AD 70 (
LXX) was a
common year starting on Monday of the
Julian calendar
The Julian calendar is a solar calendar of 365 days in every year with an additional leap day every fourth year (without exception). The Julian calendar is still used as a religious calendar in parts of the Eastern Orthodox Church and in parts ...
. At the time, it was known as the Year of the
Consulship of
Vespasian
Vespasian (; ; 17 November AD 9 – 23 June 79) was Roman emperor from 69 to 79. The last emperor to reign in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for 27 years. His fiscal reforms and consolida ...
and
Titus (or, less frequently, year 823 ''
Ab urbe condita
''Ab urbe condita'' (; 'from the founding of Rome, founding of the City'), or (; 'in the year since the city's founding'), abbreviated as AUC or AVC, expresses a date in years since 753 BC, 753 BC, the traditional founding of Rome. It is ...
''). The denomination AD 70 for this year has been used since the early
medieval period, when the
Anno Domini
The terms (AD) and before Christ (BC) are used when designating years in the Gregorian calendar, Gregorian and Julian calendar, Julian calendars. The term is Medieval Latin and means "in the year of the Lord" but is often presented using "o ...
calendar era
A calendar era is the period of time elapsed since one '' epoch'' of a calendar and, if it exists, before the next one. For example, the current year is numbered in the Gregorian calendar, which numbers its years in the Western Christian era ...
became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Events
By place
Roman Empire
* Emperor
Vespasian
Vespasian (; ; 17 November AD 9 – 23 June 79) was Roman emperor from 69 to 79. The last emperor to reign in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for 27 years. His fiscal reforms and consolida ...
and his son
Caesar Vespasian (the future Emperor Titus) become Roman consuls.
* Panic strikes
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
as adverse winds delay
grain
A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached husk, hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and ...
shipments from
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
and
Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
, producing a
bread
Bread is a baked food product made from water, flour, and often yeast. It is a staple food across the world, particularly in Europe and the Middle East. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cu ...
shortage. Ships laden with
wheat
Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...
from
North Africa
North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...
sail 300 miles to Rome's port of
Ostia in 3 days, and the 1,000 mile voyage from
Alexandria
Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...
averages 13 days. The vessels often carry 1,000 tons each to provide the city with the 8,000 tons per week it normally consumes.
*
Sextus Julius Frontinus is
praetor
''Praetor'' ( , ), also ''pretor'', was the title granted by the government of ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected ''magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to disch ...
of Rome.
Legio II ''Adiutrix'' is created from
marines
Marines (or naval infantry) are military personnel generally trained to operate on both land and sea, with a particular focus on amphibious warfare. Historically, the main tasks undertaken by marines have included Raid (military), raiding ashor ...
of
Classis Ravennatis.
*
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...
serves as procurator in ''
Gallia Narbonensis''.
* 14th of
Xanthikos (14th of
Nisan
Nisan (or Nissan; from ) in the Babylonian and Hebrew calendars is the month of the barley ripening and first month of spring. The name of the month is an Akkadian language borrowing, although it ultimately originates in Sumerian ''nisag' ...
, about
April 14
Events Pre-1600
* 43 BC – Legions loyal to the Roman Senate, commanded by Gaius Pansa, defeat the forces of Mark Antony in the Battle of Forum Gallorum.
* 69 – Vitellius, commanding Rhine-based armies, defeats Roman emperor ...
) –
Siege of Jerusalem: Titus surrounds the Jewish capital, with three legions (
V ''Macedonica'',
XII ''Fulminata'' and
XV ''Apollinaris'') on the western side and a fourth (
X ''Fretensis'') on the
Mount of Olives to the east. He puts pressure on the food and water supplies of the inhabitants by allowing
pilgrim
The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star.
Computer scientists and mathematicians often vocalize it as ...
s to enter the city to celebrate
Passover and then refusing them
egress.
* About
April 21
Events Pre-1600
* 753 BC – Romulus founds Rome ( traditional date).
* 43 BC – Battle of Mutina: Mark Antony is again defeated in battle by Aulus Hirtius, who is killed. Antony fails to capture Mutina and Decimus Brutus is mur ...
– Titus opens a full-scale assault on
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
, concentrating his attack on the city's Third Wall (HaHoma HaShlishit) to the northwest. The
Roman army
The Roman army () served ancient Rome and the Roman people, enduring through the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC), the Roman Republic (509–27 BC), and the Roman Empire (27 BC–AD 1453), including the Western Roman Empire (collapsed Fall of the W ...
begins trying to breach the wall using ''
testudos'',
mantlets,
siege towers, and
battering rams.
* 7th of
Artemisios (7th of
Iyar
Iyar (Hebrew language, Hebrew: or , Hebrew language#Modern Hebrew, Standard ''ʾĪyyar'' Tiberian vocalization, Tiberian ''ʾĪyyār''; from "Rosette (design), rosette; blossom") is the eighth month of the civil year (which starts on 1 Tishrei ...
, about
May 6
Events Pre-1600
* 1527 – Spanish and German troops sack Rome; many scholars consider this the end of the Renaissance.
* 1536 – The Siege of Cuzco commences, in which Incan forces attempt to retake the city of Cuzco from the Sp ...
) – The Third Wall of Jerusalem collapses and the Jews withdraw from
Bezetha to the Second Wall, where the defences are unorganized.
* 12th of Artemisios (12th of Iyar, about
May 11
Events Pre-1600
* 330 – Constantine the Great dedicates the much-expanded and rebuilt city of Byzantium, changing its name to New Rome and declaring it the new capital of the Eastern Roman Empire.
*868 – A copy of the Diamond Sūtr ...
) – Titus and his
Roman legion
The Roman legion (, ) was the largest military List of military legions, unit of the Roman army, composed of Roman citizenship, Roman citizens serving as legionary, legionaries. During the Roman Republic the manipular legion comprised 4,200 i ...
s breach the Second Wall of Jerusalem. The Jewish defenders retreat to the First Wall. The Romans start building a
circumvallation; all trees within 90
stadia (ca. fifteen kilometres) of the city are cut down.
* 21st of Artemisios (about May 20 or 21) – A "certain prodigious and incredible phenomenon", "chariots and troops" seen running in the clouds around Jerusalem
[''War of the Jews']
Book VI, sect. 296
(Ch. 5, par. 3). In Greek, "φάσμα τι δαιμόνιον ὤφθη μεῖζον πίστεως", a phrase that is often translated on UFO sites as "On the 21st of May a demonic phantom of incredible size...".
*
Pentecost
Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christianity, Christian holiday which takes place on the 49th day (50th day when inclusive counting is used) after Easter Day, Easter. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spiri ...
(
Shavuot
(, from ), or (, in some Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi usage), is a Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday, one of the biblically ordained Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It occurs on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan; in the 21st century, it may ...
, 6th of
Sivan, about
June 4) – Priests in the
Temple in Jerusalem
The Temple in Jerusalem, or alternatively the Holy Temple (; , ), refers to the two religious structures that served as the central places of worship for Israelites and Jews on the modern-day Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem. Accord ...
feel a quaking and hear "a sound as of a great multitude saying, Let us remove hence".
[
* 17th of Panemos (17th of Tammuz), about July 14) – Sacrifices cease in the temple.
* 24th of Panemos (about July 20) – Romans set fire to a cloister after the capture of the Fortress of Antonia, north of the ]Temple Mount
The Temple Mount (), also known as the Noble Sanctuary (Arabic: الحرم الشريف, 'Haram al-Sharif'), and sometimes as Jerusalem's holy esplanade, is a hill in the Old City of Jerusalem, Old City of Jerusalem that has been venerated as a ...
. The Romans are drawn into street fighting with the Zealots
The Zealots were members of a Jewish political movements, Jewish political movement during the Second Temple period who sought to incite the people of Judaea (Roman province), Judaea to rebel against the Roman Empire and expel it from the Land ...
.
* 10th of Loios (9th or 10th of Av, about August 4
Events Pre-1600
* 598 – Goguryeo–Sui War#Course of the war, Goguryeo-Sui War: In response to a Goguryeo (Korean) incursion into Liaoxi, Emperor Emperor Wen of Sui, Wéndi of Sui dynasty, Sui orders his youngest son, Yang Liang (assiste ...
) – Titus destroys the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem
The Temple in Jerusalem, or alternatively the Holy Temple (; , ), refers to the two religious structures that served as the central places of worship for Israelites and Jews on the modern-day Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem. Accord ...
. Roman troops are stationed in Jerusalem and abolish the Jewish high priesthood and Sanhedrin
The Sanhedrin (Hebrew and Middle Aramaic , a loanword from , 'assembly,' 'sitting together,' hence ' assembly' or 'council') was a Jewish legislative and judicial assembly of either 23 or 70 elders, existing at both a local and central level i ...
. This becomes known as the Fall of Jerusalem, a conclusive event in the First Jewish–Roman War (the Jewish Revolt), which began in 66 AD. Following this event, the Jewish religious leadership moves from Jerusalem to Jamnia (present-day Yavne), and this date is mourned annually as the Jewish fast of Tisha B'Av.
* August – Titus captures Jerusalem.
* 8th of Gorpiaios (8th of Elul
Elul (Hebrew language, Hebrew: , Hebrew language#Modern Hebrew, Standard , Tiberian vocalization, Tiberian ) is the twelfth month of the civil year and the sixth month of the Jewish religious year, religious year in the Hebrew calendar. It is a m ...
, about September 2
Events
Pre-1600
* 44 BC – Pharaoh Cleopatra VII of Egypt declares her son co-ruler as Ptolemy XV Caesarion.
* 44 BC – Cicero launches the first of his '' Philippicae'' (oratorical attacks) on Mark Antony. He will make 14 of ...
) – Romans gain control of all of Jerusalem and proceed to burn it and kill its remaining residents, except for some who are taken captive to be killed later or enslaved.[''War of the Jews'' Book VI, sect. 407 (Ch. 8, par. 5; Ch. 9, par. 2)]
* Neapolis (present-day Nablus
Nablus ( ; , ) is a State of Palestine, Palestinian city in the West Bank, located approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 156,906. Located between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a ...
) is founded in Iudaea Province.
* Naval clashes on the Rhine
The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...
during the Batavian Revolt; the crew of a captured Roman flagship is imprisoned at Augusta Treverorum (modern Trier
Trier ( , ; ), formerly and traditionally known in English as Trèves ( , ) and Triers (see also Names of Trier in different languages, names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle (river), Moselle in Germany. It lies in a v ...
).
* Roman legions V ''Alaudae'' and XV ''Primigenia'' are destroyed by the Batavi. Later, Quintus Petillius Cerialis puts down the Batavian rebellion of Gaius Julius Civilis
Gaius Julius Civilis (AD 25 – ) was the leader of the Batavian rebellion against the Romans in 69 AD. His Roman naming conventions, nomen shows that he (or one of his male ancestors) was made a Roman citizen (and thus, the tribe a Roman vassal) ...
.
* Vespasian disbands four Rhine legions ( I ''Germanica'', IV ''Macedonica'', XV ''Primigenia'' and XVI ''Gallica''), disgraced for having surrendered or lost their eagles
Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...
during the revolt of Julius Civilis.
* Later Roman emperor Domitian marries Domitia Longina.
* Romans make a punitive expedition against the Garamantes
The Garamantes (; ) were ancient peoples, who may have descended from Berbers, Berber tribes, Toubous, Toubou tribes, and Saharan Pastoral period, pastoralists that settled in the Fezzan region by at least 1000 BC and established a civilization t ...
– they are forced to have an official relationship with the Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...
.
* Annexation of the island of Samothrace by the Roman Empire under Vespasian.
Asia
* India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
sees the end of the Hellenistic dynasties
In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...
.
* A flood in the yellow river returns the river north of Shandong, to essentially its present course[Tregear, T. R. (1965) ''A Geography of China'', pp. 218–219.]
Africa
* Expedition by the Roman Septimius Flaccus to southern Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
. He probably reaches Sudan
Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...
.
* Ze-Hakèlé ( Zoskales in Greek) becomes king of Aksum.
By topic
Religion
* Following the destruction of Jerusalem, the Sanhedrin
The Sanhedrin (Hebrew and Middle Aramaic , a loanword from , 'assembly,' 'sitting together,' hence ' assembly' or 'council') was a Jewish legislative and judicial assembly of either 23 or 70 elders, existing at both a local and central level i ...
moved to Jamnia.
* Members of the Oneida Community
The Oneida Community ( ) was a Christian perfection, perfectionist religious communal society founded by John Humphrey Noyes and his followers in 1848 near Oneida, New York. The community believed that Jesus had Hyper-preterism, already return ...
, a now non-existent religious group formed in the nineteenth century, believed this was the year Jesus Christ
Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...
returned.
Births
* Demonax, Greek Cynic philosopher (approximate date)
* Gaius Julius Quadratus Bassus, Roman politician (d. AD 117
__NOTOC__
Year 117 ( CXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Niger and Apronianus (or, less frequently, year 870 '' Ab urbe condita''). The denomination ...
)
* Marinus of Tyre, Greek geographer and writer (d. AD 130
Year 130 ( CXXX) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Catullinus and Aper (or, less frequently, year 883 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 130 for this ye ...
)
* Menelaus of Alexandria, Greek mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...
(d. AD 140)
Deaths
* Eleazar ben Simon, Jewish leader of the Zealots
The Zealots were members of a Jewish political movements, Jewish political movement during the Second Temple period who sought to incite the people of Judaea (Roman province), Judaea to rebel against the Roman Empire and expel it from the Land ...
* Gaius Dillius Vocula, Roman general (murdered)
* Hero of Alexandria
Hero of Alexandria (; , , also known as Heron of Alexandria ; probably 1st or 2nd century AD) was a Greek mathematician and engineer who was active in Alexandria in Egypt during the Roman era. He has been described as the greatest experimental ...
, Greek mathematician and engineer
* Lucius Calpurnius Piso, Roman consul and governor
* Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella, Roman writer
* Malichus II, Roman client king of Nabatea
* Phannias ben Samuel, high priest of Israel
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
* Simeon ben Gamliel, Jewish leader ('' nasi'')
* Simon bar Giora, Jewish leader (executed)
* Emperor Suinin of Japan, according to legend.
References
als:70er#Johr 70
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