ca. 54 BC)

Deaths

- Marcus Licinius Crassus, Roman politician and general (53 BC)
- Posidonius, Greek philosopher, astronomer and geographer (51 BC) Category:50s BC

30s BC

Centuries: 2nd century BC - 1st century BC - 1st century Decades: 80s BC 70s BC 60s BC 50s BC 40s BC - 30s BC - 20s BC 10s BC 0s BC 0s 10s Years: 39 BC 38 BC 37 BC 36 BC 35 BC 34 BC 33 BC 32 BC 31 BC 30 BC ----

Events and trends

- Octavian defeats Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII of Egypt at the Battle of Actium (September 2, 31 BC). On August, 30 BC the victor captures Alexandria. Marcus Antonius and Cleopatra suicide and her son and co-ruler Ptolemy XV Caesarion is executed. Egypt is annexed to the Roman Republic and Octavianus becomes the undisputed ruler of Rome and her subjects. This would soon lead to the creation of the Roman Empire.
- Herod the Great builds Masada between 37 BC and 31 BC as a refuge for himself should his Jewish subjects rise against him.

Significant people

- Mark Antony, Roman politician and general ( 83 - 30 BC).
- Pharaoh Cleopatra VII of Egypt (lived 70/ 69 - 30 BC, reigned 51 - 30 BC).
- Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, known in English as Octavian, Roman politician and general (62 BC - 14 AD).
- Pharaoh Ptolemy XV Caesarion (lived 47 - 30 BC, reigned 44 - 30 BC). Category:30s BC

88 BC

Centuries: 2nd century BC - 1st century BC - 1st century Decades: 130s BC 120s BC 110s BC 100s BC 90s BC - 80s BC - 70s BC 60s BC 50s BC 40s BC 30s BC Years: 93 BC 92 BC 91 BC 90 BC 89 BC - 88 BC - 87 BC 86 BC 85 BC 84 BC 83 BC ----

Events

- The Social War ends with the defeat of the Italian allies by the Romans.
- The First Roman Civil War starts with democratic uprising led by Marius, but the democrats under the tribune P. Sulpicius Rufus were crushed by the conservatives under Sulla. Marius fled to Africa.
- First Civil War in Rome, between Marius and Sulla. Some italian cities are destroyed: for instance, Feorlì, rebuilt by the praetor Livius Clodius afetrwards.
- Mithridates VI of Pontus invades Greece.

Births

Deaths

- Marcus Aemilius Scaurus, Roman politician
- Publius Sulpicius Rufus, Roman tribune
- Mithridates II of Parthia Category:88 BC

86 BC

Centuries: 2nd century BC - 1st century BC - 1st century Decades: 130s BC 120s BC 110s BC 100s BC 90s BC - 80s BC - 70s BC 60s BC 50s BC 40s BC 30s BC Years: 91 BC 90 BC 89 BC 88 BC 87 BC - 86 BC - 85 BC 84 BC 83 BC 82 BC 81 BC ----

Events

- First Mithridatic War -
- March 1, Sulla captured Athens from the Pontic army, removing the tyrant Aristion.
- Lucius Licinius Lucullus decisively defeated the Mithridatic fleet in the Battle of Tenedos
- The Roman forces of Lucius Cornelius Sulla defeat the Pontic forces of Archelaus in the Battle of Chaeronea.

Births

- October 1 - Sallust, Roman historian

Deaths

- January 13 - Gaius Marius, Roman general and politician
- After March 1 - Aristion, philosopher and tyrant od Athens. Category:86 BC

85 BC

Centuries: 2nd century BC - 1st century BC - 1st century Decades: 130s BC 120s BC 110s BC 100s BC 90s BC - 80s BC - 70s BC 60s BC 50s BC 40s BC 30s BC Years: 90 BC 89 BC 88 BC 87 BC 86 BC - 85 BC - 84 BC 83 BC 82 BC 81 BC 80 BC ----

Events

- First Mithridatic War - Lucius Cornelius Sulla again defeats Archelaus in the decisive Battle of Orchomenus.

Births

- Marcus Junius Brutus, conspirator & assassin in the murder of Julius Caesar (approximate date)
- Tiberius Nero, father of Tiberius

Deaths

Category:85 BC

82 BC

Centuries: 2nd century BC - 1st century BC - 1st century Decades: 130s BC 120s BC 110s BC 100s BC 90s BC - 80s BC - 70s BC 60s BC 50s BC 40s BC 30s BC Years: 87 BC 86 BC 85 BC 84 BC 83 BC - 82 BC - 81 BC 80 BC 79 BC 78 BC 77 BC ----

Events

- Sulla defeats Samnite allies of Rome in the Battle of the Colline Gate, and takes control of Rome.
- Cnaeus Pompeius was sent by Sulla to stamp out democratic rebels in Sicily and Africa, while the young Gaius Julius Caesar was acting as a subordinate of Sulla in the east.

Births

Deaths

- Gnaeus Papirius Carbo, three times consul, executed by partisans of Sulla. Category:82 BC

80 BC

Centuries: 2nd century BC - 1st century BC - 1st century Decades: 130s BC 120s BC 110s BC 100s BC 90s BC - 80s BC - 70s BC 60s BC 50s BC 40s BC 30s BC Years: 85 BC 84 BC 83 BC 82 BC 81 BC - 80 BC - 79 BC 78 BC 77 BC 76 BC 75 BC ---- Events
- Battle of the Baetis River - Democratic rebel forces under Quintus Sertorius defeat the legal Roman forces of Lucius Fulfidias in Spain, starting the Sertorian War, Quintus Metellus Pius takes command on behalf of Sulla
- Alexandria comes under Roman jurisdiction
- Meleager publishes his Garland, the earliest known anthology of Greek poetry. Births Deaths
- Berenice II, queen of Egypt. Category:80 BC

78 BC

Centuries: 2nd century BC - 1st century BC - 1st century Decades: 120s BC 110s BC 100s BC 90s BC 80s BC - 70s BC - 60s BC 50s BC 40s BC 30s BC 20s BC Years: 83 BC 82 BC 81 BC 80 BC 79 BC - 78 BC - 77 BC 76 BC 75 BC 74 BC 73 BC ----

Events

- In Rome, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus is consul. He introduces a number of reforms and reinstates exiled citizens, thus attempting to reinstall democratic rule in Rome.

Births

Deaths

- Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Roman dictator Category:78 BC

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece is the term used to describe the Greek-speaking world in ancient times. It refers not only to the geographical peninsula of modern Greece, but also to areas of Hellenic culture that were settled in ancient times by Greeks: Cyprus, the Aegean coast of Turkey (then known as Ionia), Sicily and southern Italy (known as Magna Graecia), and the scattered Greek settlements on the coasts of what are now Albania, Bulgaria, Egypt, Libya, southern France, southern Spain, Catalonia, Georgia, Romania, and Ukraine. There are no fixed or universally agreed upon dates for the beginning or the end of the Ancient Greek period. In common usage it refers to all Greek history before the Roman Empire, but historians use the term more precisely. Some writers include the periods of the Greek-speaking Mycenaean civilization that collapsed about 1100 BC, though most would argue that the influential Minoan was so different from later Greek cultures that it should be classed separately. In the modern Greek school-books, "ancient times" is a period of about 1000 years (from the catastrophe of Mycenae until the conquest of the country by the Romans) that is divided in four periods, based on styles of art as much as culture and politics. The historical line starts with Greek Dark Ages (1100–800 BC). In this period artists use geometrical schemes such as squares, circles, lines to decorate amphoras and other pottery. The archaic period (800–500 BC) represents those years when the artists made larger free-standing sculptures in stiff, hieratic poses with the dreamlike "archaic smile". In the classical years (500–323 BC) artists perfected the style that since has been taken as exemplary: "classical", such as the (Parthenon). In the Hellenistic years that followed the conquests of Alexander (323–146 BC), also known as Alexandrian, aspects of Hellenic civilization expanded to Egypt and Bactria. Traditionally, the Ancient Greek period was taken to begin with the date of the first Olympic Games in 776 BC, but many historians now extend the term back to about 1000 BC. The traditional date for the end of the Ancient Greek period is the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC (The following period is classed Hellenistic) or the integration of Greece into the Roman Republic in 146 BC. These dates are historians' conventions and some writers treat the Ancient Greek civilization as a continuum running until the advent of Christianity in the third century AD. Ancient Greece is considered by most historians to be the foundational culture of Western Civilization. Greek culture was a powerful influence in the Roman Empire, which carried a version of it to many parts of Europe. Ancient Greek civilization has been immensely influential on the language, politics, educational systems, philosophy, art and architecture of the modern world, particularly during the Renaissance in Western Europe and again during various neo-Classical revivals in 18th and 19th century Europe and The Americas.

Origins

The Americas The Greeks are believed to have migrated southward into the Greek peninsula in several waves beginning in the late 3rd millennium BC, the last being the Dorian invasion. The period from 1600 BC to about 1100 BC is described in History of Mycenaean Greece known for the reign of King Agamemnon and the wars against Troy as narrated in the epics of Homer. The period from 1100 BC to the 8th century BC is a "dark age" from which no primary texts survive, and only scant archaeological evidence remains. Secondary and tertiary texts such as Herodotus' Histories, Pausanias' Description of Greece, Diodorus' Bibliotheca and Jerome's Chronicon, contain brief chronologies and king lists for this period. The history of Ancient Greece is often taken to end with the reign of Alexander the Great, who died in 323 BC. Subsequent events are described in Hellenistic Greece. Any history of Ancient Greece requires a cautionary note on sources. Those Greek historians and political writers whose works have survived, notably Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Demosthenes, Plato and Aristotle, were mostly either Athenian or pro-Athenian. That is why we know far more about the history and politics of Athens than of any other city, and why we know almost nothing about some cities' histories. These writers, furthermore, concentrate almost wholly on political, military and diplomatic history, and ignore economic and social history. All histories of Ancient Greece have to contend with these limits in their sources.

The rise of Hellas

In the 8th century BC Greece began to emerge from the Dark Ages which followed the fall of the Mycenaean civilization. Literacy had been lost and the Mycenaean script forgotten, but the Greeks adapted the Phoenician alphabet to Greek and from about 800 BC written records begin to appear. Greece was divided into many small self-governing communities, a pattern dictated by Greek geography, where every island, valley and plain is cut off from its neighbors by the sea or mountain ranges. 800 BC. It was the greatest architectural statement of 5th century BC Greece]] As Greece recovered economically, its population grew beyond the capacity of its limited arable land, and from about 750 BC the Greeks began 250 years of expansion, settling colonies in all directions. To the east, the Aegean coast of Asia Minor was colonized first, followed by Cyprus and the coasts of Thrace, the Sea of Marmara and south coast of the Black Sea. Eventually Greek colonization reached as far north-east as present day Ukraine. To the west the coasts of Albania, Sicily and southern Italy were settled, followed by the south coast of France, Corsica, and even northeastern Spain. Greek colonies were also founded in Egypt and Libya. Modern Syracuse, Naples, Marseille and Istanbul had their beginnings as the Greek colonies Syracusa, Neapolis, Massilia and Byzantium. By the 6th century BC Hellas had become a cultural and linguistic area much larger than the geographical area of Greece. Greek colonies were not politically controlled by their founding cities, although they often retained religious and commercial links with them. The Greeks both at home and abroad organised themselves into independent communities, and the city (polis) became the basic unit of Greek government. First Crete, then in short order the other Greek city-states, adopted the formal practice of pederasty. From its ritual roots in Indo-European prehistory, the practice was elevated to prominence, influencing pedagogy, warfare and social life, and becoming a central feature of Hellenic culture for the next thousand years.

Social and political conflict

The Greek cities were originally monarchies, although many of them were very small and the term "King" (basileus) for their rulers is misleadingly grand. In a country always short of farmland, power rested with a small class of landowners, who formed a warrior aristocracy fighting frequent petty inter-city wars over land and rapidly ousting the monarchy. About this time the rise of a mercantile class (shown by the introduction of coinage in about 680 BC) introduced class conflict into the larger cities. From 650 BC onwards, the aristocracies had to fight not to be overthrown and replaced by populist leaders called tyrants (tyrranoi), a word which did not necessarily have the modern meaning of oppressive dictators. By the 6th century BC several cities had emerged as dominant in Greek affairs: Athens, Sparta, Corinth, and Thebes. Each of them had brought the surrounding rural areas and smaller towns under their control, and Athens and Corinth had become major maritime and mercantile powers as well. Athens and Sparta developed a rivalry that dominated Greek politics for generations. In Sparta, the landed aristocracy retained their power, and the constitution of Lycurgus (about 650 BC) entrenched their power and gave Sparta a permanent militarist regime under a dual monarchy. Sparta dominated the other cities of the Peloponnese, with the sole exceptions of Argus and Achaia. In Athens, by contrast, the monarchy was abolished in 683 BC, and reforms of Solon established a moderate system of aristocratic government. The aristocrats were followed by the tyranny of Pisistratus and his sons, who made the city a great naval and commercial power. When the Pisistratids were overthrown, Cleisthenes established the world's first democracy (500 BC), with power being held by an assembly of all the male citizens. But it must be remembered that only a minority of the male inhabitants were citizens, excluding slaves, freedmen and non-Athenians.

The Persian Wars

In Ionia (the modern Aegean coast of Turkey) the Greek cities, which included great centres such as Miletus and Halicarnassus, were unable to maintain their independence and came under the rule of the Persian Empire in the mid 6th century BC. In 499 BC the Greeks rose in the Ionian Revolt, and Athens and some other Greek cities went to their aid. In 490 BC the Persian Great King, Darius I, having suppressed the Ionian cities, sent a fleet to punish the Greeks. The Persians landed in Attica, but were defeated at the Battle of Marathon by a Greek army led by the Athenian general Miltiades. The burial mound of the Athenian dead can still be seen at Marathon. Ten years later Darius's successor, Xerxes I, sent a much more powerful force by land. After being delayed by the Spartan King Leonidas I at Thermopylae, Xerxes advanced into Attica, where he captured and burned Athens. But the Athenians had evacuated the city by sea, and under Themistocles they defeated the Persian fleet at the Battle of Salamis. A year later, the Greeks, under the Spartan Pausanius, defeated the Persian army at Plataea. The Athenian fleet then turned to chasing the Persians out of the Aegean Sea, and in 478 BC they captured Byzantium. In the course of doing so Athens enrolled all the island states and some mainland allies into an alliance, called the Delian League because its treasury was kept on the sacred island of Delos. The Spartans, although they had taken part in the war, withdrew into isolation after it, allowing Athens to establish unchallenged naval and commercial power.

The dominance of Athens

Delos The Persian Wars ushered in a century of Athenian dominance of Greek affairs. Athens was the unchallenged master of the sea, and also the leading commercial power, although Corinth remained a serious rival. The leading statesman of this time was Pericles, who used the tribute paid by the members of the Delian League to build the Parthenon and other great monuments of classical Athens. By the mid 5th century the League had become an Athenian Empire, symbolised by the transfer of the League's treasury from Delos to the Parthenon in 454 BC. The wealth of Athens attracted talented people from all over Greece, and also created a wealthy leisured class who became patrons of the arts. The Athenian state also sponsored learning and the arts, particularly architecture. Athens became the centre of Greek literature, philosophy (see Greek philosophy) and the arts (see Greek theatre). Some of the greatest names of Western cultural and intellectual history lived in Athens during this period: the dramatists Aeschylus, Aristophanes, Euripides, and Sophocles, the philosophers Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates, the historians Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon, the poet Simonides and the sculptor Pheidias. The city became, in Pericles's words, "the school of Hellas." The other Greek states at first accepted Athenian leadership in the continuing war against the Persians, but after the fall of the conservative politician Cimon in 461 BC, Athens became an increasingly open imperialist power. After the Greek victory at the Battle of the Eurymedon in 466 BC, the Persians were no longer a threat, and some states, such as Naxos, tried to secede from the League, but were forced to submit. The new Athenian leaders, Pericles and Ephialtes, let relations between Athens and Sparta deteriorate, and in 458 BC war broke out. After some years of inconclusive war a 30-year peace was signed between the Delian League and the Peloponnesian League (Sparta and her allies). This coincided with the last battle between the Greeks and the Persians, a sea battle off Salamis in Cyprus, followed by the Peace of Callias (450 BC) between the Greeks and Persians.

The Peloponnesian War

450 BC In 431 BC war broke out again between Athens and Sparta and its allies. The proximate cause was a dispute between Corinth and one of its colonies, Corcyra (modern-day Corfu), in which Athens intervened. The obviate cause was the growing resentment of Sparta and its allies at the dominance of Athens over Greek affairs. The war lasted 27 years, partly because Athens (a naval power) and Sparta (a land-based military power) found it difficult to come to grips with each other. Sparta's initial strategy was to invade Attica, but the Athenians were able to retreat behind their walls. An outbreak of plague in the city during the siege caused heavy losses, including Pericles. At the same time the Athenian fleet landed troops in the Peloponnese, winning battles at Naupactus (429 BC) and Pylos (425 BC). But these tactics could bring neither side a decisive victory. After several years of inconclusive campaigning, the moderate Athenian leader Nicias concluded the Peace of Nicias (421 BC). In 418 BC, however, hostility between Sparta and the Athenian ally Argos led to a resumption of fighting. At Mantinea Sparta defeated the combined armies of Athens and her allies. The resumption of fighting brought the war party, led by Alcibiades, back to power in Athens. In 415 BC Alcibiades persuaded the Athenian Assembly to launch a major expedition against Syracuse, a Peloponnesian ally in Sicily. Though Nicias was a skeptic about the Sicilian Expedition he was appointed along Alcibiades to lead the expedition. Due to accusations against him, Alcibiades fled to Sparta where he persuaded Sparta to send aid to Syracuse. As a result, the expedition was a complete disaster and the whole expeditionary force was lost. Nicias was executed by his captors. Sparta had now built a fleet to challenge Athenian naval supremacy, and had found a brilliant military leader in Lysander, who seized the strategic initiative by occupying the Hellespont, the source of Athens' grain imports. Threatened with starvation, Athens sent its last remaining fleet to confront Lysander, who decisively defeated them at Aegospotami (405 BC). The loss of her fleet threatened Athens with bankruptcy. In 404 BC Athens sued for peace, and Sparta dictated a predictably stern settlement: Athens lost her city walls, her fleet, and all of her overseas possessions. The anti-democratic party took power in Athens with Spartan support.

Spartan and Theban dominance

The end of the Peloponnesian War left Sparta the master of Greece, but the narrow outlook of the Spartan warrior elite did not suit them to this role. Within a few years the democratic party regained power in Athens and other cities. In 395 BC the Spartan rulers removed Lysander from office, and Sparta lost her naval supremacy. Athens, Argos, Thebes, and Corinth, the latter two formerly Spartan allies, challenged Spartan dominance in the Corinthian War, which ended inconclusively in 387 BC. That same year Sparta shocked Greek opinion by concluding the Treaty of Antalcidas with Persia by which they surrendered the Greek cities of Ionia and Cyprus, thus reversing a hundred years of Greek victories against Persia. Sparta then tried to further weaken the power of Thebes, which led to a war in which Thebes allied herself with the old enemy, Athens. The Theban generals Epaminondas and Pelopidas won a decisive victory at Leuctra (371 BC). The result of this battle was the end of Spartan supremacy and the establishment of Theban dominance, but Athens also recovered much of her former power. The supremacy of Thebes was short-lived. With the death of Epaminondas at Mantinea (362 BC) the city lost its greatest leader, and his successors blundered into an unsuccessful ten-year war with Phocis. In 346 BC the Thebans appealed to Philip II of Macedon to help them against the Phocians, thus drawing Macedon into Greek affairs for the first time.

The rise of Macedon

The Kingdom of Macedon was formed in the 7th century BC out of northern Greek tribes. They played little part in Greek politics before the beginning of the 4th century, but Philip was an ambitious man who had been educated in Thebes and wanted to play a larger role. In particular, he wanted to be accepted as the new leader of Greece in recovering the freedom of the Greek cities of Asia from Persian rule. By seizing the Greek cities of Amphipolis, Methone and Potidaea, he gained control of the gold and silver mines of Macedonia. This gave him the resources to realize his ambitions. Philip established Macedonian dominance over Thessaly (352 BC) and Thrace, and by 348 BC he controlled everything north of Thermopylae. He used his great wealth to bribe Greek politicians and create a "Macedonian party" in every Greek city. His intervention in the war between Thebes and Phocis brought him recognition as a Greek leader, and gave him his opportunity to become a power in Greek affairs. But despite his sincere admiration for Athens, the Athenian leader Demosthenes, in a series of famous speeches (philippics) roused the Greek cities to resist his advance. In 339 BC Thebes, Athens, Sparta and other Greek states formed an alliance to resist Philip and expel him from the Greek cities he had occupied in the north. But Philip struck first, advancing into Greece and defeating the Greek cities at Chaeronea in 338 BC. This traditionally marks the end of the era of the Greek city-state as an independent political unit, although in fact Athens and other cities survived as independent states until Roman times. Philip tried to win over Athens by flattery and gifts, but did not really succeed. He organised the cities into the League of Corinth, and announced that he would lead an invasion of Persia to liberate the Greek cities and avenge the Persian invasions of the previous century. But before he could do so he was assassinated (336 BC).

The conquests of Alexander

Philip was succeeded by his 20-year-old son Alexander, who immediately set out to carry out his father's plans. He travelled to Corinth where the assembled Greek cities recognised him as leader of the Greeks, then set off north to assemble his forces. The army with which he invaded the Persian Empire was basically Macedonian, but many idealists from the Greek cities also enlisted. But while Alexander was campaigning in Thrace, he heard that the Greek cities had rebelled. He swept south again, captured Thebes, and razed the city to the ground as a warning to the Greek cities that his power could no longer be resisted. In 334 BC Alexander crossed into Asia, and defeated the Persians at the river Granicus. This gave him control of the Ionian coast, and he made a triumphal procession through the liberated Greek cities. After settling affairs in Anatolia, he advanced south through Cilicia into Syria, where he defeated Darius III at Issus (333 BC). He then advanced through Phoenicia to Egypt, which he captured with little resistance, the Egyptians welcoming him as a liberator from Persian oppression. Darius was now ready to make peace and Alexander could have returned home in triumph, but he was determined to conquer Persia and make himself the ruler of the world. He advanced north-east through Syria and Mesopotamia, and defeated Darius again at Gaugamela (331 BC). Darius fled and was killed by his own followers, and Alexander found himself the master of the Persian Empire, occupying Susa and Persepolis without resistance. Persepolis (as an eagle) being offered wine by Ganymede. A child Eros is in the foreground.]] Meanwhile the Greek cities were making renewed efforts to escape from Macedonian control. At Megalopolis in 331 BC, Alexander's regent Antipater defeated the Spartans, who had refused to join the Corinthian League or recognise Macedonian supremacy. Alexander pressed on, advancing through what are now Afghanistan and Pakistan to the Indus river valley, and by 326 BC he had reached Punjab. He might well have advanced down the Ganges to Bengal had not his army, convinced they were at the end of the world, refused to go any further. Alexander reluctantly turned back, and died of a fever in Babylon in 323 BC. Alexander's empire broke up soon after his death, but his conquests permanently changed the Greek world. Thousands of Greeks travelled with him or after him to settle in the new Greek cities he had founded as he advanced, the most important being Alexandria in Egypt. Greek-speaking kingdoms in Egypt, Syria, Iran and Bactria were established. The Hellenistic age had begun.

Gaius Norbanus

Gaius Norbanus surnamed Bulbus (or Balbus), Roman politician, was a seditious and turbulent democrat. In 103 BC, when tribune of the people, he accused Quintus Servilius Caepio the Elder of having brought about the defeat of his army by the Cimbri through rashness, and also of having plundered the temple of Tolosa. Caepio was condemned and went into exile. About ten years later, Norbanus himself was accused of treason on account of the disturbances that had taken place at the trial of Caepio, but the eloquence of Marcus Antonius Orator, grandfather of the triumvir Mark Antony, procured his acquittal. In 89 Norbanus as praetor successfully defended Sicily against the Italian Socii during the Social War. During the civil war between Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla he sided with the former, but was defeated by Sulla at the Battle of Mount Tifata near Capua, and again by Metellus at Faventia in Cisalpine Gaul (82). He fled to Rhodes, where he committed suicide, while the Rhodians were debating whether to hand him over to Sulla. See Theodor Mommsen, Hist. of Rome, bk. iv. ch. v.; AHJ Greenidge, Hist. of Rome. Category:Ancient Romans Category:Roman Republic

References

Battle of Mount Tifata

The Battle of Mount Tifata was fought in 83 BC as part of the First Roman Civil War. The Aristrocratic forces were led by Lucius Cornelius Sulla, while the Populars were led by Caius Norbanus. Sulla was victorious. Category:83 BC Mount Tifata 83 BC

Asia

Asia is the central and eastern part of Eurasia, and the world's largest continent. Defined by subtracting Europe from Eurasia, Asia is either regarded as a landmass of its own, or as part of Eurasia. The demarcation between Asia and Africa is the isthmus of Suez (although the Sinai Peninsula, being a part of Egypt east of the canal, is often geopolitically considered a part of Africa). The boundary between Asia and Europe runs via the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, to the Black Sea, the Caucasus Mountains, the Caspian Sea, the Ural River to its source, and the Ural Mountains to the Kara Sea at Kara, Russia. About 60 percent of the world's human population lives in Asia. Asia as a political division consists of the eastern part of Eurasia and nearby islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, often excluding Russia. Pacific Ocean

Etymology

The word Asia entered English, via Latin, from Ancient Greek Ασία (Asia; see also List of traditional Greek place names). This name is first attested in Herodotus (c. 440 BC), where it refers to Asia Minor; or, for the purposes of describing the Persian Wars, to the Persian Empire, as opposed to Greece and Egypt. Even before Herodotus, Homer knew of a Trojan ally named Asios, son of Hyrtacus, a ruler over several towns, and elsewhere he describes a marsh as ασιος (Iliad 2, 461). The Greek term may be derived from from Assuwa, a 14th century BC confederation of states in Western Anatolia. Hittite assu- "good" is probably an element in that name. Alternatively, the ultimate etymology of the term may be from the Akkadian word (w)aṣû(m), cognate of Hebrew יצא, which means "to go out", referring to the direction of the sun at sunset in the Middle East. This may be compared to a similar etymology proposed for Europe, as being from Semitic erēbu "to enter" or "set" (of the sun). These etymologies presuppose an originally Mesopotamian or Middle Eastern perspective, which would explain how the term "Asia" first came to be associated with Anatolia as lying west of the Semitic speaking area.

Geographical Regions

See also Geography of Asia. As already mentioned, Asia is a subregion of Eurasia. For further subdivisions based on that term, see North Eurasia and Central Eurasia. Some Asian countries stretch beyond Asia. See Bicontinental country for details about the borderline cases between Asia and Europe, Asia and Africa and Asia and Oceania. Asia itself is often divided in the following subregions:
- North Asia
- Central Asia
- East Asia (or Far East)
- Southeast Asia
- South Asia (or Indian Subcontinent)
- Southwest Asia (or West Asia)

North Asia

This term is rarely used by geographers, but usually it refers to the bigger Asian part of Russia, also known as Siberia. Sometimes the northern parts of other Asian nations, such as Kazakhstan are also included in Northern Asia.

Central Asia

There is no absolute consensus in the usage of this term. Usually, Central Asia includes:
- the Central Asian Republics of Kazakhstan (excluding its small European territory), Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan.
- Afghanistan, Mongolia, and the western regions of China are also sometimes included.
- Former Soviet states in the Caucasus region. Central Asia is currently geopolitically important because international disputes and conflicts over oil pipelines, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Chechnya, as well as the presence of U.S. military forces in Afghanistan.

East Asia (or Far East)

This area includes:
- The Pacific Ocean islands of Taiwan and Japan.
- North and South Korea on the Korean Peninsula.
- China, but sometimes only the eastern regions Sometimes the nations of Mongolia and Vietnam are also included in East Asia. More informally, Southeast Asia is included in East Asia on some occasions.

Southeast Asia

This region contains the Malay Peninsula, Indochina and islands in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean. The countries it contains are:
- In mainland Southeast Asia, the countries Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
- In Maritime Southeast Asia, the countries of Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, Singapore and Indonesia (some of the Indonesian islands also lie in the Melanesia region of Oceania). East Timor (also Melanesian) is sometimes included too. The country of Malaysia is divided in two by the South China Sea, and thus has both a mainland and island part.

South Asia (or Indian Subcontinent)

South Asia is also referred to as the Indian Subcontinent. It includes:
- the Himalayan States of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh.
- the Indian Ocean nations of Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

Southwest Asia (or West Asia)

This can also be called by the Western term Middle East, which is commonly used by Europeans and Americans. Middle East (to some interpretations) is often used to also refer to some countries in North Africa. Southwest Asia can be further divided into:
- Anatolia (i.e. Asia Minor), constituting the Asian part of Turkey.
- The island nation of Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea.
- The Levant or Near East, which includes Syria, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and the Asian portion of Egypt.
- The Arabian peninsula, including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen and occasionally Kuwait.
- The Caucasus region, including Armenia, a tiny portion of Russia and almost the whole of Georgia and Azerbaijan.
- The Iranian Plateau, containing Iran and parts of other nations. Also see Gulf States, for a different grouping involving several of the above countries.

Economy

Main article: Economy of Asia In terms of gross domestic product (PPP), Asia's largest economy wholly within Asia is that of the PRC (People's Republic of China), however the economy of the E.U. (European Union), one state of which (Cyprus) lies within Asia, is the largest in the world. The E.U.'s status as a supranational union, rather than a sovereign state, makes the claim questionable, especially since, when considered alone, the economy of Cyprus is one of the smallest in both the E.U. and Asia, and not many times larger than that of East Timor, the Asian state with the smallest economy (although as of 2005 there is no reliable data for either Iraq or North Korea). Over the last decade, China's and India's economies have been growing rapidly, both with an average annual growth rate over 6%. PRC is the world's third largest economy after the E.U. and U.S.A., followed by Japan and India as the world's fourth and fifth largest economies respectively (then followed by the European nations: Germany, U.K., France and Italy). In terms of exchange rates however, Japan has the largest economy in Asia and the third largest in the world. Trade blocs:
- Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
- Association of Southeast Asian Nations
- Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement
- Commonwealth of Independent States
- South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
- South Asia Free Trade Agreement (proposed)

Natural resources

Asia is by a considerable margin the largest continent in the world, and is rich in natural resources, such as Petroleum and iron. High productivity in agriculture, especially of rice, allows high population density of countries in the warm and humid area. Other main agricultural products include wheat and chicken. Forestry is extensive throughout Asia except Southwest and Central Asia. Fishing is a major source of food in Asia, particularly in Japan.

Manufacturing

Manufacturing in Asia has traditionally been strongest in East and Southeast Asia, particularly in PRC, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and Singapore. The industry varies from manufacturing cheap goods such as toys to high-tech goods such as computers and cars. Many companies from Europe, North America, and Japan have significant operations in the developing Asia to take avantage of its abundant supply of cheap labor. One of the major employers in manufacturing in Asia is the textile industry. Much of the world's supply of clothing and footwear now originates in Southeast Asia.

Financial and other services

Asia has three main financial centers. They are in Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo. Call centers are becoming major employers in India, due to the availablity of many well-educated English speakers. The rise of the business process outsourcing industry has seen the rise of India and China as the other financial centers.

Early history

Main article: History of Asia The history of Asia can be seen as the distinct histories of several peripheral coastal regions, East Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East, linked by the interior mass of the Eurasian steppe. The coastal periphery was home to some of the world's earliest known civilizations, with each of the three regions developing early civilizations around fertile river valleys. The civilizations in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, and the Yangtze shared many similarities and likely exchanged technologies and ideas such as mathematics and the wheel. Other notions such as that of writing likely developed individually in each area. Cities, states and empires developed in these lowlands. The steppe region had long been inhabited by mounted nomads, and from the central steppes they could reach all areas of Asia. The earliest known such central expansion out of the steppe is that of the Indo-Europeans, who spread their languages into the Middle East, India, and in the Tocharians to the borders of China. The northern part of Asia, covering much of Siberia, was inaccessible to the steppe nomads, due to the dense forests and the tundra. These areas were very sparsely populated. The centre and periphery were kept separate by mountains and deserts. The Caucasus, Himalaya, Karakum Desert and Gobi Desert formed barriers that the steppe horsemen could only cross with difficulty. While technologically and culturally, the urban city dwellers were more advanced, they could do little militarily to defend against the mounted hordes of the steppe. However, the lowlands did not have enough open grasslands to support a large horsebound force. Thus the nomads who conquered states in China, India, and the Middle East were soon forced to adapt to the local societies.

Population density

The following table lists countries and dependencies by population density in inhabitants and km². Unlike the figures in the country articles, the figures in this table are based on areas including inland water bodies (lakes, reservoirs, rivers) and may therefore be lower here. The whole of Egypt, Russia, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey are referred to in the table, although they are only partly in Asia.

Religion

A large majority of the people in the world who practice a religious faith practice one which was founded in Asia. Religions founded in Asia and with a majority of their contemporary adherents in Asia include:
- Bahá'í Faith (slightly more than half of all adherents are in Asia)
- Buddhism (Japan,Sri Lanka, Korea, Singapore, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia, India)
- Hinduism (India, Singapore, Malaysia, Nepal, Bali)
- Islam (Central, South, and Southwest Asia, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia)
- Jainism (India)
- Shinto (Japan)
- Sikhism(India, Malaysia, Hong kong)
- Taoism (China, Vietnam, Singapore, and Taiwan)
- Zoroastrianism (Iran, India, Pakistan) Religions founded in Asia that have the majority of their contemporary adherents in other regions include:
- Christianity (South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, East Timor, India and the Philippines)
- Judaism (slightly fewer than half of its adherents reside in Asia)

References

External links

- http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/asia.html
- http://www.freeworldmaps.net/asia/index.html
- [http://www.alloexpat.com AlloExpat - Asia Information & Forums]
- [http://www.asiaexpat.info Asia Expat Forum - Discuss this region with expatriates] Category:Continents zh-min-nan:A-chiu ko:아시아 ms:Asia ja:アジア simple:Asia th:ทวีปเอเชีย

Pontus

:For Pontus the Greek god, see Pontus (mythology) :Pontus is also a popular person-name in Sweden. After the colonisation of the Anatolian shores by the Ionian Greeks, Pontus soon became a name which was applied, in ancient times, to extensive tracts of country in the northeast of Asia Minor (modern Turkey) bordering on the Euxine (Black Sea), which was often called simply Pontos (the Main), by the Greeks. The exact signification of this purely territorial name varied greatly at different times. The Greeks used it loosely to denote various parts of the shores of the Euxine, and the term did not get a definite connotation of being a separate state until after the establishment of the kingdom of Pontus, founded beyond the Halys during the troubled period following the death of Alexander the Great, shortly after 302 BC, by Mithradates I Ktistes, son of Mithridates II of Kios (Mysia) a Persian ruler in the service of Antigonus, one of Alexander's successors. The kingdom of Pontus was henceforth ruled by a succession of kings, mostly bearing the same name, till 64 BC. As the greater part of this kingdom lay within the immense region of Cappadocia, which in early ages extended from the borders of Cilicia to the Euxine, the kingdom as a whole was at first called "Cappadocia towards the Pontus", but afterwards simply "Pontus," the name Cappadocia being henceforth restricted to the southern half of the region previously included under that title. Under the last king, Mithradates Eupator, commonly called the Great, the realm of Pontus included not only Pontic Cappadocia but also the seaboard from the Bithynian frontier to Colchis, part of inland Paphlagonia, and Lesser Armenia. With the subjection of this kingdom by Pompey in 64 BC, in which little changed in the structuring of life, neither for the oligarchies that controlled the cities nor for the common people in city or hinterland, the meaning of the name Pontus underwent a change. Part of the kingdom was now annexed to the Roman Empire, being united with Bithynia in a double province called Pontus and Bithynia: this part included only the seaboard between Heraclea (Eregli) and Amisus (Samsun), the ora Pontica. Hereafter the simple name Pontus without qualification was regularly employed to denote the half of this dual province, especially by Romans and people speaking from the Roman point of view; it is so used almost always in the New Testament. With the reorganization of the provincial system under Diocletian (about AD 295), the Pontic districts were divided up between four provinces of the Dioecesis Pontica: #Paphlagonia, to which was attached most of the old province Pontus #Diospontus, re-named Helenopontus by Constantine, containing the rest of the province Pontus and the adjoining district, eight cities in all (including Sinope, Amisus and Zela) with Amasia as capital #Pontus Polemoniacus, containing Comana, Polemonium, Cerasus and Trapezus with Neocaesarea as capital #Armenia Minor, five cities, with Sebasteia as capital. This rearrangement gave place in turn to the Byzantine system of military districts (themes).

Byzantine, Ottoman, and modern history

Pontus continued to be an autonomous state under the Imperial rule of Constantinople through most of the history of the Byzantine Empire. With the eclipse and fall of the Empire in the East, the name Pontus was preserved as a state within the Ottoman Empire. After the establishment of the Republic of Turkey, Pontus was not recognised as autonomous. In 1921, an independent Pontic state was proposed, but never realized. Under the Treaty of Lausanne, the borders of Turkey were renegotiated and in 1923, the population exchange required approximately 1.5 million Greeks living in Turkey to resettle in Greece, and approximately 800,000 Turks living in Greece and Bulgaria