__NOTOC__ Year 378 ( CCCLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Valens and Augustus (or, less frequently, year 1131 ''

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 ...

''). The denomination 378 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Events

By place

Roman Empire

* Spring – Emperor Valens returns to Constantinople and mobilises an army (40,000 men). He appoints Sebastianus, newly arrived from Italy, as '' magister militum'' to reorganize the Roman armies in Thrace. *

February February is the second month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The month has 28 days in common years or 29 in leap years, with the 29th day being called the ''leap day''. It is the first of five months not to have 31 days (th ...

– The

Lentienses The Lentienses (German ''Lentienser'') were a 4th-century Germanic tribe associated with the Alemanni, in the region between the river Danube in the North, the river Iller in the East, and Lake Constance in the South, in what is now southern Germany ...

(part of the

Alemanni The Alemanni or Alamanni, were a confederation of Germanic tribes * * * on the Upper Rhine River. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Caracalla of 213, the Alemanni captured the in 260, and later expanded into pres ...

) cross the frozen Rhine and raid the countryside. They are driven back by Roman '' auxilia palatina'' (Celtae and Petulantes), who defend the western frontier. *

May May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the third of seven months to have a length of 31 days. May is a month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, May ...

– Battle of Argentovaria: Emperor Gratian is forced to recall the army he has sent East. The Lentienses are defeated by

Mallobaudes Mallobaudes or Mellobaudes was a 4th-century Frankish king who also held the Roman title of ''comes domesticorum''. In 354 he was a ''tribunus armaturarum'' in the Roman army in Gaul, where he served under Silvanus, who usurped power in 355. Mall ...

near

Colmar Colmar (, ; Alsatian: ' ; German during 1871–1918 and 1940–1945: ') is a city and commune in the Haut-Rhin department and Grand Est region of north-eastern France. The third-largest commune in Alsace (after Strasbourg and Mulhouse), it is ...

( France). Gratian gains the title ''Alemannicus Maximus''. *

Gothic War Gothic War may refer to: *Gothic War (248–253), battles and plundering carried out by the Goths and their allies in the Roman Empire. *Gothic War (367–369), a war of Thervingi against the Eastern Roman Empire in which the Goths retreated to Mont ...

: Valens sends Sebastian with a body of picked troops (2,000 men) to Thrace and renews the guerrilla war against the Goths. He chases down small groups of Gothic raiders around

Adrianople Edirne (, ), formerly known as Adrianople or Hadrianopolis (Greek: Άδριανούπολις), is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders, ...

. * Fritigern concentrates his army at

Cabyle Cabyle or Kabyle ( grc, Καβύλη), also known as Calybe or Kalybe (Καλύβη), is a town in the interior of ancient Thrace, west of Develtus, on the river Tonsus. The town later bore the names of Diospolis (Διὸς Πόλις), and Goloë ...

( Bulgaria). The Goths are mainly centred in the river valleys south of the

Balkan Mountains The Balkan mountain range (, , known locally also as Stara planina) is a mountain range in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula in Southeastern Europe. The range is conventionally taken to begin at the peak of Vrashka Chuka on the border betw ...

, around the towns of Beroea, Cabyle and Dibaltum. * July – Frigeridus, Roman general, fortifies the Succi ( Ihtiman) Pass to prevent the "barbarians" from breaking out to the north-west (

Pannonia Pannonia (, ) was a province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. Pannonia was located in the territory that is now wes ...

). * Gratian sets out from Lauriacum ( Austria) with a body of light armed troops. His force is small enough to travel by boat down the Danube. He halts for four days at Sirmium ( Serbia) suffering from fever. * August – Gratian continues down the Danube to the "Camp of Mars" (frontier

fortress A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

near modern Niš), where he loses several men in an ambush by a band of Alans. * Fritigern strikes south from Cabyle, following the

Tundzha River The Tundzha ( bg, Тунджа , tr, Tunca , el, Τόνζος ) is a river in Bulgaria and Turkey (known in antiquity as the Tonsus) and the most significant tributary of the Maritsa, emptying into it on Turkish territory near Edirne. The rive ...

towards Adrianople, and tries to get behind the

supply lines Military supply-chain management is a cross-functional approach to procuring, producing and delivering products and services for military materiel applications. Military supply chain management includes sub-suppliers, suppliers, internal inf ...

to Constantinople. * Roman reconnaissance detects the Goths. Valens, already west of Adrianople, turns back and establishes a fortified camp outside the city. * The Goths, with their wagons and families vulnerable to attack, withdraw back to the north. Roman scouts fail to detect the Greuthungi cavalry foraging further up the Tundzha valley. * Fritigern sends a Christian priest to the Roman camp with an offer of terms and a letter for Valens. The peace overtures are rejected. * August 9 – Battle of Adrianople: A large

Roman army The Roman army (Latin: ) was the armed forces deployed by the Romans throughout the duration of Ancient Rome, from the Roman Kingdom (c. 500 BC) to the Roman Republic (500–31 BC) and the Roman Empire (31 BC–395 AD), and its medieval continu ...

is defeated by the Thervingi. Valens is killed along with two-thirds of his army. * The Goths attack Adrianople; they attempt to scale the

city walls A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...

with ladders but are repelled by the defenders, who drop lumps of masonry. * The Goths, supported by the Huns, move on to Constantinople. Their progress is checked by the Saracens, recruited from Arab tribes who control the eastern fringes of the empire. * October – The Greuthungi, faced with food shortages, split off and move west into Pannonia. Followed by their families, they raid villages and farmland.

Mesoamerica

* Siyaj K'ak' begins to replace Mayan kings with relatives of

Spearthrower Owl "Spearthrower Owl" is the name commonly given to a Mesoamerican personage from the Early Classic period, who is identified in Maya inscriptions and iconography. Mayanist David Stuart has suggested that Spearthrower Owl was a ruler of Teotihuacan ...

, emperor of Teotihuacan. * Siyaj K'ak' conquers Waka on January 8. * Siyaj K'ak' conquers Tikal on January 16. * Siyaj K'ak' conquers

Uaxactun Uaxactun (pronounced ) is an ancient sacred place of the Maya civilization, located in the Petén Basin region of the Maya lowlands, in the present-day department of Petén, Guatemala. The site lies some north of the major center of Tikal. The ...

By topic

Architecture

* Valens completes the aqueduct of Constantinople begun by

Constantine I Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to convert to Christianity. Born in Naissus, Dacia Mediterranea ...

Religion

* Gregory of Nazianzus is ordained bishop of Constantinople. * Pope Damasus I is accused of adultery but is exonerated by Gratian.

Births

Germanus of Auxerre Germanus of Auxerre ( la, Germanus Antissiodorensis; cy, Garmon Sant; french: Saint Germain l'Auxerrois; 378 – c. 442–448 AD) was a western Roman clergyman who was bishop of Autissiodorum in Late Antique Gaul. He abandoned a career as a h ...

, Christian bishop (approximate date)

Deaths

* August 9 ** Sebastianus, Roman general ('' magister peditum'') ** Traianus, Roman general ('' magister militum'') ** Valens, Roman consul and emperor (b.

328 __NOTOC__ Year 328 ( CCCXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Ianuarinus and Iustus (or, less frequently, year 1081 ' ...

) * Flavius Arintheus, Roman politician and general *

Titus of Bostra Titus of Bostra (died c. 378) was a Christian theologian and bishop. Sozomen names Titus among the great men of the time of Constantius. Life Sozomen also tells of a mean trick played upon Titus by Julian the Apostate. It was expected that the ...

, Christian bishop and theologian

References

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