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The 50s

132 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.

50 CE22 entries

  • Paul travels to Philippi, Thessaloniki, Beroea, and Athens (second missionary journey).
  • In Judaea, a Roman soldier seizes and burns a Torah scroll. Procurator Cumanus has the culprit beheaded, calming down local Jews and delaying for almost two decades the outbreak of their revolt.
  • In Britain, governor Publius Ostorius Scapula begins his campaign against the recalcitrant Silures of south Wales, who are led by the former Catuvellaunian prince Caratacus. London (Londinium), Exeter (Isca Dumnoniorum), Tripontium (near modern Rugby) and the fort of Manduessedum (near modern Atherstone) are founded (approximate date).

51 CE8 entries

  • The captured Caratacus is exhibited in chains in Claudius' triumph in Rome, but his dignified demeanour persuades the emperor to spare his life and allow his family to live free in the capital for a short period of time.
  • Vonones II dies a few months after he had ascended to the throne. His son Vologases I becomes the new Parthian king.
  • Burrus, praetorian prefect (51–62 AD), charges Seneca with the education of Nero.

52 CE13 entries

  • Emperor Claudius attempts to control the Fucine Lake by digging a 5.6 km tunnel through Monte Salviano, requiring 30,000 workers and eleven years.
  • Saint Thomas, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus, is believed to have landed in Kodungallur, India to preach the Gospel; the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church, the Indian Orthodox Church, and the Assyrian Church of the East claim descent from him.
  • The Yuejue Shu, the first known gazetteer of China, is written during the Han Dynasty.

53 CE15 entries

  • June 9 – Nero is adopted by Claudius as his son and marries his 14-year-old daughter Claudia Octavia.
  • Tiridates I, brother of Vologases I, comes to power in Armenia as an adversary of the Romans.
  • Paul the Apostle writes his epistle to the Galatians from Ephesus (approximate date).

54 CE19 entries

  • Two centurions are sent to the south of Egypt to find the source of the Nile, and possible new provinces. They report that while there are many cities in the desert, the area seems too poor to be worthy of conquest.
  • Corbulo recruits Syrian auxiliary units in the region and stations them in border forts, with orders from Nero not to provoke the Parthians.
  • Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo arrives in the East and takes up an assignment as governor of Asia, with a secret brief from Nero and his chief ministers, Seneca and Burrus, to return Armenia to the Roman Empire.

55 CE7 entries

  • The apostle Paul writes his First Epistle to the Corinthians.
  • The Roman jurist Sabinus writes three books on the rights of citizens.
  • Emperor Nero becomes a Roman Consul.

56 CE7 entries

  • War between Rome and Parthia breaks out due to the invasion of Armenia by King Vologases I, who has replaced the Roman-supported ruler with his brother Tiridates I of Armenia. (approximate date)
  • The apostle Paul writes his second Epistle to the Corinthians, probably from Philippi.
  • The apostle Paul writes his Epistle to the Romans, from Corinth (approximate date).

57 CE10 entries

  • Envoys from Cilicia come to Rome to accuse their late governor, Cossutianus Capito, of extortion; the Roman Senate is supported in the case by Publius Clodius Thrasea Paetus.
  • Emperor Guang Wu grants Nakoku (located around modern-day Fukuoka City) a golden seal, being the oldest evidence of writing in Japan. In return King Na sends an envoy to China.
  • Paul of Tarsus writes his Second Epistle to the Corinthians and his Epistle to the Romans (probable date).

58 CE20 entries

  • Emperor Ming of Han introduces Buddhism to China inviting monks from the western Indus Valley.
  • Agrippina the Younger is expelled from the imperial palace by her son Nero, who installs her in Villa Antonia in Misenum, and leaving more of the effective and real power of Empire in the hands of Nero.
  • Romans learn the use of soap from the Gauls (approximate date).

59 CE11 entries

  • March 23 – Emperor Nero orders the murder of his mother Agrippina the Younger. He tries to kill her through a planned shipwreck, but when she survives, he has her executed and frames it as a suicide.
  • Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo, Roman commander in the east, captures Tigranocerta in Mesopotamia. He installs Tigranes VI, a Cappadocian prince, as ruler of Armenia. For the next four years, a cohort from Legio VI Ferrata and Legio X Fretensis is stationed in the capital as bodyguard to the king, supported by fifteen hundred auxiliaries.
  • Publius Clodius Thrasea Paetus retires from the Roman Senate. He openly shows his disgust at the behaviour of Nero regarding the murder of Agrippina.