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The 240s

124 sourced entries across 10 years, inside the 3rd century. Each year below opens its own page; the lines under it are that year’s highest-ranked entries.

240 CE11 entries

  • April 12 – Prince Shapur I becomes co-ruler of the Sasanian Empire with his father King Ardashir I.
  • Maharaja Sri-Gupta becomes ruler of the Gupta Empire (approximate date).
  • Mani, a young mystic of Ctesiphon, proclaims himself a prophet at the court of Ardashir I. He preaches his doctrine, Manichaeism, throughout the Sassanid Empire.

241 CE12 entries

  • November 1 – The Battle of Samhain is fought in Ireland (approximate date).
  • The Dura-Europos church is converted from a house in Syria (approximate date).
  • Prince Shapur I succeeds his father Ardashir I as ruler of the Sassanid Empire. He begins his expansion in India.

242 CE10 entries

  • Emperor Gordian III begins a campaign against King Shapur I, and leads victories at Antioch, Carrhae, Nisibis, and Resaina.
  • Gordian III evacuates the Cimmerian cities in the Bosphorus (Crimea), as the territory is now controlled by the Goths.
  • Shapur I makes a pre-emptive attack on Antioch to drive out the Romans. Gordian's father-in-law, Timesitheus, leads a Roman army to defeat the Sassanids at Carrhae and Nisibis.

243 CE11 entries

  • Fan Chan of Funan sends a tribute mission to China (approximate date).
  • Battle of Resaena: A Roman army under Timesitheus defeats the Sassanids at Resaena (modern Syria); King Shapur I is forced to flee to the Euphrates.
  • Cohors I Ubiorum, the garrison at Capidava in Scythia Minor, is replaced by Cohors I Germanorum Civium Romanorum, until the end of the 3rd century AD.

244 CE17 entries

  • February 11 – Emperor Gordian III is murdered by mutinous soldiers in Zaitha (Mesopotamia). A mound is raised at Carchemish in his memory.
  • Philip the Arab (Marcus Julius Philippus) declares himself co-emperor, and makes a controversial peace with the Sassanian Empire, withdrawing from their territory and giving Shapur 500,000 gold pieces. The Sassanians occupy Armenia.
  • Plotinus, Greek philosopher, escapes the bloodshed that accompanies the murder of Gordianus III and makes his way to Antioch. Back in Rome he founds his Neoplatonist school and attracts disciples like Porphyry, Castricius Firmus and Eustochius of Alexandria.

245 CE11 entries

  • Lady Triệu, a Vietnamese warrior, begins her 3-year resistance against the invading Chinese.
  • In Britain, many thousands of acres of modern-day Lincolnshire are inundated by a great flood.
  • Emperor Philip the Arab entrusts Trajan Decius with an important command on the Danube.

246 CE7 entries

  • The first of two Councils of Arabia in the Roman Christian Church is held in Bostra, Arabia Petraea.
  • Baekje Kingdom under King Goi of Baekje attacks the Chinese commandery of Daifang.
  • Emperor Philip the Arab fights the Germans along the Danube River.

247 CE13 entries

  • Himiko of Yamataikoku, in Japan, begins a war against King Himikoku of Kunukoku.
  • Emperor Philip the Arab marks the millennium of Rome by holding the Ludi Saeculares.
  • Rome becomes 1,000 years old. The 1,000th anniversary is commemorated with the Ludi Saeculares festivals, celebrated throughout the Roman Empire.

248 CE11 entries

  • Jungcheon becomes ruler of the Korean kingdom of Goguryeo (until 270).
  • The Roman Empire continues the celebration of the 1,000th anniversary of Rome, with the ludi saeculares, organized by Philip the Arab.
  • Origen writes an eight-volume work, criticizing the pagan writer Celsus.

249 CE21 entries

  • February 5 – Incident at Gaoping Tombs: In the Chinese state of Cao Wei, regent Sima Yi, in a coup d'état, forces his co-regent Cao Shuang to relinquish his power, after taking control of the capital city of Luoyang. Sima Yi issues a memorial, which lists the various crimes he and his associates has committed.
  • Decian persecution: Decius begins persecuting Christians, and others refusing to sacrifice publicly to the Roman gods for the well-being of the emperor.
  • Trajan Decius puts down a revolt in Moesia and Pannonia. Loyal legionaries proclaim him emperor, and he leads them into Italy.