240s

Millennium
1st millennium
Centuries
2nd century 3rd century 4th century
Decades
220s 230s 240s 250s 260s
Years
240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249
Categories
Births Deaths Establishments Disestablishments
v t e

The 240s decade ran from January 1, 240, to December 31, 249.

• The Roman Empire is threatened on several fronts at the same time. Africa revolts and tribes in northwest Germania, under the name of the Franks, are raiding the Rhine frontier.

• April 12 – Prince Shapur I becomes co-ruler of the Sasanian Empire with his father King Ardashir I.
• Siege of Hatra: The Sasanians besiege the capital of the Kingdom of Hatra ruled by Sanatruq II.^[1]

• Maharaja Sri-Gupta becomes ruler of the Gupta Empire (approximate date).

• Mani, a young mystic of Ctesiphon, proclaims himself a prophet at the court of Ardashir I. He preaches his doctrine, Manichaeism, throughout the Sassanid Empire.^[2]

• Winter – Emperor Gordian III reaches Antioch and, with his army, prepares an offensive against the Sassanids.
• Gaius Furius Sabinius Aquila Timesitheus becomes praetorian prefect and de facto ruler of the Roman Empire.

• Prince Shapur I succeeds his father Ardashir I as ruler of the Sassanid Empire. He begins his expansion in India.
• Shapur I annexes parts of the Kushan Empire. The ancient city of Bagram (modern Afghanistan) is abandoned.
• Fall of Hatra: Shapur I captures Hatra, the capital of the Kingdom of Hatra. The city is destroyed by the Sassanids.^[3]

• November 1 – The Battle of Samhain is fought in Ireland (approximate date).

• The Dura-Europos church is converted from a house in Syria (approximate date).

• Emperor Gordian III begins a campaign against King Shapur I, and leads victories at Antioch, Carrhae, Nisibis, and Resaina.^[4]
• Gordian III evacuates the Cimmerian cities in the Bosphorus (Crimea), as the territory is now controlled by the Goths.

• Shapur I makes a pre-emptive attack on Antioch to drive out the Romans. Gordian's father-in-law, Timesitheus, leads a Roman army to defeat the Sassanids at Carrhae and Nisibis.
• King Ardashir I, founder of the Sassanid Empire, dies after a 30-year reign. He is succeeded by his son and co-ruler Shapur I.

• Patriarch Titus succeeds Eugenius I as Patriarch of Constantinople (until 272).

• Battle of Resaena: A Roman army under Timesitheus defeats the Sassanids at Resaena (modern Syria); King Shapur I is forced to flee to the Euphrates.^[5]
• Timesitheus becomes ill and dies under suspicious circumstances. Shapur I retreats to the Sassanid Empire, giving up all the territories he has conquered.
• Emperor Gordian III appoints Philip the Arab as his new praetorian prefect (after the death of Timesitheus) and proceeds with his campaign in Mesopotamia.
• Cohors I Ubiorum, the garrison at Capidava in Scythia Minor, is replaced by Cohors I Germanorum Civium Romanorum, until the end of the 3rd century AD.

• Fan Chan of Funan sends a tribute mission to China (approximate date).

• Around February 11 – Battle of Misiche: King Shapur I and his Iranian army defeats the Roman army.^[6]
• February 11 – Emperor Gordian III is murdered by mutinous soldiers in Zaitha (Mesopotamia). A mound is raised at Carchemish in his memory.
• Philip the Arab (Marcus Julius Philippus) declares himself co-emperor, and makes a controversial peace with the Sassanian Empire, withdrawing from their territory and giving Shapur 500,000 gold pieces. The Sassanians occupy Armenia.
• Philip the Arab is recognized by the Roman Senate as the new Roman Emperor with the honorific Augustus. He nominates his son Philippus, age 6, with the title of Caesar and makes him heir to the throne; gives his brother Priscus supreme power (rector Orientis) in the Eastern provinces; and begins construction of the city of Shahba (Syria) in the province of his birth.
• The vassal Upper Mesopotamian kingdom of Osroene is absorbed into the Roman Empire, its last ruler being Abgar (XI) Farhat Bar Ma’nu.

• Battle of Xingshi: Shu Han defeats the Chinese state of Cao Wei.

• The Goguryeo–Wei War is fought between the Korean kingdom Goguryeo and the Chinese state Cao Wei.

• Plotinus, Greek philosopher, escapes the bloodshed that accompanies the murder of Gordianus III and makes his way to Antioch. Back in Rome he founds his Neoplatonist school and attracts disciples like Porphyry, Castricius Firmus and Eustochius of Alexandria.
• 244–249 – Bust of Philip the Arab (in Braccio Nuovo, Vatican Museums, Rome).

• The silver content of the Roman denarius falls to 0.5 percent under emperor Philippus I, down from 28 percent under Gordian III.

• 244–245 – Last phase of construction of the house-style Dura-Europos synagogue in Syria, one of the oldest to survive (wall-paintings in the National Museum of Damascus, Syria).

• Emperor Philip the Arab entrusts Trajan Decius with an important command on the Danube.^[7]
• In Britain, many thousands of acres of modern-day Lincolnshire are inundated by a great flood.^[8]
• The philosopher Plotinus goes to live in Rome.

• Lady Triệu, a Vietnamese warrior, begins her 3-year resistance against the invading Chinese.

• Emperor Philip the Arab fights the Germans along the Danube River.^[9]
• The first of two Councils of Arabia in the Roman Christian Church is held in Bostra, Arabia Petraea.^[10]

• Baekje Kingdom under King Goi of Baekje attacks the Chinese commandery of Daifang.

• Rome becomes 1,000 years old. The 1,000th anniversary is commemorated with the Ludi Saeculares festivals, celebrated throughout the Roman Empire.
• Marcus Julius Philippus Augustus and his 10-year-old son Marcus Julius Philippus Caesar become Roman Consuls.
• The Goths appear on the lower Danube frontier; they invade Ukraine and Romania.
• Emperor Philip the Arab marks the millennium of Rome by holding the Ludi Saeculares.
• The last of the two Councils of Arabia in the Roman Christian Church is held in Bostra, Arabia Petraea.

• Himiko of Yamataikoku, in Japan, begins a war against King Himikoku of Kunukoku.^[11]
• Cheomhae becomes king of the Korean kingdom of Silla.^[12]

• The revolts of Pacatianus in Moesia and Iotapianus in Syria are put down by Senator Trajan Decius, by order of Emperor Philip the Arab.
• The Roman Empire continues the celebration of the 1,000th anniversary of Rome, with the ludi saeculares, organized by Philip the Arab.

• Jungcheon becomes ruler of the Korean kingdom of Goguryeo (until 270).^[13]

• Cyprian, Christian writer of Berber descent, becomes bishop of Carthage.
• Origen writes an eight-volume work, criticizing the pagan writer Celsus.

• Trajan Decius puts down a revolt in Moesia and Pannonia. Loyal legionaries proclaim him emperor, and he leads them into Italy.
• Battle of Verona: Decius defeats and kills Emperor Philip the Arab.
• Decius begins persecuting Christians, and others refusing to participate in Emperor worship.

• February 5 – Incident at Gaoping Tombs: In the Chinese state of Cao Wei, regent Sima Yi, in a coup d'état, forces his co-regent Cao Shuang to relinquish his power, after taking control of the capital city of Luoyang. Sima Yi issues a memorial, which lists the various crimes he and his associates has committed.

• In Alexandria, the populace pillages the homes of Christians.