250s

This is a list of events occurring in the 250s, ordered by year.

250

By place

Roman Empire

• A group of Franks penetrate as far as Tarragona in Spain (approximate date).
• The Goths under king Cniva invade Moesia. They cross the Danube and lay siege to Philippopolis (modern Plovdiv). After a long resistance, Cniva conquers the city and slays its one hundred thousand inhabitants.
• The Alamanni drive the Romans from the modern area of Donau-Ries.
• An epidemic of smallpox begins in Ethiopia, moves into Egypt and the roman colonies in North Africa and spreads through the Roman Empire. Named the Plague of Cyprian after St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage.

Africa

• The Kingdom of Aksum (Axum) takes control of commerce on the Red Sea.

Asia

• The Kofun Period begins in Japan.
• The Kushan Empire collapses.
• The earliest Chinese references to a device known as "emperor's south-pointing carriage" date to this period.

America

• Teotihuacán is rebuilt as a four-quartered cosmogram by Zapotec architects brought from Monte Albán in Oaxaca.
• Classic period of Mesoamerican civilization begins.

By topic

Arts and sciences

• Diophantus writes Arithmetica, the first systematic treatise on algebra.
• Family Group, traditionally called the Family of Vunnerius Keramus, is made. It was later placed in Brescia Cross. It is now kept at Museo Civico dell'Etá Cristiana, Brescia (approximate date).
• Battle between the Romans and the Barbarians, detail of the Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus, found near Rome, is made. It is now kept at Museo Nazionale Romano (approximate date).

Religion

• Emperor Decius institutes the persecution of Christians in an attempt to restore the religion of Rome. Pope Fabian is one of the first martyrs.

251

By place

Roman Empire

• July 1 – In the Battle of Abrittus, the Goths defeat emperor Decius and his son Herennius Etruscus on swampy ground in the Dobrudja (Moesia).
• In Rome, Hostilian, son of Decius, succeeds his father, while Trebonianus Gallus is proclaimed Emperor by the troops. Gallus accepts him as co-emperor, but an outbreak of plague strikes the city and kills the young Hostilian.
• The prosperity of Roman Britain declines during this period as the Germanic tribes of the Franks and Saxons, whose homelands are in Friesland and the Low Countries, make raids around the southeast coast.
• Gallus makes peace with the Goths, he permits them to keep their plunder, and offers them a bribe not to return.
• A fifteen-year plague begins in the Roman Empire.

Persia

• The Sassanid king, Shapur I, orders an invasion of the Roman East with the intent of finally capturing the jewel of Syria, Antioch (251–254).

By topic

Religion

• March – Pope Cornelius succeeds Pope Fabian as the 21st pope.

252

By place

Roman Empire

• Valerian reforms Legio III Augusta to fight the "five peoples", a dangerous coalition of Berber tribes in Africa.

Persia

• Shapur I, king of Persia, puts the revolt in Khorasan (Iran) down and rejoines with his army. He invades Armenia and appoints Artavazd VI as the new Armenian king. Georgia submits peacefully to Shapur I, and is made a special province in the Persian Empire.

Asia

• Sun Liang succeeds Sun Quan as king of the Chinese Kingdom of Wu.

By topic

Religion

• Pope Cornelius is exiled to Centumcellae by emperor Trebonianus Gallus.

253

By place

Roman Empire

• Period of the Thirty Tyrants in the Roman empire. The legions who have campaigned against the Goths on the Danube elect Marcus Aemilius Aemilianus as new emperor. He advances on Rome along the Flaminian Way, to meet his opponent emperor Trebonianus Gallus and his son Volusianus. For the most part, generals in the border regions are proclaimed emperor by their armies to halt the invasion of Germanic tribes.
• Aemilianus is proclaimed "enemy of the State" by the Roman Senate. Trebonianus Gallus is defeated at Interamna Nahars (Umbria), he flees with Volusianus to the north, but at Foligno they are killed by their own troops.
• Aemilianus rules for 3 months the Roman Empire, he promise to fight in Thrace and goes to war against Persia. The Senate gives him the rank of Pontifex Maximus.
• Aemilianus is murdered at Spoletium and Publius Valerianus, age 60, is recognised as new emperor by the Rhine legions. He gives his son Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus the title Augustus. Valerianus I dispatches him to the Danube where the Goths are violating the treaty signed with Rome and invade Moesia.
• Valerianus I splits the Roman Empire in two; Gallienus taking control of the West and his father ruling the East, where he faced the Persian threat.
• Battle of Barbalissos: King Shapur I, defeats the Roman army (70,000 men) under Valerianus I at Barbalissos in Syria.

By topic

Religion

• Pope Cornelius is sent into exile.
• June 25 – Pope Lucius I succeeds Pope Cornelius as the 22nd pope.
• Lucius is arrested almost immediately following his election and also exiled.

254

By place

Roman Empire

• Publius Licinius Valerianus Augustus and Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus become Roman Consuls.
• The Roman Empire is threatened by the Alemanni, Franks and Marcomanni in Germania, by the Goths in the Danube region (Moesia and Thrace) and Asia Minor, and by the Persians in the East.

By topic

Religion

• May 12 – Pope Stephen I succeeds Pope Lucius I as the 23rd pope.

255

By topic

Science

• Ma Jun, a Chinese mechanical engineer from Cao Wei, invents the South Pointing Chariot, a path-finding directional compass vehicle that uses a differential gear, not magnetics.

256

By place

Roman Empire

• Goths invade Asia Minor. Dacia is lost for the Roman Empire.
• Emperor Valerian persecutes Christians.
• The Franks cross the Rhine, the Alamanni reach Milan.
• Cities in the Roman Empire begin to build walls as the defense of the frontiers begins to crumble.
• The Goths appear at the walls of Thessalonica.
• In Africa, the Berbers massacre Roman colonists.
• The future emperor Aurelian inspects and organizes the defenses along the Rhine.
• King Shapur I invades Mesopotamia and Syria. He conquers and plunders Antioch.
• Dura-Europos is destroyed by the Persians.

China

• Peace and unity are finally restored in China with the victories of the Wei Kingdom in the north. The ruling dynasty is worn out by war, and the kingdom is ruled by ministers on their behalf.

By topic

Medicine

• The great pandemic of the Roman world strikes violently in Pontus on the Black Sea and causes enormous loss of life in Alexandria, encouraging thousands to embrace Christianity.

Religion

• Pope Stephen I threatens to excommunicate Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, and other bishops in Africa and Asia Minor unless they stop rebaptizing heretics. Cyprian attacks the pope in a treatise which gains support from the Council of Carthage. He sends envoys to Rome, raising the specter of a schism between the Roman and Carthaginian Churches.
• A Synod of Carthage is held.

257

By place

Roman Empire

• Gallienus enters into a joint consulship with his father Valerianus I, having brought some order to the Danube area.
• Future emperor Aurelian defeats the Goths and brings many prisoners back to Rome.
• In Bavaria the Limes Germanicus (Upper Raetian Limes) along the river Iller is abandoned by the Romans.
• Valerian, under guardianship of Ingenuus, is established at Sirmium (Pannonia) to represent the Roman government in the troubled Illyrian provinces.
• Emperor Valerian recovers Antioch in Syria from the Persian king Shapur I.
• The Goths build a fleet on the Black Sea.
• The Goths separate into the Ostrogoths and the Visigoths.

By topic

Religion

• August 30 – Pope Sixtus II succeeds Pope Stephen I as the 24th pope.
• Valerian's persecution of Christians begins: his edict orders bishops and priests to sacrifice according to the pagan rituals, and prohibits Christians, under penalty of death, from meeting at the tombs of their deceased.

258

By place

Roman Empire

• The Goths ravage Asia Minor and Trabzon.
• Gaul, Britain and Spain break off from the Roman Empire to form the Gallic Empire.
• The amount of silver in the Roman currency, of the denarius falls below 10%. The crisis ruins craftsmen, tradesmen and small farmers. They are forced to bartering, landowners grow larger by buying up cheap land.
• Valerian II, eldest son of Gallienus dies. He is possibly murdered by Pannonia's governor Ingenuus, emperor Valerian names another of Gallienus's sons, Saloninus with the title of Caesar.
• A second Imperial edict prohibits Christianity in the Roman Empire. This edict divides Christians into four categories: priests, who are to be put to death; senators and equestrians, who are to be stripped of their positions and their property confiscated; nuns, who are to be exiled; and imperial civil servants, who are condemned to forced labour.

Asia

• Sun Xiu succeeds Sun Liang as ruler of the Chinese kingdom of Wu.

By topic

Religion

• Cyprian, the bishop of Carthage, is martyred (decapitation).
• Pope Sixtus II is martyred.

Education

• Nanjing University is founded in Nanjing, China.

259

By place

Roman Empire

• Emperor Valerian leads an army (70,000 men) to relieve Edessa, besieged by the forces of king Shapur I. An outbreak of a plague kills many legionaries, weakening the Roman position in Syria.
• Battle of Mediolanum: A Germanic confederation, the Alamanni (300,000 warriors), who crossed the Alps are defeated by Roman legions under Gallienus near Mediolanum (modern Milan).
• Postumus revolts against Gallienus in Gaul. The western provinces of Britain and Spain join his independent realm—which is called in modern times the Gallic Empire.
• Postumus, governor of Gaul, declares himself Emperor and continues to rule the Gallic Empire until 267 when he is killed in battle.
• The Roman fort of Wiesbaden (Germany) is captured by the Alamanni (possibly 260).
• The Franks, who invaded the Roman Empire near Cologne in 257, reach Tarraco in Hispania.

Persia

• Mesopotania: Odaenathus, the ruler of the kingdom of Palmyra, sacks the city of Nehardea, destroying its great yeshiva.

By topic

Religion

• Pope Dionysius is elected as the 25th pope.

Significant people

Births

Deaths

References