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The 170s

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

170 CE20 entries

  • Emperor Marcus Aurelius writes in Sirmium (Pannonia) his first of 12 books of the Meditations in Koine Greek.
  • The Costoboci cross the Danube (Dacia) and ravage Thrace in the Balkan Peninsula. They reach Eleusina, near Athens, and destroy the temple of the Eleusinian Mysteries.
  • The Suebian tribes of the Marcomanni cross the Danube and invade Northern Italy. The Roman army (20,000 men) is destroyed near Carnuntum in Pannonia.

171 CE9 entries

  • May – June – Aelius Aristides, Greek orator, delivers a public speech in Smyrna, lamenting the damage recently inflicted to the sacred site of Eleusis.
  • Marcus Aurelius signs a peace treaty with the Quadi and the Sarmatian Iazyges. The Germanic tribes of the Hasdingi (Vandals) and the Lacringi become Roman allies.
  • The Costoboci cross the Danube (Dacia) and ravage Thrace in the Balkan Peninsula. They reach Eleusis, near Athens, and destroy the temple of the Eleusinian Mysteries.

172 CE14 entries

  • Miracle in Moravia: As the Roman army is encircled by the Quadi under intense heat, a violent thunderstorm sweeps away the Quadi in a torrent of water and mud, and refreshes the parched legionaries.
  • Tatian produces his Diatessaron, a harmony of the four gospels.
  • Battle of Jwawon: Goguryeo Prime Minister Myeongnim Dap-bu defeats the Chinese Han dynasty forces in Manchuria.

173 CE5 entries

  • Given control of the Eastern Empire, Avidius Cassius, the governor of Syria, crushes an insurrection of shepherds known as the Boukoloi.
  • Gnaeus Claudius Severus and Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus become Roman Consuls.

174 CE11 entries

  • Reign in India of Yajnashri Satakarni, Satavahana king of the Andhra. He extends his empire from the center to the north of India.
  • Pope Eleuterus succeeds Pope Soter as the thirteenth pope (approximate date).
  • Meditations by Marcus Aurelius is written, in Greek, while on military campaigns in Pannonia (approximate date).

175 CE16 entries

  • Confucian scholars try to ensure their capacity in the royal court of China. They are massacred by the eunuchs.
  • Commodus, son of Marcus Aurelius and his wife Faustina, is named Caesar.
  • M. Sattonius Iucundus, decurio in Colonia Ulpia Traiana, restores the Thermae of Coriovallum (modern Heerlen). There are sources that state this happened in the 3rd century.

176 CE8 entries

  • November 27 – Emperor Marcus Aurelius grants his son Commodus the rank of Imperator, and makes him Supreme Commander of the Roman legions.
  • December 23 – Marcus Aurelius and Commodus enter Rome after a campaign north of the Alps, and receive a triumph for their victories over the Germanic tribes.
  • The Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius is made. It is now kept at Museo Capitolini in Rome (approximate date).

177 CE17 entries

  • Forty-eight Christians are martyred in Lyon (Saint Blandina and Pothinus, bishop of Lyon, are among them).
  • A systematic persecution of Christians begins in Rome; the followers take refuge in the catacombs.
  • Chinese troops suffer a crushing defeat against a confederacy of Central Asian tribes, led by the Xianbei (see Wu Hu).

178 CE11 entries

  • The Montanist heresy is condemned for the first time.
  • In Hepu and Jiaozhi (modern day Northern Vietnam) during the second Era of Northern Domination, a rebellion led Liang Long broke out and last for three years until it was quelled by general Zhu Jun of the Han dynasty.
  • In India, the decline of the Kushan Empire begins. The Sassanides take over Central Asia.

179 CE11 entries

  • Roman legionaries of Legio II Adiutrix engrave on the rock of the Trenčín Castle (Slovakia) the name of the town Laugaritio, marking the northernmost point of Roman presence in that part of Europe.
  • The Roman fort Castra Regina ("fortress by the Regen river") is built at Regensburg, on the right bank of the Danube in Germany.
  • Han dynasty China: The full title of the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art appears on two bronze standard measures dated to this year, yet there is speculation that the same book existed beforehand only under different titles. In the 3rd century, Liu Hui would provide commentary on this important early Chinese mathematical treatise.