The First Millenium

[Vince]

Welcome to 191.

It's a quiet year. A statue of the Emperor Commodus, portrayed as Hercules, is made.l It is now in a museum.

Serapion was Patriarch of Antioch becomes bishop of Antioch. His writings against Gnosticism are spread widely through the East. He battled The Gospel of Peter, which portrayed the Cross as having speaking ability.

 

[Vince]

192

The military ruler of China is assassinated, and the nation erupts into civil war. Various warlords had built armies against the puppet government, and now they strike.

About this time, the kingdom of Champa begins. It eventually controls south and central Vietnam and survives for centuries.

Syrian Christians establish a Christian community in Kerala, India.

The Emperor Commodus has an unhappy New Year's Eve. He had hired a wrestler named Narcissus as his personal trainer. On December 31, while Commodus was in a drunken stupor, Narcissus strangled him. He had been paid by a coalition of senators and other officials to assassinate an Emperor who had gone at least partly mad.

 

[Vince]

193 is another rough year.

Cao Cao, the ruthless Chinese cavalry leader, massacres thousands of civilians to avenge his father’s death.

Rome has "The Year of the Five Emperors."

Pertinax is first. He sells off Commodus's possessions to pay off the Praetorian Guard, but they storm the palace and kill him because it isn't enough.

Julianus buys the throne from the Praetorian Guard, starting a civil war, and Severus wins. Severus executes Julianus and manages to hold onto the throne. But two generals have been proclaimed Emperor in different parts of the Empire, and they have to be dealt with.

The Emperor Severus marches east to battle one of his rivals.

 

[Vince]

Welcome to 194.

The Emperor Severus wins three decisive victories over one of his rivals, Pescennius Niger, and finally kills him. Now he has to deal with Albinus, who has declared himself Emperor in Portugal, Span, and Britain.

Galen, the great doctor, writes his manual on pathology, The Art of Curing.

 

[Vince]

And already it is 195.

Extensive camel routes are being developed across the Sahara, building up various African nations south of the Empire. Rome controls the entire northern coast of Africa, but except for Egypt, the Empire does not extend too far south.

Parthia invades Mesopotamia, which is ruled by Rome. The Emperor Severus personally leads an army to drive them out.

Albinus, who was proclaimed Emperor in Spain, Portugal, and Britain, invades France. Backed by the Senate, Albinus soon has an army of 150,000 men. The Emperor Severus hastens back to Rome to deal with this new threat.

The Xiongnu, a large confederation of nomadic tribes north of China, cross the Great Wall and establishes themselves in parts of China.

This is a good time to point out that there is no such thing as "The Great Wall of China." Various unconnected walls were built to keep back barbarians. Some were merely piled-up dirt, while others were heavily-fortified structures. The incorrect belief that the Great Wall of China can be seen from the moon has survived for decades, and was even a "Final Jeopardy Answer" on a television show.

 

[Vince]

196

Cao Cao persuades the Emperor to move the government of China into an area that Cao Cao controls. Surprisingly, Cao Cao does not seize the throne, but attempts to re-unite the various warlords and end the civil war.

Polycrates of Ephesus, bishop of Ephesus, presides over a meeting of Asian bishops to decide the date of Easter. Pointing out that celebrating Easter on the first day of Passover had been handed down to them by the Apostle John, they refuse Rome’s demands that they celebrate Easter on the first Sunday after Passover. Victor 1, bishop of Rome, attempts to expel Polycrates from the Christian community, but is forced to back down by other bishops.

Byzantium, a major Greek city, had sided with Niger against the Emperor Severus. Roman troops retake the city, loot it, and burn it.

Meanwhile, his rival Albinus is advancing southward through France on his way to attack Rome.

Short of manpower, Roman troops in Britain suffer a defeat at Hadrian's Wall. Part of it is destroyed, but they manage to hold on to it.

Meanwhile, the Emperor Severus has turned Rome into a military dictatorship, but the people support him, because he has cleaned up the corruption in the government.

 

[Vince]

197 is a great year for the Emperor Severus.

Albinus is unable to invade Italy, as Severus has strengthened the Roman defenses, which were still strong after the Marcomanni wars. Severus invades France with about 150,000 soldiers, and after a decisive victory at Lyons, he sends Albinus's head to the Senate, mocking them for supporting him. He also loots and destroys Lyons.

It is the bloodiest battle in the history of the Empire, weakening Roman strength everywhere, as all fatalities were Roman soldiers. The Scots drive the Romans away from the Antonine Wall, back to Hadrian's Wall.

The undisputed ruler is now Lucius Septimius Severus -- the first emperor who is not distinctly of Roman origin. He is Syrian. He believes in terror rather than conciliation. He has sixty senators arrested and thirty executed for having sided with his rival. He will expel Roman aristocrats from positions of authority in and outside the army. During the rule of his family, the Syrian sun god, Sol Invictus, will become an official god of the empire.

You might remember that Parthia had invaded Mesopotamia. Severus captures Ctesiphon, Parthia's capital, destroys it, and sells thousands of its inhabitants as slaves.

Tertullian writes Apologeticus, his most famous work, including the phrase "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church"

 

[Vince]

198 AD is a rough year for Christians

Mark I or Marcus I (198-211) becomes bishop of Constantinople (which is controlled by another city). But for eight years, he is replaced by an unnamed underling.

Chinese warlord Cao Cao goes to battle against the legendary General Lu Bu. An extremely handsome man and a brilliant warrior, Lu Bu is known as "The Flying General." He enters battles personally, riding his steed, Red Hare. He had betrayed and murdered two other leaders, seizing their territories. After three months of losing battles to Cao Cao, he is captured and hanged.

Emperor Severus names one of his sons "Caesar" and another "Augustus," as he prepares to establish a family dynasty.

 

[Vince]

Welcome to 199 AD!

Zephyrinus (199-217) becomes bishop of Rome. Whatever else he was, this man was not a Pope. Uneducated, dominated by one of his deacons, and too weak to exert authority over the various factions that had divided the church in Rome, he was unable to stop the spread of Sabellianism. Sabellianism held that God is not a Trinity, and it grew in popularity while Zephyrinus was bishop. His most vehement critic was Hippolytus, who would later become a rival bishop of Rome and a Catholic saint.

The Emperor Severus divides Mesopotamia into two provinces. He levies two new legions and leaves them there--for the next three centuries.

Yuam Shu had successfully conquered large areas of China and had merged other warlords' areas into his territory, declaring himself Emperor. But a steady series of military defeats, along with desertions by his allies and officers collapses his kingdom. He flees to avoid capture and dies in exile.

 

[Vince]

We made it to 200 AD! At this time, the world population is about 257 million people.

Someone in Japan invents sushi. And Kaika is the new Emperor.

Outnumbered 5 to 1, Cao Cao defeats a 100,000 man army. Based in difficult terrain on the Yellow River, Cao Cao circled behind his foe and burned all his supplies.

Irenaeus, the Catholic bishop of Lyons, France, is martyred.

In Peru, the Paracas culture comes to an end. Experts in water managagement and irrigation, the Paracas were a small group in the Andes Mountains who had been fading away for the last three centuries.

The Emperor Severus visits Syria, Palestine and Arabia. Palestine, benefiting from the benevolent policies of Severus, sees a significant economic revival.

Judah ha-Nasi compiles tracts of the Mishnah, beginning the creation of Talmudic law. Eventually, this will become the basis of modern Judaism.

Clement of Alexandria denounces the use of musical instruments to support human voices in Christian music.

Folks, I appreciate the number of people who are following this thread. Please feel free to post questions or additional information. This thread IS open to comments.

 

[jasoncran]

clement was the one who wanted and introduced chanting in the rcc?

 

[Vince]

Welcome to the year 201.

The Kyrgyz appear for the first time in history. A Turkish ethnic group, they are currently centered in the Kyrgyz Republic, a former Soviet site that borders China.

Edessa, a Roman ally in southeaster Turkey, has a flood that reportedly drowns 2,000 Christians. Nonetheless, their Christian king declares Christianity to be the official state religion.

 

[jasoncran]

been to bishkek,kyrgyz myself.

 

[Vince]

Sorry to take so long to answer you, Jason.

Clement of Alexandria led the school at Antioch, from which the Catholic Church emerged. According to Wikipedia "He united Greek philosophical traditions with Christian doctrine..." In other words, he sought to blend Christianity with paganism to produce a new and better religion.

A true Catholic, he taught that salvation was only obtained through the Church. However, as their doctrines changed, the Catholic Church rejected some of his teachings. He had been declared a saint, but in the seventeenth century, the Pope demoted him.

 

[Vince]

Welcome to 202

Emperor Septimus Severus returns to Rome after five successful years of military victories. He bans female gladiators, and issues an edict against Christianity and Judaism; he begins a severe persecution, and writing during his reign, Clement of Alexandria said, "Many martyrs are daily burned, confined, or beheaded, before our eyes."

Clement himself flees to central Turkey to escape persecution.

Cao Cao wins a major victory at the Battle of Bowang Slope. This paves the way for China to break up into three kingdoms.

 

[Vince]

203

Demetrius of Alexandria. Pope of Alexandria, Egypt, appoints Origen as director of the school at Alexandria. Origen is a layman, and he and Demetrius will have several severe clashes over the years.
Origen is a universalist, teaching that after a series of re-incarnations, everyone, including demons, will eventually be united with God. He denied the Deity of Christ and continued to blend paganism into Christianity.

Emperor Severus rebuilds Byzantium, which had been destroyed in the recent wars.

Andhra, a kingdom in southeast India, gets a new king. But the kingdom continues to disintegrate into smaller independent areas.

After weeks of torture, Perpetua and Felicitas, a wealthy Roman woman and her slave, are thrown to wild beasts for refusing to renounce Christ.

 

[Vince]

Not much happens in 204.

The Daysan River floods Edessa again.

Despite being wracked by civil war, China manages to annex part of Korea.

 

[Vince]

Welcome to 205.

The Scots have pretty well driven the Romans out of northern Britain. The Romans re-fortify Hadrian's Wall, which had been damaged in attacks, although the Wall had held.

Plautianus was a friend of the Emperor Severus who had been steadily promoted into one of the most powerful men in the Empire. Learning that the son of Severus planned to kill him when he became Emperor, Plautianus began a conspiracy to assassinate the Emperor and his entire family. The plot was discovered, and Plautianus was executed.

Yuan Tan, a powerful Chinese warlord, had made an alliance with Cao Cao. Betraying the alliance, Yuan Tan is defeated and executed by Cao Cao.

 

[Vince]

Welcome to the year 206!

Cao Cao is racking up one victory after another in China. Most of the warlords have been driven back to their territories, but Gao Can manages to raise an another army to battle Cao Cao. Decisively defeated, Gao Can's army tries to flee, but is intercepted by other forces of Cao Cao and Gao Can is killed.

In Rome, things are quiet as the Emperor appoints new officials to replace the ones he executed.

 

[Vince]

207 is another quiet year for Rome.

In China, Cao Cao leads a forced march deep into Wuhuan territory and decisively defeats them at the Battle of White Wolf Mountain. The Wuahan had settled into northern China and had sought peace with the government, but they had gotten involved in all the internal warfare going on. Many of Wuhuan's powerful horsemen now join Cao Cao and become known as the "greatest cavalry under heaven".

Papinian has become the new #2 man in the Empire. Powerful and competent, he strives to keep the Empire in good shape while Severus concentrates on military matters.

Persecution of Christians declines. Local rulers are free to persecute them if they wish, but the Empire as a whole leaves them alone.