396

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A ivory diptych of Stilicho (right) with his wife Serena and son Eucherius

Year 396 (CCCXCVI) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Augustus and Augustus (or, less frequently, year 1149 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 396 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Events

By place

Roman Empire

• Stilicho, Roman general (magister militum), controls the young emperor Honorius as his regent and becomes the actual ruler of the Western Roman Empire. He enlists the Alemanni and the Franks to defend the Rhine frontier.
• The Visigoths, led by Alaric I, rampage through Greece and plunder Corinth, Argos and Sparta. They destroy the Temple of Eleusis and harry the Peloponnese. Stilicho makes peace with the Goths, and allows them to settle in Epirus (Balkans).
• The Gothic leaders – the Ostrogoth, Tribigild, and Gainas, a former Visigothic general of the Roman army – are terrorising Asia Minor and the region around Constantinople and force emperor Arcadius to pardon them.
• The Huns occupy the Walachian Plain (modern Romania).

China

• Emperor Jin Andi, age 14, succeeds his father Jin Xiaowudi as ruler of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. After he is murdered by his concubine consort Zhang.

Births

• Flavius Aetius, Roman general (magister militum) (approximate date)
• Petronius Maximus, Western Roman Emperor (approximate date)

Deaths

• Dowager Helan, mother of emperor Wei Daowudi (b. 351)
• Duan Yuanfei, empress and wife of emperor Murong Chui
• May 30 – Isaac of Dalmatia, Christian monk and saint
• Jin Xiaowudi, emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (b. 362)
• Murong Chui, general and founder of Later Yan (b. 326)

References