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The 170s BC

65 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.

179 BCE10 entries

  • The Pons Aemilius is completed across the Tiber River in Rome. It is regarded as the world's first stone bridge.
  • Marcus Aemilius Lepidus is appointed both censor and princeps senatus.
  • Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus goes to Hispania as Roman governor to deal with uprisings there.

178 BCE5 entries

  • In Rome, the praetor Lucius Postumius Albinus celebrates a triumph after conquering the Vaccaei and Lusitani during his time as Roman commander in the province of Hispania Ulterior.
  • One of Perseus' first acts on becoming king of Macedonia is to renew the treaty between Macedonia and Rome. In the meantime, Perseus builds up the Macedonian army and puts out feelers for creating an alliance with the Greek leagues, with his northern barbarian neighbours, and also with the Seleucid king Seleucus IV.

177 BCE5 entries

  • Luni in northern Italy is founded by the Romans with the name Luna at the mouth of the Magra River.
  • Perseus of Macedonia marries Laodice, the daughter of the Seleucid king Seleucus IV.
  • After two military campaigns, the Romans finally subdue the Illyrian tribe of the Histri.

176 BCE4 entries

  • The Roman general, Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, subdues Sardinia, enslaving some of the population.
  • King Phriapatius of Parthia dies and is succeeded by his son Phraates I.
  • Cleopatra I Syra dies leaving her son, Ptolemy VI, to rule Egypt alone.

175 BCE9 entries

  • During this period of uncertainty in Syria, the Egyptian ruler, Ptolemy VI, lays claim to Coele Syria, Palestine, and Phoenicia, which the Seleucid king Antiochus III has previously conquered. Both the Syrian and Egyptian parties appeal to Rome for help, but the Roman Senate refuses to take sides.
  • The construction of the western front of the altar in Pergamum, Turkey, begins (approximate date) and is finished in 156 BC. A reconstruction of it is now kept at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.
  • King Seleucus IV of Syria arranges for the exchange of his brother Antiochus for Demetrius, the son of Seleucus IV, who has been a hostage in Rome following the Treaty of Apamea in 188 BC. However, Seleucus IV is assassinated by his chief minister Heliodorus, who then seizes the Syrian throne.

174 BCE5 entries

  • The first street pavements were laid in Rome.
  • The Xiongnu attack the Yuezhi, and force them away from Gansu.

173 BCE7 entries

  • The first known session of the Mahestan (a noble advisory council consisting of Zoroastrian priests and aristocrats) is believed to have taken place during Nowruz (the Persian New Year) in this year, under the reign of Mithridates I of Parthia. This council later played a key role in advising the king and, at times, selecting or deposing monarchs.
  • Antiochus IV pays the remainder of the war indemnity that has been imposed by the Romans on Antiochus III in the Treaty of Apamea (188 BC).
  • Ptolemy VI Philometor marries his sister, Cleopatra II.

172 BCE4 entries

  • The peace treaty at the end of the Second Punic War requires that all border disputes involving Carthage be arbitrated by the Roman Senate and requires Carthage to get explicit Roman approval before going to war. As a result, envoys from Carthage appear before the Roman Senate to request resolution of a boundary dispute with Numidia. The dispute is decided in Numidia's favour.
  • Eumenes II of Pergamum travels to Rome to warn the Roman Senate of the danger from Perseus of Macedon. On his return from Rome, Eumenes II is nearly killed at Delphi and Perseus is suspected of being the instigator.

171 BCE7 entries

  • Thanks to the efforts of Eumenes II of Pergamum while in Rome, the Romans declare war on Macedonia and send troops to Thessaly, thus beginning the Third Macedonian War. In the resulting Battle of Callicinus the Macedonians, led by their king, Perseus, are victorious over a Roman force led by consul Publius Licinius Crassus.
  • Mithradates I succeeds his brother Phraates I as king of Parthia.
  • The first Roman colony outside Italy is founded at Carteia in southern Hispania after Iberian-born descendants of Roman soldiers appear before the Roman Senate to request a town to live in and are given Carteia, which is named Colonia Libertinorum Carteia.

170 BCE9 entries

  • Around this time, Eucratides, who is either a rebellious Bactrian official or a cousin of the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes, captures the throne of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom by toppling the Euthydemid dynasty's king Antimachus I.
  • With Antiochus IV now absent from the country, the citizens of Alexandria choose Ptolemy VI's brother Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II as their king. The two Ptolemy brothers agree to rule Egypt jointly with their sister Cleopatra II and Coele Syria is invaded by the Egyptian forces.
  • The usurped high priest of Judea, Jason, does not abandon his claims to being the high priest which he has lost to Menelaus two years earlier. While Antiochus IV is waging war against Egypt, he succeeds in making himself master of Jerusalem once more and forces Menelaus to seek refuge in the citadel.