__NOTOC__ Year 99 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Antonius and Albinus (or, less frequently, year 655 '' Ab urbe condita'') and the Second Year of Tianhan. The denomination 99 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 Copti ...

became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Events

By place

Roman Republic

Consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...

s: Aulus Postumius Albinus and Marcus Antonius.

Asia

* Han-Xiongnu War :* The Han general

Li Guangli Li Guangli (died 88 BC) was a Chinese military general of the Western Han dynasty and a member of the Li family favoured by Emperor Wu of Han. His brother Li Yannian was also close to Emperor Wu. With the suicide of Emperor Wu's crown prince Li ...

marches west from

Jiuquan Jiuquan, formerly known as Suzhou, is a prefecture-level city in the northwesternmost part of Gansu Province in the People's Republic of China. It is more than wide from east to west, occupying , although its built-up area is mostly located in i ...

with 30,000 cavalrymen to attack the

Tuqi King The Tuqi King () was a high office of the Xiongnu, a title also known to the Chinese as "worthy/wise prince/king".Chen (1999), p. 237–277Ma (2005), p. 397–411 In the 6th to 8th centuries, Chinese annalists used the expression 贤王 ''Xian wang ...

of the Right in the

Tian Shan The Tian Shan,, , otk, 𐰴𐰣 𐱅𐰭𐰼𐰃, , tr, Tanrı Dağı, mn, Тэнгэр уул, , ug, تەڭرىتاغ, , , kk, Тәңіртауы / Алатау, , , ky, Теңир-Тоо / Ала-Тоо, , , uz, Tyan-Shan / Tangritog‘ ...

Mountains. After an initial victory, the Han are surrounded, and they lose more than 20,000 men while breaking out of the encirclement. :* The Han generals

Lu Bode Lu Bode (; –?) was a Chinese military leader during the Western Han dynasty. Lu was from Pingzhou (平州) in the Xihe (西河) region of western China (present-day Lishi District of Lüliang, Shanxi). In 119 BCE, Emperor Wu of Han dispatche ...

and

Gongsun Ao Gongsun Ao (died 96 BCE) was a Chinese military commander and general during the Western Han Dynasty of China. He was noted for participating in the imperial campaigns against the Xiongnu. Life Gongsun Ao was from Beidi which is presently in mo ...

march into the Zhuoxie Mountains, but they encounter no Xiongnu forces and turn back. :* Autumn - The Han general

Li Ling Li Ling (, died 74 BC), courtesy name Shaoqing (少卿), was a Chinese military general of the Han Dynasty who served during the reign of Emperor Wu (汉武帝) and later defected to the Xiongnu after being defeated in an expedition in 99 BC. ...

leads 5000 crack infantry and a cavalry force from

Juyan Lake The Juyan Lake (; mn, Gashuun Nuur (shown on Chinese maps as 嘎顺淖尔 ''Gāshùn nào'ěr'' or 嘎顺诺尔, ''Gāshùn nuò'ěr'') for western lake, Sogo Nuur for eastern lake) is a former lake in the Gobi desert. It is located in the wes ...

into the eastern

Altay Mountains The Altai Mountains (), also spelled Altay Mountains, are a mountain range in Central and East Asia, where Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan converge, and where the rivers Irtysh and Ob have their headwaters. The massif merges with the ...

but is pursued by Qiedihou Chanyu. After a desperate fighting retreat across more than 500km of Xiongnu territory, the Han expedition runs out of arrows. Li Ling surrenders and his force disintegrates in the Tihan Mountains, about 50km from the

Great Wall of China The Great Wall of China (, literally "ten thousand ''li'' wall") is a series of fortifications that were built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and Imperial China as protection against various nomadic gro ...

. :* Emperor Wu of Han has the 'Grand Historian' Sima Qian castrated after the latter argues in defense of Li Ling's surrender.

Births

Lucretius Titus Lucretius Carus ( , ; – ) was a Roman poet and philosopher. His only known work is the philosophical poem ''De rerum natura'', a didactic work about the tenets and philosophy of Epicureanism, and which usually is translated into En ...

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

prominent philosopher and poet (d. c. 55 BC)

Deaths

References

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