1.
3rd century BC
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The 3rd century BC started the first day of 300 BC and ended the last day of 201 BC. It is considered part of the Classical era, epoch, or historical period and this balance was shattered when conflict arose between Carthage and the Roman Republic. In the following decades, the Carthaginian Republic was first humbled and then destroyed by the Romans in the first, following the Second Punic War, Rome became the most important power in the western Mediterranean. In India, Ashoka ruled the Maurya Empire, the Pandya, Chola and Chera dynasties of the classical age flourished in the ancient Tamil country. The Protohistoric Period began in the Korean peninsula, the Xiongnu were at the height of their power in Mongolia. Ptolemy finally brings the region of Cyrene under his control. He places the region under the rule of his stepson Magas, after failing to decisively defeat the Romans, Pyrrhus of Epirus withdraws from Italy. Gallic migration to Macedon, Thrace and Galatia,273 BC –232 BC, Ashoka ruled the Maurya Empire. 265 BC, Kalinga War takes place between Ashoka and the kingdom of Kalinga,264 BC, First Punic War breaks out between the Carthaginian Empire and the Roman Republic. 261 BC, Antiochus II Theos, 2nd son, at the death of his father becomes emperor of the Seleucid empire,260 BC, Battle of Changping between the State of Qin and the State of Zhao in China, a decisive Qin victory. 260 BC, Ashoka inscribes the Edicts of Ashoka,258 BC, An Dương Vương overthrows the Hồng Bàng Dynasty in Viet Nam. 257 BC, Thục Dynasty takes over Viet Nam,241 BC, First Punic War ends in Carthaginian defeat. Rome demands large reparations, and annexes Sicily and Corsica,230 BC, The Chinese Qin State conquers Han. 230 BC, Simuka declares independence from Mauryan rule and establishes the Satavahana Empire,227 BC, The attempted assassination of Ying Zheng, king of Qin State, by Jing Ke from Yan failed. 225 BC, A large Gallic army is defeated by the Romans at the Battle of Telamon,225 BC, The Chinese Qin State conquers Wei.223 BC, The Chinese Qin State conquers Chu.222 BC, The Chinese Qin State conquers Yan and Zhao. 221 BC, With the conquest of the State of Qi, Qin Shi Huang unifies the whole of China into one empire that also included northern Vietnam,218 BC, Second Punic War begins. Hannibal makes his famous Alpine crossing to invade Italy, the Roman heartland,216 BC, Hannibal famously crushed the Roman legions at the Battle of Cannae. 214 BC, Qin Shi Huang of the Chinese Qin Dynasty ordered construction of the Great Wall of China,208 BC, Zhao Tuo defeats the Vietnamese king An Dương Vương
2.
Ptolemaic dynasty
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Their rule lasted for 275 years, from 305 to 30 BC. They were the last dynasty of ancient Egypt, Ptolemy, one of the seven somatophylakes who served as Alexander the Greats generals and deputies, was appointed satrap of Egypt after Alexanders death in 323 BC. In 305 BC, he declared himself Ptolemy I, later known as Sōter Saviour, the Egyptians soon accepted the Ptolemies as the successors to the pharaohs of independent Egypt. Ptolemys family ruled Egypt until the Roman conquest of 30 BC, all the male rulers of the dynasty took the name Ptolemy. Ptolemaic queens regnant, some of whom were the sisters of their husbands, were usually called Cleopatra, Arsinoe or Berenice. The most famous member of the line was the last queen, Cleopatra VII and her apparent suicide at the conquest by Rome marked the end of Ptolemaic rule in Egypt. Dates in brackets represent the dates of the Ptolemaic pharaohs. They frequently ruled jointly with their wives, who were also their sisters. Of these, one of the last and most famous was Cleopatra, several systems exist for numbering the later rulers, the one used here is the one most widely used by modern scholars. Arsinoe IV, in opposition to Cleopatra Ptolemy Keraunos - eldest son of Ptolemy I Soter, Ptolemy Apion - son of Ptolemy VIII Physcon. Ptolemy Philadelphus - son of Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII, Ptolemy of Mauretania - son of King Juba II of Numidia and Mauretania and Cleopatra Selene II, daughter of Cleopatra VII and Mark Antony. Contemporaries describe a number of the Ptolemaic dynasty members as extremely obese, whilst sculptures and coins reveal prominent eyes, familial Graves disease could explain the swollen necks and eye prominence, although this is unlikely to occur in the presence of morbid obesity. A. Lampela, Rome and the Ptolemies of Egypt, the development of their political relations 273-80 B. C. J. G. Manning, The Last Pharaohs, Egypt Under the Ptolemies, 305-30 BC. Livius. org, Ptolemies — by Jona Lendering
3.
Berber calendar
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The Berber calendar is the agricultural calendar traditionally used by Berbers. It is also known as the fellaḥi, the calendar is utilized to regulate the seasonal agricultural works. It is used in lieu of the Islamic calendar, a calendar considered ill-adapted for agriculture because it does not relate to seasonal cycles. The current Berber calendar is a legacy of the Roman province of Mauretania Caesariensis, the latter calendar was used in Europe before the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, with month names derived from Latin. Berber populations previously used various indigenous calendars, such as that of the Guanche autochthones of the Canary Islands, however, relatively little is known of these ancient calendrical systems. Not much is known about the division of time among the ancient Berbers, some elements of a pre-Islamic, and almost certainly a pre-Roman calendar, emerge from some medieval writings, analyzed by Nico van den Boogert. Some correspondences with the traditional Tuareg calendar suggest that in antiquity there existed, with degree of diffusion. According to a 17th-century manuscript by Tomás Marín de Cubas, they computed their year, called Acano and it began in summer, when the sun enters in Cancer, on June 21, at the first conjunction they celebrated nine festival days for the crop. The name of one month is known in the native language. It seems it was the month of the year, corresponding to August. Such a name, in case it was made up by something like *wen that of + smet, may correspond, in the list of medieval Berber month names, with the ninth and tenth months, but data are too scarce for this hypothesis to be deepened. The agricultural Berber calendar still in use is almost certainly derived from the Julian calendar, the only slight discrepancy lies in that the extra day in leap years is not usually added at the end of February, but at the end of the year. Jean Servier has doubted that the calendar descends directly from the Julian calendar of the Latin era, there are standard forms for the names of the Amazigh calendar. The table below provides the forms used in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. In some areas they may be different due to communication and manipulation by the government. Moreover, pronunciation differs according to the region, the coldest period is made up by 20 white nights, from 12 to 31 dujamber, and 20 black nights, beginning on the first day of yennayer, corresponding to the Gregorian 14 January. The first day of the year is celebrated in various ways in the different parts of North Africa, a widespread tradition is a meal with particular foods, which vary from region to region, but in many zones it is provided by the sacrifice of an animal. In Algeria, such a holiday is celebrated even by people who dont use the Berber calendar in daily life
4.
Hebrew calendar
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The Hebrew or Jewish calendar is a lunisolar calendar used today predominantly for Jewish religious observances. It determines the dates for Jewish holidays and the public reading of Torah portions, yahrzeits. The present Hebrew calendar is the product of evolution, including a Babylonian influence, when to add it was based on observation of natural agriculture-related events in Israel. Through the Amoraic period and into the Geonic period, this system was displaced by the mathematical rules used today. The principles and rules were codified by Maimonides in the Mishneh Torah in the 12th century. Maimonides work also replaced counting years since the destruction of the Temple with the modern creation-era Anno Mundi, the era used since the Middle Ages is the Anno Mundi epoch. As with Anno Domini, the words or abbreviation for Anno Mundi for the era should properly precede the date rather than follow it, AM5777 began at sunset on 2 October 2016 and will end at sunset on 20 September 2017. The Jewish day is of no fixed length, the Jewish day is modeled on the reference to. there was evening and there was morning. In the creation account in the first chapter of Genesis, based on the classic rabbinic interpretation of this text, a day in the rabbinic Hebrew calendar runs from sunset to the next sunset. In most populated parts of the world this is always approximately 24 standard hours, halachically, a day ends and a new one starts when three stars are visible in the sky. The time between sunset and the time when the three stars are visible is known as bein hashmashot, and there are differences of opinion as to which day it falls into for some uses. This may be relevant, for example, in determining the date of birth of a child born during that gap, there is no clock in the Jewish scheme, so that the local civil clock is used. The civil clock is used only as a reference point – in expressions such as, Shabbat starts at. In Judaism, an hour is defined as 1/12 of the time from sunrise to sunset, so, during the winter, an hour can be less than 60 minutes. This proportional hour is known as a shaah zmanit, a Jewish hour is divided into 1080 halakim or parts. A part is 3⅓ seconds or 1/18 minute, the ultimate ancestor of the helek was a small Babylonian time period called a barleycorn, itself equal to 1/72 of a Babylonian time degree. These measures are not generally used for everyday purposes, instead of the international date line convention, there are varying opinions as to where the day changes. One opinion uses the antimeridian of Jerusalem, the weekdays start with Sunday and proceed to Saturday, Shabbat
5.
2nd century BC
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The 2nd century BC started the first day of 200 BC and ended the last day of 101 BC. It is considered part of the Classical era, although depending on the region being studied and it also considered to be the end of the Axial Age. In the context of the Eastern Mediterranean, it is referred to as the Hellenistic period. The end of the century witnessed the reform of the Roman Army from an army into a voluntary professional force, under the guidance of the noted general. In South Asia, the Mauryan Empire in India collapsed when Brihadnatha, the last emperor, was killed by Pushyamitra Shunga, a Mauryan general, in East Asia, China reached a high point under the Han Dynasty. The Han Empire extended its boundaries from Korea in the east to Vietnam in the South to the borders of modern-day Kazakhstan in the west. 198 BC, Battle of Panium, Antiochus III of the Seleucid empire defeats Ptolemy V of Egypt and takes control of Coele Syria,197 BC, Flamininus defeats Philip V of Macedon at the Battle of Cynoscephalae. 196 BC, Antiochus III conquers western Asia Minor and Thrace,196 BC, Empress Lüs execution of Han Xin leads to the Ying Bu rebellion. 195 BC, The War against Nabis marks the end of Spartan power in Greece,195 BC, Emperor Gaozu of Han dies and is succeeded by his son Hui. True power falls to Empress Lü.194 BC, Wiman establishes Wiman Joseon in Korea,192 BC, Antiochus III invades Greece, beginning the Roman-Syrian War. 192 BC, The Yue Kingdom of Eastern Ou established in Zhejiang with Chinese support,191 BC, Battle of Thermopylae, Glabrio drives Antiochus III out of Greece. 190 BC, Battle of Magnesia, Rome and Pergamon drive Antiochus III out of Asia Minor,189 BC, Galatian War, Vulso and Pergamon defeat Galatia. 188 BC, Emperor Hui of Han dies,185 BC, Ptolemy V defeats Ankhmakis and regains control of Upper Egypt. C.185 BC, Pushyamitra Shunga assassinates the last Maurya emperor,183 BC, Zhao Tuo of Nanyue declares himself Emperor and attacks China. 180 BC, Lü Clan Disturbance, with the death of Empress Lü, C.180 BC, Demetrius I of Bactria invades India, leading to the establishment of the Indo-Greek Kingdom. 179 BC, Tiberius Gracchus ends the First Celtiberian War,179 BC, Zhao Tuo of Nanyue makes peace with China. 176 BC, The Yuezhi attack the Xiongnu,175 BC, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, took possession of the Syrian throne, at the murder of his brother Seleucus IV Philopator, which rightly belonged to his nephew Demetrius I Soter. 174 BC, The Xiongnu defeat the Yuezhi, who emigrate to Ili valley,168 BC, Roman victory in the Battle of Pydna leads to the dissolution of the Antigonid Kingdom of Macedon
6.
1st century BC
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The 1st century BC, also known as the last century BC, started on the first day of 100 BC and ended on the last day of 1 BC. The AD/BC notation does not use a zero, however, astronomical year numbering does use a zero, as well as a minus sign. This is the 100th century in the Holocene calendar, it spans the years 9,901 to 10,000, octavians ascension to total power as the emperor Augustus is considered to mark the point in history where the Roman Republic ends and the Roman Empire begins. Some scholars refer to this event as the Roman Revolution and it is believed that the birth of Jesus, the central figure of Christianity took place at the close of this century. In the eastern mainland, the Han Dynasty began to decline, trapped in a difficult situation, the Xiongnu had to begin emigration to the west or attach themselves to the Han. 97 BC, Ariarathes VIII forced out of Cappadocia by Mithridates VI of Pontus,96 BC, Cyrene is left to the people of Rome by its ruler Ptolemy Apion. 96 BC, King Alexander Jannaeus of Judea wins the Siege of Gaza,95 BC, Tigranes the Great becomes king of Armenia 93 BC, Ariobarzanes I Philoromaios becomes king of Cappadocia with Roman backing. 91 BC, The assassination of Marcus Livius Drusus leads to the Social War in Italy 91 BC,89 BC, Mithridates VI of Pontuss invasion of Cappadocia leads to the First Mithridatic War with the Roman Republic. 88-87 BC, Sullas first civil war - Sulla marches on Rome and defeats Gaius Marius 86 BC,86 BC, The death of the regent of China Jin Midi unleashes the rivalry of his co-regents Shangguang Jie and Huo Guang. 85 BC, Sulla defeats the forces of Mithridates VI in Greece at the Battle of Orchomenus 85 BC,83 BC, Sulla makes peace with Mithridates VI and marches on Rome. 83-81 BC, Lucius Licinius Murena wages the Second Mithridatic War,82 BC, Sertorius flees from Sulla to North Africa via Hispania c.83 BC, Tigranes of Armenia takes control of Syria after the implosion of the Seleucid dynasty. 81 BC, End of Sullas second civil war - Sulla is appointed dictator of the Roman state,80 BC, Sertorius invades Hispania and sets up his own regime, beginning the Sertorian War. 80 BC, Conflict between the regents Shangguang Jie and Huo Guang results in the destruction of the Shangguang clan, C.80 BC, Maues, King of the Sakas, conquers Gandhara and Taxila. 77 BC, Fu Jiezi assassinated the king of Loulan on behalf of the Han dynasty, C.75 BC, Kanva dynasty replaces the Shunga dynasty in Magadha. 74 BC, Mithridates VI of Pontus disputes Nicomedes IV of Bithynias bequest of his kingdom to the Roman Republic,74 BC, Emperor Zhao of Han dies and is succeeded by the unsuitable Prince He of Changyi and then by Xuan. Huo Guang continues to be de facto ruler of China,73 BC, A slave rebellion led by the escaped gladiator Spartacus leads to the Third Servile War. 73-72 BC, Lucullus defeats Mithridates at Tenedos, Cyzicus, and the Rhyndacus and he flees east to Armenia 71 BC, Pompey the Great ends the Sertorian War,71 BC, Wusun and China attack the Xiongnu. 69 BC, Lucullus invades Armenia and reestablishes the Seleucids in Syria,68 BC, Pompey replaces Lucullus as leader of the Roman forces in the Third Mithridatic War
7.
Islamic calendar
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The Islamic, Muslim, or Hijri calendar is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to date events in many Muslim countries and it is also used by Muslims to determine the proper days of Islamic holidays and rituals, such as the annual period of fasting and the proper time for the pilgrimage to Mecca. The Islamic calendar employs the Hijri era whose epoch was retrospectively established as the Islamic New Year of AD622, during that year, Muhammad and his followers migrated from Mecca to Yathrib and established the first Muslim community, an event commemorated as the Hijra. In the West, dates in this era are usually denoted AH in parallel with the Christian, in Muslim countries, it is also sometimes denoted as H from its Arabic form. In English, years prior to the Hijra are reckoned as BH, the current Islamic year is 1438 AH. In the Gregorian calendar,1438 AH runs from approximately 3 October 2016 to 21 September 2017, four of the twelve Hijri months are considered sacred, Rajab, and the three consecutive months of Dhū al-Qa‘dah, Dhu al-Ḥijjah and Muḥarram. As the lunar calendar lags behind the solar calendar by about ten days every gregorian year, the cycle repeats every 33 lunar years. Each month of the Islamic calendar commences on the birth of the new lunar cycle, traditionally this is based on actual observation of the crescent marking the end of the previous lunar cycle and hence the previous month, thereby beginning the new month. Consequently, each month can have 29 or 30 days depending on the visibility of the moon, astronomical positioning of the earth and weather conditions. However, certain sects and groups, most notably Dawoodi Bohra Muslims and Shia Ismaili Muslims, use a tabular Islamic calendar in which odd-numbered months have thirty days, in Arabic, the first day of the week corresponds with Sunday of the planetary week. The Islamic weekdays, like those in the Hebrew and Baháí calendars, the Christian liturgical day, kept in monasteries, begins with vespers, which is evening, in line with the other Abrahamic traditions. Christian and planetary weekdays begin at the following midnight, Muslims gather for worship at a mosque at noon on gathering day which corresponds with Friday. Thus gathering day is regarded as the weekly day of rest. A few others have adopted the Saturday-Sunday weekend while making Friday a working day with a midday break to allow time off for worship. Inscriptions of the ancient South Arabian calendars reveal the use of a number of local calendars, at least some of these calendars followed the lunisolar system. For Central Arabia, especially Mecca, there is a lack of epigraphical evidence, both al-Biruni and al-Masudi suggest that the Ancient Arabs used the same month names as the Muslims, though they also record other month names used by the pre-Islamic Arabs. Nevertheless, the Islamic position equating Nisan with Dhū al-Ḥijja has prevailed, for a comparison between the Islamic and pre-Islamic months, see Islamic and Jahili months. The Islamic tradition is unanimous in stating that Arabs of Tihamah, Hejaz, the forbidden months were four months during which fighting is forbidden, listed as Rajab and the three months around the pilgrimage season, Dhu al-Qa‘dah, Dhu al-Hijjah, and Muharram
8.
Pig (zodiac)
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The Pig is the twelfth and the last sign of the Earthly Branches. In the continuous Sexagenary cycle, every twelfth year corresponds to Hai, there are five types of Pigs, named after the Chinese elements. In order, they are, Metal, Water, Wood, Fire, in the Japanese zodiac and Tibetan zodiac, the Pig is replaced by the boar. In the Dai zodiac, the Pig is replaced by the elephant, in the Gurung zodiac, the Pig is replaced by the deer. According to the myths, the Pig was the last to arrive when the Jade Emperor called for the great meeting, other sources said that Buddha called for a great meeting when he was about to leave the earth. Legend has it that just as the emperor was about to call it a day, the term lazy Pig is due here as the Pig got hungry during the race, promptly stopped for a feast then fell asleep. After the nap, the Pig continued the race and was named the 12th, other sources say that given his very stout form, he was just too slow a swimmer, and thus he could not do anything against the other animals. The natural element of the Pig is water, thus it is commonly associated with emotions and intuitions. Yet, given that along with the elements, the animal zodiac also follows a cycle, however, the Pig is yin, and this only the negative aspects of the elements can be attached to them, thus only 5 kinds of Pigs are found in the zodiac. Thus, a person born on 9 February 1899 still belongs to the preceding zodiac while those born on 31 January 1900 already belongs to the following zodiac, aside from being assigned a year, the Pig is also assigned to govern a month in the Lunar Calendar. As the Lunar month begins on Spring, the Pig is assigned to the 10th month and this lunar month corresponds to the Gregorian calendar as beginning from 7 November and ending at 6 December. The first half of the month is called 立冬, literally, it means the start of winter. It begins when the Sun reaches the longitude of 225°. It more often refers in particular to the day when the Sun is exactly at the longitude of 225°. In the Gregorian calendar, it begins around 7 November. The second half of the month is called 小雪, literally, the time of the Little Snow. It begins when the Sun reaches the longitude of 240°. It more often refers in particular to the day when the Sun is exactly at the longitude of 240°
9.
Egyptian chronology
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The majority of Egyptologists agree on the outline and many details of the chronology of Ancient Egypt. Scholarly consensus on the outline of the conventional chronology current in Egyptology has not fluctuated much over the last 100 years. For the Old Kingdom, consensus fluctuates by as much as a few centuries and this is illustrated by comparing the chronology as given by two Egyptologists, the first writing in 1906, the second in 2000. The disparities between the two sets of result from additional discoveries and refined understanding of the still very incomplete source evidence. For example, Breasted adds a ruler in the Twentieth dynasty that further research showed did not exist, following Manetho, Breasted also believed all the dynasties were sequential, whereas it is now known that several existed at the same time. These revisions have resulted in a lowering of the chronology by up to 400 years at the beginning of Dynasty I. The backbone of Egyptian chronology are the years as recorded in Ancient Egyptian king lists. In addition, some Egyptian dynasties may have overlapped, with different pharaohs ruling in different regions at the same time, not knowing whether monarchies were simultaneous or sequential results in widely differing chronological interpretations. However, further research has shown that these censuses were taken in consecutive years. The sed festival was celebrated on the thirtieth anniversary of the Pharaohs ascension. However, once again, this may not be the practice in all cases. In the early days of Egyptology, the compilation of regnal periods may also have been hampered due to bias on the part of the Egyptologists. This was most pervasive before the mid 19th century, when Manethos figures were recognized as conflicting with biblical chronology based on Old Testament references to Egypt, in the 20th century, such biblical bias has mostly been confined to alternative chronologies outside of scholarly mainstream. A useful way to work around these gaps in knowledge is to find chronological synchronisms, over the past decades, a number of these have been found, although they are of varying degrees of usefulness and reliability. While this does not fix a person or event to a specific year, another example are blocks from the Old Kingdom bearing the names of several kings, which were reused in the construction of Middle Kingdom pyramid-temples at Lisht in the structures of Amenemhat I. The poor documentation of these finds in the Serapeum also compounds the difficulties in using these records. The best known of these is the Sothic cycle, and careful study of this led Richard A. Parker to argue that the dates of the Twelfth dynasty could be fixed with absolute precision. More recent research has eroded this confidence, questioning many of the assumptions used with the Sothic Cycle and this is useful especially for the Early Dynastic period, where Egyptological consensus has only been possible within a range of about three or four centuries
10.
Ptolemy V Epiphanes
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Ptolemy V Epiphanes, son of Ptolemy IV Philopator and Arsinoe III of Egypt, was the fifth ruler of the Ptolemaic dynasty. He inherited the throne at the age of five, and under a series of regents, the Rosetta Stone was produced during his reign as an adult. Ptolemy Epiphanes was only a boy when his father, Ptolemy Philopator. However, in 202 BC, Tlepolemus, the general in charge of Pelusium, once Epiphanes was in the hands of Tlepolemus he was persuaded to give a sign that his mothers killers should be killed. The child king gave his consent, it is more from fear than anything else. Antiochus III the Great and Philip V of Macedon made a pact to divide the Ptolemaic possessions overseas, Philip seized several islands and populated places in Caria and Thrace, whilst the Battle of Panium definitively transferred Coele-Syria, including Judea, from the Ptolemies to the Seleucids. Antiochus then concluded peace, giving his own daughter Cleopatra I to Epiphanes in marriage, nevertheless, when war broke out between Antiochus and Rome, Egypt ranged itself with the latter power. Epiphanes came of age in approximately 196 or 197 BC with a known as an anacleteria. In manhood, Epiphanes was a sportsman, he excelled in athletic exercises. Great cruelty and treachery were displayed in the suppression of the native rebellion, in 197 BC, Lycopolis was held by the forces of Ankmachis, the secessionist pharaoh of Upper Egypt, but he was forced to withdraw to Thebes. The war between Upper and Lower Egypt continued until 185 BC with the arrest of Ankhmachis by Ptolemaic general Conanus and this victory re-established Ptolemaic rule in Upper Egypt, as well as the Triakontaschoinos. In 183 BC/184 BC, the rebels in Lower Egypt surrendered on the basis of terms that Epiphanes had personally promised to honor, however, showing himself treacherous and vindictive, he had them put to death in a cruel manner. The elder of Ptolemy Vs two sons, Ptolemy VI Philometor, succeeded as an infant under the regency of his mother Cleopatra the Syrian and her death was followed by a rupture between the Ptolemaic and Seleucid courts, on the old question of Coele-Syria. Ptolemy Vs reign was marked by trade with other contemporaneous polities. In the 1930s, excavations by Mattingly at a close to Port Dunford in present-day southern Somalia yielded a number of Ptolemaic coins. Among these pieces were 17 copper mints from the Ptolemy III to Ptolemy V dynasties, as well as late Imperial Rome, a History of Egypt Under the Ptolemaic Dynasty. Chronicles of the Pharaohs, The Reign-by-Reign Record of the Rulers, Ptolemy V Epiphanes entry in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith
11.
Olympiad
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An Olympiad is a period of four years associated with the Olympic Games of the Ancient Greeks. During the Hellenistic period, beginning with Ephorus, it was used as a calendar epoch, by this reckoning, the first Olympiad lasted from the summer of 776 BC to that of 772 BC. By extrapolation to the Gregorian calendar, the 1st year of the 699th Olympiad begins in mid-summer 2017, a modern Olympiad refers to a four-year period beginning January 1 of a year in which the Summer Olympics are due to occur. The first modern Olympiad began in 1896, the second in 1900, an Olympiad was a period of four years. Example, Olympiad 140, year 1 = 220/219 BC, year 2 = 219/218 BC, year 3 = 218/217 BC, the first to do so consistently was Timaeus of Tauromenium in the third century BC. In the 2nd century AD, Phlegon of Tralles summarised the events of each Olympiad in a book called Olympiads, christian chroniclers continued to use this Greek system of dating as a way of synchronising biblical events with Greek and Roman history. In the 3rd century AD, Sextus Julius Africanus compiled a list of Olympic victors up to 217 BC, early historians sometimes used the names of Olympic victors as a method of dating events to a specific year. For instance, Thucydides says in his account of the year 428 BC and it was in this year that king Xerxes made his campaign against Greece. An Olympiad started with the games, which were held at the beginning of the Olympic new year, though the games were held without interruption, on more than one occasion they were held by others than the Eleians. The Eleians declared such games Anolympiads, but it is assumed the winners were nevertheless recorded, during the 3rd century AD, records of the games are so scanty that historians are not certain whether after 261 they were still held every four years. During the early years of the Olympiad, any physical benefit deriving from a sport was banned, some winners were recorded though, until the last Olympiad of 393AD. In 394, Roman Emperor Theodosius I outlawed the games at Olympia as pagan, though it would have been possible to continue the reckoning by just counting four-year periods, by the middle of the 5th century AD reckoning by Olympiads had become disused. For the modern Olympics the term was used to indicate the games themselves. The modern Olympiad is a period of four consecutive years, beginning on the first of January of the first year. The Olympiads are numbered consecutively from the first Games of the Olympiad celebrated in Athens in 1896, the XXXI Olympiad began on January 1,2016 and will end on December 31,2019. The Summer Olympics are more correctly referred to as the Games of the Olympiad, for example, The first Winter Games, in 1924, were not designated as Winter Games of the VIII Olympiad, but as the I Winter Olympic Games. The 1936 Summer Games were the Games of the XI Olympiad, after the 1940 and 1944 Summer Games were canceled due to World War II, the Games resumed in 1948 as the Games of the XIV Olympiad. However, the 1936 Winter Games were the IV Winter Olympic Games, indeed, at least one IOC-published article has applied this nomenclature as well
