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The 20s BC

83 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.

29 BCE12 entries

  • March 1 – Horace writes the ode Occidit Daci Cotisonis agmen.
  • Octavian celebrates, in Rome, three triumphs on consecutive days (August 13, August 14, and August 15) to commemorate his victories in Illyricum, Actium and Egypt.
  • Octavian Caesar becomes Roman Consul for the fifth time. His partner is Sextus Appuleius. He is granted the title of imperator, and for the third time in Roman history the doors of the Temple of Janus are closed, signalling peace.

28 BCE6 entries

  • May 10 – The earliest dated record of a sunspot by Chinese astronomers.
  • The Roman Senate grants Octavian Caesar imperium maius (supreme command) of the Roman armed forces (Around 28 legions).
  • Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian becomes Roman Consul for the sixth time. His partner Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa becomes Consul for the second time.

27 BCE10 entries

  • January 16 – Octavian formally returns full power to the Senate; they give him the titles of Princeps and Augustus. He accepts this honor, having declined the alternative title of Romulus, thus becoming first Roman emperor.
  • Northern statue of the Colossi of Memnon is shattered by an earthquake in Egypt (according to Strabo).
  • Augustus' first census of the Roman Empire (formerly the Roman Republic) reports a total of 4,063,000 citizens.

26 BCE12 entries

  • August 29 – Christian Cross Asterism (astronomy) at Zenith of Lima, Peru.
  • The Andhra dynasty replaces the Kanva dynasty, and rules over the eastern part of India.
  • Tiridates II invades Parthia and issues coins dated from March and May, 26 BC.

25 BCE8 entries

  • Estimation: Rome, capital of the Roman Empire, becomes the largest city in the world, taking the lead from Chang'an, capital of China.
  • The Roman colony of Emerita Augusta is founded (present-day Mérida).
  • The temple to Neptune on the Circus Flaminius is built.

24 BCE4 entries

  • Caesar Augustus becomes Roman Consul for the tenth time. His partner is Gaius Norbanus Flaccus.
  • Herod the Great marries for a third time, to Mariamne II, after a 4-year hiatus from family life (after putting to death his 2nd wife Mariamne I).
  • Augustus founds the city of Nicopolis in Egypt to commemorate his final victory over Mark Antony.

23 BCE15 entries

  • In response to Meroë's incursions into Upper Egypt, the Roman legions move south and raze Napata. (History of Sudan).
  • The Nubians, led by queen Kandake Amanirenas, take the initiative against the Roman Empire, and attack the Roman province of Egypt moving towards Elephantine.
  • Herod the Great builds a palace in Jerusalem and the fortress Herodium in Judaea. He also marries his third wife, named Mariamne, the daughter of high priest Simon.

22 BCE4 entries

  • Aemilius Lepidus Paullus and Lucius Munatius Plancus are Censors.
  • King Artaxias II returns, with the support of the Parthians, to Armenia and claims the throne. Artavasdes I escapes to Rome, where Caesar Augustus receives him.
  • The Roman governor of Egypt, Gaius Petronius, marches up the Nile with legions XXII Deiotariana and III Cyrenaica, and destroys the Nubian capital of Napata.

21 BCE2 entries

  • Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa divorces Claudia Marcella Major, and marries Julia the Elder, daughter of Caesar Augustus.

20 BCE10 entries

  • May 12 – Emperor Augustus Caesar negotiates a peace with Parthia, making Armenia a buffer zone between the two major powers. The captured eagles of Marcus Licinius Crassus and Mark Antony are returned.