1st Century BC Timeline: Events, People and History

Events in the 1st Century BC 19

753 BC – 476 The Roman Civilisation The Roman civilisation — kingdom, republic and empire — shaped Western law, language, architecture, religion and governance more profoundly than any other ancient civilisation. From the legendary founding of Rome by Romulus in 753 BC to the deposition of the last western emperor Romulus Augustulus in 476 AD, Rome endured for over twelve centuries, governing at its peak an empire of 70 million people stretching from Scotland to Mesopotamia.
312 BC – 63 BC Seleucid Empire Greek successor state rules Persia After Alexander's death his general Seleucus seized the eastern territories, founding the Seleucid Empire that ruled Persia for some two and a half centuries. It spread Hellenistic culture across the region before fragmenting and giving way to the resurgent Parthians.
300 BC – 1279 Chola dynasty (South India) A great maritime and temple-building power The Cholas of the Tamil south were one of the longest-ruling dynasties in history, rising from the Sangam age to a medieval maritime empire that projected naval power across the Bay of Bengal to Southeast Asia. They built magnificent temples such as the Brihadeeswarar at Thanjavur and patronised bronze sculpture and Tamil literature.
300 BC – 300 Yayoi period Rice farming, bronze and iron arrive from the mainland The Yayoi period brought wet-rice cultivation, bronze and iron metallurgy, and the potter's wheel to Japan from Korea and China. These innovations drove population growth and the emergence of stratified society and local chieftaincies — the foundations of the Japanese state.
247 BC – 224 Parthian Empire Persian revival; rival of Rome The Parthian (Arsacid) Empire restored native Iranian rule and became Rome's great rival in the east for nearly five centuries, its famed horse-archers and cataphracts repeatedly checking Roman expansion — most notably annihilating Crassus's legions at Carrhae in 53 BC.
202 BC – 220 Han Dynasty The golden age that defined what it means to be Chinese The Han dynasty ruled for over 400 years and is considered China's first golden age. It consolidated Confucianism as state ideology, expanded the empire into Central Asia, and opened the Silk Road. Paper was invented during the Han period. The ethnic majority of China still call themselves "Han people" after this dynasty. It fell to internal rebellion and warlordism — giving rise to the Three Kingdoms period immortalised in Chinese literature.
107 BC – 86 BC Gaius Marius — the new army Gaius Marius, elected consul seven times (unprecedented), reforms the Roman army by abolishing the property qualification for military service. The Roman legions are now professional soldiers equipped and paid by the state — loyal to their general, not to Rome. Marius defeats Jugurtha of Numidia (106 BC) and destroys two Germanic tribes threatening Italy (Cimbri and Teutones, 102–101 BC). His army reforms, intended to strengthen Rome, create the conditions for a century of civil war.
88 BC – 78 BC Sulla — first march on Rome Lucius Cornelius Sulla, a general of the optimates faction, marches his legions on Rome in 88 BC after the popular assembly strips him of his eastern command — the first time a Roman general uses his army against the city itself. He captures Rome, kills his opponents, and departs for the east. On his return in 83 BC he wins a civil war, is appointed dictator, and carries out the first proscriptions — published death lists of political enemies. He resigns voluntarily in 79 BC. The precedent of using army against city is now set.
73 BC – 71 BC Spartacus — the slave revolt Spartacus, a Thracian gladiator, leads the largest slave revolt in Roman history from 73 to 71 BC. Starting with 70 gladiators who break out of a school in Capua, the revolt grows to an army of perhaps 120,000. For two years Spartacus defeats Roman forces repeatedly, twice breaking out of encirclement in southern Italy. Crassus finally defeats him; 6,000 captured rebels are crucified along the Appian Way from Capua to Rome — one every 35 metres.
63 BC Catilinarian Conspiracy Lucius Sergius Catilina, a failed consular candidate, plots to seize Rome by force. Cicero, consul in 63 BC, uncovers the plot through informers and delivers four speeches against Catiline in the Senate — the Catilinarian Orations — still considered the finest forensic rhetoric in Latin. The conspirators are arrested and executed without trial on Senate authority; Cicero is later exiled for this illegality. Catiline dies in battle in 62 BC. The episode reveals both Cicero's greatness and the Republic's fragility.
60 BC – 53 BC First Triumvirate — Caesar, Pompey, Crassus Julius Caesar, Pompey the Great and Marcus Licinius Crassus form an informal alliance in 60 BC to dominate Roman politics. Caesar gets the consulship and a command in Gaul; Pompey gets ratification of his eastern settlements and land for his veterans; Crassus gets tax-farming contracts in Asia. The alliance is renewed at the conference of Luca in 56 BC. It begins to disintegrate when Crassus dies at the Battle of Carrhae (53 BC) — defeated by the Parthians, his severed head used as a prop in a performance of Euripides.
58 BC – 50 BC Caesar's Gallic Wars Julius Caesar conquers Gaul (modern France, Belgium and parts of Germany and Switzerland) in a series of campaigns from 58 to 50 BC, recorded in his own Commentarii de Bello Gallico — still used to teach Latin. He bridges the Rhine twice, makes two expeditions to Britain, and suppresses the great revolt of Vercingetorix (52 BC), culminating in the siege of Alesia. The conquest kills perhaps one million Gauls and enslaves another million. Caesar enriches himself enormously and acquires an army of hardened veterans loyal to him personally.
49 BC – 45 BC Caesar's Civil War On 10 January 49 BC, Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon river — the boundary of his province — with his army, an act of war against the Roman state. "Alea iacta est" — the die is cast. Pompey and the Senate flee Italy. Caesar defeats Pompeian forces in Spain, then pursues Pompey to Greece, winning the decisive battle of Pharsalus (48 BC). Pompey flees to Egypt and is murdered on arrival. Caesar defeats the remaining Pompeian forces at Thapsus (46 BC) and Munda (45 BC). He is master of the Roman world.
44 BC Assassination of Julius Caesar On the Ides of March (15 March) 44 BC, Julius Caesar is stabbed 23 times on the floor of the Theatre of Pompey by a group of senators — the Liberatores — led by Brutus and Cassius. Caesar had been appointed dictator perpetuo (dictator in perpetuity) weeks earlier, making a return to republican government impossible in their view. Mark Antony's funeral oration turns the crowd against the assassins. Caesar's assassination, intended to save the Republic, instead destroys it — the civil wars that follow end with Octavian as Augustus.
43 BC – 36 BC Second Triumvirate — Octavian, Antony, Lepidus Octavian (Caesar's heir), Mark Antony and Lepidus form a legal triumvirate in 43 BC with extraordinary powers. They immediately publish proscription lists: 300 senators and 2,000 equestrians are condemned. Among those killed is Cicero, whose severed head and hands are displayed on the Rostra in the Forum. At Philippi (42 BC) they defeat Brutus and Cassius, both of whom commit suicide. The triumvirs divide the Roman world — Antony takes the east, Octavian the west, Lepidus Africa.
31 BC Battle of Actium On 2 September 31 BC, Octavian's fleet under Agrippa defeats the combined fleet of Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII at Actium off the western coast of Greece. Antony and Cleopatra flee to Egypt; Octavian pursues. Antony commits suicide on a false report of Cleopatra's death; Cleopatra kills herself — tradition says by asp — rather than be paraded in Octavian's triumph. Egypt becomes a Roman province. Octavian is the last man standing. The Republic is over.
27 BC – 14 Augustus — the reign Augustus rules from 27 BC to 14 AD — 41 years — transforming Rome from a city of brick to a city of marble. He creates a standing army with fixed pay and terms, a praetorian guard, a professional civil service, and a system of provinces governed by his legates. He reforms taxation, builds roads, reorganises the calendar and patronises Virgil, Horace, Livy and Ovid. The Pax Augusta — Roman peace — begins. His succession is troubled: he outlives three designated heirs before Tiberius succeeds him.
27 BC Augustus becomes first Emperor On 13 January 27 BC, Octavian returns his powers to the Senate in a carefully staged performance of republican modesty. The Senate, gratefully, returns them — and adds the honorific "Augustus" (the revered one). Augustus never calls himself emperor or king; he is princeps (first citizen) and holds a collection of republican offices simultaneously. The fiction of the restored Republic is maintained for centuries, but power is unambiguous: Augustus rules Rome for 44 years and transforms it utterly.
19 BC Virgil completes the Aeneid Publius Vergilius Maro — Virgil — dies in 19 BC leaving the Aeneid, Rome's national epic, incomplete. He had worked on it for eleven years on Augustus's commission. The poem traces the Trojan hero Aeneas — ancestor of Romulus and of the Julian family — from the fall of Troy to the founding of Rome's destiny in Italy, weaving myth, history and political flattery into twelve books of Latin hexameter. It becomes the central text of Roman education and will shape Western literature for two millennia.