The 50s decade ran from January 1, 50, to December 31, 59. It was the sixth decade in the
Anno Domini/
Common Era, if the nine-year period from 1 AD to 9 AD is considered as a "decade".
The
Council of Jerusalem was held early in the decade: The council decided that
Gentile converts to Christianity were not obligated to keep most of the fasts, and other specific rituals, including the rules concerning
circumcision of males.[1] The Council did, however, retain the prohibitions on eating
blood,
meat containing blood, and meat of animals that were strangled, and on
fornication and
idolatry.
Literary works of this decade include De Vita Beata (which explains that the pursuit of
happiness is the pursuit of
reason) and De Clementia (an instructional contrast between the good ruler and a tyrant), both of which were written by
Seneca the Younger.
Manning (2008) tentatively estimates the world population in AD 50 as 248 million.
In
Judea a
Roman soldier seizes and burns a
Torah-scroll.
ProcuratorCumanus has the culprit beheaded, calming down the
Jews and delaying for two decades the outbreak of their revolt.[2]
The captured Caratacus is exhibited in chains in Claudius'
triumph in
Rome, but his dignified demeanour persuades the emperor to spare his life and allow his family to live free in the
capital for a short period of time.
In
Britain, governor
Publius Ostorius Scapula dies while campaigning against the
Silures of south
Wales. Following his death, the Roman
Second Legion are heavily defeated by the Silures. His replacement is
Aulus Didius Gallus, who quells the rebellion and consolidates the gains the Romans have so far made, but does not seek new ones.
Claudius secures a senatorial decree that gives jurisdiction in financial cases to imperial
procurators. This marks a significant strengthening of imperial powers at the expense of the
Senate.
June 9 –
Nero is adopted by Claudius as his son and marries his 14-year-old daughter
Claudia Octavia.
Claudius accepts Nero as his successor, to the detriment of
Britannicus, his son by his first wife,
Valeria Messalina.
Distinct fellowships within the reign of Centricles[check spelling] fall to the dominion of
Gaulic barbarians, which provoke an enclave uprising in the foothills of what are now the
Alps.
Paul writes his epistle to Galatians from
Ephesus (approximately date)
Arts and sciences
Seneca writes the tragedy Agamemnon, which he intends to be read as the last chapter of a trilogy including two of his other tragedies, Medea and Edipus.
Under Nero,
Rome annexes
Aden to protect the maritime route between
Alexandria and Asia.
Two
centurions are sent to the south of
Egypt to find the source of the
Nile, and possible new provinces. They report that while there are many cities in the desert, the area seems too poor to be worthy of conquest.
Corbulo recruits Syrian
auxiliary units in the region and stations them in border
forts, with orders from Nero not to provoke the
Parthians.
Violence erupts in
Caesarea regarding a local ordinance restricting the
civil rights of Jews, creating clashes between Jews and pagans. The Roman garrison, made up of Syrians, takes the side of the pagans. The Jews, armed with clubs and swords, meet in the marketplace. The governor of Judea,
Antonius Felix, orders his troops to charge. The violence continues and Felix asks Nero to arbitrate. Nero sides with the pagans, and relegates the Jews to second-class citizens. This decision does nothing but increase the Jews' anger.
In
Britain,
Venutius leads a revolt against his ex-wife
Cartimandua, queen of the
Brigantes and a Roman ally. Governor
Aulus Didius Gallus sends her military aid, and after some indecisive fighting a legion commanded by
Caesius Nasica defeats the rebels (approximate date – some time between 52 and 57).
Winter – Domitius Corbulo marches his legions (
Legio VI Ferrata and Legio X) into the mountains of
Cappadocia and makes camp. He gives the men a harsh training, twenty-five-mile marches and weapons drills.
Emperor
Guang Wu grants
Nakoku (located around modern-day
Fukuoka City) a golden seal, being the oldest evidence of
writing in
Japan. In return King Na sends an envoy to
China.
March 29 – Guang Wu dies after a 32-year reign and is succeeded by his son
Han Mingdi.[10]
Roman-Parthian War:
Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo, commander in the East, launches his Armenian offensive against
Parthia. He leads a Roman army (four
legions) through the mountainous country of
Armenia, against the fortress at Volandum, to the southwest of
Artaxata. After a siege of eight hours Corbulo takes the city; the
legionnaires massacre the defenders and plunder Volandum to their hearts' content.
Corbulo marches to Artaxata crossing the
Aras River; along the valley he is shadowed by tens of thousands of mounted Parthian archers led by king
Tiridates I. The city opens its gates to Corbulo, just as it had to
Germanicus four decades before. When he takes the 250-year-old Armenian capital, Corbulo gives the residents a few hours to collect their valuables and burns the city to the ground.
The apostle
Paul returns to
Jerusalem with the money he has collected to give the Christian community there. However, he is accused of defiling the temple, and is arrested and imprisoned in
Caesarea. He then invokes his
Roman citizenship and is sent to
Rome to be judged.
March 23 – Emperor
Nero orders the murder of his mother
Agrippina the Younger. He tries to kill her through a planned
shipwreck, but when she survives, he has her executed and frames it as a
suicide.
Due to lack of reliable demographic data, estimates of the world population in the 1st century vary wildly, with estimates for AD 1 varying from 150[14] to 300[15] million. Demographers typically do not attempt to estimate most specific years in antiquity, instead giving approximate numbers for round years such as AD 1 or AD 200. However, attempts at reconstructing the world population in more specific years have been made, with Manning (2008) tentatively estimating the world population in AD 50 as 248 million.[16]
^Haub (1995): "By 1 A.D., the world may have held about 300 million people. One estimate of the population of the Roman Empire, from Spain to Asia Minor, in 14 A.D. is 45 million. However, other historians set the figure twice as high, suggesting how imprecise population estimates of early historical periods can be."
^LeGlay, Marcel; Voisin, Jean-Louis; Le Bohec, Yann (2001). A History of Rome (Second ed.). Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell. p. 270.
ISBN0-631-21858-0.
^Seddon, Keith H.
"Epictetus (55–135 C.E." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved February 20, 2024.
^MacDonald, Alexander Hugh.
"Tacitus". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved February 22, 2024.
The 50s decade ran from January 1, 50, to December 31, 59. It was the sixth decade in the
Anno Domini/
Common Era, if the nine-year period from 1 AD to 9 AD is considered as a "decade".
The
Council of Jerusalem was held early in the decade: The council decided that
Gentile converts to Christianity were not obligated to keep most of the fasts, and other specific rituals, including the rules concerning
circumcision of males.[1] The Council did, however, retain the prohibitions on eating
blood,
meat containing blood, and meat of animals that were strangled, and on
fornication and
idolatry.
Literary works of this decade include De Vita Beata (which explains that the pursuit of
happiness is the pursuit of
reason) and De Clementia (an instructional contrast between the good ruler and a tyrant), both of which were written by
Seneca the Younger.
Manning (2008) tentatively estimates the world population in AD 50 as 248 million.
In
Judea a
Roman soldier seizes and burns a
Torah-scroll.
ProcuratorCumanus has the culprit beheaded, calming down the
Jews and delaying for two decades the outbreak of their revolt.[2]
The captured Caratacus is exhibited in chains in Claudius'
triumph in
Rome, but his dignified demeanour persuades the emperor to spare his life and allow his family to live free in the
capital for a short period of time.
In
Britain, governor
Publius Ostorius Scapula dies while campaigning against the
Silures of south
Wales. Following his death, the Roman
Second Legion are heavily defeated by the Silures. His replacement is
Aulus Didius Gallus, who quells the rebellion and consolidates the gains the Romans have so far made, but does not seek new ones.
Claudius secures a senatorial decree that gives jurisdiction in financial cases to imperial
procurators. This marks a significant strengthening of imperial powers at the expense of the
Senate.
June 9 –
Nero is adopted by Claudius as his son and marries his 14-year-old daughter
Claudia Octavia.
Claudius accepts Nero as his successor, to the detriment of
Britannicus, his son by his first wife,
Valeria Messalina.
Distinct fellowships within the reign of Centricles[check spelling] fall to the dominion of
Gaulic barbarians, which provoke an enclave uprising in the foothills of what are now the
Alps.
Paul writes his epistle to Galatians from
Ephesus (approximately date)
Arts and sciences
Seneca writes the tragedy Agamemnon, which he intends to be read as the last chapter of a trilogy including two of his other tragedies, Medea and Edipus.
Under Nero,
Rome annexes
Aden to protect the maritime route between
Alexandria and Asia.
Two
centurions are sent to the south of
Egypt to find the source of the
Nile, and possible new provinces. They report that while there are many cities in the desert, the area seems too poor to be worthy of conquest.
Corbulo recruits Syrian
auxiliary units in the region and stations them in border
forts, with orders from Nero not to provoke the
Parthians.
Violence erupts in
Caesarea regarding a local ordinance restricting the
civil rights of Jews, creating clashes between Jews and pagans. The Roman garrison, made up of Syrians, takes the side of the pagans. The Jews, armed with clubs and swords, meet in the marketplace. The governor of Judea,
Antonius Felix, orders his troops to charge. The violence continues and Felix asks Nero to arbitrate. Nero sides with the pagans, and relegates the Jews to second-class citizens. This decision does nothing but increase the Jews' anger.
In
Britain,
Venutius leads a revolt against his ex-wife
Cartimandua, queen of the
Brigantes and a Roman ally. Governor
Aulus Didius Gallus sends her military aid, and after some indecisive fighting a legion commanded by
Caesius Nasica defeats the rebels (approximate date – some time between 52 and 57).
Winter – Domitius Corbulo marches his legions (
Legio VI Ferrata and Legio X) into the mountains of
Cappadocia and makes camp. He gives the men a harsh training, twenty-five-mile marches and weapons drills.
Emperor
Guang Wu grants
Nakoku (located around modern-day
Fukuoka City) a golden seal, being the oldest evidence of
writing in
Japan. In return King Na sends an envoy to
China.
March 29 – Guang Wu dies after a 32-year reign and is succeeded by his son
Han Mingdi.[10]
Roman-Parthian War:
Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo, commander in the East, launches his Armenian offensive against
Parthia. He leads a Roman army (four
legions) through the mountainous country of
Armenia, against the fortress at Volandum, to the southwest of
Artaxata. After a siege of eight hours Corbulo takes the city; the
legionnaires massacre the defenders and plunder Volandum to their hearts' content.
Corbulo marches to Artaxata crossing the
Aras River; along the valley he is shadowed by tens of thousands of mounted Parthian archers led by king
Tiridates I. The city opens its gates to Corbulo, just as it had to
Germanicus four decades before. When he takes the 250-year-old Armenian capital, Corbulo gives the residents a few hours to collect their valuables and burns the city to the ground.
The apostle
Paul returns to
Jerusalem with the money he has collected to give the Christian community there. However, he is accused of defiling the temple, and is arrested and imprisoned in
Caesarea. He then invokes his
Roman citizenship and is sent to
Rome to be judged.
March 23 – Emperor
Nero orders the murder of his mother
Agrippina the Younger. He tries to kill her through a planned
shipwreck, but when she survives, he has her executed and frames it as a
suicide.
Due to lack of reliable demographic data, estimates of the world population in the 1st century vary wildly, with estimates for AD 1 varying from 150[14] to 300[15] million. Demographers typically do not attempt to estimate most specific years in antiquity, instead giving approximate numbers for round years such as AD 1 or AD 200. However, attempts at reconstructing the world population in more specific years have been made, with Manning (2008) tentatively estimating the world population in AD 50 as 248 million.[16]
^Haub (1995): "By 1 A.D., the world may have held about 300 million people. One estimate of the population of the Roman Empire, from Spain to Asia Minor, in 14 A.D. is 45 million. However, other historians set the figure twice as high, suggesting how imprecise population estimates of early historical periods can be."
^LeGlay, Marcel; Voisin, Jean-Louis; Le Bohec, Yann (2001). A History of Rome (Second ed.). Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell. p. 270.
ISBN0-631-21858-0.
^Seddon, Keith H.
"Epictetus (55–135 C.E." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved February 20, 2024.
^MacDonald, Alexander Hugh.
"Tacitus". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved February 22, 2024.