* The Rosetta Stone records coronation of Ptolemy V in Egypt (196)
* Hecatompylos captured by Seleucids who return it in exchange for the
inclusion of Parthian cavalry in their army
* Parthia secedes again (after utter defeat of Antiochus by Scipios: 189)
* Parthians expand south into eastern Persia that is given autonomy with
representation in Parthia's Royal 'Synhedrion'--the world's first system
of a federal form of government where the emperor is "first among equals";
under them is a Hellenistic system of court titles: e.g. 'syngeneis'
(nobles), 'sophoi' (wise men), 'magoi' (magi); as lingua franca, Greek
replaces Aramaic--which devolves into the empire's vernacular tongue--
and is used on coins, often with the legend "philhellene" (185)
* Antiochus IV invades Ptolemaic Judaea, violates Temple, prohibits worship
there, changes the Law (by installing the brother of Onias III as a false
high priest who "destroyed lawful ways of living and introduced new
customs contary to the Law") and the times (by imposing the Metonic lunar
calendar); High Priest Onias III flees to Egypt, founds a Temple-in-exile,
and continues to use a non-lunar calendar as the religious calendar.
[Daniel 8; I Macc 1; II Macc 4; Philo; Josephus, Jewish Wars.]
* Hasmonaean priest Maccabaeus of Modin leads revolt against Seleucids (167)
* Confucianism established as official doctrine of Han governance (165)
* Crossing of Bactrian & Arabian camels--vital for plying entire Silk Road
* Stirrup appears in India and Central Asia.
* At his capital, Sakala, Indo-Greek King Milinda issues coins having
Greek on the obverse & Kharoshthi on the reverse; converts to Buddhism
[Milinda-panha.]
* Hipparchos (over)calculates tropical year's length by ~7 minutes (150)
* Rome wins Third & last Punic War, destroys Carthage & its Library--
knowledge of trans-Atlantic trade routes secreted away among an elite
who later plant European oaks on Nova Scotia's Oak Island (146)
* Mithradates assumes the Achaemenid title "King of kings" after invading
Greco-Bactria and replacing its king, Eucratides, by a Bactrian princess
amenable to semiautonomy under a Parthian "Steward king"
* Parthians take the Seleucid capital and Babylonia, Media & Persis (~141)
* Greco-Bactria partitioned between Mithradates & Milinda
* Establishment of a cult of Confucius, canonisation of his Analects, and
the incorporation of Confucian teachings into the state-sponsored
education curriculum (their role in Chinese culture to be taken over by
Buddhism & Taoism after the fall of the Han dynasty, until which the
Huainanzi & Huang-lao schools merge them with principles of Taoism)
* The Xiongnu, later called Huns, rise to power in Central Asia, invade
China's western frontier & detain Chang Ch'ien from 139-129
* Simon Maccabee allies Judaea to Rome and wins its autonomy (139);
succeeded by son John Hyrcanus
* Seleucids retake Babylonia & their capital, Antioch, from Parthia.(~138)
* First record of a nova made by Hipparchos (134),
who later accurately calculates the precession of the equinoxes (130)
* Chang Ch'ien tours Central Asia as Han empire's ambassador (129-6)
* Parthians retake Babylonia (128)
* Seleucids occupy Babylonia (127)
* Parthia puts an end to Seleucids' inland empire by expelling them once &
for all from Babylonia, thus confining them to the Levantine coast (126)
* On second tour, Chang Ch'ien sends envoys to Parthia & India (119-5);
afterwards honored for centuries as the trailblazer of the Silk Road
* John Hyrcanus forcibly converts Edomites to Judaism, then destroys
Samaritan Temple on Mt Gerizim
* Han empire establishes an embassy in the Parthian capital of Hecatompylos
where it was particularly intrigued by the Syrian jugglers and acrobats;
first trading caravans bring silk to Parthia, and horses to China (106)
* Aristobulus first Hasmonaean high priest to be King of the Jews (104)
* Alexander Jannaeus first Hasmonaean king to be Jewish High Priest (103)
* Han empire reaches Tarim Basin. As Kokand repeatedly refuses to part with
its "heavenly" horses, Emperor Wu-ti launches a 60,000-man army against
the city, capturing it after a bitter siege. At a single stroke, China
gains dominion over the entire Tarim Basin: the nexus of the Silk Road
now under China's control to open or close it to the West (102)
* Chinese ships guided by rudders & rudimentary compasses reach India (101)
