Religion & Belief in the 2nd century

82 sourced entries, 100 CE to 199 CE, oldest first. Also see Religion & Belief across every century or everything else in the 2nd century.

• 100Titus Avidius Quietus' rule as governor of Roman Britain ends.source
• 100Appearance of the first Christian dogma and formulas regarding morality.source
• 100The Gospel of John is widely believed to have been written around this date.source
• 102Trajan divides Pannonia into two provinces, sometime between this year and 107.source
• 103In Palmyra, Syria, a Temple of the Sun is erected to the god Baal.source
• 105Pope Alexander I succeeds Pope Evaristus as the sixth pope according to Roman Catholic tradition (approximate date).source
• 105Change of Patriarch of Constantinople from Patriarch Plutarch to Patriarch Sedecion.source
• 106Ignatius writes a letter to Christians in Smyrna, using the term Catholic Church (approximate date). This is the earliest surviving witness to the use of the term "Catholic Church".source
• 109The Christian Church proclaims itself to be universal (catholic).source
• 112Tacitus is named proconsul of the Roman province of Asia (112–113).source
• 113Trajan's Column near the Colosseum in Rome is completed to commemorate the Emperor's victory over the Dacians in the Second Dacian War.source
• 114Change of Patriarch of Constantinople from Patriarch Sedecion to Patriarch Diogenes.source
• 115Pope Sixtus I succeeds Alexander I as the seventh pope of Rome (according to Catholic biographies).source
• 116Trajan sends laureatae to the Roman Senate on account of his victories and being conqueror of Parthia.source
• 117On his death bed, Trajan allegedly adopts Hadrian, a fellow Spaniard, and designates him as his successor. Hadrian will reign until 138.source
• 117John I becomes the 7th Bishop of Jerusalem.source
• 120Suetonius becomes Hadrian's secretary ab epistolis.source
• 123The Temple of Al-Lat in Palmyra is dedicated somewhere between this year and 164 AD.source
• 125The Satires of Juvenal intimate that bread and circuses (panem et circenses) keep the Roman people happy.source
• 125Pope Telesphorus succeeds Pope Sixtus I as the eighth pope according to Roman Catholic tradition.source
• 127Hadrian, acting on the advice of his proconsul of Asia, Gaius Minicius Fundanus, determines that Christians shall not be put to death without a trial.source
• 127The philosopher Carpocrates rejects ownership of private property as being un-Christian.source
• 129Change of Patriarch of Constantinople, from Patriarch Diogenes to Eleutherius.source
• 131The Temple of Baalshamin is built in Palmyra.source
• 131The Praetor's Edict is definitively codified by Salvius Julianus, on Hadrian's orders. This change means that senatorial decrees become a mere confirmation of the imperial speech (oratio principis) which initiated them.source
• 135Jerusalem is renamed Colonia Aelia Capitolina, in honor of Hadrian. Legio VI Ferrata rebuilds the legionary fortress in the city, and constructs a Roman temple at Golgotha.source
• 135Marcus (or Mahalia) becomes bishop of Jerusalem (d. 156)source
• 135An altar to Jupiter is erected, on the site of the Temple in Jerusalem.source
• 136Pope Hyginus succeeds Pope Telesphorus as the ninth pope of Rome according to tradition.source
• 136Change of Bishop of Byzantium from Bishop Eleutherius to Bishop Felix.source
• 138February 25 – Emperor Hadrian makes Antoninus Pius his successor, on condition that he adopt Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus.source
• 138Antoninus Pius succeeds Hadrian as Roman Emperor, and asks the Senate to confer divine honors for Hadrian.source
• 139The Tomb of Hadrian in Rome is completed; Emperor Antoninus Pius cremates the body of Hadrian, and places his ashes, together with that of his wife Vibia Sabina and his adopted son, Lucius Aelius, in the mausoleum.source
• 140Ptolemy completes his Almagest (approximate date).source
• 140Pope Pius I succeeds Pope Hyginus as the tenth pope of Rome according to tradition.source
• 140Marcion arrives in Rome, bringing Evangelikon and Apostolikon to the Christian community.source
• 141The Temple of Antoninus and Faustina is constructed in Rome; the temple is dedicated to Empress Faustina the Elder.source
• 141Change of Patriarch of Constantinople from Felix of Byzantium to Polycarpus II of Byzantium.source
• 142Marcion proclaims that the Old Testament is incompatible with Christianity.source
• 143Antoninus Pius serves as Roman Consul.source
• 144Change of emperor from Han Shundi to Han Chongdi of the Han dynasty.source
• 144Marcion of Sinope is excommunicated; a sect, Marcionism, grows out of his beliefs.source
• 144Change of Patriarch of Constantinople from Polycarpus II to Athendodorus (until 148).source
• 148Euzois succeeds Athendodorus, as Patriarch of Constantinople.source
• 150Marcion of Sinope produces his Bible canon, consisting of purged versions of the Gospel of Luke and ten Pauline letters (approximate date).source
• 154Change of Patriarch of Constantinople from Patriarch Euzois to Patriarch Laurence.source
• 154Anicetus becomes pope of Rome (approximate date).source
• 155The Council of Rome, a pre-ecumenical church council, is held and presided over by Bishop of Rome Anicetus.source
• 156The heresiarch Montanus first appears in Ardaban (Mysia).source
• 160Appian writes Ρωμαικα, known in English as the Roman History, in which he includes the history of each nation conquered up until the moment of its conquest.source
• 165Discourse to the Greek (Oratio ad Graecos), by the Syrian Tatian, is the first treatise on the evils of paganism in Christian literature.source
• 165The philosopher Justin of Nablus is executed in Rome as a Christian.source
• 166Alypius succeeds Laurence as Patriarch of Constantinople.source
• 166Pope Soter succeeds Pope Anicetus as the twelfth pope of Rome.source
• 169Theophilus of Antioch becomes patriarch of Antioch.source
• 169Pertinax succeeds Alypius as bishop of Byzantium.source
• 170Emperor Marcus Aurelius writes in Sirmium (Pannonia) his first of 12 books of the Meditations in Koine Greek.source
• 171May – June – Aelius Aristides, Greek orator, delivers a public speech in Smyrna, lamenting the damage recently inflicted to the sacred site of Eleusis.source
• 172Tatian produces his Diatessaron, a harmony of the four gospels.source
• 174Marcus Aurelius officially confers the title Fulminata ("Thundering") to the Legio XII Fulminata.source
• 174Pope Eleuterus succeeds Pope Soter as the thirteenth pope (approximate date).source
• 176November 27 – Emperor Marcus Aurelius grants his son Commodus the rank of Imperator, and makes him Supreme Commander of the Roman legions.source
• 177Forty-eight Christians are martyred in Lyon (Saint Blandina and Pothinus, bishop of Lyon, are among them).source
• 178The Montanist heresy is condemned for the first time.source
• 180Commodus creates an official cult of the Zoroastrian god Mithra.source
• 185Nobles of Britain demand that Emperor Commodus rescind all power given to Tigidius Perennis, who is eventually executed.source
• 185Zhi Yao, a Kushan Buddhist monk of Yuezhi ethnicity, translates Buddhist texts into the Chinese language during the Han dynasty.source
• 185Irenaeus writes that there are only four Gospels (approximate date).source
• 187Olympianus succeeds Pertinax as bishop of Byzantium (until 198).source
• 189Pope Victor I succeeds Pope Eleuterus as the fourteenth pope, the first from Africa.source
• 189Demetrius of Alexandria becomes Patriarch of Alexandria.source
• 189Pantaenus, who was sent by the bishop of Alexandria to India to preach Christianity, meets with little success.source
• 190At the climax of his power, the freedman Marcus Aurelius Cleander appoints 25 men as Roman consuls. Amongst these is Lucius Septimius Severus, who later becomes emperor during the Year of the Five Emperors).source
• 191Serapion becomes Patriarch of Antioch.source
• 193January 1 – Year of the Five Emperors: The Roman Senate chooses Publius Helvius Pertinax, against his will, to succeed the late Commodus as Emperor. Pertinax is forced to reorganize the handling of finances, which were wrecked under Commodus, to reestablish discipline in the Roman army, and to suspend the food programs established by Trajan, provoking the ire of the Praetorian Guard.source
• 193The Council of Rome, the pre-ecumenical councilsource
• 194Irenaeus declares Gnostic doctrines to be heretical (approximate date).source
• 195Lucius Septimius Bassianus (or Caracalla), age 7, changes his name to Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, to solidify connections with the family of Marcus Aurelius, and is given the title Caesar.source
• 196A church council is held in Caesarea over the date of Easter.source
• 197A Christian council is held in Edessa.source
• 198Marcus I succeeds Olympianus as Patriarch of Constantinople (until 211).source
• 199Pope Zephyrinus succeeds Pope Victor I, as the 15th pope.source