Culture & Society in the 1st century BC

50 sourced entries, 96 BCE to 1 BCE, oldest first. Also see Culture & Society across every century or everything else in the 1st century BC.

• 96 BCEStart of the Taishi era in the Han dynasty.source
• 94 BCEApproximate date – Nicomedes IV succeeds his father Nicomedes III as king of Bithynia.source
• 94 BCEThe first (failed) attempt to open a Latin rhetorical school.source
• 87 BCEMarch 30 – The eight-year-old Liu Fuling becomes emperor, with Huo Guang General-in-Chief and regent.source
• 84 BCEJulius Caesar marries Corneliasource
• 83 BCETwo new buildings were completed on the Capitoline Hill in Rome: the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus and the Tabularium.source
• 80 BCEMeleager publishes his Garland, the earliest known anthology of Greek poetry.source
• 67 BCEJulius Caesar marries Pompeia, a granddaughter of Sullasource
• 65 BCE9th year of the reign of Emperor Xuan of Hansource
• 63 BCEServilius Rullus, a Roman tribune, proposes an agrarian reform law.source
• 63 BCELucullus holds a triumph, then retires from war and politics to live a life of refined luxury.source
• 63 BCEGaius Antonius Hybrida is junior consul.source
• 59 BCECaesar marries Calpurnia, in Rome.source
• 59 BCECaesar makes the gazette Acta Diurna (Daily News) public. The Acta contains details of official decrees and appointments; births, deaths, and marriages. Even sport results—the outcome of the gladiatorial contests and chariot races at the capital.source
• 58 BCEBase year of the Vikrama Era, founded by Vikrama, king of Ujjain in India.source
• 56 BCEThe three Roman politician-generals of the First Triumvirate — Caesar, Pompey and Crassus — meet at the Luca Conference at the town of Luca (modern Lucca, in Tuscany), near Pisa, where they renewed their fraying political alliance, and further cemented the three men's increasing consolidation of power in the Roman Republic.source
• 55 BCEPompey's Theater, the first permanent (non-wooden) theatre in Rome is built. Built of stone on the Field of Mars, it included a temple to Venus Victorious, a public courtyard, and a meeting hall or curia in the far end near the "Sacred Area".source
• 54 BCEPompey builds the first permanent theatre in Rome.source
• 54 BCEOctavia the Younger and Gaius Claudius Marcellus marry.source
• 52 BCEGnaeus Pompeius marries Cornelia Metella.source
• 48 BCEOctober – Julius Caesar reaches Alexandria, a city founded by Alexander the Great. He is met by an Egyptian delegation from Ptolemy XIII. The Egyptians offer him gifts: the ring of Pompey and his head.source
• 48 BCEQueen Cleopatra VII returns to the palace rolled into a Persian carpet and has it presented to Caesar by her servant. The Egyptian princess, only twenty-one years old, becomes his mistress.source
• 47 BCEFeng Yuan becomes consort to Emperor Yuan of the Han Dynasty.source
• 46 BCECaesar celebrates his Gallic Triumph, after which Vercingetorix is executed. The celebrations run for forty days in Rome, and include public banquets, plays and gladiatorial games.source
• 45 BCEJanuary 1 – The Julian calendar takes effect as the civil calendar of the Roman Empire, establishing a solar calendar that is based on the Egyptian calendar of the day.source
• 44 BCEFebruary – Rome celebrates the festival of the Lupercal. Mark Antony twice presents Caesar with a royal diadem, urging him to take it and declare himself king. He refuses this offer and orders the crown to be placed in the Temple of Jupiter.source
• 44 BCEApril 18–April 21 – Octavian engages in a charm offensive with consular Cicero who is fulminating against Mark Antony.source
• 44 BCESeptember 2 – The first of Cicero's Philippicae (oratorical attacks) on Antony is published. He will make 14 of them over the next several months.source
• 38 BCEJanuary 17 – Octavian marries Livia while she is still pregnant from a recently broken marriage. Octavian gained permission from the College of Pontiffs to wed her while she is still pregnant from another husband. Three months after the wedding she gives birth to a second son, Nero Claudius Drusus, while he and his elder brother, the four-year-old Tiberius, are living in Octavian's household.source
• 37 BCEThe kingdom of Goguryeo in Korea is founded by the king Dongmyeong. (traditional date)source
• 36 BCEAgrippa receives the unprecedented honor of a Naval Crown (corona navalis), wrought of gold and decorated with the prows of ships.source
• 33 BCEMark Antony annexes the kingdom of Media and arranges the marriage of his son Alexander Helios with princess Iotapa, the daughter of king Artavasdes I.source
• 33 BCECrown Prince Ao ascends to the throne as Emperor Cheng of Han of the Han dynasty (until 7 BC).source
• 30 BCEGaius Julius Caesar Octavianus becomes consul for the fourth time. His partner is Marcus Licinius Crassus the Younger.source
• 29 BCEOctavian celebrates, in Rome, three triumphs on consecutive days (August 13, August 14, and August 15) to commemorate his victories in Illyricum, Actium and Egypt.source
• 29 BCEVirgil probably completes the Georgics and begins composition of the Aeneid.source
• 29 BCEThough started under the triumvirate with Mark Anthony and Marcus Lepidus, Octavian completes three projects in the Forum Romanum: Temple of the Deified Julius, the Curia, and the Chalcidicum.source
• 26 BCECleopatra Selene marries Juba II of Numidia, and as a wedding present Augustus makes her the queen of Mauretania in her own right.source
• 24 BCEHerod the Great marries for a third time, to Mariamne II, after a 4-year hiatus from family life (after putting to death his 2nd wife Mariamne I).source
• 23 BCEThe Roman poet Horace publishes the first three books of Odes.source
• 23 BCEThe earliest documented instance of wrestling in Japansource
• 23 BCEThe Roman writer, architect and engineer Marcus Vitruvius Pollio finishes writing De Architectura (known today as The Ten Books of Architecture), a treatise in Latin on architecture, and perhaps the first work about this discipline.source
• 21 BCEMarcus Vipsanius Agrippa divorces Claudia Marcella Major, and marries Julia the Elder, daughter of Caesar Augustus.source
• 19 BCEThe Aeneid by the Roman poet Virgil is published after his death. The Aeneid is an epic poem in 12 books that tells the story of the foundation of Rome from the ashes of Troy.source
• 18 BCELex Iulia de maritandis ordinibus introduced penalties and incentives to promote marriage, and forbade marriage of senators, as well as of their children, to prostitutes and to freedmen.source
• 17 BCEEmperor Augustus celebrates the secular games in Rome, for which Horace's hymn the "Carmen Saeculare" is commissioned.source
• 9 BCEAretas IV Philopatris ascended to become the King of the Nabataeans (modern Jordan).source
• 9 BCEc. 9 BC: Livy completes compilation of his Ab Urbe Condita Libri, 142 books covering the history of Rome since its foundation to the present.source
• 1 BCEThe Roman theatre in Cartagena, which was built by Gaius and Lucius Caesar, finishes construction.source
• 1 BCEGaius Caesar marries Livilla, (daughter of Antonia Minor and Nero Claudius Drusus) in an effort to gain prestige.source