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The 0s BC

59 sourced entries across 8 years, inside the 1st century BC. Each year below opens its own page; the lines under it are that year’s highest-ranked entries.

9 BCE8 entries

  • January 30 – The Ara Pacis ("Altar of Augustan Peace"), which was voted for by the Senate four years earlier, is dedicated.
  • Aretas IV Philopatris ascended to become the King of the Nabataeans (modern Jordan).
  • c. 9 BC: Livy completes compilation of his Ab Urbe Condita Libri, 142 books covering the history of Rome since its foundation to the present.

8 BCE10 entries

  • Arminius, son of a Cheruscan chieftain, is taken as a hostage to Rome, where he receives a military education.
  • Sextilis, the eighth month of the early Julian calendar, is renamed Augustus (August) by a decree of the Roman Senate in honor of Augustus.
  • King Maroboduus becomes ruler of the Marcomanni and fights against the Roman Empire's expansion in Bohemia.

7 BCE8 entries

  • May 7 – Emperor Ai becomes the emperor of Han China.
  • Augustus' second census of the Roman Empire reports a total of 4,233,000 citizens. However, the specific criteria of the census are still not clear.
  • Appearance of a very bright triple conjunction of the royal star Jupiter and Saturn in the sign of Pisces (land in the west) in May until December of that year since 854years, with a retrogradation and stationing on November 12. Robert A. Powell (1996) proposes that this is the birth date of Jesus.

6 BCE5 entries

  • Tiberius retires to Rhodes, to the inconvenience of Emperor Augustus. He is recalled to Rome years later in AD 4, becoming Augustus' adopted son and heir following the deaths of Lucius and Gaius Caesar.

5 BCE8 entries

  • March – Probable nova in the constellation Aquila.
  • c.December – Probable supernova in the constellation Capricornus.

4 BCE8 entries

  • Namhae becomes king of the Korean kingdom of Silla.
  • Herod the Great dies, which causes unrest in his client kingdom of Judea. His son, Herod Archelaus, becomes the new ruler. Herod Antipas becomes tetrarch of Galilee and Perea,and the governor of Syria, Publius Quinctilius Varus, marches down to Jerusalem from Antioch to restore order; around 3000 Jews are crucified.

3 BCE2 entries

  • The Pont Julien was constructed in modern southern France.

2 BCE10 entries

  • February 5 – Augustus is proclaimed pater patriae ("father of the country") by the Roman Senate. This bestowed title is the logical consequence and final proof of Augustus' supreme position as princeps, the first in charge over the Roman state.
  • Julia the Elder, a daughter of Augustus, is exiled on charges of treason and adultery to Pandateria; her mother Scribonia accompanies her.
  • Phraates V and his mother Musa become rulers of the Parthian Empire following the murder of Phraates IV.