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The 10s BC

85 sourced entries across 10 years, inside the 1st century BC. Each year below opens its own page; the lines under it are that year’s highest-ranked entries.

19 BCE10 entries

  • Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa completes the Aqua Virgo; the aqueduct is 21 km in length and supplies the city of Rome with about 100,000,000 liters of water every day.
  • The Cantabrians, living on the northernmost coast of Spain, are brought under Roman control. The region is completely subdued until 16 BC.
  • In Rome, Lucius Cornelius Balbus receives the honor of a triumph on the Forum Romanum, for his victories over the Garamantes in Africa.

18 BCE6 entries

  • Onjo becomes the first ruler of the Korean kingdom of Baekje (traditional date).
  • Caesar Augustus introduces the Lex Julia (Julian Laws):
  • Lex Iulia de Ambitu penalised bribery when acquiring political offices.

17 BCE6 entries

  • Emperor Augustus celebrates the secular games in Rome, for which Horace's hymn the "Carmen Saeculare" is commissioned.
  • Emperor Augustus adopts Gaius and Lucius Caesar.

16 BCE8 entries

  • Construction of the Roman temple of Maison Carrée at Nîmes in Gallia Narbonensis (approximate date).
  • Clades Lolliana: Roman consul Marcus Lollius is defeated by a Germanic horde.
  • The Noricans having joined with the Pannonians in invading Histria, are defeated by Publius Silius Nerva, proconsul of Illyricum.

15 BCE8 entries

  • The Raeti tribes of the Alps are subjugated by Tiberius and Nero Claudius Drusus and the new Roman province of Raetia is established with Chur (in modern-day Switzerland) as its capital. During the campaign, Roman triremes destroy the fleet of the Vindelici in the Battle of Lake Constance. Augsburg is founded as Augusta Vindelicorum; and Legio XXI Rapax is stationed at Regensburg in the new province.
  • Marcus Livius Drusus Libo and Lucius Calpurnius Piso are Roman Consuls.
  • Drusus decides to improve the passage through the Alps for military control of Noricum and Raetia and builds the Via Claudia Augusta through Italy.

14 BCE9 entries

  • The Roman general Nero Claudius Drusus fortifies Augusta Vangionum, the modern city of Worms, Germany.
  • Winter – The Roman Legio X Fretensis is stationed in Syria, and the legionaries are settled at the ancient city of Beirut.
  • Caesar Augustus makes Beeroth (modern Beirut) a colonia, named Colonia Julia Augusta Felix Berytus.

13 BCE10 entries

  • Drusus is granted governor of Gaul and mobilises a Roman army to beat the Germans back across the Rhine. He travels to the North Sea and pays tribute to the Frisii.
  • The Roman general Nero Claudius Drusus builds the stronghold of castrum Moguntiacum in the location of the modern-day city of Mainz, Germany.
  • The Ara Pacis Augustae ("Altar of Augustan Peace") is commissioned by the Roman Senate to honor the triumphal return of Emperor Augustus from Hispania and Gaul.

12 BCE14 entries

  • Roman armies based at Xanten, Cologne and Mainz campaign beyond the Rhine.
  • Tiberius Claudius Nero summoned to Pannonia due to severe revolt by the Delmatae.
  • Halley's Comet makes an appearance, as recorded by Chinese Astronomers for about 56 days. Written in the Annal of Han as "In the first year of Yuan Yen (12 B.C.), in the Autumn the seventh month, on the day Sing Wei, a comet swept in Gemini, went through Pollux and Castor, and passed over Leo and Virgo. It was then behind the sun about six degrees, and appeared in the east earlier in the morning. After thirteen days the comet became an evening star shining in the west, whence it swept over Arcturus, moved slowly to Serpens, and reached Ophiuchus. After 56 days it disappeared in Scorpio."

11 BCE6 entries

  • May – Drusus secures the Rhine frontier and builds Roman fortresses near Bonn, Dorsten, Haltern, and Oberaden.
  • Battle of Arbalo: Roman forces under Augustus's stepson Nero Claudius Drusus beat off a German ambush.
  • Quintus Aelius Tubero and Paullus Fabius Maximus are Roman Consuls.

10 BCE8 entries

  • The Obelisk of Montecitorio is brought from Egypt to Rome by Emperor Augustus to be erected as a sundial gnomon of the Solarium Augusti. It is now in the Piazza Montecitorio.
  • The Romans build a bridge across the Rhine near Bonn (approximate date).
  • A Roman military camp is established at Speyer (Germany).