slug: penda-of-mercia

label: Penda of Mercia

description: 7th-century King of Mercia

text: Battle of Cirencester: King Penda of Mercia defeats the West Saxons at Cirencester (South West England) in what later will be Gloucestershire. After reaching an agreement, he takes control of the Severn Valley and the minor kingdom of the Hwicce.

title: 628

section: Events › By place › Britain

text: King Penda of Mercia besieges Exeter in southwest England. King Cadwallon ap Cadfan of Gwynedd lands with a force nearby, and negotiates an alliance with Penda.

title: 630

date: October 12

text: October 12 – Battle of Hatfield Chase: King Edwin of Northumbria is defeated and killed by Penda of Mercia and Cadwallon of Gwynedd, at Hatfield Chase (South Yorkshire).

title: 633

date: August 5

text: August 5 – Battle of Maserfield: King Penda of Mercia defeats and kills King Oswald of Northumbria, age 38, at Oswestry (West Midlands). He commands a united British and Mercian force, which includes the Welsh army of Kings Cadafael Cadomedd of Gwynedd and Cynddylan of Pengwern. The Mercians become dominant in the English Midlands.

title: 642

section: Deaths

text: King Cynegils of Wessex dies after a 32-year reign, and is succeeded by his son Cenwalh (who is still pagan); he marries the sister of King Penda of Mercia (approximate date).

title: 643

text: King Cenwalh of Wessex is driven from his kingdom by his brother-in-law, King Penda of Mercia (according to Bede). He flees to the court of king Anna of East Anglia, and is baptised while in exile. Penda overruns Wessex.

title: 645

text: The Mercians under King Penda move on East Anglia, destroy the monastery at Burgh Castle and expel King Anna who probably flees to Magonsæte (approximate date).

title: 650

text: Œthelwald succeeds his uncle Oswine as king of Deira, and allies himself with Oswiu's enemy, King Penda of Mercia. Queen Eanflæd of Bernicia donates the estate of Gilling for the foundation of a monastery.

title: 651

text: King Penda of Mercia invades Bernicia, and besieges King Oswiu at Bamburgh, in North East England.

title: 652

text: King Penda of Mercia secures dominance over the area of Middle Anglia, where he establishes his son Peada as ruler.

title: 653

text: King Penda of Mercia defeats the East Anglians at Bulcamp near Blythburgh (Suffolk). King Anna of East Anglia and his son Jurmin are killed.

title: 654

text: November 15 – Battle of the Winwaed: King Oswiu of Bernicia defeats his rival, King Penda of Mercia at Cock Beck, near what later will be Leeds (Yorkshire). Kings Cadafael Cadomedd of Gwynedd and Œthelwald of Deira, allies of Mercia, withdraw their forces before the battle begins. It marks the defeat of the last credible pagan force in England. It also sows the seeds which will lead to Anglo-Saxon acceptance of the Catholic Church (approximate date).

title: 655

text: November 15 – Penda, king of Mercia

title: 655


slug: pennsylvania

label: Pennsylvania

description: state of the United States of America

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: Havertown and Bryn Mawr are founded in Pennsylvania by Welsh Quakers.

title: 1681

section: Events › Date unknown

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

date: March 4

text: March 4 – In order to settle a debt of £16,000, King Charles II of England grants a land charter to William Penn, for territory west of Delaware River in America between 40° N and 42° N, later to be called Pennsylvania.

title: 1681

section: Events › January–March

section: Technology & Infrastructure

text: The Richard Wall House, believed to be the longest continuously inhabited residence in the US, is built in Pennsylvania.

title: 1682

section: Culture & Society

date: October 27

text: October 27 – The city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is founded by William Penn.

title: 1682

section: Events › October–December

date: May 5

text: May 5 – Pennsylvania colony enacts a statute, requiring all persons importing any person previously convicted of sodomy, to pay £5 for each such incoming person.

title: 1722

section: Events › April–June

date: October 5

text: October 5 – Pennsylvania's Colonial Governor George Thomas bars citizens from settling in Lancaster County, or west of the Blue Mountains.

title: 1742

date: July 31

text: July 31 – At a summit in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the British colonies of Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania conclude a treaty with the Six Nations, conceding that the member tribes are entitled to the territory west of the Appalachian mountains and north of the Ohio River.

title: 1743

section: Events › July–September

section: Health & Medicine

date: May 11

text: May 11 – The Pennsylvania Hospital, first hospital in the American colonies, is chartered in Philadelphia by the Pennsylvania legislature, which grants the right to Benjamin Franklin and to Dr. Thomas Bond.

title: 1751

section: Conflict & Security

date: October 16

text: October 16 – The Penn's Creek massacre is carried out against white settlers who have moved into the Susquehanna Valley in the Pennsylvania colony, in territory also claimed by the Delaware Indians. The Delawares attack the Penn's Creek village, located near what is now Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, and kill 25 of the 26 men, women and children living there.

title: 1755

date: May 21

text: May 21 – Seven Years' War – French and Indian War: Mary Campbell is abducted from her home in Pennsylvania by members of the Lenape Nation.

title: 1758

date: April 19

text: April 19 – Teedyuscung, known as the "King of the Delaware Indians" (the Lenape tribe) is assassinated by arsonists who burn down his home in Pennsylvania while he is sleeping, in an apparent retaliation for signing the Treaty of Easton to relinquish Lenape claims to the Province of New Jersey.

title: 1763

text: August 5 – Pontiac's War: Battle of Bushy Run – British forces led by Henry Bouquet defeat Chief Pontiac's Indians at Bushy Run, in the Pennsylvania backcountry.

title: 1763

date: April 5

text: April 5 – After completing the portion of the Mason–Dixon line marking the semi-circular boundary between Pennsylvania and Delaware, English surveyors Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon begin the two-and-a-half-year process of plotting out the 230-mile boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland along the latitude of 39°43′20″ N.

title: 1765

date: September 11

text: September 11 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Brandywine: The British gain a major victory in Chester County, Pennsylvania.

title: 1777

section: Events › July–December

date: February 23

text: February 23 – American Revolutionary War: Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania and begins to train the American troops.

title: 1778

date: March 1

text: March 1 – The legislature of Pennsylvania votes, 34 to 21, to approve An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery.

title: 1780

date: December 12

text: December 12 – Pennsylvania becomes the second U.S. state.

title: 1787

date: February 2

text: February 2 – Arthur St. Clair of Pennsylvania is chosen as the new President of the Congress of the Confederation.

title: 1787

date: March 3

text: March 3 – By a vote of 33 to 29, Harrisburg is approved as the new capital of Pennsylvania.

title: 1787

date: April 6

text: April 6 – At Federal Hall, the United States Senate attains its first quorum, and elects John Langdon of Pennsylvania as its first president pro tempore. Later that day, the Senate and the House of Representatives meet in joint session for the first time, and the electoral votes of the first U.S. presidential election are counted. General George Washington is certified as president-elect, and John Adams is certified as vice-president elect.

title: 1789

section: Economy & Finance

text: The Insurance Company of North America (later Chubb) is founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

title: 1792

text: George Anschutz constructs the first blast furnace in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

title: 1792

text: October 12 – The capital of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania is permanently moved from Lancaster to Harrisburg.

title: 1812

text: Geneva College (Pennsylvania) is founded as Geneva Hall in Northwood, Logan County, Ohio.

title: 1848

date: July 17

text: July 17 – The Great Train Wreck (the worst railroad calamity in the world to date) occurs near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.

title: 1856

date: March 21

text: March 21 – Pennsylvania issues the charter establishing the Zoological Society of Philadelphia, the first organization of its kind in the United States, and founder of the nation's first zoo.

title: 1859

text: Heinz, as predecessor of Kraft Heinz, a worldwide food processing and cheese brand, founded in Pennsylvania, United States.

title: 1869

date: November 10

text: November 10 – The Centennial Exposition ends in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

title: 1876

section: Events › November

section: Disasters & Accidents

date: May 31

text: May 31 – Johnstown Flood: The South Fork Dam collapses in western Pennsylvania, killing more than 2,200 people in and around Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

title: 1889

section: Events › May

date: September 10

text: September 10 – Lattimer massacre: A sheriff's posse kills 19 unarmed immigrant miners in Pennsylvania.

title: 1897

section: Events › September

section: Crime & Justice

date: October 3

text: October 3 – U.S. Senator Matthew Quay of Pennsylvania is arrested for conspiracy to defraud the People's Bank of Philadelphia.

title: 1898

section: Events › October

date: December 24

text: December 24 – Lackawanna Cut-Off railway line opens in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

title: 1911

section: Events › December

date: May 17

text: May 17 – U.S. Army aviation pioneer Major Harold Geiger dies in the crash of his Airco DH.4 airplane, at Olmsted Field, Pennsylvania.

title: 1927

date: October 2

text: October 2 – John Dalzell, U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania (b. 1845)

title: 1927

section: Deaths › September–October

text: February 23 – The first mass vaccination of children against polio begins in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.

title: 1954

text: May 31 – Forty-four tornadoes hit Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario, including a rare and powerful F5. In total, the event kills 90 people.

title: 1985

text: April 4 – U.S. Senator John Heinz and six other people are killed when a helicopter collides with their plane over Merion, Pennsylvania.

title: 1991

text: June 4 – A large solar flare triggers an unusually large aurora as far south as Pennsylvania.

title: 1991

text: July 13 – While campaigning for the 2024 United States presidential election, former President Donald Trump is shot in the right ear in an assassination attempt at a rally he held near Butler, Pennsylvania.

title: 2024


slug: people-s-liberation-army

label: People's Liberation Army

description: principal military force of the People's Republic of China

date: August 1

text: August 1 – The Communist Chinese People's Liberation Army is formed, during the Nanchang Uprising.

title: 1927

section: Events › August

date: October 16

text: October 16 – The Long March of the People's Liberation Army of the Chinese Communist Party begins.

title: 1934

section: Events › September–October

date: July 31

text: July 31 – Captain Kerans of HMS Amethyst decides to make a break after nightfall, under heavy fire from the Chinese People's Liberation Army on both sides of the Yangtze River, and successfully rejoins the fleet at Woosung the next day.

title: 1949

section: Events › July

date: October 7

text: October 7 – Battle of Chamdo: The Annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China, begins with the Chinese People's Liberation Army invading across the Jinsha River. By October 19 they will have taken the border town of Chamdo, and the Tibetan army will have surrendered.

title: 1950

date: January 18

text: January 18–20 – Battle of Yijiangshan Islands: The Chinese Communist People's Liberation Army seizes the islands from the Republic of China (Taiwan).

title: 1955

section: Events › January

date: August 23

text: August 23 – The Second Taiwan Strait Crisis begins with the People's Republic of China's People's Liberation Army shelling the island of Kinmen (Quemoy) which is controlled by the Republic of China (Taiwan)'s Kuomintang forces.

title: 1958

date: July 21

text: July 21–26 – Third Taiwan Strait Crisis: The Chinese People's Liberation Army fires missiles into the waters north of Taiwan.

title: 1995

date: May 9

text: May 9 – Several Chinese and Indian soldiers are injured in a cross-border clash at the Nathu La crossing. About 150 troops participated in the face-off, which involved fistfights and stone-throwing.

title: 2020


slug: people-s-republic-of-china

label: People's Republic of China

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

date: October 6

text: October 6 – The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) established its first diplomatic and friendly relations with newly proclaimed Communist China (PRC) between the two nations.

title: 1949

date: January 13

text: January 13 – Finland forms diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China.

title: 1950

date: January 6

text: January 6 – The United Kingdom recognizes the People's Republic of China; the Republic of China severs diplomatic relations with Britain in response.

title: 1950

date: January 9

text: January 9 – The Israeli government recognizes the People's Republic of China.

title: 1950

title: 1958

date: February 11

text: February 11 – China–India relations: Twelve Indian soldiers die in clashes with Red Chinese troops along their small common border.

title: 1960

section: Events › February

text: January 13 – Albania allies itself with the People's Republic of China.

title: 1962

date: October 25

text: October 25 – The United Nations General Assembly admits the People's Republic of China and expels the Republic of China (or Taiwan).

title: 1971

date: January 31

text: January 31 – The People's Republic of China released Gerald Emil Kosh, a U.S. civilian captured during the Battle of the Paracel Islands.

title: 1974

section: Events › January–February

text: The population of the People's Republic of China alone exceeds 1 billion, making China the first nation to have a population of more than a billion.

title: 1982

section: Events › Date unknown


slug: pepin-of-herstal

label: Pepin of Herstal

description: Mayor of the Palace (635-714)

section: Births

text: Pepin of Herstal, Mayor of the Palace (approximate date)

title: 635

date: December 23

text: December 23 – King Dagobert II is murdered in a hunting accident, near Stenay-sur-Meuse (Ardennes), probably on orders from Pepin of Herstal, the mayor of the palace of Austrasia. He is succeeded by Theuderic III, who becomes sole ruler of the Frankish Kingdom.

title: AD 679

section: Events › By place › Europe

text: Gistemar becomes mayor of the palace in Neustria and Burgundy, after he deposes his father Waratto. He reverses the peace treaty with Austrasia, signed with Pepin of Herstal at Namur.

title: 682

section: Deaths

text: Waratton, mayor of the palace of Neustria and Burgundy, dies and is succeeded by his son-in-law Berchar. He advises King Theuderic III to break the peace treaty with Pepin of Herstal, and declares war on Austrasia.

title: 686

section: Conflict & Security

text: Battle of Tertry: King Theuderic III of Neustria is defeated by Pepin of Herstal, mayor of the palace of Austrasia, near Péronne (modern France), at the River Somme. Theuderic withdraws to Paris and is forced to sign a peace treaty. Pepin becomes "de facto" ruler of the Frankish Kingdom, and begins calling himself Duke of the Franks. He establishes a base for the future rise of the Pippinids and the Carolingians. Pepin appoints Nordebert as Duke of Burgundy, and puts him in charge of Neustria and Burgundy (as a sort of regent).

title: 687

text: King Theuderic III dies and is succeeded by his son Clovis IV, age 9, as sole ruler of the Franks. He becomes a puppet—a roi fainéant—of his uncle Pepin of Herstal, mayor of the palace of Austrasia.

title: 691

text: Childebert III succeeds Clovis IV as sole king of the Franks. He is the son of Theuderic III and becomes a puppet—a roi fainéant—of Pepin of Herstal, mayor of the palace of Austrasia.

title: 695

text: Pepin of Herstal, mayor of the palace, extends the Frankish Kingdom and annexes Thuringia. He turns the war towards the Alemanni (approximate date).

title: 700

section: Culture & Society

text: Peaceful relations between Franks and Frisians are consolidated by the marriage of Pepin of Herstal's son Grimoald to Theudesinda, daughter of King Radbod.

title: AD 711

date: December 16

text: December 16 – Pepin of Herstal, Mayor of the Palace

title: 714

text: December 16 – Pepin II (of Herstal), mayor of the Merovingian palace, dies at Jupille (modern Belgium). His grandson Theudoald (who at age eight was still well into early childhood) becomes the nominal mayor of the palace, while his wife Plectrude holds actual power and imprisons Pepin's illegitimate son Charles Martel.

title: 714

date: September 26

text: September 26 – Battle of Compiègne: Ragenfrid, mayor of the palace of Neustria and Burgundy (appointed by King Dagobert III), defeats Theudoald in the first battle of the Frankish civil war, following the death of Pepin II (of Herstal).

title: 715

text: Battle of Cologne: Charles Martel, mayor of the palace of Austrasia, is defeated by the Neustrians under King Chilperic II and his mayor Ragenfrid near Cologne (now part of Germany), who have invaded Austrasia to impose their will on the competing Frankish factions of Theudoald and Plectrude, the child grandson (and designated heir) and widow respectively of Pepin of Herstal. Simultaneously, Radbod, king (or duke) of the Frisians, attacks Austrasia and allies with the Neustrians. Charles is forced to flee into the mountains of the Eifel (Ardennes).

title: 716

section: Events › Byzantine Empire › Europe

text: Plectrude, consort of Pepin of Herstal

title: 717

date: March 21

text: March 21 – Battle of Vincy: Charles Martel invades Neustria and defeats the forces of King Chilperic II at Vincy, near Cambrai. He pursues him and his mayor of the palace Ragenfrid to Paris, before turning back to deal with his stepmother Plectrude at Cologne, to turn over half the wealth of his late father Pepin of Herstal. Charles allows both Plectrude and his nephew Theudoald (who at eleven was still a little child) to live (a gesture uncommon for the time), and obliges her to accept his sovereignty.

title: 717

section: Events › By place › Western Europe

section: Religion & Belief

text: Hugh of Champagne, grandson of Pepin of Herstal, is appointed bishop of Bayeux.

title: 724

section: Events › By topic › Religion

title: 730


slug: pepin-of-italy

label: Pepin of Italy

description: son of Charlemagne and King of the Lombards

text: Pepin of Italy, son of Charlemagne (or 773)

title: 770

text: Pepin of Italy, son of Charlemagne (d. 810)

title: 773

text: King Charlemagne has his son Carloman (renamed Pepin) anointed "King of Italy", and he is crowned by Pope Adrian I with the Iron Crown of Lombardy. His younger brother Charles I is anointed king of Aquitaine, and Louis the Pious (only 3-years old) is appointed sub-king of Italy and Aquitaine, following the conversion of Aquitaine from a Duchy to a sub-kingdom.

title: 781

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: King Pepin of Italy conquers Istria on the Adriatic, ignoring Byzantine protests. He establishes a tributary march, and sends missionaries.

title: 789

text: Alcuin, Anglo-Saxon missionary, returns (after an 8-year absence) to England. During his stay at the Carolingian court of King Charlemagne in Aachen, he has educated his sons Charles, Pepin and Louis. Alcuin revises the church liturgy and the Bible, and is responsible for an intellectual movement within the Frankish Kingdom.

title: 790

text: The Avars, a pagan Asian nomadic horde that has settled down in what is today Hungary, invade Friuli and Bavaria. King Charlemagne assembles a Frankish army, and marches down the Danube River to ravage Avar territory. A Frankish-Lombard expeditionary force, under his son Pepin, (king of the Lombards) invades the Drava Valley and devastates Pannonia.

title: 791

text: The Westphalians rise up against the Saxons, in response to a forcible recruitment for wars against the Avars. However, Pepin, sub-king of Northern Italy and son of King Charlemagne, continues the war, and wins considerable booty from the Avars.

title: 792

text: King Charlemagne orders a 3 kilometre long channel dug from Treuchtlingen to Weißenburg (the Rhine and Danube river basins), to improve the transportation of goods between the Rhineland and Bavaria. Charlemagne's son, Pepin of Italy, campaigns against the Lombards in Benevento (Southern Italy).

title: 793

text: Summer – Emperor Charlemagne finishes the conquest of Saxony. The Carolingian administration in the north is restored and the diocese of Bremen is re-established. Venice, torn by infighting, switches allegiance from Constantinople to King Pepin of Italy, son of Charlemagne.

title: 804

text: Emperor Charlemagne divides the Frankish Empire under his three sons, called Divisio Regnorum. For Charles the Younger he designates the imperial title, Austrasia and Neustria, Saxony, Burgundy, and Thuringia. To Pepin he gives Italy, Bavaria, and Swabia. His youngest son Louis the Pious receives Aquitaine, the Spanish March, and Provence.

title: 806

text: Spring – The Venetian dukes change sides again, submitting to King Pepin, under the authority of his father Charlemagne, who then proceeds to take Venice. Emperor Nikephoros I sends a Byzantine fleet to Dalmatia, prompting Pepin to withdraw to the mainland. A legate is dispatched to Venice, where he deposes the turncoat dukes, before continuing on to Aachen, to negotiate a peace with Charlemagne. Charlemagne recognises Byzantine dominance over Venice and Dalmatia in the Adriatic Sea.

title: 810

section: Events › By place › Byzantine Empire

date: April 17

text: April 17 – King Bernard of Italy, illegitimate son of Pepin of Italy, is tried and condemned to death by Emperor Louis I. The Kingdom of Italy is reabsorbed into the Frankish Empire.

title: 818


slug: pepin-of-landen

label: Pepin of Landen

description: Mayor of the Palace (585-640)

text: Pepin the Elder, Frankish Mayor of the Palace (d. 640)

title: 580

text: Itta, wife of Pepin of Landen (d. 652)

title: 592

text: King Clothar II gives Austrasia to his son Dagobert I, age 20, effectively granting the kingdom semi-autonomy in repayment for the support of its nobles, most notably Pepin of Landen (Mayor of the Palace), and in recognition of calls from the Austrasians for a king of their own. Arnulf, bishop of Metz, becomes advisor to Dagobert.

title: 623

text: King Chlothar II dies after a 16-year reign, and is succeeded by his son Dagobert I. Counseled by Bishop Arnulf of Metz and Pepin of Landen (Mayor of the Palace), he moves the capital to Paris.

title: 629

text: King Dagobert I is forced by the Austrasian nobles to put his 3-year-old son Sigebert III on the throne, ceding royal power in Austrasia. He frees himself from dependence on Pepin of Landen, and extends his rule over the Bretons (approximate date).

title: 634

date: January 19

text: January 19 – Dagobert I dies after a 10-year reign as king of all the Franks, in which his realm has prospered. He is succeeded by Sigebert III (age 9), independent ruler of Austrasia, and his half-brother Clovis II (age 2), who becomes king of Neustria and Burgundy. Under the supervision of Pepin of Landen, Mayor of the Palace, the royal treasury is distributed between the two brothers and widowed queen Nanthild (regent on Clovis' behalf).

title: 639

date: February 27

title: 640

text: February 27 – Pepin the Elder, Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia, dies and is succeeded by his son Grimoald. He becomes the head of the Frankish household, and the most powerful man in the Frankish Kingdom (approximate date).

title: 640

section: Crime & Justice

text: Duke Leuthari II has Otto, mayor of the palace of Austrasia, murdered. He is succeeded by Grimoald the Elder, the eldest son of Pepin of Landen.

title: 643

date: March 17

text: March 17 – Gertrude of Nivelles, daughter of Pepin of Landen (mayor of the palace of Austrasia), requests on her deathbed a burial wearing a plain linen shroud. This is the traditional (pagan) practice of a 'furnished' grave.

title: 659


slug: pepin-the-short

label: Pepin the Short

description: King of the Franks from 751 to 768

text: Childeric III succeeds to the throne of the Frankish Kingdom as the last Merovingian king, (until his death in 754) following an interregnum of seven years after the throne was left vacant after the death of the previous king Theuderic IV. Power remains firmly in the hands of the major domus, currently Carloman and Pepin the Short.

title: 743

text: Pepin the Short, mayor of the palace of Neustria and Burgundy, invades the Swabian Jura (southwestern Germany), and chases Theudebald, Duke of Alamannia, from his mountain redoubt in Alsace.

title: 744

date: August 15

text: August 15 – Carloman, mayor of the palace of Austrasia, renounces his position as majordomo, and withdraws from public life. He retires to a monastery near Rome, being tonsured by Pope Zachary, and leaves his brother Pepin the Short as sole ruler (de facto) of the Frankish Kingdom.

title: AD 747

date: November

text: November – Pepin the Short, youngest son of Charles Martel, forces the last Merovingian king Childeric III to retire to the monastery of Saint-Bertin. He proclaims himself as king of the Franks with the support of Pope Zachary, and is crowned at Soissons by Boniface, bishop of Mainz, becoming, as Pepin III, the first Carolingian monarch of the Frankish Kingdom.

title: 751

text: King Pepin III ("the Short") begins a Frankish military expedition down the Rhône Valley, and receives the submission of eastern Septimania (i.e. Nîmes, Melguelh, Agde and Béziers), after securing Count Ansemund's allegiance.

title: 752

text: Grifo, Frankish duke and illegitimate son of Charles Martel, rebels against King Pepin III ("the Short") (his half-brother), in alliance with the Bretons. He flees to Italy to join King Aistulf of the Lombards, but is caught and killed while passing the Alps.

title: 753

date: July 28

text: July 28 – Pope Stephen II re-consecrates Pepin III (the Short) as king of the Franks, at the Basilica of Saint-Denis outside Paris, bestowing upon him the additional title of Patricius of the Romans. This marks the first recorded crowning of a civil ruler by a pope. Pepin assumes the role of ordained protector of the Catholic Church.

title: 754

text: King Aistulf of the Lombards again threatens Rome with a view to making it his capital, but the Franks under Pepin III ("the Short") arrives with his sons Charles and Carloman, defeats Aistulf, and confers the Donation of Pepin, which establishes the Papal States (including the lands of Ravenna and the Pentapolis). Pepin has taken territory that legally belongs to the Byzantine Empire; he gives it to Pope Stephen II.

title: 756

text: Tassilo III, duke of Bavaria, recognizes the supremacy of King Pepin III ("the Short") at an assembly held at Compiègne (Northern France), and becomes a vassal of the Frankish Kingdom. He swears an oath (commendatio) to Pepin, and promises his allegiance.

title: AD 757

text: Siege of Narbonne: The Franks under King Pepin III ("the Short") retake Narbonne from the Muslims, after a 7-year siege. He pushes them back across the Pyrenees, and the Muslims retreat to the Andalusian heartland after 40 years of occupation. The government of the city is assigned to the Visigothic count Miló.

title: 759

text: Frankish King Pepin III ("the Short") begins his expedition to Septimania and Aquitaine. He conquers the cities of Carcassonne, Toulouse, Rodez and Albi. Duke Waifer of Aquitaine confiscates the Church lands, and plunders Burgundy. Pepin invades Aquitanian-held Berry and the Auvergne, capturing the fortresses of Bourbon and Clermont. Waifer's Basque troops are defeated by the Franks, and deported into northern France with their children and wives.

title: 760

date: August

text: August – Byzantine troops invade the Papal States, in alliance with King Desiderius of the Lombards. King Pepin III ("the Short") intervenes, and begins negotiations between the Lombards and Pope Paul I. Desiderius promises to end the hostilities, but on condition that Pepin sends back Lombard hostages held by the Franks.

title: 763

text: King Pepin III ("the Short") restores the papal privileges (see Donation of Pepin) in Benevento and Tuscany territory (and partially in Spoleto).

title: 765

text: The Franks, under King Pepin III ("the Short"), destroy resistance in central Aquitaine. They conquer the capital of Bordeaux, and devastate the whole region.

title: AD 767

date: September 24

text: September 24 – King Pepin III (the Short) dies at Saint-Denis, Neustria. The Frankish Kingdom is divided between his two sons: Charlemagne and Carloman I. According to Salic law Charlemagne receives the outer parts of the kingdom bordering on the sea, namely Neustria, western Aquitaine, and the northern parts of Austrasia; while Carloman is awarded his uncle's former share, the inner parts: southern Austrasia, Septimania, eastern Aquitaine, Burgundy, Provence, Swabia, and the lands bordering Italy.

title: 768

section: Events › By place › Frankish Kingdom

text: September 24 – Pepin the Short, king of the Franks (b. 714)

title: 768

date: December 4

text: December 4 – King Carloman I, youngest son of Pepin III ("the Short"), dies (of a severe nosebleed, according to one source) at the Villa of Samoussy, leaving his brother Charlemagne sole ruler of the now reunified Frankish Kingdom. Gerberga, the widow of Carloman, flees with her two sons to the court of King Desiderius of the Lombards, at Pavia.

title: 771

date: April 30

text: April 30 – Hildegard, wife of King Charlemagne, dies in childbirth after her ninth confinement in less than 12 years of marriage. His mother, Bertrada of Laon, dies in the summer and is buried with great ceremony beside her husband Pepin the Short, in the Abbey of St. Denis (modern-day Paris).

title: 783

date: July 12

text: July 12 – Bertrada of Laon, queen consort of Pepin the Short

title: 783


slug: pergamon

label: Pergamon

description: ancient city of Ionia in modern-day Turkey and UNESCO World Heritage Site

year_label: 238 BCE

text: A joint Seleucid-Galatian invasion of Pergamon is defeated at the Battle of Aphrodisium

title: 238 BC

section: Events › By place › Persia

year_label: 223 BCE

text: The Seleucid king Seleucus III is assassinated by members of his army while on campaign against Attalus of Pergamon in Phrygia.

title: 223 BC

section: Events › By place › Seleucid Empire

year_label: 220 BCE

text: Attalus II Philadelphus, king of Pergamon (d. 138 BC)

title: 220 BC

year_label: 164 BCE

text: Construction of the detail of the frieze from the east front of the altar in Pergamon, Athena Attacking the Giants, begins and is finished eight years later. It is now kept at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Antikensammlung, Pergamonmuseum in Berlin, Germany.

title: 164 BC

section: Events › By topic › Art

year_label: 159 BCE

text: Attalus II Philadelphus succeeds his brother Eumenes II as king of Pergamon.

title: 159 BC

section: Events › Greece

year_label: 138 BCE

text: Attalus III succeeds Attalus II as Attalid king of Pergamon

title: 138 BC

section: Events › By place › Asia Minor

text: Attalus II Philadelphus, king of Pergamon (b. 220 BC)

title: 138 BC

year_label: 133 BCE

text: Attalus III, king of Pergamon. In his will, he makes the people of Rome his heirs (b. 170 BC)

title: 133 BC

year_label: 131 BCE

text: During Aristonicus of Pergamon uprising against Rome, the consul Publius Licinius Crassus Mucianius is killed in the fighting.

title: 131 BC

section: Events › By place › Roman Republic

year_label: 130 BCE

text: Consul Marcus Perperna defeats Aristonicus in battle, besieges him at Stratonicea, dies at Pergamon.

title: 130 BC

year_label: 129 BCE

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: The Kingdom of Pergamon becomes the Roman Province of Asia upon the defeat of Aristonicus, pretender to the Attalid throne, by M. Perperna.

title: 129 BC

section: Events › By place › The Roman Republic

year_label: 75 BCE

text: Julius Caesar travels to Rhodes to study under Apollonius Molon. On his way across the Aegean Sea, he is kidnapped by Cilician pirates and held prisoner in the Dodecanese islet of Pharmacusa. The young Caesar is held for a ransom of twenty talents, but he insists they ask for fifty. After his release Caesar raises a fleet at Miletus, pursues and crucifies the pirates in Pergamon.

title: 75 BC

section: Events › By place › Greece

section: Climate & Environment

text: An earthquake strikes Ephesus and Pergamon and another strikes Cyrene.

title: 262

section: Events › By place › Roman Empire

text: Arab–Byzantine War: Muslim general Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik leads his army of 80,000 men from Pergamum to Abydos, where he crosses the Hellespont. To prevent interference by the Bulgars, or by any Byzantine forces in Thrace, he sends part of his army to a covering position near Adrianople; with his main body, Maslama builds siege lines to blockade Constantinople, which is protected by the massive Theodosian Walls.

title: 717

text: Theodosius, a nephew of the former Emperor Constantine IX, tries to usurp the Byzantine throne, and liberates all the prisoners who flock to his banner. With their support, he marches through the streets of Constantinople to the Palace. There, the Varangian Guard forms outside to stop him. Theodosius loses heart and heads for Hagia Sophia. Later he is captured, and exiled to Pergamon.

title: 1056

text: Spring – Siege of Nicaea: Malik Shah, Seljuk ruler of the Sultanate of Rum, sends an expedition through Bithynia to the very walls of Nicaea. Seljuk forces raid Abydos on the Hellespont, with its rich custom-houses. Malik Shah attacks and captures Pergamum. Emperor Alexios I Komnenos sets out to meet the Seljuk invaders. He lifts the siege at Nicaea and wins a complete victory near Cotyaeum (modern Turkey).

title: 1113

text: November – The combined forces of Louis VII and Conrad III meet at Lopardium and march along the coastal road via Pergamon and Smyrna to Ephesus, where they celebrate Christmas. Conrad, still suffering from his wounds, sails back to Constantinople to be placed under the care of Manuel's own physicians. Meanwhile, the Crusader camp is attacked by Turkish raiders near Ephesus.

title: 1147

section: Events › By place › Second Crusade


slug: pergamum

label: Pergamum

year_label: 343 BCE

section: Births

text: Philetaerus, founder of the Attalid dynasty of Pergamum in Anatolia (approximate date) (d. 263 BC)

title: 343 BC

year_label: 302 BCE

section: Conflict & Security

text: The Macedonian general, Philetaerus, moves his allegiance from Antigonus to Antigonus' rival, Lysimachus. In return, Lysimachus makes Philetaerus guardian of the fortress of Pergamum with its treasure of some 9,000 talents.

title: 302 BC

year_label: 282 BCE

text: The city of Pergamum in Asia Minor ends its allegiance to Lysimachus. Its ruler, Philetaerus, transfers his allegiance, as well as the important fortress of Pergamon and his treasury, to Seleucus, who allows him a far larger measure of independence than he had hitherto enjoyed.

title: 282 BC

year_label: 263 BCE

section: Religion & Belief

text: Eumenes I succeeds his uncle Philetaerus on the throne of Pergamum. As Philetaerus is a eunuch, he adopts his nephew Eumenes (the son of Philetaerus' brother also named Eumenes) as his successor.

title: 263 BC

section: Deaths

text: Philetaerus, founder (reigned from 282 BC) of the Attalid kingdom of Pergamum, in northwest Asia Minor (b. c. 343 BC)

title: 263 BC

year_label: 262 BCE

text: Antiochus I tries to break the growing power of Pergamum by force of arms. Eumenes I, the new ruler of Pergamum, liberates his city from the overlordship of the Seleucids by defeating the army of Antiochus I near Sardis (the capital of Lydia), and thereby establishing an independent city-state.

title: 262 BC

year_label: 241 BCE

text: Attalus I Soter succeeds his uncle, Eumenes I, to the throne of Pergamum. He defeats the Galatians at the Battle of the Caecus River.

title: 241 BC

section: Events › By place › Pergamum

text: Eumenes I, ruler of Pergamum from 263 BC, liberator of the city from the overlordship of the Seleucids

title: 241 BC

year_label: 235 BCE

text: Under King Attalus I, Pergamum begins to build up its power and importance.

title: 235 BC

year_label: 230 BCE

text: The city of Pergamum is attacked by the Galatians (Celts who have settled in central Anatolia) because the leader of Pergamum, Attalus I Soter, has refused to pay them the customary tribute. Attalus crushes his enemy in a battle outside the walls of his city and to mark the success he takes the title of king and the name Soter.

title: 230 BC

year_label: 228 BCE

text: King Attalus I Soter of Pergamum defeats Antiochus Hierax (brother of the Seleucid king Seleucus II) in three battles and thereby gains control over all the Seleucid domains in Anatolia except Cilicia in the southeast.

title: 228 BC

year_label: 225 BCE

text: Seleucus III Ceraunus succeeds his father Seleucus II Callinicus as ruler of the Seleucid dynasty, and takes up the task of reconquering Pergamum in Anatolia from Attalus. However, Andromachus, the first general whom he sends, is decisively defeated and captured by Attalus.

title: 225 BC

year_label: 222 BCE

text: Seleucid forces under their general Achaeus succeed in winning back all the Seleucid domains in Asia Minor (lost six years earlier to Pergamum).

title: 222 BC

text: Antiochus III's commander in Anatolia, Achaeus, having recovered all the districts which Attalus of Pergamum has gained, is accused by Hermeias, the chief minister of Antiochus, of intending to revolt. In self-defence, Achaeus assumes the title of king and rules over the Anatolian parts of the Seleucid kingdom.

title: 220 BC

section: Events › By place › Anatolia

year_label: 215 BCE

text: The Seleucid king, Antiochus III, crosses the Taurus Mountains, uniting his forces with Attalus of Pergamum and, in one campaign, deprives his rebel general, Achaeus, of all his dominions and takes Sardis (with the exception of the citadel).

title: 215 BC

year_label: 213 BCE

text: In alliance with Attalus I of Pergamum, Antiochus III finally captures the rebel king of Anatolia, Achaeus, in his capital, Sardis, after a siege of two years. Antiochus III then has Achaeus executed.

title: 213 BC

year_label: 210 BCE

text: After allying with Hannibal, Philip V of Macedon attacks the Roman positions in Illyria, but fails to take Corcyra or Apollonia, which are protected by the Roman fleet. Rome's command of the sea prevents his lending any effective aid to his Carthaginian ally in Italy. The Aetolians, Sparta and King Attalus of Pergamum join the Romans in the war against Philip V. This coalition is so strong that Philip V has to stop attacking Roman territory.

title: 210 BC

year_label: 201 BCE

text: Rhodes and its allies Pergamum, Cyzicus, and Byzantium combine their fleets and defeat Philip V in the Battle of Chios. His flagship is trapped and rammed by two enemy ships.

title: 201 BC

year_label: 200 BCE

text: The Acarnanians, with Macedonian support, invade Attica, causing Athens, which has previously maintained its neutrality, to seek help from the enemies of Philip. Attalus I of Pergamum, who is with his fleet at Aegina, receives an embassy from Athens asking him to come to the city for consultations. After he is told that Roman ambassadors are also in Athens, Attalus goes there in haste.

title: 200 BC

text: Philip V of Macedon's fleet defeat the Rhodians at Lade. His forces then advance into Pergamum, plundering Pergamese territory and attacking cities in Caria.

title: 200 BC

year_label: 197 BCE

text: Eumenes II becomes King of Pergamum following the death of his father Attalus I Soter.

title: 197 BC

text: Attalus I Soter, ruler of Pergamum from 241 BC, who has taken on the title of king after about 230 BC. Through his military and diplomatic skills, he has created a powerful kingdom in Anatolia (b. 269 BC)

title: 197 BC

year_label: 196 BCE

section: Culture & Society

text: According to the Roman scholar and writer Marcus Terentius Varro, the foundation of a library at Pergamum around this time by Eumenes II of Pergamum, combined with an embargo on papyrus by Ptolemy V, leads to the invention of parchment.

title: 196 BC

year_label: 194 BCE

text: Philip V of Macedon, along with Rhodes, Pergamum, and the Achaean League, join Rome against Antiochus III.

title: 194 BC

year_label: 193 BCE

text: Eumenes II of Pergamum appeals to Rome for help against the Seleucid king Antiochus III who is threatening to conquer Greece. The Roman proconsul Titus Quinctius Flamininus supports the Roman championship of Greek autonomy in Anatolia.

title: 193 BC

year_label: 190 BCE

text: The Battle of the Eurymedon is fought between a Seleucid fleet and ships from Rhodes and Pergamum, who are allied with the Roman Republic. The Seleucids are led by the famous Carthaginian general Hannibal. The Rhodians and their allies are victorious and Hannibal's fleet is forced to flee.

title: 190 BC

year_label: 189 BCE

text: The Romans under consul Gnaeus Manlius Vulso, along with a Pergamene army under Eumenes II, defeat the Galatians in Anatolia and make them subjects of Pergamum.

title: 189 BC

year_label: 188 BCE

text: Hannibal flees via Crete to the court of King Prusias I of Bithynia who is engaged in warfare with Rome's ally, King Eumenes II of Pergamum.

title: 188 BC

year_label: 186 BCE

text: Eumenes II of Pergamum defeats Prusias I of Bithynia.

title: 186 BC

year_label: 181 BCE

text: Pharnaces I of Pontus decides to attack both Eumenes II of Pergamum and Ariarathes IV of Cappadocia and therefore invades Galatia with a large force. Eumenes leads an army to oppose him, however, hostilities are soon suspended following the arrival of Roman deputies, who have been appointed by the Roman Senate to inquire into the matters in dispute. Negotiations take place at Pergamum but are inconclusive, with Pharnaces' demands being rejected by the Romans as unreasonable. As a consequence, the war between Pontus and Pergamum and Cappadocia is renewed.

title: 181 BC

year_label: 175 BCE

text: The construction of the western front of the altar in Pergamum, Turkey, begins (approximate date) and is finished in 156 BC. A reconstruction of it is now kept at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.

title: 175 BC

year_label: 172 BCE

text: Eumenes II of Pergamum travels to Rome to warn the Roman Senate of the danger from Perseus of Macedon. On his return from Rome, Eumenes II is nearly killed at Delphi and Perseus is suspected of being the instigator.

title: 172 BC

year_label: 170 BCE

text: In Thessaly, King Perseus of Macedon repulses a Roman army which is commanded by Aulus Hostilius Mancinus. Meanwhile, the Thracian city of Abdera is sacked by Roman and Pergamese troops.

title: 170 BC

text: After a two-year struggle, Attalus II Philadelphus of Pergamum is finally able to defeat Prusias II, the aggressive king of Bithynia in northern Anatolia. He is assisted in his battle against Prusias II by Ariarathes V of Cappadocia (who has sent his son Demetrius to command his forces) and by the Romans.

title: 154 BC

text: The Seleucid king Demetrius I Soter's relations with Attalus II Philadelphus of Pergamum and Ptolemy VI Philometor of Egypt deteriorate to the point where they support a rival claimant to the Syrian throne, Alexander Balas, who claims to be the son of the former Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes and, therefore, a first cousin of Demetrius. He has been "discovered" by Heracleides, a former minister of Antiochus IV and brother of Timarchus, who has been executed by Demetrius I Soter in 160 BC after leading a revolt against him in Media.

title: 153 BC

text: Nicomedes, the son of king Prusias II of Bithynia, who has been sent to Rome to argue for smaller reparations arising from his father's unsuccessful war against Pergamum, gains the support of the Roman Senate to the point where Prusias sends an emissary with secret orders to assassinate Nicomedes. However, the emissary reveals the plot to Nicomedes and persuades him to rebel against his father.

title: 150 BC

text: The pretender to the Seleucid throne, Alexander Balas, who claims to be the son of the late Antiochus IV, defeats the Seleucid king, Demetrius I Soter, in battle and kills him. The Roman Senate, along with Attalus II Philadelphus of Pergamum and Ptolemy VI Philometor of Egypt, support Alexander Balas and he becomes the ruler of the Seleucid Empire. Demetrius I Soter's son, Demetrius, goes into exile in Crete.

title: 150 BC

text: The Kingdom of Pergamum is deeded to Rome, Aristonicus starts a rebellion against this.

title: 133 BC


slug: pericles

label: Pericles

description: Athenian statesman, orator and general (c. 495 – 429 BC)

year_label: 495 BCE

text: Pericles, Athenian politician (d. 429 BC)

title: 495 BC

year_label: 470 BCE

text: Aspasia of Miletus, mistress of Pericles of Athens (d. c. 400 BC)

title: 470 BC

year_label: 463 BCE

section: Crime & Justice

text: In Athens, the democratic statesman Ephialtes and the young Pericles attempt to get the oligarchic Kimon ostracized for allegedly receiving bribes. Kimon is charged by Pericles and other democratic politicians with having been bribed not to attack the King of Macedonia (who may have been suspected of covertly helping the Thasian rebels). Though Kimon is acquitted, his influence on the Athenian people is waning.

title: 463 BC

year_label: 462 BCE

text: Pericles starts to effectively be the leader of Athens.

title: 462 BC

year_label: 461 BCE

text: In Athens, Ephialtes and Pericles finally get agreement to the ostracism of Kimon, who had become unpopular for his unsuccessful pro-Spartan policy.

title: 461 BC

year_label: 458 BCE

text: Pericles continues Ephialtes' democratising activities by making the archonship a paid office and the lower class of Athenian citizens eligible to hold the office.

title: 458 BC

year_label: 454 BCE

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: Pericles leads a naval expedition in the Corinthian Gulf, in which Athens defeats Achaea. He then attacks Sicyon and Acarnania, after which he unsuccessfully tries to take Oeniadea on the Corinthian Gulf, before returning to Athens.

title: 454 BC

year_label: 453 BCE

text: Pericles, the ruler of Athens, bestows generous wages on all Athens' citizens who serve as jurymen on the Heliaia (the supreme court of Athens).

title: 453 BC

section: Events › Italy › Greece

year_label: 451 BCE

text: The Persian fleet moves against a rebellious Cyprus to restore order. Kimon, who returns to favour, though not to power, in Athens, plans an expedition to help Cyprus. He gains Pericles' support.

title: 451 BC

year_label: 449 BCE

section: Technology & Infrastructure

text: Pericles begins a great building plan including the re-fortification of Athens main port Piraeus and its long walls extending to Athens main city.

title: 449 BC

year_label: 448 BCE

text: Pericles leads the Athenian army against Delphi to restore the sanctuary of the oracle of Delphi to Phocis.

title: 448 BC

year_label: 447 BCE

text: Pericles leads Athenian forces in the expulsion of barbarians from the Thracian peninsula of Gallipoli, in order to establish Athenian colonists in the region. Thus Pericles starts a policy of cleruchy (klerouchos) or "out-settlements". This is a form of colonisation where poor and unemployed people are assisted to emigrate to new regions.

title: 447 BC

text: Pericles commissions the architects Kallikrates and Iktinos to design a larger temple for the Parthenon and the construction begins on rebuilding the great temple of Athena (the Parthenon) on the Acropolis at Athens soon afterwards.

title: 447 BC

section: Events › By subject › Architecture

year_label: 446 BCE

text: Achaea achieves its independence from Athens, while Euboea, crucial to Athenian control of the sea and food supplies, revolts against Athens. Pericles crosses over to Euboea with his troops.

title: 446 BC

year_label: 443 BCE

text: Pericles founds the colony of Thurii near the site of the former city of Sybaris, in southern Italy. Its colonists include Herodotus and Lysias.

title: 443 BC

section: Events › By place › Italy

year_label: 442 BCE

text: As a result of his failure to effectively challenge Pericles, the Athenian citizens ostracise Thucydides for 10 years and Pericles is once again unchallenged in Athenian politics.

title: 442 BC

year_label: 440 BCE

text: Samos, an autonomous member of the Delian League and one of Athens' principal allies with a substantial fleet of its own, quarrels with Miletus. Miletus, also a member of the Delian League, appeals to Athens for assistance. Pericles decides in favour of Miletus, so Samos revolts. Pericles then sails to Samos with a fleet to overthrow its oligarchic government and install a democratic one. Sparta threatens to interfere. However, at a congress of the Peloponnesian League, its members vote not to intervene on behalf of Samos against Athens.

title: 440 BC

year_label: 437 BCE

text: Pericles, concerned for Athenian trade with Greek settlements to the East, and in order to counteract a new and possibly threatening Thracian–Scythian alliance, leads Athens' fleet to Pontus on the Black Sea and establishes friendly relations with the Greek cities of the region.

title: 437 BC

year_label: 436 BCE

text: Following Pericles' visit to the Black Sea, a large Athenian colony is founded at Amphipolis. This is disconcertingly close to an outpost of Corinthian influence at Potidaea in the Chalcidice. Corinth feels it is being indirectly pressured by Athens.

title: 436 BC

year_label: 434 BCE

section: Economy & Finance

text: Under the leadership of Pericles, Athens introduces a series of measures (the "Megarian decree") imposing an economic embargo on Megara for violations of land sacred to Demeter. According to the provisions of the decree, Megarian merchants are to be excluded from the market of Athens and the ports in its empire. This ban strangles the Megarian economy and strains the fragile peace between Athens and Sparta, which is allied with Megara.

title: 434 BC

year_label: 433 BCE

text: Pericles concludes a defensive alliance with Corcyra (Corfu), the strong naval power in the Ionian Sea, which is the bitter enemy of Corinth. As a result, Athens intervenes in the dispute between Corinth and Corcyra, and, at the Battle of Sybota, a small contingent of Athenian ships play a critical role in preventing a Corinthian fleet from capturing Corcyra. Following this, Athens places Potidaea, a tributary ally of Athens but a colony of Corinth, under siege.

title: 433 BC

year_label: 431 BCE

text: The Spartans, led by King Archidamus II, invade Attica effectively starting the first phase of the Peloponnesian War, actually the second of such wars, between the Athens-led Delian League and the Sparta-led Peloponnesian League. The Spartans lay waste to the countryside around Athens. Athenian leader, Pericles, does not seriously oppose them, rather withdrawing the rural population of the country districts within Athens' city walls. Instead, he pursues active naval warfare and reduces any danger from the island of Aegina by replacing its native population with Athenians.

title: 431 BC

year_label: 430 BCE

text: The army of Sparta loots Attica for a second time, but Pericles is not daunted and refuses to revise his initial strategy. Unwilling to engage the Spartan army in battle, he again leads a naval expedition to plunder the coasts of the Peloponnesus, this time taking 100 Athenian ships with him.

title: 430 BC

year_label: 429 BCE

section: Health & Medicine

text: The plague in Athens that is killing thousands of the city's inhabitants, claims Pericles. Cleon, who has headed the opposition to Pericles's rule, succeeds to power in Athens following Pericles's death.

title: 429 BC

text: Pericles, Athenian statesman (epidemic) (born c. 495 BC)

title: 429 BC

year_label: 406 BCE

text: Returning to Athens after the battle, Theramenes leads Athenian agitation against the eight generals who have commanded in the engagement; the six who have returned to Athens are condemned for negligence in not having picked up survivors from the ships disabled in the battle. The Athenian generals (including Pericles' son) are put to death.

title: 406 BC

year_label: 400 BCE

text: Aspasia of Miletus, widow of Pericles of Athens (approximate date) (b. c. 470 BC)

title: 400 BC


slug: perkin-warbeck

label: Perkin Warbeck

description: Imposter-pretender to the throne of England

text: Perkin Warbeck claims to be the son of King Henry VII of England, at the court of Burgundy.

title: 1490

section: Events › Date unknown

text: November – The pretender Perkin Warbeck begins a campaign to take the English throne, with a landing in Ireland.

title: 1491

section: Events › October–December

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

date: November 3

text: November 3 – The Peace of Étaples is signed between England and France, ending French support for Perkin Warbeck, the pretender to the English throne. All English-held territory in France (with the exception of Calais) is returned to France.

title: 1492

section: Events › October—December

text: England imposes sanctions on Burgundy for supporting Perkin Warbeck, the pretender to the English throne.

title: 1493

date: May

text: May – Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, recognises the pretender Perkin Warbeck as rightful King of England.

title: 1494

section: Events › April–June

date: July 3

text: July 3 – At the Battle of Deal, Perkin Warbeck's troops land in Kent, in support of his claim to the English crown, backed by Margaret of York, Duchess of Burgundy. They are routed before Warbeck himself can disembark, and he retreats to Ireland and then to Scotland.

title: 1495

section: Events › July–September

date: September 21

text: September 21– King James IV of Scotland and his army invade Northumberland in the Kingdom of England, in support of the pretender to the English throne, Perkin Warbeck. The invaders leave on September 25 and travel back to Scotland.

title: 1496

date: September 7

text: September 7 – Second Cornish Uprising in England: Perkin Warbeck lands near Land's End; on September 10 he is proclaimed as King in Bodmin.

title: 1497

date: November 23

text: November 23 – Perkin Warbeck, pretender to the throne of England, is hanged for reportedly attempting to escape from the Tower of London.

title: 1499

text: November 23 – Perkin Warbeck, Flemish imposter (b. c. 1474) (executed)

title: 1499


slug: persepolis

label: Persepolis

description: ancient city in Marvdasht County, Iranian national heritage site and World heritage site

year_label: 518 BCE

text: Construction begins on the Apadana (audience hall) of Darius and Xerxes, ceremonial complex, at Persepolis, Persia.

title: 518 BC

section: Events › By topic › Architecture

text: Darius I begins constructing Persepolis, a new capital for the Persian Empire (approximate date).

title: 518 BC

year_label: 515 BCE

text: Construction of Persepolis begins.

title: 515 BC

section: Events › By topic › Art and architecture

year_label: 491 BCE

text: The construction of a relief begins in the Apadana, a ceremonial complex at Persepolis. The relief pictures Darius I and Xerxes I receiving tribute and is now displayed in the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.

title: 491 BC

section: Events › By topic › Art

year_label: 486 BCE

text: The construction of a relief in the Apadana, a ceremonial complex at Persepolis, is finished. It shows Darius and Xerxes receiving tribute.

title: 486 BC

year_label: 480 BCE

text: The Imperial treasury at the Persepolis Palace is completed after a building time of thirty years.

title: 480 BC

section: Events › By place › Persian empire

year_label: 460 BCE

text: The construction of the ceremonial complex of Apadana (the audience hall of Darius I and Xerxes I) in Persepolis is completed.

title: 460 BC

section: Events › By place › Persian Empire

year_label: 330 BCE

section: Conflict & Security

date: January 30

text: January 30 – After gaining the Pass of the Persian Gates, Alexander enters Persepolis. There he ceremonially burns down the palace of Xerxes I, as a symbol that the Panhellenic war of revenge is at an end.

title: 330 BC

section: Events › By place › Macedonian Empire

year_label: 325 BCE

text: By the end of the year, Alexander's army reaches Persepolis, while his navy, under Nearchus, reaches Susa at around the same time.

title: 325 BC

text: King Ardashir I, founder of the Sassanid dynasty, gains support from some Parthian sub-kings and revolts against the rule of Vologases VI. Ardashir, a grandson of Sasan, had ruled Persis since 208 and six years earlier gained control of the region surrounding Persepolis.

title: 220

section: Events › By place › Parthian Empire

date: October 14

text: October 14 – The largest state banquet in history is held at the ancient city of Persepolis in Iran, marking the symbolic Celebration of the 2,500th Anniversary of the Founding of the Persian Empire.

title: 1971

section: Events › October


slug: perseus-of-macedon

label: Perseus of Macedon

description: King of Macedonia from 179 to 168 BC

year_label: 180 BCE

section: Crime & Justice

text: After three years of intriguing against his younger brother Demetrius, including accusing him of coveting the succession to the Macedonian throne and being allied to Rome, Perseus persuades his father King Philip V of Macedon to have Demetrius executed.

title: 180 BC

section: Events › By place › Greece

year_label: 179 BCE

section: Deaths

text: Philip V of Macedon dies at Amphipolis in Macedonia, remorseful for having put his younger son Demetrius to death, at the instigation of his older son Perseus. Nevertheless, he is succeeded by his son Perseus.

title: 179 BC

year_label: 178 BCE

text: One of Perseus' first acts on becoming king of Macedonia is to renew the treaty between Macedonia and Rome. In the meantime, Perseus builds up the Macedonian army and puts out feelers for creating an alliance with the Greek leagues, with his northern barbarian neighbours, and also with the Seleucid king Seleucus IV.

title: 178 BC

year_label: 177 BCE

section: Culture & Society

text: Perseus of Macedonia marries Laodice, the daughter of the Seleucid king Seleucus IV.

title: 177 BC

year_label: 172 BCE

text: Eumenes II of Pergamum travels to Rome to warn the Roman Senate of the danger from Perseus of Macedon. On his return from Rome, Eumenes II is nearly killed at Delphi and Perseus is suspected of being the instigator.

title: 172 BC

year_label: 171 BCE

text: Thanks to the efforts of Eumenes II of Pergamum while in Rome, the Romans declare war on Macedonia and send troops to Thessaly, thus beginning the Third Macedonian War. In the resulting Battle of Callicinus the Macedonians, led by their king, Perseus, are victorious over a Roman force led by consul Publius Licinius Crassus.

title: 171 BC

year_label: 170 BCE

text: In Thessaly, King Perseus of Macedon repulses a Roman army which is commanded by Aulus Hostilius Mancinus. Meanwhile, the Thracian city of Abdera is sacked by Roman and Pergamese troops.

title: 170 BC

year_label: 169 BCE

text: Macedonian forces led by Perseus of Macedon trap a Roman army led by Consul Quintus Marcius Phillipus near Tempe, but the Macedonians fail to take advantage of their resulting superior tactical position.

title: 169 BC

year_label: 168 BCE

text: The king of Illyria, Gentius, is defeated at Scodra by a Roman force under Lucius Anicius Gallus and then brought to Rome as a captive to be interned in Iguvium. This loss removes Illyria as an important ally for Macedonia and effectively weakens Perseus of Macedon in his battle with Rome.

title: 168 BC

section: Events › By place › Albania

year_label: 167 BCE

text: Private documents collected by the Romans when they capture Perseus of Macedon incriminate political leaders of the Achaean League. Many influential Greeks are deported to Rome.

title: 167 BC

year_label: 166 BCE

text: Perseus, the last Macedonian king of the Antigonid dynasty (b. c. 212 BC)

title: 166 BC


slug: persia

label: Persia

year_label: 546 BCE

text: Cyrus makes Pasargadae the capital of Persia.

title: 546 BC

section: Events

year_label: 544 BCE

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: People of Teos migrate to Abdera, Thrace to escape the yoke of Persia.

title: 544 BC

year_label: 518 BCE

section: Technology & Infrastructure

text: Construction begins on the Apadana (audience hall) of Darius and Xerxes, ceremonial complex, at Persepolis, Persia.

title: 518 BC

year_label: 498 BCE

text: Athens and Eretria respond to the Ionian plea for help against Persia and send troops. An Athenian and Eretrian fleet transports Athenian troops to Ephesus. There they are joined by a force of Ionians and march upon Sardis, the capital of Artaphernes (the satrap of Lydia and brother to Darius I of Persia). Artaphernes, who has sent most of his troops to besiege Miletus, is taken by surprise. However, Artaphernes is able to retreat to the citadel and hold it. Although the Greeks are unable to take the citadel, they pillage the town and set fires that burn Sardis to the ground.

title: 498 BC

year_label: 492 BCE

text: The first expedition of King Darius I of Persia against Greece commences under the leadership of his son-in-law and general, Mardonius. Darius sends Mardonius to succeed his satrap (governor) in Ionia, Artaphernes, with a special commission to attack Athens and Eretria.

title: 492 BC

year_label: 478 BCE

text: Despite Spartan opposition, Athens works on refortifying and rebuilding after the Persian destruction of the city in 479.

title: 478 BC

year_label: 466 BCE

text: Cimon carries the war against Persia into Asia Minor and wins the Battle of the Eurymedon in Pamphylia. This is a decisive defeat of the Persians as Cimon's land and sea forces capture the Persian camp and destroy or capture the entire Persian fleet of 200 triremes (manned by Phoenicians). Many new allies of Athens are now recruited, such as the trading city of Phaselis on the Lycian-Pamphylian border.

title: 466 BC

year_label: 425 BCE

text: Artaxerxes I, Achaemenid king of Persia, is succeeded by his son Xerxes II.

title: 425 BC

year_label: 380 BCE

section: Births

text: Darius III, king of (Achaemenid) Persia (approximate date)

title: 380 BC

text: While returning to Persia, Alexander's army runs into the Malli clans (in modern day Multan). The ensuing battle severely weakens his army. Alexander sends much of his remaining army to Carmania (modern southern Iran) with his general Craterus, while he leads the rest of his forces back to Persia by the southern route through the Gedrosian Desert (now part of southern Iran and Makran in southern Pakistan).

title: 325 BC

year_label: 317 BCE

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: Armenia's Persian satrap, Ardvates, frees his country from Macedonian control.

title: 317 BC

year_label: 303 BCE

text: Seleucus I Nicator expands his kingdom throughout Persia as far east as India, but his advance is eventually halted by Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the Maurya dynasty of India. In a pact concluded by the two leaders, Seleucus agrees to territorial concessions in exchange for 500 war-trained elephants.

title: 303 BC

section: Events › By place › Seleucid Empire

year_label: 205 BCE

text: Antiochus III returns from his eastern campaigns, after having defeated the Bactrians and subjugated the Parthians and thus being able to partly restore Seleucid power in these provinces by crushing the revolting governors of Media, Persia and Anatolia. Having established a system of vassal states in the East, Antiochus now adopts the ancient Achaemenid title of "great king", and the Greeks, comparing him to Alexander the Great, surname him "the Great", that is to say Antiochus III Megas.

title: 205 BC

text: Returning via the Persian provinces of Arachosia, Drangiana, and Carmania, Antiochus III arrives in Persis. He then leads a short expedition down the Persian Gulf and receives tribute of 500 talents of silver from the citizens of Gerrha, a mercantile state on the west coast of the Persian Gulf.

title: 205 BC

year_label: 187 BCE

text: The Seleucid king, Antiochus III, attempts to collect tribute from a temple near Susa, Persia, where he was killed. He is succeeded by his son, Seleucus IV, who inherits an empire consisting of Syria, Mesopotamia, Babylonia, western Iran.

title: 187 BC

text: Ardashir I, ruler of Istakhr (Persia), revolts against his brother and founds the Sassanid Dynasty.

title: 208

section: Events › By place › Parthia

text: Ardashir I becomes king of part of Persia.

title: 211

text: Mithraism, which had begun in Persia, is on course to be adopted by many Roman soldiers serving in Asia.

title: 216

section: Events › By topic › Religion

text: The Zanj Rebellion: The Zanj (black slaves from East Africa), provoked by mercilessly harsh labor conditions in salt flats, and on the sugar and cotton plantations of southwestern Persia, revolt.

title: 869

section: Events › By place › Arabian Empire

text: Nizami Ganjavi, Persian poet (d. 1209) (Possibly 1140 or 1142)

title: 1141

date: March 10

text: March 10 – Sultan Toghrul III is defeated and killed in battle with Ala ad-Din Tekish, near Rey in Persia – ending the Seljuq dynasty of Hamedan. The Seljuk Empire passes to the Khwarazmian dynasty.

title: 1194

section: Events › By place › Seljuk Empire

text: 1210–1211 – Shazi creates the Pen Box, from Persia (Iran) or Afghanistan (it is now kept at Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.).

title: 1210

section: Events › By topic › Art and Culture

text: date unknown – Sheikh Safi-ad-din Ardabili of Persia (b. 1251)

title: 1334

text: November or December – Togha Temür, claimant to the throne of the Mongol Il-Khanate in Persia (assassinated)

title: 1353

text: Ghazan II replaces Anushirwan as ruler of the Ilkhanate in Persia.

title: 1356

section: Events › Date unknown

text: Mubariz al-Din Muhammad, leader of the Arab Muzaffarid tribe, expels the Blue Horde from Ilkhanate territory in Persia. The Muzaffarid then release control of the Il-Khanate, after being marched on by the Mongol Jalayirid tribe, ruled by Shaikh Uvais. Shaikh Uvais becomes the new Il-Khan. The Ilkhanate is effectively now disbanded, and replaced by the Jalayirid dynasty of Persia.

title: 1358

text: Shah Shuja regains rule of the Muzaffarid tribe in Persia after the death of his brother, Shah Mahmud.

title: 1360

date: April 9

text: April 9 – Timur becomes first Amir of the Timurid Empire, following the Siege of Balkh which establishes his rule over the Chagatai Khanate, completing his conquest of Central Asia and parts of Persia.

title: 1370

text: Timur conquers east Persia, ending the rule of the Sarbadar dynasty.

title: 1381

section: Events › Date not known

text: Ahmed deposes his brother, Hussain, as ruler of the Jalayirid Dynasty in western Persia.

title: 1382

text: Timur conquers the northern territories of the Jalayirid Empire, in western Persia.

title: 1384

section: Events › Unknown Date

text: Zain Al-Abidin succeeds his father, Shah Shuja, as ruler of the Muzaffarids in central Persia.

title: 1384

text: Tokhtamysh of the Golden Horde conquers parts of the Jalayirid Sultanate in western Persia, causing a rift between himself and Timur of the Timurid Empire, who had also wanted to conquer Persia.

title: 1385

text: Timur conquers the Muzaffarid Empire in central Persia, and appoints three puppet rulers.

title: 1387

text: Shah Mansur becomes leader of the Timurid-occupied Muzaffarid Empire, in central Persia.

title: 1391

text: The Kart dynasty is brought to an end in east Persia after its remaining rulers are murdered at a banquet by Miran Shah.

title: 1396

text: Sharafuddin Ali Yazdi's critical history of Persia, Zafar Nama, is completed under the auspices of Mirza Ibrahim Sultan, grandson of Timur.

title: 1425

date: March 15

text: March 15 – English merchant Anthony Jenkinson has an audience with Ivan the Terrible in Moscow, before departing the city on April 27 and continuing his second expedition through the Grand Duchy of Moscow to Qazvin, capital of the Safavid dynasty in Persia.

title: 1562

section: Events › January–March

text: The Safavid Empire of Persia and the Spanish Empire conclude a defensive alliance and declare war on the Ottoman Empire.

title: 1602

text: June 15 – Ottoman–Safavid War: General Cigalazade Yusuf Sinan Pasha, commander of the eastern Ottoman Army, leads troops on a march from Constantinople to fight the Persia's Safavid Army in Armenia, but arrives too late to save the city of Yerevan.

title: 1604

text: Construction begins on Naqsh-e Jahan Square in Isfahan, Persia.

title: 1611

text: Richard Steel and John Crowther complete their journey from Ajmeer in the Mughal Empire to Ispahan in Persia.

title: 1616

text: March 8 – Battle of Gulnabad in Persia: The Pashtun people of Afghanistan, led by Mahmud Hotak, decisively defeat forces of the Persian Safavid dynasty, precipitating its fall.

title: 1722

text: October 23 – The six-month-long Siege of Isfahan ends, when the Safavid capital Isfahan capitulates to the Afghan rebels. Safavid Sultan Husayn abdicates, and acknowledges Mahmud Hotak as the new Shah of Persia.

title: 1722

text: February 24 (February 13 O.S.) – In the city of Resht in Persia, Russian and Afghani leaders sign a peace treaty, with General Vasily Levashev for Russia and Muhammad Saidal Khan for Afghanistan.

title: 1729

text: August 12 – General Nader Khan of Persia captures Tabriz from the Ottoman Empire, bringing an end to the Western Persia Campaign, the first major action in the Ottoman–Persian War (1730–1735). Tabriz becomes a permanent part of Iran. Nader leaves the city four days later to begin the Herat Campaign of 1731.

title: 1730

text: March 9 – General Nader Khan of Persia opens the first campaign of the Ottoman–Persian War (1730–1735), guiding the Persian Army from Shiraz and starting the Western Persia Campaign against the Ottoman Empire.

title: 1730

text: December 19 – Unsuccessful in capturing Baghdad from the Ottoman Empire, Persia's ruler Nader Shah signs the Treaty of Baghdad with the Ottoman Governor, Ahmad Khan Pasha, with the Turks and the Iranians agreeing to restore the boundary between the two empires to the lines before the 1732 Ottoman invasion of Iran.

title: 1733

text: October 23 – After almost six weeks, Nader Shah of Persia lifts the siege of Mosul.

title: 1743

text: July 21 – Having eliminated all of his rivals for leadership of Persia, Karim Khan Zand returns in triumph to his home in Shiraz and makes it his capital then begins construction of citadels, mosques, schools and other buildings.

title: 1765

text: October 8 (O.S.)/October 20 (N.S.) – Tsar Alexander I of Russia issues an imperial ukase guaranteeing freedom of commerce in Russia by merchants from Persia.

title: 1821

text: The first printed literature in Assyrian Neo-Aramaic is produced by Justin Perkins, an American Presbyterian missionary in Persia.

title: 1836

text: The first portion of the Oudh Bequest is transferred from Oudh State in the British Raj to the Shia Islam holy cities of Najaf and Karbala, in Persia.

title: 1850

text: November 1 – Anglo-Persian War: War is declared between Great Britain and Persia.

title: 1856

text: January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, and establish a national assembly, the Majlis.

title: 1906

text: July 16 – A revolution forces Mohammad Ali Shah of the Qajar dynasty to abdicate in favor of his son Ahmad Shah Qajar. He proceeds to leave Persia for the Russian Empire, reportedly seeking the assistance of Nicholas II of Russia in regaining the throne.

title: 1909

text: April 3 – Persia signs the Litvinov Protocol.

title: 1929


slug: persian-gulf

label: Persian Gulf

description: extension of the Indian Ocean

year_label: 609 BCE

text: The Persian Gulf recedes by a large portion, extending the Tigris and Euphrates rivers by 187 mi (300 km).

title: 609 BC

year_label: 485 BCE

section: Deaths

text: Xerxes I is just beginning his reign after the death of his father Darius the Great in 486 BC. During this time the Persian empire extends as far west as Macedonia and Libya and as far east as the Hyphasis (Beas) River; it stretches to the Caucasus Mountains and the Aral Sea in the north and to the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Desert in the south.

title: 485 BC

section: Events › By place › Persian Empire

year_label: 326 BCE

section: Conflict & Security

text: Following the mutiny of his army at the Hyphasis River, Alexander is persuaded by his army leaders to abandon his plans for invading the Ganges Valley. Alexander appoints Nearchus, a Cretan with naval experience, as admiral and places under his command all in the ranks of his army with any knowledge of seafaring. Nearchus has Indian shipwrights build 800 vessels, some as large as 300 tons, to take the army through Persian Gulf waters to Babylon. Alexander the Great begins the return march down the Indus to the sea.

title: 326 BC

section: Events › By place › Macedonian Empire

year_label: 325 BCE

text: Alexander the Great orders his admiral, Nearchus, to sail from the Hydaspes River in western India to the Persian Gulf and up the Euphrates River to Babylon while Alexander's army starts marching through Gedrosia (Baluchistan).

title: 325 BC

text: Returning via the Persian provinces of Arachosia, Drangiana, and Carmania, Antiochus III arrives in Persis. He then leads a short expedition down the Persian Gulf and receives tribute of 500 talents of silver from the citizens of Gerrha, a mercantile state on the west coast of the Persian Gulf.

title: 205 BC

text: Trajan makes Syria a province of Rome and crosses the Tigris to annex Adiabene. He proceeds with his army to the Persian Gulf and conquers territory that becomes the province of Parthia.

title: AD 116

section: Events › By place › Roman Empire

text: Tax laws are passed for trade in Palmyra. The caravan city grows rich by importing rare products from the Persian Gulf, and by exporting items manufactured by the Mediterranean world to the East.

title: AD 137

text: The Romans establish a garrison at Doura Europos on the Euphrates, a control point for the commercial route to the Persian Gulf.

title: AD 165

text: King Ardashir I annexes his new empire from the east to the northwest. He conquers, with his army, the provinces of Chorasmia, Sistan and the island Bahrain in the Persian Gulf. The kings of the Kushan Empire and Turan recognize Ardashir as their overlord.

title: 227

text: The city of Basra (modern Iraq) is founded on the Shatt al-Arab, at the head of the Persian Gulf. The port will become a major trading center for commodities from Arabia, India, and Persia.

title: 636

section: Events › By place › Arabia

text: The Zanj Rebellion: The Zanj (black slaves from East Africa) capture the Abbasid seaport of Al-Ubullah at the Persian Gulf, and cut off communications with Basra (modern Iraq).

title: 870

section: Events › By place › Abbasid Caliphate

date: January 17

text: January 17 – The seventh Ming Chinese overseas expedition fleet, led by Admiral Zheng He, arrives at the island of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, its furthest westward travel and stays for almost two months before setting off for its return to China.

title: 1433

date: October 10

text: October 10 – The Kingdom of Portugal conquers the island of Ormuz in the Persian Gulf.

title: 1507

section: Events › October—December

text: In the Persian Gulf, the Ottoman Empire Red Sea Fleet attacks the Portuguese stronghold of Hormuz, but fails to capture it.

title: 1552

date: February 11

text: February 11 – Dutch–Portuguese War: The Battle of Hormuz, one of the largest naval battles ever fought in the Persian Gulf takes place in the Straits of Hormuz as fleets of the Dutch East India Company and the English East India Company defend Persia against an attack by ships from the colony of Portuguese India.

title: 1625

date: November 25

text: November 25 – A British expeditionary force reaches Ras Al Khaimah in the Persian Gulf, preparatory to the bombardment and invasion of the town, which led to the signing of the General Maritime Treaty of 1820 between the British and what were to become known as the Trucial States.

title: 1819

section: Events › October–December

date: November 30

text: November 30 – Iranian forces occupy the Persian Gulf islands of Abu Musa (joint occupation by agreement with Sharjah) and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs (taken by force from Ras Al Khaimah).

title: 1971

section: Events › November

date: October 19

text: October 19 – Operation Earnest Will: US warships destroy two Iranian oil platforms in the Persian Gulf.

title: 1987

section: Events › October

date: April 14

text: April 14 – The USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58) strikes a naval mine in the Persian Gulf, while deployed on Operation Earnest Will, during the Tanker War phase of the Iran–Iraq War.

title: 1988

section: Events › April

date: February 27

text: February 27 – Gulf War: U.S. President Bush declares victory over Iraq and orders a cease-fire. U.S. troops begin to leave the Persian Gulf on March 10.

title: 1991

section: Events › February

date: July 19

text: July 19 – The Iranian Navy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps captures British tanker Stena Impero and temporarily seizes British-operated and Liberian-flagged tanker Mesdar in the Persian Gulf. The British Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, warns there will be "serious consequences" if Iran does not release the tanker.

title: 2019

section: Events › July

date: May 12

text: May 12 – May 2019 Gulf of Oman incident: Four commercial ships, including two Saudi Aramco oil tankers, are damaged near Fujairah in the Gulf of Oman. The UAE claims it as a "sabotage attack", while an early U.S. assessment blames Iran. The incident occurs after increased U.S.-Iran tensions provoked by the deployment of U.S. military to the Persian Gulf in response to an alleged plot by Iran to attack U.S. forces.

title: 2019

section: Events › May


slug: persian-literature

label: Persian literature

description: oral compositions and written texts in the Persian language

section: Births

text: Rudaki, Persian poet (approximate date)

title: 858

text: Rudaki ("Adam of Poets"), Persian poet (b. 858)

title: 941

text: Kisai Marvazi, Persian author and poet (d. 1002)

title: 953

text: Badi' al-Zaman al-Hamadani, Persian poet and writer (d. 1007)

title: 969

text: Nasir Khusraw, Persian poet and philosopher (d. 1088)

title: 1004

text: Ferdowsi, Persian poet and author (b. 940)

title: 1020

text: Masud Sa'd Salman, Persian poet and writer (d. 1121)

title: 1046

text: Mahsati, Persian female poet and writer (approximate date)

title: 1089


slug: persian-people

label: Persian people

year_label: 675 BCE

text: King Deioces dies after a 53-year reign that has established the kingdom of the Medes and its capital at Ecbatana (later Hamedan) in what will be northwest Persia. He is succeeded by his son Phraortes, who forms an anti-Assyrian alliance with the Cimmerians to subjugate the Persians and other Asian peoples.

title: 675 BC

section: Events › By place › Middle East

year_label: 656 BCE

text: King Shamash-shum-ukin of Babylon forms a secret alliance with Arabs, Aramaeans, Elamites, Persians, and Egyptians against his half brother Ashurbanipal.

title: 656 BC

section: Events › By place › Assyria

year_label: 557 BCE

section: Science & Discovery

date: May 19

text: May 19: The Persians besiege Larissa (Calah) but fail to capture it. However, when a solar eclipse occurs, the inhabitants leave their city and it is taken.

title: 557 BC

section: Events

text: Emperor Constantius II intervenes against the Persians in Armenia.

title: 338

section: Religion & Belief

text: Council of Seleucia: Persian Christians create a national church and adopt the Nicene Creed.

title: 410

section: Events › By topic › Religion

text: The Hephthalites (White Huns) invade Persia. King Peroz I gathers an army of 50,000-100,000 men, and places his brother Balash at the head of the government in Ctesiphon. At the Battle of Herat, the Persians are ambushed and defeated. Peroz I is killed, whose body is not found. Balash is crowned and becomes king of Persia.

title: 484

section: Events › By place › Asia

section: Technology & Infrastructure

text: Emperor Anastasius I completes the strategic fortress at Dara (Northern Mesopotamia). He raises the city walls to 30 feet (10 m), disregarding Persian protests. Alarmed by the depredations of Slavs and Bulgars in Thrace, he builds the Anastasian Wall from the Black Sea to Propontis, across the narrow peninsula near Constantinople (modern Turkey).

title: 507

section: Events › By place › Byzantine Empire

date: April 19

text: April 19 – Battle of Callinicum: A Byzantine army (20,000 men), commanded by Belisarius, is defeated by the Persians at Raqqa (northern Syria). Emperor Justinian I negotiates an end to the hostilities, and Belisarius is hailed as a hero.

title: 531

text: Mermeroes stations a garrison of 3,000 men in the stronghold of Petra, and marches to Armenia. The Persians, lacking sufficient supplies, secure the supply routes and plunder Lazica.

title: 548

section: Events › By place › Persia

text: Winter – Empress Sophia and Tiberius agree to a one year truce with the Persians, at the cost of 45,000 solidi. The truce applies only to the Mesopotamian front; in the Caucasus, war continues.

title: 574

text: Spring – Emperor Maurice rejects a peace proposal of the Persians, in exchange for renewed payments in gold.

title: 586

date: June 9

text: June 9 – Abbasid Revolution: Abu Muslim Khorasani, Persian military leader from Khorasan, begins an open revolt against Umayyad rule, which is carried out under the sign of the Black Standard. Close to 10,000 Muslims, primarily Khorasani Persians are under his command, when the hostilities officially begin in Merv (modern Turkmenistan).

title: AD 747

section: Events › By place › Islamic Empire

section: Health & Medicine

text: The Persian scientist Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi distinguishes smallpox from measles in the course of his writings. Holding against any sort of orthodoxy, particularly Aristotle's physics, he maintains the conception of an 'absolute' time, regarded by him as "a never-ending flow".

title: 900

section: Events › By topic › Medicine

date: May 23

text: May 23 – Persian prophet The Báb privately announces his revelation to Mullá Husayn, just after sunset, founding the Bábí faith (later evolving into the Baháʼí Faith as the Báb intended) in Shiraz, Persia (modern-day Iran). Contemporaneously, on this day in nearby Tehran, is the birth of `Abdu'l-Bahá; the eldest Son of Bahá'u'lláh, Prophet-Founder of the Baháʼí Faith. The Báb's mission is to proclaim He whom God shall make manifest. `Abdu'l-Bahá Himself is later proclaimed by Bahá'u'lláh to be His own successor, thus being the third "central figure" of the Baháʼí Faith.

title: 1844

section: Events › April–June


slug: peru

label: Peru

description: sovereign state in South America

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: c. 2500 BC: People in what is now Peru rely on fish and mussels for food.

title: 25th century BC

year_label: 500 BCE

text: The world population reaches 100,000,000—85,000,000 in the Eastern Hemisphere and 15,000,000 in the Western Hemisphere, primarily Mesoamerica and northern South America (Mexico, Central America, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela).

title: 500 BC

section: Events › By topic › Demographics

year_label: 26 BCE

date: August 29

text: August 29 – Christian Cross Asterism (astronomy) at Zenith of Lima, Peru.

title: 26 BC

section: Events › By topic › Astronomy

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: The Moche culture emerges, and starts building a society in present-day Peru.

title: AD 100

section: Events › By place › Americas

section: Conflict & Security

text: The Wariʼ people invade and occupy the Cuzco Valley (modern Peru) in the southern highlands (approximate date).

title: 700

section: Events › By place › South America

section: Climate & Environment

text: The Moche culture in the northern part of modern day Peru collapses, largely due to environmental problems and/or political and social unrest (approximate date).

title: 700

text: In Peru the Lambayeque people establish themselves over areas previously developed by the Moche (approximate date).

title: 900

section: Events › By place › Mesoamerica

section: Culture & Society

text: The city of Cusco (modern Peru) is founded (approximate date).

title: 1100

text: A religious sacrifice of over a hundred children is performed around this time, outside of the ancient city of Chan Chan (near modern Trujillo), on the north coast of Peru.

title: 1450

section: Events › Date unknown

text: A large pandemic spreads from the Greater Antilles into Central America, and perhaps as far as Peru in South America. This widespread epidemic kills off much of the indigenous populations in these areas (the first widely documented epidemic in the New World).

title: 1519

date: September 13

text: September 13 – Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro, Hernando de Luque and Diego de Almagro all set off on the first of three expeditions to conquer Peru, taking along 80 men and 40 horses, but the venture is halted in Colombia.

title: 1524

section: Events › July–September

date: April

text: April – Battle of Quipaipan in Peru: Atahualpa wins the civil war in the Inca Empire, defeating his brother Huáscar.

title: 1532

date: May 13

text: May 13 – Francisco Pizarro lands on the northern coast of Peru.

title: 1532

date: November 15

text: November 15 – Francisco Pizarro arrives in Cusco, Peru.

title: 1533

section: Events › October–December

text: Manco Inca Yupanqui is crowned as Sapa Inca in Cusco, Peru by Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro, in succession to his brother Túpac Huallpa (d. October 1533).

title: 1534

date: January 18

text: January 18 – Lima, now the capital of Peru, is founded by Francisco Pizarro, as Ciudad de los Reyes.

title: 1535

section: Events › January–March

date: March 10

text: March 10 – Fray Tomás de Berlanga discovers the Galápagos Islands, when blown off course en route to Peru.

title: 1535

text: Spanish counquistadors in what are now Peru and Colombia become the first Europeans to discover the potato, one of the staple foods for the indigenous residents, while exploring the houses of who have fled from their homes. Pedro Cieza de León, part of the expedition to Colombia, mentions the potato in a book that he publishes 16 years later while Don Juan Castellanos refers to the edible plant as part of a military report on raiding an Inca village in Peru. The potato is introduced to Europe more than 30 years later, in 1570.

title: 1537

date: April 26

text: April 26 – Battle of Las Salinas: In Peru, Almagro is defeated by Francisco Pizarro, who then seizes Cusco.

title: 1538

date: August 15

text: August 15 – In Peru, Spanish captain Garcí Manuel de Carbajal founds the Villa Hermosa de Arequipa; one year later, Charles V of Germany and I of Spain will give the valley a status of 'city' by royal decree.

title: 1540

text: The first Spanish galleon, laden with silver for the porcelain and silk trade with the Ming Dynasty of China, lands at Manila in the Philippines. This occasion marks the beginning of the Spanish silver trade to China, that will trump that of the Portuguese, the latter of whom acted as an intermediary between the silver mines of Japan, and the luxury items in China to be purchased with that silver. Most of the silver entering China comes from what is now Mexico, Bolivia, and Peru in the New World.

title: 1573

date: July 30

text: July 30 – Alonso de Sotomayor petitions the viceroy of Peru for more troops to help resist attacks by Indians and English pirates.

title: 1592

date: February 19

text: February 19 – The Huaynaputina volcano in Peru erupts, in what is still the worst recorded volcanic eruption in South America.

title: 1600

date: April 29

text: April 29 – A fleet of 11 Dutch ships depart for the coast of Peru, seeking to seize Spanish treasure.

title: 1623

section: Deaths

date: January 23

text: January 23 – Francisco Maldonado da Silva, Peruvian Jewish poet (b. 1592)

title: 1639

date: October 20

text: October 20 – An estimated 8.7 magnitude earthquake strikes 50 km off of the coast of Peru and kills at least 5,000 people, primarily from a tsunami that washes away the city of Pisco and causes severe damage to the Spanish colonial cities of Lima, Callao and Ica.

title: 1687

date: May

text: May – In Peru, Juan Santos takes the name Atahualpa II, and begins an ill-fated rebellion against Spanish rule. Father Domingo Garcia sends the first report of the rebellion to his superiors on June 2.

title: 1742

section: Events › April –June

date: October 25

text: October 25 – Spanish explorers Antonio de Ulloa and Jorge Juan y Santacilla complete their mission of exploration and depart from the Peruvian seaport of Callao for a return to Spain.

title: 1744

section: Disasters & Accidents

date: September 25

text: September 25 – The mine of Huancavelica in the Peruvian Andes collapses killing more than a hundred people. The event is a major setback for quicksilver production in the Spanish Empire.

title: 1786

date: January 19

text: January 19 – An army of 5,423 soldiers, led by General José de San Martín, starts crossing the Andes from Argentina, to liberate Chile and then Peru.

title: 1817

date: July 28

text: July 28 – Argentine general José de San Martín declares the independence of Peru from the Spanish Empire.

title: 1821

date: September 10

text: September 10 – Simón Bolívar is named dictator of Peru.

title: 1823

date: February 10

text: February 10 – Simón Bolívar is proclaimed dictator of Peru.

title: 1824

date: March 18

text: March 18 – Simón Bolívar, President of Colombia (and former President of Venezuela, Peru and Bolivia), departs from the capital at Bogotá in order to help his ally, General José Antonio Páez, suppress an uprising near the Venezuelan border, but is sidetracked by another rebellion in Cartagena.

title: 1828

text: February 27 – Battle of Tarqui: Troops of Gran Colombia and Peru battle to a draw.

title: 1829

date: January 20

text: January 20 – Battle of Yungay: Chile defeats the Peru–Bolivian Confederation, leading to the restoration of an independent Peru.

title: 1839

text: April 20 – Ramón Castilla becomes president of Peru.

title: 1845

text: April 20 – Ramón Castilla loses power in Peru.

title: 1851

text: September 24 – Battle of Guayaquil: Ecuadorian forces, led by Juan José Flores and Gabriel García Moreno, take the port of Guayaquil from Supreme Chief Guillermo Franco, who is backed by Peruvian forces.

title: 1860

text: October 24 – Ramón Castilla loses the Presidency of Peru for a second time.

title: 1862

text: November 26 – Chincha Islands War: Battle of Papudo – The Spanish ship Covadonga is captured by the Chileans and the Peruvians, north of Valparaíso, Chile.

title: 1865

text: February 7 – Battle of Abtao: A Spanish naval squadron fights a combined Peruvian-Chilean fleet, at the island of Abtao, in the Chiloé Archipelago of southern Chile.

title: 1866

text: May 2 – Battle of Callao: Peruvian defenders fight the Spanish fleet.

title: 1866

text: August 13 – The 8.5–9.0 Arica earthquake strikes southern Peru, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), causing 25,000+ deaths and a destructive basin-wide tsunami, that affects Hawaii and New Zealand.

title: 1868

text: October 20 – Peru and Chile sign the Treaty of Ancón, by which the Tarapacá province is ceded to Chile, ending Peru's involvement in the War of the Pacific.

title: 1883

text: February 27 – Japanese immigration to South America, primarily Peru, begins as the ship Sakura Maru departs from Yokohama with 790 men employed by the Morioka-shokai Sugar Company. The group arrives in Callao on April 3.

title: 1899

text: July 24 – Hiram Bingham rediscovers Machu Picchu in Peru.

title: 1911

text: August 21 – WWI: Peru declares neutrality.

title: 1916

text: June 3 – The Treaty of Lima settles a border dispute between Peru and Chile.

title: 1929

text: August 27 – A military junta takes over in Peru.

title: 1930

text: February 21 – Peruvian revolutionaries hijack a Ford Trimotor aeroplane, and demand that the pilot drop propaganda leaflets over Lima.

title: 1931

text: May 14 – Lina Medina, a 5-year-old Peruvian girl, gives birth to a baby boy, becoming the youngest confirmed mother in medical history.

title: 1939

text: November 10 – At least 1,400 people are killed when the 6.8–7.0 Ancash earthquake affects the Quiches District of Peru with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme).

title: 1946

text: June 20 – The iron barque Omega of Callao, Peru (built in Liverpool, 1887), the world's last full-rigged ship trading under sail alone, sinks on passage carrying guano from the Pachacamac Islands for Huacho.

title: 1958

text: October 12 – At the national Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana Congress in Peru, a group of leftist radicals is expelled from the party; they later form APRA Rebelde.

title: 1959

text: May 24–25 – The crowd at a football match in Lima, Peru, riots over a referee's decision in the Peru-Argentina game; 319 are killed, 500 injured.

title: 1964

text: October 3 – In Peru, Juan Velasco Alvarado takes power in a revolution.

title: 1968

text: May 31 – The 7.9 Ancash earthquake shakes Peru with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe) and a landslide buries the town of Yungay, Peru. Between 66,794 and 70,000 are killed and 50,000 injured.

title: 1970

text: March 18 – A landslide in Chungar, Peru crashes into Yanawayin Lake, killing 200.

title: 1971

text: August 14 – The Accomarca massacre takes place in Ayacucho, Peru.

title: 1985

text: December 8 – Alianza Lima air disaster: A Peruvian Navy Fokker F27 crashes near Ventanilla, Peru, killing 43.

title: 1987

text: January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General.

title: 1992

text: September 12 – In Peru, police arrest Abimael Guzmán, the leader of the Shining Path guerilla movement, who has evaded capture for 12 years.

title: 1992

text: August 14 – A rocket ignited during a fireworks display in Arequipa, Peru knocks down a high-tension power cable into a dense crowd, electrocuting 35 people.

title: 1996

text: December 17 – The Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement takes 72 hostages in the Japanese Embassy in Lima, Peru.

title: 1996

text: April 22 – A 126-day hostage crisis at the residence of the Japanese ambassador in Lima, Peru.

title: 1997

text: August 15 – An 8.0 earthquake strikes Peru, killing at least 519 people, injuring more than 1,300, and causing tsunami warnings in the Pacific Ocean.

title: 2007

text: July 26–August 11 – The 2019 Pan American Games are held in Lima, Peru.

title: 2019

text: April 11 – Peru holds a general election, with Pedro Castillo and the left-wing Free Peru party winning.

title: 2021

text: December 7 – The Congress of Peru removes President Pedro Castillo from office and arrests him after he tries to dissolve Congress in a self-coup attempt. Vice President Dina Boluarte becomes the first female President of Peru.

title: 2022