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The 40s

154 sourced entries across 10 years, inside the 1st century. Each year below opens its own page; the lines under it are that year’s highest-ranked entries.

40 CE23 entries

  • Construction begins on the Pont du Gard aqueduct in Gallia Narbonensis (approximate date).
  • Caligula reforms the principatus into a Hellenistic Autocracy. He distributes honors carelessly, declares himself a god and orders that all the heads of the Greek deity statues be replaced by his. He also appoints his horse, Incitatus, to the Senate.
  • The Vietnamese Trưng Sisters rebel against the rule of the Chinese Emperor Guang Wu of Han.

41 CE15 entries

  • January 24 – Caligula, known for his eccentricity and cruel despotism, is assassinated by his disgruntled Praetorian Guards.
  • Emperor Guang Wu of the Han Dynasty deposes his wife, Guo Shengtong, as empress, and makes his consort Yin Lihua empress in her place.
  • Claudius restores religious freedom to Jews throughout the empire, but prohibits Jews in Rome from proselytising.

42 CE15 entries

  • January 25 – The Apostle Paul is converted to Christianity (the exact date is not provided in texts, but the Roman Catholic Church chooses to commemorate this date).
  • Claudius begins construction of Portus, a harbour bearing a lighthouse on the right bank of the Tiber.
  • Traditional date of foundation of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria by the apostle Mark the Evangelist.

43 CE20 entries

  • September – Emperor Claudius, who arrives with reinforcements including war elephants, leads the march on Camulodunum (modern Colchester). Eleven British kings, probably including those of the Iceni and Brigantes, submit without a fight. Plautius becomes the first Governor of Roman Britain.
  • The Romans capture a Brythonic settlement at Kent and rename it Durovernum Cantiacorum (modern Canterbury); and establish a Roman fort to guard the crossing of the Kentish River Stour.
  • In Coptic Orthodox Christianity, Mark the Evangelist becomes the first Pope of Alexandria, thus establishing the Christian Church in Africa.

44 CE13 entries

  • Cuspius Fadus (Roman governor of Judea) suppresses the revolt of Theudas, who is decapitated.
  • (Approximate date, may be as late as 48) A famine takes place in Judea.
  • Boudicca marries Prasutagus, king of the British Celtic tribe the Iceni (doubtful).

45 CE15 entries

  • Claudius founds Savaria, today the Hungarian city of Szombathely.
  • Emperor Claudius expels the Jews from Rome (estimated date, more probably later, 47-49 AD).
  • The Senate holds consultations regarding real estate speculation in Rome.

46 CE11 entries

  • A large famine occurred across Syria, recorded by Orosius, Suetonius, Tacitus and Josephus, due to bad harvests.
  • The settlement at Celje gets municipal rights, and is named municipium Claudia Celeia.
  • Rome and its northeast border are reunited by the Danube Road.

47 CE15 entries

  • Claudius revives the censorship and ludi saeculares, and organises the order of the Haruspices, with 60 members.
  • Claudius founds the city Forum Claudii Vallensium (modern Martigny) in the Alpes Poeninae (Switzerland).
  • Corbulo orders the construction of the canal Fossa Corbulonis, between the Rhine and Meuse in the Netherlands, which connects the city Forum Hadriani (Voorburg).

48 CE14 entries

  • Gallic nobles are admitted to the Roman Senate. Claudius grants the rights of citizenship to the Aedui.
  • According to Christian tradition, Martha travels to Avignon.
  • Publius Ostorius Scapula, governor of Britain, announces his intention to disarm all Britons south and east of the Trent and Severn. The Iceni, an independent, allied kingdom within that area, revolt but are defeated. Ostorius then moves against the Deceangli in north Wales, but is forced to abandon the campaign to deal with a revolt among the allied Brigantes.

49 CE13 entries

  • Christianity spreads into Europe, especially at Rome and at Philippi (probable date according to chronology derived from the Acts of the Apostles).
  • The Apostle Paul begins his second missionary journey with Silas while Barnabas goes to Cyprus with Mark.
  • The New Testament book Paul's Epistle to the Galatians is probably written.