__NOTOC__ Year 88 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sulla and Rufus (or, less frequently, year 666 ''

Ab urbe condita ''Ab urbe condita'' ( 'from the founding of the City'), or ''anno urbis conditae'' (; 'in the year since the city's founding'), abbreviated as AUC or AVC, expresses a date in years since 753 BC, the traditional founding of Rome. It is an exp ...

'') and the First Year of Houyuan. The denomination 88 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the

Anno Domini The terms (AD) and before Christ (BC) are used to label or number years in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The term is Medieval Latin and means 'in the year of the Lord', but is often presented using "our Lord" instead of "the Lord", ...

calendar era A calendar era is the period of time elapsed since one ''epoch'' of a calendar and, if it exists, before the next one. For example, it is the year as per the Gregorian calendar, which numbers its years in the Western Christian era (the Coptic ...

became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Events

By place

Roman Republic

* The Social War ends with the defeat of the Italian allies by the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

Lucius Cornelius Sulla Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (; 138–78 BC), commonly known as Sulla, was a Roman general and statesman. He won the first large-scale civil war in Roman history and became the first man of the Republic to seize power through force. Sulla had t ...

, age 50, becomes the first Roman commander to march on

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

with his army and to capture the city by force. This extraordinary act is prompted by his desire to maintain his proconsular command for the

First Mithridatic War The First Mithridatic War (89–85 BC) was a war challenging the Roman Republic's expanding empire and rule over the Greek world. In this conflict, the Kingdom of Pontus and many Greek cities rebelling against Roman rule were led by Mithridates ...

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

. * The First

Roman Civil War This is a list of civil wars and organized civil disorder, revolts and rebellions in ancient Rome (Roman Kingdom, Roman Republic, and Roman Empire) until the fall of the Western Roman Empire (753 BCE – 476 CE). For the Eastern Roman Empire or B ...

starts with an uprising led by

Gaius Marius Gaius Marius (; – 13 January 86 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. Victor of the Cimbric and Jugurthine wars, he held the office of consul an unprecedented seven times during his career. He was also noted for his important refor ...

, but the populares under the

tribune Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs acted as a check on the ...

P. Sulpicius Rufus are crushed by the optimates under Sulla. Marius flees to

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. * First Civil War in Rome, between Marius and Sulla. Some Italian cities are destroyed: for instance,

Forlì Forlì ( , ; rgn, Furlè ; la, Forum Livii) is a ''comune'' (municipality) and city in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, and is the capital of the province of Forlì-Cesena. It is the central city of Romagna. The city is situated along the Via E ...

, rebuilt by the praetor Livius Clodius afterwards. * The

Dardani The Dardani (; grc, Δαρδάνιοι, Δάρδανοι; la, Dardani) or Dardanians were a Paleo-Balkan people, who lived in a region that was named Dardania after their settlement there. They were among the oldest Balkan peoples, and their ...

Scordisci The Scordisci ( el, Σκορδίσκοι) were a Celtic Iron Age cultural group centered in the territory of present-day Serbia, at the confluence of the Savus (Sava), Dravus (Drava), Margus (Morava) and Danube rivers. They were historically n ...

, and the

Maedi The Maedi (also ''Maidans'', ''Maedans'', or ''Medi''; grc, Μαῖδοι or Μαιδοί) were a Thracian tribe in antiquity. In historic times, they occupied the area between Paionia and Thrace, on the southwestern fringes of Thrace, along t ...

attack the Roman province of Macedonia.

Greece

* May – King

Mithridates VI Mithridates or Mithradates VI Eupator ( grc-gre, Μιθραδάτης; 135–63 BC) was ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus in northern Anatolia from 120 to 63 BC, and one of the Roman Republic's most formidable and determined opponents. He was an e ...

Pontus Pontus or Pontos may refer to: * Short Latin name for the Pontus Euxinus, the Greek name for the Black Sea (aka the Euxine sea) * Pontus (mythology), a sea god in Greek mythology * Pontus (region), on the southern coast of the Black Sea, in modern ...

invades

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. Defeating the Roman forces four times in succession, he conquers

Bithynia Bithynia (; Koine Greek: , ''Bithynía'') was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor (present-day Turkey), adjoining the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, and the Black Sea. It bordered Mysia to the southwest, Pa ...

Phrygia In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; grc, Φρυγία, ''Phrygía'' ) was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. After its conquest, it became a region of the great empires ...

Mysia Mysia (UK , US or ; el, Μυσία; lat, Mysia; tr, Misya) was a region in the northwest of ancient Asia Minor (Anatolia, Asian part of modern Turkey). It was located on the south coast of the Sea of Marmara. It was bounded by Bithynia on th ...

Lycia Lycia (Lycian language, Lycian: 𐊗𐊕𐊐𐊎𐊆𐊖 ''Trm̃mis''; el, Λυκία, ; tr, Likya) was a state or nationality that flourished in Anatolia from 15–14th centuries BC (as Lukka) to 546 BC. It bordered the Mediterranean ...

Pamphylia Pamphylia (; grc, Παμφυλία, ''Pamphylía'') was a region in the south of Asia Minor, between Lycia and Cilicia, extending from the Mediterranean to Mount Taurus (all in modern-day Antalya province, Turkey). It was bounded on the north by ...

Ionia Ionia () was an ancient region on the western coast of Anatolia, to the south of present-day Izmir. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Greek settlements. Never a unified state, it was named after the Ionian ...

and

Cappadocia Cappadocia or Capadocia (; tr, Kapadokya), is a historical region in Central Anatolia, Turkey. It largely is in the provinces Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray, Kırşehir, Sivas and Niğde. According to Herodotus, in the time of the Ionian Revo ...

. The Roman province of

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

is dismantled. On the king's orders, the local authorities in every city of the province round up and put to death all resident Italians in a single day (App.''Mith''.§§85–91). Plutarch (Sulla 24.4) says that 150,000 are killed, other sources calculate a figure of 80,000 people.

China

Emperor Wu of Han Emperor Wu of Han (156 – 29 March 87BC), formally enshrined as Emperor Wu the Filial (), born Liu Che (劉徹) and courtesy name Tong (通), was the seventh emperor of the Han dynasty of ancient China, ruling from 141 to 87 BC. His reign la ...

makes preparations for the six-year-old

Liu Fuling Emperor Zhao of Han (Liu Fuling 劉弗陵; 94 BC – 5 June 74 BC) was the emperor of the Western Han dynasty from 87 to 74 BC. Emperor Zhao was the youngest son of Emperor Wu of Han. By the time he was born, Emperor Wu was already 62. Prince Fu ...

to be made Crown Prince and establishes

Huo Guang Huo Guang (; died 68 BC), courtesy name Zimeng (子孟), was a Chinese military general and politician who served as the dominant state official of the Western Han dynasty from 87 BCE until his death in 68 BCE. The younger half-brother of the re ...

as the future regent. The emperor executes Fuling's mother

Lady Gouyi Lady Gouyi (; 113–88 BC), also known as Zhao Jieyu (; Consort Zhao), or Zhao Gouyi (趙鉤弋), was a consort of Emperor Wu of the Chinese Han dynasty, and the mother of Emperor Zhao of Han. Near the end of his long reign, Emperor Wu made her ...

so that she cannot dominate the state while Fuling is a child emperor.

Births

Deaths

Demetrius III Eucaerus Demetrius III Theos Philopator Soter Philometor Euergetes Callinicus ( grc, Δημήτριος θεός Φιλοπάτωρ σωτήρ Φιλομήτωρ Εὐεργέτης Καλλίνικος, surnamed Eucaerus; between 124 and 109 BCafter 8 ...

, king of the

Seleucid Empire The Seleucid Empire (; grc, Βασιλεία τῶν Σελευκιδῶν, ''Basileía tōn Seleukidōn'') was a Greek state in West Asia that existed during the Hellenistic period from 312 BC to 63 BC. The Seleucid Empire was founded by the ...

* Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, Roman consul *

, mother of Zhao of Han (b.

113 113 may refer to: *113 (number), a natural number *AD 113, a year * 113 BC, a year *113 (band), a French hip hop group * 113 (MBTA bus), Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority bus route * 113 (New Jersey bus), Ironbound Garage in Newark and run ...

) * Manius Aquillius, Roman consul and general *

Ptolemy X Alexander I Ptolemy X Alexander I ( gr, Πτολεμαῖος Ἀλέξανδρος, ''Ptolemaĩos Aléxandros'') was King of Egypt from 107 BC till his death in 88 BC, in co-regency with his mother Cleopatra III as Ptolemy Philometor Soter until 101 BC, and ...

, king (

pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: ''pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the an ...

) of

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

Publius Sulpicius Rufus Publius Sulpicius Rufus (124–88 BC) was a Roman politician and orator whose attempts to pass controversial laws with the help of mob violence helped trigger the first civil war of the Roman Republic. His actions kindled the deadly rivalry betwe ...

, Roman statesman * Quintus Mucius Scaevola Augur, Roman consul *

Quintus Poppaedius Silo Quintus Poppaedius Silo (sometimes seen as ''Pompaedius'') (died 88 BC) was a leader of the Italian tribe of the Marsi and one of the leaders of the Italian rebels during the Social War against Rome. Poppaedius was called the 'heart and soul' of t ...

, Italian tribe leader

References

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