43 BC

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Year 43 BC was either a common year starting on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday or a leap year starting on Sunday or Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar (the sources differ, see leap year error for further information) and a common year starting on Monday of the Proleptic Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Pansa and Hirtius (or, less frequently, year 711 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 43 BC 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 Republic

• Consuls: Gaius Vibius Pansa Caetronianus and Aulus Hirtius. The Roman Senate confirms Octavian as propraetor with joint responsibility for the campaign against Antony. Hirtius and Octavian mobilize troops for the march to Mutina, while Pansa continues the levy. Embassy dispatched to treat with Antony.
• Gaius Antonius is defeated by Marcus Junius Brutus at Dyrrachium, Brutus proceeds to secure his position in Thrace and Macedonia. Gaius Cassius Longinus campaigns in Syria and defeats the army of Publius Cornelius Dolabella at Laodicea.
• March – Vibius Pansa set out to link up with Hirtius and Octavian, bringing four legions of recruits, having left one, the legio urbana, to defend Rome.
• April 14 – Battle of Forum Gallorum: Mark Antony, besieging Caesar's assassin Decimus Brutus in Mutina, defeats the forces of the consul Pansa, but is then immediately defeated by the army of the other consul, Hirtius. Both consuls are killed (Hirtius did not die until after the Battle of Mutina).
• April 21
  • Cicero's 14th and last Philippic.
  • Antony is again defeated in the Battle of Mutina by a coalition of Octavian, Decimus Brutus, and the two consuls of the year.
• Antony marched to Parma (which is sacked) and Placentia. He then crossed the Ligurian Alps to Vada Sabatia, 50 km south-west of Genoa. Antony joints with Aemilius Lepidus, soon after Decimus Brutus is killed by brigands.
• The Senate declares Antony a hostis, an enemy of the state. Sextus Pompey becomes supreme commander of the Roman navy and Gaius Cassius proconsul of Syria.
• July–August – Antony is again at the head of a large army, Octavian enters Rome in force without opposition. It is clear that Cicero’s plan to divide them against each other has failed.
• September – Gaius Octavian taking office as consul, the day before his 20th birthday, he prevailed to pass the lex Pedia, a law establishing the murder of Caesar as a capital crime.
• November 26 – Octavian meets Antony and Lepidus in Bononia, and the three enter into an official five-year autocratic pact, the Second Triumvirate. (See lex Titia)
• To cement their reconciliation Octavian agreed to marry Clodia, a daughter of Antony's wife Fulvia by her former husband Publius Clodius Pulcher.
• November – The triumvirs introduced proscriptions in which allegedly 130 senators and 2,000 equites were branded as outlaws and deprived of their property.
• December 7 – Marcus Tullius Cicero is killed in Formiae in a litter going to the seaside, by a party led by a military tribune, Popilius Laenas. His head and hands are displayed on the Rostra in the Forum Romanum.

Gaul

• Lugdunum (Lyon) is founded.
• First reference of Cularo (Grenoble).

Asia

• According to legend, Nagasena creates the Emerald Buddha figurine in Patna, India.

Births

• March 20 – Publius Ovidius Naso (Ovid), Roman poet (d. 17/18)
• Princess Iotapa of Media

Deaths

• June – Porcia Catonis, wife of Marcus Junius Brutus (b. 70 BC) (alternative date is July)
• December 7 – Cicero, Roman politician and author (murdered) (b. 106 BC)
• Atia Balba Caesonia, niece of Julius Caesar and mother of Augustus (b. 85 BC)
• Decimus Brutus, Roman statesman (murdered) (b. c. 85 BC)
• Publius Cornelius Dolabella, suffect consul after the assassination of Julius Caesar (b. 70 BC)
• Hirtius, Roman statesman (killed in battle) (b. c. 90 BC)
• Pansa, Roman statesman (killed in battle)
• Trebonius, assassin of Julius Caesar (murdered by Publius Cornelius Dolabella)
• Verres, corrupt praetor (b. c. 120 BC)
• Antipater the Idumaean (assassinated)

References