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The 90s BC

79 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.

99 BCE2 entries

  • Consuls: Aulus Postumius Albinus and Marcus Antonius.

98 BCE6 entries

  • Emperor Wu of Han sends the Han general Gongsun Ao on a mission to rescue general Li Ling from Xiongnu captivity. Gongsun achieves little but receives incorrect information that Li has been training Xiongnu soldiers. Enraged, Emperor Wu exterminates Li's clan.
  • The Senate passes the Lex Caecilia Didia, which bans omnibus bills.
  • Consuls: Quintus Caecilius Metellus Nepos and Titus Didius.

97 BCE11 entries

  • The censors, Flaccus and Antonius, remove M. Duronius from the senate because of his opposition to sumptuary laws.
  • Sujin becomes emperor of Japan (approximate date).
  • C. Decianus, the prosecutor of Furius, is himself condemned for his remarks about the death of Saturninus.

96 BCE9 entries

  • Consuls: Gaius Cassius Longinus and Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus
  • Cyrene is left to the people of the Roman Republic by its ruler Ptolemy Apion.
  • Seleucus VI Epiphanes becomes king of the Seleucid Empire following the death of his father Antiochus VIII Grypus, and defeating in battle Antiochus IX Cyzicenus.

95 BCE7 entries

  • Philip I Philadelphus and Antiochus XI Ephiphanes succeeded as co-rulers after the deposition of Seleucus VI Epiphanes.
  • "Forty-metre structure" at Emain Macha (near modern Armagh, Northern Ireland) was built and destroyed, presumably for ritual or ceremonial purposes.
  • Consuls: Lucius Licinius Crassus and Quintus Mucius Scaevola Pontifex

94 BCE6 entries

  • Approximate date – Nicomedes IV succeeds his father Nicomedes III as king of Bithynia.
  • The Shakas start to control northwest India.
  • Lucius Cornelius Sulla is elected praetor urbanus.

93 BCE3 entries

  • Roman consuls: Gaius Valerius Flaccus and Marcus Herennius.
  • End of era Taishi of Emperor Wu of Han China.

92 BCE7 entries

  • 92 BC Levant earthquake, earthquake mentioned in catalogues of historical earthquakes. An earthquake and a tsunami reportedly affected areas of the Levant, including the modern states of Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, and Syria.
  • Consuls: Gaius Claudius Pulcher and Marcus Perperna.
  • Sulla repulses Tigranes of Armenia from Cappadocia.

91 BCE9 entries

  • September - The Xiongnu invade the prefectures of Shanggu and Wuyuan.
  • Consuls: Sextus Julius Caesar and Lucius Marcius Philippus.
  • The tribune Marcus Livius Drusus proposes extending Roman citizenship to allied Italian cities, but is assassinated, leading to the Social War.

90 BCE19 entries

  • The Lex Iulia grants citizenship to all Italians who did not oppose Rome during the Social War.
  • Social War continues: Pompeius Strabo and Gaius Marius distinguish themselves.
  • The Xiongnu invade the Prefectures of Wuyuan and Jiuquan and kill the commandants of both Prefectures.