/year

The 100s BC

76 sourced entries across 10 years, inside the 2nd century BC. Each year below opens its own page; the lines under it are that year’s highest-ranked entries.

109 BCE6 entries

  • Emperor Wu of Han inspects the Han Empire, traveling . He also sends diplomats to search for the legendary Penglai Island.
  • A Roman army under Marcus Junius Silanus is defeated by the Cimbri and Teutones near the river Rhône.
  • Han campaigns against Dian: Emperor Wu launches a new campaign against the Dian Kingdom and establishes the Yizhou commandery in Yunnan during the dynasty's expansion southward.

108 BCE5 entries

  • Emperor Wu of Han founds Jiuquan in the Hexi Corridor as a military outpost on the Silk Road to Central Asia. It serves to protect diplomats and merchants, and it cuts off the kings of the region from the Xiongnu. He also founds Xianlei in present-day Inner Mongolia, extending Han control further north than before.
  • Roman forces under Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus defeat the forces of Jugurtha of Numidia at the Battle of the Muthul, with Gaius Marius as a subordinate.

107 BCE3 entries

  • The uprising of Saumachus against Mithridates VI in the Bosporan Kingdom.
  • Gaius Marius, to whom the putative Marian reforms of the Roman army are commonly attributed, arrives in North Africa to lead the war against Jugurtha, with a young quaestor named Lucius Cornelius Sulla as a subordinate.
  • In the course of the migration of the Cimbrians and Teutons, a Germanic-Celtic confederation including the Helvetic tribes of the Tigurinians and Tougenians, under the leadership of Divico, ambush and defeat the Roman legions under Lucius Cassius Longinus, Lucius Caesoninus and Gaius Popillius Laenas at the Battle of Burdigala on the Garonne. As a result, the town of Tolosa, populated by the Volcae, revolts against the Roman Empire.

106 BCE7 entries

  • The Romans under Quintus Servilius Caepio seize the Gold of Tolosa while recapturing the Volcae town.
  • Following the death of General-in-Chief Wei Qing, his sister Empress Wei Zifu and nephew Crown Prince Liu Ju begin to lose influence at court.
  • Nicomedes III of Bithynia and Mithridates VI of Pontus share their dominion over Paphlagonia.

105 BCE11 entries

  • January 1 – Gnaeus Mallius Maximus and Publius Rutilius Rufus become Roman consuls.
  • October 6 – The Battle of Arausio, where the Cimbri destroy two Roman armies on the Rhône, is the most severe defeat of Roman forces since the Battle of Cannae.
  • The Han dynasty forms an alliance with the Wusun by marrying a Han princess to their king.

104 BCE9 entries

  • Aristobulus I succeeds John Hyrcanus, becoming king and high priest of Judea, until 103 BC.
  • Second Servile War: Athenion starts a slave rebellion in Segesta (Sicily).
  • Rome enacts a state of emergency, as the way to Italy lays open to the Germanic invaders. Gaius Marius, the conqueror of Jugurtha, is elected consul for the second time. He celebrates his triumph over Jugurtha, who is led in the procession and thrown into the Tullianum where he dies of starvation.

103 BCE6 entries

  • Alexander Jannaeus succeeds his brother Aristobulus I as king and high priest of Judea, until 76 BC.
  • Gaius Marius prepares a campaign against the Ambrones and Teutones (under king Teutobod) who are settled in Gaul.
  • Tryphon and Athenion lead the Second Servile War in Sicily.

102 BCE5 entries

  • War of the Heavenly Horses: the Han expeditionary force under Li Guangli conquers the state of Luntai. Li Guangli then besieges Alexandria Eschate, the capital of Dayuan in the Hellenistic Ferghana Valley, despite having lost half his army to hunger, thirst and battle by the time he reached the city. The Dayuan are defeated in battle, and after losing their outer wall and their best general Jianmi in battle, the nobles kill King Wugua and offer terms of peace to Li Guangli, who accepts. The Han receive some of the prized horses of Dayuan and Li Guangli appoints Mocai as the new king.
  • Gaius Marius defeats the Sciri and Teutones at Aix-en-Provence (or Battle of Aquae Sextae).
  • The Cimbri defeat the Consul Quintus Lutatius Catulus in the Adige Valley.

101 BCE6 entries

  • July 30 – Battle of Vercellae (Battle of the Raudine Plain or Battle of Campi Raudii): The Roman consuls Gaius Marius and Manius Aquillius defeat the Cimbri.
  • War of the Heavenly Horses: Han general Li Guangli detaches forces to attack Yucheng. After a failed attack by Wang Shengshen and Hu Chongguo, in which Wang is killed, a new Han detachment under Shangguan Jie defeats and captures the king of Yucheng. The king is then killed by the soldiers escorting him to Li Guangli.
  • Han-Xiongnu War: At the beginning of the year, Xulihu Chanyu dies from illness and is succeeded by Qiedihou Chanyu. Qiedihou releases the Han envoys detained by the Xiongnu and receives gifts from Emperor Wu of Han.

100 BCE18 entries

  • Han-Xiongnu War: the Han general Zhao Ponu escapes Xiongnu custody and returns to China.
  • Lucius Appuleius Saturninus, a tribune, passes a law to redistribute land to military veterans. The law requires that all senators swear to abide by it. Quintus Caecilus Metellus Numidicus refuses and is exiled. He goes to Rhodes to study philosophy.
  • Gandhara and Punjab are ruled by the Indo-Greek king Demetrius III Aniketos.