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The 260s

129 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.

260 CE29 entries

  • King Shapur I sends Valerian to Bishapur and uses the captured Roman army for engineering plans. They construct the Band-e Kaisar ("Bridge of Valerian").
  • Pope Dionysius convenes a synod at Rome to demand an explanation from bishop Dionysius of Alexandria, who has been charged with separating the members of the Trinity as three distinct deities.
  • Emperor Cao Mao of Former Wei state attempts to lead a coup against the powerful regent Sima Zhao, but he himself is killed before it comes to a confrontation.

261 CE13 entries

  • Roman–Persian Wars: Balista, Roman usurper, collects ships from Cilician ports and defeats a Persian raiding force near Pompeiopolis.
  • Gallienus usurpers: The rebellion of Macrianus Major, Macrianus Minor, and Quietus against Gallienus comes to an end. They march from Asia to Europe but they are defeated in Thrace by Gallienus' general Aureolus, and both Macrianus Major and Macrianus Minor are killed. Quietus flees to Emesa, where he is killed by Odaenathus of Palmyra.
  • Michu of Silla ascends to the Korean throne of Silla, becoming the first ruler of the Long Kim line.

262 CE6 entries

  • The Goths invade Asia Minor and destroy the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus.
  • The Heruls accompany the Goths, ravaging the coasts of the Black Sea and the Aegean.
  • An earthquake strikes Ephesus and Pergamon and another strikes Cyrene.

263 CE9 entries

  • Chinese mathematician Liu Hui writes a commentary on The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art, describing what will later be called Gaussian elimination, computing pi, etc.
  • King Odenathus of Palmyra declares himself ruler of the area west of the River Euphrates and is declared Dux Orientalis by the Roman emperor Gallienus.
  • Conquest of Shu by Wei: The Chinese state of Cao Wei conquers Shu Han, one of its two rival states.

264 CE13 entries

  • March 1–3 – Zhong Hui's Rebellion in China is quelled.
  • Sun Hao succeeds Sun Xiu as emperor of the Chinese state of Eastern Wu.
  • Sima Zhao, regent of the Chinese state of Cao Wei, styles himself the "King of Jin", the penultimate step before usurpation.

265 CE11 entries

  • Emperor Gallienus tries twice to crush the usurper Postumus, but on the first occasion Aureolus, commander of the elite cavalry, carelessly lets him escape. The second time, Gallienus sustains an arrow wound and has to break off his siege of a Gallic town where Postumus has holed up. He makes no other serious attempt to overcome his rival, instead devoting his attention to the political and military problems in the Danube and eastern parts of the Roman Empire.
  • Sima Zhao, who had been the regent and de facto primary authority of the state of Cao Wei for little over 10 years by this point, passes away, leaving his authority to his eldest son, Sima Yan, who will go on to disestablish the state of Cao Wei in February 266, founding the Jin dynasty.
  • A general of Gallienus' army, Victorinus, defects to Postumus.

266 CE9 entries

  • February 4 – Sima Yan, regent of the Chinese state of Cao Wei, forces the last Cao Wei emperor Cao Huan to abdicate in his favour. The Cao Wei state's existence comes to an end. Sima Yan establishes the Jin Dynasty, and becomes its first emperor on 8 February, and is historically known as "Wu of Jin". He establishes his capital at Luoyang, and gives his male relatives independent military commands throughout his empire.
  • King Odaenathus of Palmyra invades Persia to conquer the capital, Ctesiphon, and twice comes as far as the walls of the Persian capital, but fails to take it. After his victories in the East, he pronounces himself with the title "king of kings".
  • A powerful tropical volcanic eruption around this year brings a below-average flood of the Nile next year.

267 CE8 entries

  • The Heruli invade the Black Sea coast; they unsuccessfully attack Byzantium and Cyzicus. The Roman fleet defeats the Herulian fleet (500 ships) but allows them to escape into the Aegean Sea, where they raid the islands of Lemnos and Skyros.
  • The Goths sack several cities of southern Greece including Athens, Corinth, Argos and Sparta. After the Sack of Athens, an Athenian militia force (2,000 men), under the historian Dexippus, pushes the invaders to the north where they are intercepted by the Roman army under emperor Gallienus. He wins an important victory near the Nestos River, on the boundary between Macedonia and Thrace.
  • King Septimius Odaenathus of Palmyra makes plans for a campaign in Cappadocia against the Goths. He is assassinated, along with his eldest son, most probably by his nephew due to a previous altercation between him and Odaenathus. His wife Zenobia succeeds him, and rules Vaballathus (the Palmyrene Empire) with her young son.

268 CE13 entries

  • September – Battle of Naissus: Emperor Gallienus, aided by Aurelian, defeats a Gothic coalition (50,000 warriors) near Naissus (Niš, modern Serbia).
  • November – Battle of Lake Benacus: A Roman army (35,000 men) under emperor Claudius II defeats the Germanic tribes of the Alamanni along the banks of Lake Garda.
  • Claudius II asks the Senate to spare the lives of Gallienus's family and political supporters. Emperor Gallienus is deified and buried in a family tomb on the Appian Way.

269 CE18 entries

  • January 5 – Pope Felix I succeeds Dionysius as the 26th pope of Rome.
  • Paul of Samosata is deposed as Patriarch of Antioch (though he is not removed until 272).
  • Queen Zenobia conquers Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, parts of Mesopotamia and Anatolia and Egypt, giving her control of Rome's grain supply. The library at Alexandria is partly burned during a raid by Zabdas, general of Zenobia.