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The 180s

121 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.

180 CE25 entries

  • March 17 – Emperor Marcus Aurelius dies after a week's illness at his camp in Vindobona (modern Vienna). He is succeeded by his son Commodus (age 18).
  • July 17 – Twelve Christian inhabitants of Scillium in Numidia are executed in Carthage (also in North Africa) (known as the Scillitan Martyrs) – they had refused to swear an oath to the Emperor.
  • Lake Taupō in New Zealand erupts, forming ash clouds as far as China and Europe.

181 CE9 entries

  • June: Liang Long is captured and beheaded, and his rebellion is suppressed by general Zhu Juan.
  • The volcano associated with Lake Taupō in New Zealand erupts, one of the largest on Earth in the last 5,000 years. The effects of this eruption are seen as far away as Rome and China.
  • Imperator Lucius Aurelius Commodus and Lucius Antistius Burrus become Roman Consuls.

182 CE7 entries

  • Emperor Commodus escapes death at the hands of assassins, who have attacked him at the instigation of his sister Lucilla and a large group of senators. He puts many distinguished Romans to death on charges of being implicated in the conspiracy; Lucilla is exiled to Capri.

183 CE5 entries

  • In Jiaozhi (present-day northern Vietnam), during the Second Era of Northern Domination, the local army launches a coup, captures the governor, and subsequently executes him. After the coup, Emperor Ling appoints a new Jiaozhi governor, who brings peace to the region, and is praised by the residents.

184 CE15 entries

  • June – Ling of Han places his brother-in-law, He Jin, in command of the imperial army and sends them to attack the Yellow Turban rebels.
  • Zhang Jue leads the peasant revolt against Emperor Ling of Han of the Eastern Han dynasty. Heading for the capital of Luoyang, his massive and undisciplined army (360,000 men), burns and destroys government offices and outposts.
  • The Yellow Turban Rebellion and Liang Province Rebellion break out in China.

185 CE15 entries

  • February – The rebels of the Yellow Turban are defeated by the imperial army, but only two months later, the rebellion breaks out again. It spreads to the Taihang Mountains on the western border of Hebei Province.
  • Irenaeus writes that there are only four Gospels (approximate date).
  • Cleomedes discovers the refraction of light by the Earth's atmosphere.

186 CE8 entries

  • Roman governor Pertinax escapes an assassination attempt, by British usurpers.
  • The Hatepe volcanic eruption extends Lake Taupō and makes skies red across the world. However, recent radiocarbon dating by R. Sparks has put the date at 233 AD ± 13 (95% confidence).
  • Peasants in Gaul stage an anti-tax uprising under Maternus.

187 CE7 entries

  • Olympianus succeeds Pertinax as bishop of Byzantium (until 198).
  • Clodius Albinus defeats the Chatti, a highly organized German tribe that controlled the area that includes the Black Forest.
  • Septimius Severus marries Julia Domna (age 17), a Syrian princess, at Lugdunum (modern-day Lyon). She is the youngest daughter of high-priest Julius Bassianus – a descendant of the Royal House of Emesa. Her elder sister is Julia Maesa.

188 CE12 entries

  • Queen Himiko (or Shingi Waō) begins her reign in Japan (until 248).
  • Publius Helvius Pertinax becomes pro-consul of Africa from 188 to 189.

189 CE18 entries

  • Pope Victor I succeeds Pope Eleuterus as the fourteenth pope, the first from Africa.
  • Liu Bian succeeds Emperor Ling, as Chinese emperor of the Han dynasty.
  • Plague (possibly smallpox) kills as many as 2,000 people per day in Rome. Farmers are unable to harvest their crops, and food shortages bring riots in the city.