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The 190s BC

101 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.

199 BCE4 entries

  • The Roman general Gnaeus Baebius Tamphilus attacks the Insubres in Gaul, but loses over 6,700 soldiers in the process.
  • Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Ankhwennefer succeeds Horwennefer in Upper Egypt, Egypt.
  • Scipio Africanus becomes censor and princeps Senatus (the titular head of the Roman Senate).

198 BCE4 entries

  • The Battle of Panium is fought between Seleucid forces led by Antiochus III and Ptolemaic forces led by Scopas of Aetolia. The Seleucids win the battle which allows Antiochus III to obtain entire possession of Palestine and Coele-Syria from King Ptolemy V of Egypt. Though the Romans send ambassadors to Ptolemy V, they are unable to lend him any serious assistance against Antiochus III.
  • After his election to the consulship, Titus Quinctius Flamininus is chosen to replace Publius Sulpicius Galba Maximus as the leading Roman general in Macedonia. He then crosses into Macedonia with his army. Flamininus realizes that future peace depends on breaking the power of king Philip V of Macedon, not merely humbling him. He secures the backing of the Achaean League and then opens peace negotiations with Philip at Nicaea in Locris. Though peace proposals are submitted to the Roman Senate, the talks break down, and fighting resumes.
  • Titus Quinctius Flamininus' forces manage to push Philip V out of most of Greece, except for a few fortresses. He then defeats Philip V in the Battle of the Aous, near modern Tepelenë in Albania.

197 BCE11 entries

  • Chen Xi begins a rebellion against the Han dynasty in the Dai region of the northern frontier.
  • The Battle of Cynoscephalae in Thessaly gives a Roman army under proconsul Titus Quinctius Flamininus a decisive victory over Philip V of Macedon. In the Treaty of Tempe, the terms of the peace proposed by the Roman general and adopted by the Roman Senate specify that Philip V can retain his throne and control of Macedonia, but he has to abandon all the Greek cities he has conquered. Philip also has to provide to the Romans 1,000 talents as indemnity, surrender most of his fleet and provide hostages, including his younger son, Demetrius, who is to be held in Rome. The Aetolians propose that Philip V be ejected from his throne but Flamininus opposes this.
  • The Iberian revolt breaks out in Citerior and Ulterior against Roman domination.

196 BCE19 entries

  • Flamininus accuses the Spartan ruler, Nabis, of tyranny, takes Gythium in Laconia and forces Nabis to surrender Argos.
  • The Rosetta Stone is created. This stone is a Ptolemaic era stele written with the same text in two Egyptian language scripts (hieroglyphic and demotic) and in classical Greek. The translation of the Greek passage reveals that the inscription is a royal edict recording the benefits conferred on Egypt by the pharaoh Ptolemy V Epiphanes at the time of his coronation. This stone will provide the key to the hieroglyphic, or pictographic writing, of ancient Egypt and the decree on it reveals the increasing influence of Egyptian natives, remitted debts and taxes, released prisoners, pardoned rebels who have surrendered, and granted increased benefactions to the temples.
  • Antiochus III's army crosses the Hellespont into Thrace, where he claims sovereignty over territory that has been won by Seleucus I in 281 BC. A war of harassment and diplomacy with Rome ensues. The Romans send ambassadors demanding that Antiochus stay out of Greece and set free all the autonomous communities in Anatolia. To meet these demands would mean Antiochus III giving up the western part of his Seleucid Empire. Thus Antiochus refuses the Romans' demands.

195 BCE14 entries

  • Haemosu Dangun, the first ruler of Buyeo, dies and his son Mosuri Dangun succeeds him to the throne.
  • A Spanish revolt against Roman consolidation of the ex-Carthaginian colonies is effectively put down by Marcus Porcius Cato ("the Censor"). He avoids one defeat by paying the Celtiberians 200 talents (around 120,000 denarii), a much-criticised tactic. On Cato's return to Rome, Aemilius Paulus succeeds him as Roman governor in Spain.
  • Chang'an, the capital of China, is thought to become the largest city in the world at this time, taking over from Pataliputra, the capital of the Mauryan empire.

194 BCE11 entries

  • Empress Lü protects the accession of her son Emperor Hui by executing Consort Qi and her son to Gaozu, Liu Ruyi.
  • The Wiman Joseon kingdom of northern Korea (Choson) is founded by the Chinese Han dynasty general Wiman.
  • The Battle of Mutina is fought between the Romans and the Boii (a Gallic tribe). The Romans are victorious in the battle which effectively ends the threat of the Gauls in Italy.

193 BCE8 entries

  • In the meantime, the Spartan ruler, Nabis, moves to recover lost territory, including Gythium.
  • Carneades of Cyrene moves to Athens to found the third or new Academy.
  • Cleopatra I Syra, daughter of Antiochus III and Laodice, marries the Egyptian King Ptolemy V Epiphanes.

192 BCE8 entries

  • Seleucid forces under their king, Antiochus III, invade Greece at the invitation of the Aetolian League, who are revolting against the Romans. The Aetolians appoint him commander in chief of their league. Antiochus lands in Demetrias, Thessaly with only 10,500 men and occupies Euboea. However, he finds little support for his cause in central Greece.
  • The Achaeans respond to Sparta's renewed interest in recovering lost territory by sending an envoy to Rome with a request for help. In response, the Roman Senate sends the praetor Atilius with a navy, as well as an embassy headed by Titus Quinctius Flamininus.
  • Not waiting for the Roman fleet to arrive, the Achaean army and navy head towards Gythium under the command of Philopoemen. The Achaean fleet under Tiso is defeated by the Spartan fleet. On land, the Achaeans are unable to defeat the Spartan forces outside Gythium and Philopoemen retreats to Tegea.

191 BCE9 entries

  • Scipio Africanus persuades the Roman Senate to continue the war against Antiochus III by making him the chief commander and allowing him and his brother, Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus, to follow Antiochus into Anatolia.
  • The Romans under Manius Acilius Glabrio and Cato the Elder cut the Seleucid king Antiochus III off from his reinforcements in Thrace and outflank his position at the pass of Thermopylae in the Battle of Thermopylae. With the remainder of his troops, Antiochus flees to Chalcis on Euboea and from there he retreats by sea to Ephesus.
  • The Roman calendar, which is four months ahead of the seasons, is adjusted (by Lex Acilia de intercalando).

190 BCE13 entries

  • Following Antiochus III's defeat by the Romans, two of Antiochus III's Armenian satraps, Artaxias and Zariadres, declare themselves independent of the Seleucids. With Roman consent, they establish themselves as kings of the Kingdom of Armenia and the district of Sophene (Armenia Minor), respectively. Artaxias builds his capital, Artaxata, on the Araxes River (now the Aras River) near Lake Sevan.
  • The statue Nike (Victory) of Samothrace is created (possible date). It is discovered in 1863 and is now kept at Musée du Louvre in Paris.
  • With the increasingly real threat to his Empire from the Romans, Antiochus III is eager to negotiate on the basis of Rome's previous demands, but the Romans insist that he first give up the region west of the Taurus Mountains. When Antiochus refuses, the Battle of Magnesia is fought near Magnesia ad Sipylum, on the plains of Lydia in Anatolia, between the Romans, led by the consul Lucius Cornelius Scipio and his brother, Scipio Africanus, with their ally Eumenes II of Pergamum, and the army of Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid Empire. The resulting decisive Roman victory ends the conflict with the Seleucids for the control of Greece.