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The 250s

169 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.

250 CE29 entries

  • January 3 – Decian persecution of Christians is initiated when Emperor Decius orders everyone in the Roman Empire (except Jews) to perform a sacrifice to the gods of religion in ancient Rome. On January 20, Pope Fabian becomes one of the first martyrs of this persecution.
  • The Ludovisi Battle sarcophagus, depicting battle between the Romans and the Barbarians, is made for use in Rome (it is later moved to the collection of the National Roman Museum).
  • Teotihuacán is rebuilt as a four-quartered cosmogram by Zapotec architects brought from Monte Albán in Oaxaca.

251 CE23 entries

  • May – The first Synod of Carthage, a pre-ecumenical council, is held under the presidency of Saint Cyprian.
  • July 1 – Battle of Abritus: The Goths defeat Emperor Decius and his son Herennius Etruscus, on swampy ground in the Dobruja (Moesia).
  • Sassanid King Shapur I orders an invasion of Syria, with the intent of finally capturing the city of Antioch during the campaign of 251–254.

252 CE13 entries

  • Shapur I invades Armenia, and appoints Artavazd VI as the new Armenian king.
  • Pope Cornelius is exiled to Centumcellae, by Emperor Trebonianus Gallus.
  • Battle of Barbalissos: King Shapur I defeats the Roman army (some 70,000 men) at Barbalissos in Syria (approximate date).

253 CE16 entries

  • June 25 – Pope Lucius I succeeds Pope Cornelius as the 22nd pope.
  • Valerian reforms Legio III Augusta to fight the "five peoples", a dangerous coalition of Berber tribes in Africa.
  • Aemilianus is proclaimed "enemy of the State" by the Roman Senate. Trebonianus Gallus is defeated at Interamna Nahars (Umbria); he flees with Volusianus to the north, but at Foligno they are killed by their own troops.

254 CE7 entries

  • May 12 – Pope Stephen I succeeds Pope Lucius I.
  • The Roman Empire is threatened by several peoples on their borders: the Germanic confederations, such as the Franks on the Middle Rhine, the Alemanni on the upper Rhine and Danube, and the Marcomanni facing the provinces at Noricum and Raetia. On land the confederation of Goths threaten the lower Danube provinces, and on the sea they threaten the shores of Thracia, Bithynia et Pontus, and Cappadocia. In the eastern provinces, the Sassanid Persians had the previous year defeated a Roman field army at Barballisos, and afterwards plundered the defenseless provinces. This period of time is called today the Crisis of the Third Century.

255 CE15 entries

  • Sima Zhao, Sima Shi's younger brother, inherits his brother's authority.
  • Sima Shi quells Guanqiu Jian and Wen Qin's rebellion.
  • Ma Jun, Chinese mechanical engineer from Cao Wei, invents the south-pointing chariot, a path-finding directional compass vehicle that uses a differential gear, not magnetics.

256 CE18 entries

  • February 28 – Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 3035, a warrant for the arrest of a Christian, is written.
  • King Shapur I of the Sasanian Empire invades Mesopotamia and Syria. He conquers and plunders Antioch, destroys Dura-Europos, and sacks the Anatolian city of Zeugma on the Euphrates. A devastating fire and an earthquake soon follow, causing Zeugma to be abandoned.
  • Pope Stephen I threatens to excommunicate Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, and other bishops in Africa and Asia Minor, unless they stop rebaptizing heretics. Cyprian attacks the Pope in a treatise that gains support from the Council of Carthage. He sends envoys to Rome, raising the specter of a schism between the Roman and Carthaginian Churches.

257 CE15 entries

  • August 30 – Pope Sixtus II succeeds Pope Stephen I as the 24th pope.
  • Valerian, under guardianship of Ingenuus, is established at Sirmium (Pannonia) to represent the Roman government in the troubled Illyrian provinces.
  • In Bavaria the Limes Germanicus (Upper Raetian Limes) along the river Iller is abandoned by the Romans.

258 CE16 entries

  • The amount of silver in the Roman currency of the denarius falls below 10%. The crisis ruins craftsmen, tradesmen, and small farmers, who are forced into bartering; landowners grow richer by buying up cheap land.
  • Sima Zhao quells Zhuge Dan's rebellion, thereby also ending what are known as the Three Rebellions in Shouchun.
  • A second Imperial edict prohibits Christianity in the Roman Empire. This edict divides Christians into four categories: priests, who are to be put to death; senators and equestrians, who are to be stripped of their positions and their property confiscated; nuns, who are to be exiled; and imperial civil servants, who are condemned to forced labour.

259 CE17 entries

  • Mesopotamia: Odaenathus, the ruler of the kingdom of Palmyra, sacks the city of Nehardea, destroying its great yeshiva.
  • Postumus revolts against Gallienus in Gaul. The western provinces of Britain and Spain join his independent realm—which is called in modern times the Gallic Empire.
  • Battle of Mediolanum: A Germanic confederation, the Alamanni (300,000 warriors), who crossed the Alps, are defeated by Roman legions under Gallienus, near Mediolanum (modern Milan).