60s BC

Events

69 BC

By place

Roman Republic

• October 6 – Roman Republic troops under Lucius Lucullus defeat the army of Tigranes II of Armenia in the Battle of Tigranocerta, and capture Tigranocerta, capital of Armenia.
• Consuls: Quintus Caecilius Metellus Creticus and Quintus Hortensius.
• Antiochus XIII Asiaticus is installed as king of Syria.
• Parthians and Romans re-establish Euphrates as a frontier.
• Gaius Julius Caesar is a quaestor in Spain.

Egypt

• Ptolemy XII deposes Cleopatra V, and becomes sole ruler.

Greece

• Kydonia, an ancient city on the island of Crete falls to Roman military forces.
• Rhodes becomes a bulwark against pirates, the Rhodians are unable to suppress piracy in the Aegean Sea. Delos gets the status of a free port.

68 BC

By place

Roman Republic

• Consuls: Lucius Caecilius Metellus and Quintus Marcius Rex.
• October 6 – Lucius Lucullus defeats Tigranes II of Armenia in the Battle of Artaxata.
• Gaius Antonius Hybrida elected praetor.
• Tribune of the plebs Gaius Antius Restio passes the Lex Antia sumptuaria law forbidding Roman magistrates from attending banquets.
• Ostia, the harbour city of Ancient Rome, is sacked by pirates. The port is set on fire and the consular war fleet is destroyed.

Osroene

• Abgar II becomes ruler of Osroene.

67 BC

By place

Roman Republic

• Consuls: Manius Acilius Glabrio and Gaius Calpurnius Piso.
• During Pompey's war against the pirates, he raises a fleet of 500 warships and fights with great success.
• The lex Gabinia gives Pompey command of the Mediterranean and its coasts for 50 miles inland for three years. He defeats the pirates in three months and pacifies Cilicia.
• Pompey divides the Mediterranean into 13 zones – six in the West and seven in the East – to each of which he assigns a fleet under an admiral.
• Pompey offers the ex-pirates and their families clemency, he settles them in agricultural colonies in eastern Mediterranean lands.
• Pompey takes over the command of Lucius Licinius Lucullus in the war against Mithridates VI of Pontus, and reaps the fruit of the latter's victories.
• Lex Acilia Calpurnia: permanent exclusion from office in cases of electoral corruption.
• Lex Roscia theatralis.
• Julius Caesar reconciles with Pompey and Crassus
• Julius Caesar marries Pompeia, a granddaughter of Sulla

Judea

• Hyrcanus II becomes king of Judea, for first time (until 66 BC), upon the death of his mother, Salome Alexandra.

Pontus

• Mithridates VI invades Pontus and defeats a Roman army at the Battle of Zela.
• After his victory at Zela Mithridates starts consolidating his power in Pontus; restoring his rule over his old kingdom.
• Lucullus returnes to Pontus, but his troops refuse to campaign for him any longer and he withdrew to Galatia.

China

• December – The army of the Han dynasty Chinese commander Zheng Ji is victorious over the Xiongnu in the Battle of Jushi.

66 BC

By place

Roman Republic

• Consuls: Manius Aemilius Lepidus and Lucius Volcatius Tullus.
• Catiline accused of conspiring against the Roman Republic with Autronius and the younger Sulla (also in 63 BC during the consulship of Cicero).
• The alliance between Mithridates VI of Pontus and Tigranes II of Armenia is broken.
• Tigranes II is forced to surrender, by a payment of 6,000 talents, and is reinstated by Pompey as a "friend of the Roman people" to hold Armenia as a buffer zone.
• Battle of the Lycus: Pompey the Great decisively defeats Mithridates VI, effectively ending the Third Mithridatic War.
• Gaius Antonius elected Roman praetor.
• The lex Manilia, supported by Cicero gives Pompey command over all of Asia.
• Cicero becomes praetor in Rome.

Judea

• Aristobulus II becomes king and high priest of Judea, until 63 BC.

65 BC

By place

Roman Republic

• In response to the illegal exercise of citizen rights by foreigners, the Roman Senate passes the Lex Papia, which expels all foreigners from Rome
• Tigranes of Armenia is defeated and captured by Pompey, thus ending all hostilities on the northeastern frontier of Rome.
• Pompey the Great subjugates the kingdom of Iberia and makes Colchis a Roman province.

Western Han Empire

• 9th year of the reign of Emperor Xuan of Han

64 BC

By place

Roman Republic

• Pompey destroys the kingdom of Pontus; king Mithridates VI commits suicide after escaping to the Crimea.
• Pompey annexes Syria and captures Jerusalem, annexing Judea.

Syria

• King Antiochus XIII Asiaticus is deposed and killed by the Syrian chieftain Sampsiceramus I – this is considered by some the end of the Seleucid dynasty.

63 BC

By place

Roman Republic

• Lucullus holds a triumph, then retires from war and politics to live a life of refined luxury.
• Establishment of the Decapolis and Year 1 of the Pompeian era.
• Pompey conquers the people of Phonecia, Coele-Syria, and Judea for the Roman Republic.
• Roman annexation of the Seleucid Empire and of Judea as a client kingdom. King Judah Aristobulus II removed from power, while his brother John Hyrcanus II is reappointed king (ethnarch) under Roman suzerainty and high priest, until 40 BC.
• Massacre of over 12,000 Jews on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem by Roman troops, in support of John Hyrcanus II against Aristobulus II.
• Julius Caesar is elected Pontifex Maximus and praetor for 62 BC.
• Marcus Tullius Cicero is senior consul. He is the first novus homo (new man) to be elected to the consulship in 31 years.
• Gaius Antonius Hybrida is junior consul.
• Cato the Younger is elected tribune of the people for 62 BC, taking office in early December 63 BC.
• Servilius Rullus, a Roman tribune, proposes an agrarian reform law.
• Second Catilinarian Conspiracy against the Roman Republic is foiled by Cicero.

Pontus

• Pharnaces II becomes King of Pontus.

62 BC

By place

Roman Republic

• January 5 – The forces of the conspirator Catiline are defeated by the loyal Roman armies of Antonius Hybrida led by Marcus Petreius in the Battle of Pistoria.
• Julius Caesar divorces Pompeia, following the sacrilege of Publius Clodius Pulcher.
• Cicero delivers his Pro Archia Poeta in defense of Aulus Licinius Archias' claim to Roman citizenship.
• Cato the Younger, as tribune, presents a lex frumentaria (enacting a grain dole).
• Metellus Nepos, also tribune, leaves Rome.
• Caesar and Bibulus are praetors.

Commagene

• King Antiochus I Theos of Commagene builds his mountain-top tomb-sanctuary at Mount Nemrut.

61 BC

By place

Roman Republic

• Pompey returns to Rome with a triumph in honor of his for victories in the eastern provinces.
• Marcus Pupius Piso Frugi as consul attempts to gain ratification of Pompey's Eastern Settlement.
• Julius Caesar becomes governor in Hispania and creates Legio X Gemina (3,500 men). He puts down the Callaici and Lusitani rebellions.

60 BC

By place

Roman Republic

• Gaius Julius Caesar suppresses an uprising and conquers all of Lusitania for Rome.
• Creation of the First Triumvirate, an informal political alliance between Julius Caesar, Pompey the Great and Marcus Licinius Crassus (or 59 BC).

Syria

• The Seleucid Empire comes to an end with the last two emperors being murdered on orders from Rome.

China

• The Han dynasty government establishes the Protectorate of the Western Regions, the highest military position of a military commander on the Western frontier (Tarim Basin).