Battle of Edessa: With a large army, said to number 70,000 men,
Valerian attempts to drive the Persians back from Edessa. The Roman army is surrounded and most of its troops are killed or captured. Valerian is taken prisoner for the remainder of his life.
King Shapur I sends Valerian to
Bishapur and uses the captured
Roman army for engineering plans. They construct the Band-e Kaisar ("Bridge of Valerian").
Gallienus establishes himself at
Mediolanum (modern
Milan); he reorganizes the army, supported by elite
cavalry, and dispatches troops to the
Rhine frontier.
Postumus executes Saloninus and his adviser Silvanus after breaching the walls of Cologne. He is recognized as emperor and establishes his capital at
Trier.
Emperor
Cao Mao of
Former Wei state attempts to lead a
coup against the powerful regent
Sima Zhao, but he himself is killed before it comes to a confrontation.
June 2 – Cao Mao is killed in a coup d'état against Sima Zhao. The 14-year-old
Cao Huan becomes ruler of Former Wei, but the Sima clan controls the state.
Pope
Dionysius convenes a
synod at Rome to demand an explanation from bishop
Dionysius of Alexandria, who has been charged with separating the members of the
Trinity as three distinct deities.
Emperor
Gallienus tries twice to crush the usurper
Postumus, but on the first occasion
Aureolus, commander of the elite
cavalry, carelessly lets him escape. The second time, Gallienus sustains an
arrow wound and has to break off his
siege of a
Gallic town where Postumus has holed up. He makes no other serious attempt to overcome his rival, instead devoting his attention to the political and military problems in the Danube and eastern parts of the
Roman Empire.
Postumus makes no move to march on
Rome and claim his territory south of
Gaul.
Gallienus gives the order to fortify
Milan and
Verona.
Gallienus repels the invasion of the
Goths in the
Balkans.
A general of Gallienus' army,
Victorinus, defects to Postumus.
China
Sima Zhao, who had been the regent and de facto primary authority of the state of
Cao Wei for little over 10 years by this point, passes away, leaving his authority to his eldest son,
Sima Yan, who will go on to disestablish the state of Cao Wei in
266, founding the
Jin dynasty.
King
Odaenathus of
Palmyra invades
Persia to conquer the capital,
Ctesiphon, and twice comes as far as the walls of the Persian capital, but fails to take it.[2][3][4] After his victories in the East, he pronounces himself with the title "king of kings".
A powerful tropical volcanic eruption around this year brings a below-average
flood of the Nile next year.[5]
Ireland
The rule of High King
Cormac mac Airt ends (approximate date).
Asia
February 4 –
Sima Yan, regent of the Chinese state of
Cao Wei, forces the last Cao Wei emperor
Cao Huan to abdicate in his favour. The Cao Wei state's existence comes to an end. Sima Yan establishes the
Jin Dynasty, and becomes its first emperor on
8 February, and is historically known as "Wu of Jin". He establishes his capital at
Luoyang, and gives his male relatives independent military commands throughout his empire.
The
Heruli invade the
Black Sea coast; they unsuccessfully attack
Byzantium and
Cyzicus. The
Roman fleet defeats the Herulian fleet (500 ships) but allows them to escape into the
Aegean Sea, where they raid the islands of
Lemnos and
Skyros.
The Goths sack several cities of southern Greece including
Athens,
Corinth,
Argos and
Sparta. After the
Sack of Athens, an Athenian militia force (2,000 men), under the historian
Dexippus, pushes the invaders to the north where they are intercepted by the
Roman army under emperor
Gallienus. He wins an important victory near the
Nestos River, on the boundary between
Macedonia and Thrace.
Aureolus, charged with defending
Italy, defeats
Victorinus (co-emperor of
Gaul), is proclaimed emperor by his troops, and begins his march on
Rome.
Near East
King
Septimius Odaenathus of
Palmyra makes plans for a campaign in
Cappadocia against the Goths. He is assassinated, along with his eldest son, most probably by his nephew due to a previous altercation between him and Odaenathus.[6] His wife
Zenobia succeeds him, and rules
Vaballathus (the
Palmyrene Empire) with her young son.
Marcus Aurelius Claudius, who may have murdered Gallienus, becomes the new emperor of
Rome and will reign as Claudius II.
Claudius II asks the Senate to spare the lives of Gallienus's family and political supporters. Emperor Gallienus is
deified and buried in a family
tomb on the
Appian Way.
Second Gothic invasion: The
Goths and other
German tribes attack
Bosphorean towns on the coast of the
Black Sea. Some 2,000 ships and 320,000 men from the
Danube enter Roman territory. Emperor
Claudius II defeats the invaders and receives the title Gothicus for his triumph. Many of the prisoners will serve in the
Roman legions and settle in vacant lands in the
Danubian provinces.[9]
Claudius II travels to
Sirmium and prepares a war against the
Vandals, who raid
Pannonia.
Battle of Edessa: With a large army, said to number 70,000 men,
Valerian attempts to drive the Persians back from Edessa. The Roman army is surrounded and most of its troops are killed or captured. Valerian is taken prisoner for the remainder of his life.
King Shapur I sends Valerian to
Bishapur and uses the captured
Roman army for engineering plans. They construct the Band-e Kaisar ("Bridge of Valerian").
Gallienus establishes himself at
Mediolanum (modern
Milan); he reorganizes the army, supported by elite
cavalry, and dispatches troops to the
Rhine frontier.
Postumus executes Saloninus and his adviser Silvanus after breaching the walls of Cologne. He is recognized as emperor and establishes his capital at
Trier.
Emperor
Cao Mao of
Former Wei state attempts to lead a
coup against the powerful regent
Sima Zhao, but he himself is killed before it comes to a confrontation.
June 2 – Cao Mao is killed in a coup d'état against Sima Zhao. The 14-year-old
Cao Huan becomes ruler of Former Wei, but the Sima clan controls the state.
Pope
Dionysius convenes a
synod at Rome to demand an explanation from bishop
Dionysius of Alexandria, who has been charged with separating the members of the
Trinity as three distinct deities.
Emperor
Gallienus tries twice to crush the usurper
Postumus, but on the first occasion
Aureolus, commander of the elite
cavalry, carelessly lets him escape. The second time, Gallienus sustains an
arrow wound and has to break off his
siege of a
Gallic town where Postumus has holed up. He makes no other serious attempt to overcome his rival, instead devoting his attention to the political and military problems in the Danube and eastern parts of the
Roman Empire.
Postumus makes no move to march on
Rome and claim his territory south of
Gaul.
Gallienus gives the order to fortify
Milan and
Verona.
Gallienus repels the invasion of the
Goths in the
Balkans.
A general of Gallienus' army,
Victorinus, defects to Postumus.
China
Sima Zhao, who had been the regent and de facto primary authority of the state of
Cao Wei for little over 10 years by this point, passes away, leaving his authority to his eldest son,
Sima Yan, who will go on to disestablish the state of Cao Wei in
266, founding the
Jin dynasty.
King
Odaenathus of
Palmyra invades
Persia to conquer the capital,
Ctesiphon, and twice comes as far as the walls of the Persian capital, but fails to take it.[2][3][4] After his victories in the East, he pronounces himself with the title "king of kings".
A powerful tropical volcanic eruption around this year brings a below-average
flood of the Nile next year.[5]
Ireland
The rule of High King
Cormac mac Airt ends (approximate date).
Asia
February 4 –
Sima Yan, regent of the Chinese state of
Cao Wei, forces the last Cao Wei emperor
Cao Huan to abdicate in his favour. The Cao Wei state's existence comes to an end. Sima Yan establishes the
Jin Dynasty, and becomes its first emperor on
8 February, and is historically known as "Wu of Jin". He establishes his capital at
Luoyang, and gives his male relatives independent military commands throughout his empire.
The
Heruli invade the
Black Sea coast; they unsuccessfully attack
Byzantium and
Cyzicus. The
Roman fleet defeats the Herulian fleet (500 ships) but allows them to escape into the
Aegean Sea, where they raid the islands of
Lemnos and
Skyros.
The Goths sack several cities of southern Greece including
Athens,
Corinth,
Argos and
Sparta. After the
Sack of Athens, an Athenian militia force (2,000 men), under the historian
Dexippus, pushes the invaders to the north where they are intercepted by the
Roman army under emperor
Gallienus. He wins an important victory near the
Nestos River, on the boundary between
Macedonia and Thrace.
Aureolus, charged with defending
Italy, defeats
Victorinus (co-emperor of
Gaul), is proclaimed emperor by his troops, and begins his march on
Rome.
Near East
King
Septimius Odaenathus of
Palmyra makes plans for a campaign in
Cappadocia against the Goths. He is assassinated, along with his eldest son, most probably by his nephew due to a previous altercation between him and Odaenathus.[6] His wife
Zenobia succeeds him, and rules
Vaballathus (the
Palmyrene Empire) with her young son.
Marcus Aurelius Claudius, who may have murdered Gallienus, becomes the new emperor of
Rome and will reign as Claudius II.
Claudius II asks the Senate to spare the lives of Gallienus's family and political supporters. Emperor Gallienus is
deified and buried in a family
tomb on the
Appian Way.
Second Gothic invasion: The
Goths and other
German tribes attack
Bosphorean towns on the coast of the
Black Sea. Some 2,000 ships and 320,000 men from the
Danube enter Roman territory. Emperor
Claudius II defeats the invaders and receives the title Gothicus for his triumph. Many of the prisoners will serve in the
Roman legions and settle in vacant lands in the
Danubian provinces.[9]
Claudius II travels to
Sirmium and prepares a war against the
Vandals, who raid
Pannonia.