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The 60s BC

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

69 BCE13 entries

  • October 6 – Roman Republic troops under Lucius Lucullus defeat the army of Tigranes II of Armenia in the Battle of Tigranocerta, and capture Tigranocerta, capital of Armenia.
  • Ptolemy XII deposes Cleopatra V, and becomes sole ruler.
  • Antiochus XIII Asiaticus is installed as king of Syria.

68 BCE11 entries

  • October 6 – Lucius Lucullus defeats Tigranes II of Armenia in the Battle of Artaxata.
  • Gaius Antonius Hybrida elected praetor.
  • Ostia, the harbour city of Ancient Rome, is sacked by pirates. The port is set on fire and the consular war fleet is destroyed.

67 BCE18 entries

  • December – The army of the Han dynasty Chinese commander Zheng Ji is victorious over the Xiongnu in the Battle of Jushi.
  • Pompey offers the ex-pirates and their families clemency, he settles them in agricultural colonies in eastern Mediterranean lands.
  • Hyrcanus II becomes king of Judea, for first time (until 66 BC), upon the death of his mother, Salome Alexandra.

66 BCE11 entries

  • Catiline accused of conspiring against the Roman Republic with Autronius and the younger Sulla (also in 63 BC during the consulship of Cicero).
  • Battle of the Lycus: Pompey the Great decisively defeats Mithridates VI, effectively ending the Third Mithridatic War.
  • The lex Manilia, supported by Cicero gives Pompey command over all of Asia.

65 BCE7 entries

  • Tigranes of Armenia is defeated and captured by Pompey, thus ending all hostilities on the northeastern frontier of Rome.
  • Pompey the Great subjugates the kingdom of Iberia and makes Colchis a Roman province.
  • In response to the illegal exercise of citizen rights by foreigners, the Roman Senate passes the Lex Papia, which expels all foreigners from Rome

64 BCE8 entries

  • Pompey destroys the kingdom of Pontus; king Mithridates VI commits suicide after escaping to the Crimea.
  • King Antiochus XIII Asiaticus is deposed and killed by the Syrian chieftain Sampsiceramus I – this is considered by some the end of the Seleucid dynasty.
  • 64 BC Syria earthquake, mentioned in catalogues of historical earthquakes. It affected the region of Syria and may have caused structural damage in the city of Jerusalem.

63 BCE18 entries

  • Cato the Younger is elected tribune of the people for 62 BC, taking office in early December 63 BC.
  • Pompey conquers the people of Phonecia, Coele-Syria, and Judea for the Roman Republic.
  • Marcus Tullius Cicero is senior consul. He is the first novus homo (new man) to be elected to the consulship in 31 years.

62 BCE11 entries

  • January 5 – The forces of the conspirator Catiline are defeated by the loyal Roman armies of Antonius Hybrida led by Marcus Petreius in the Battle of Pistoria.
  • Cicero delivers his Pro Archia Poeta in defense of Aulus Licinius Archias' claim to Roman citizenship.
  • Cato the Younger, as tribune, presents a lex frumentaria (enacting a grain dole).

61 BCE4 entries

  • Marcus Pupius Piso Frugi as consul attempts to gain ratification of Pompey's Eastern Settlement.
  • Pompey returns to Rome with a triumph in honor of his for victories in the eastern provinces.
  • Julius Caesar becomes governor in Hispania and creates Legio X Gemina (3,500 men). He puts down the Callaici and Lusitani rebellions.

60 BCE9 entries

  • Gaius Julius Caesar suppresses an uprising and conquers all of Lusitania for Rome.
  • Creation of the First Triumvirate, an informal political alliance between Julius Caesar, Pompey the Great and Marcus Licinius Crassus (or 59 BC).
  • The Han dynasty government establishes the Protectorate of the Western Regions, the highest military position of a military commander on the Western frontier (Tarim Basin).