With the
Seleucid victory in
Judea over the
Maccabees,
Alcimus is re-established as the
High Priest of Israel, and a strong force is left in
Jerusalem to support him. However, he does not enjoy his triumph for long, as he dies soon after from a paralytic
stroke.
Bactria
While
Eucratides I is in north west
India to claim possession of the previous
Bactrian King
Demetrius I's territory there, the
Parthians, under
Mithradates I, annex two Bactrian provinces. Returning from India to reconquer them, Eucratides is murdered by his son.
At the request of the
Romans,
Ariarathes V, king of
Cappadocia, rejects a proposal from the
Seleucid king,
Demetrius I, for him to marry the sister of Demetrius I. In response, Seleucid forces attack Cappadocia and remove Ariarathes V from the Cappadocian throne. Demetrius I then replaces him with
Orophernes Nicephorus, a supposed son of the late king,
Ariarathes IV. With Ariarathes V deprived of his kingdom, he flees to Rome.
The
Carthaginians, prevented by their treaty with Rome from engaging in armed resistance, but equally guaranteed against any loss of territory, appeal to
Rome against the depredations of King
Masinissa of
Numidia. The
Roman censorMarcus Porcius Cato heads a commission which arbitrates a truce between Carthage and her former ally, Masinissa.
During his time in Carthage, Cato is so struck by the evidence of Carthaginian prosperity that he is convinced that the security of Rome now depends on the annihilation of Carthage. From this time on, Cato keeps repeating the cry "
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam" ("Moreover, I advise that Carthage must be destroyed") at the end of all his speeches, no matter what subject they concern.
After
Ariarathes V has been deposed from the
Cappadocian throne by the
Seleucid king
Demetrius I Soter and has fled to Rome, the new king of Cappadocia,
Orophernes, sends two ambassadors to Rome to join the Seleucid emissaries of Demetrius in opposing Ariarathes V's return to power. Despite their efforts, Ariarathes V is restored to his throne by the Romans. However, Rome allows Orophernes to reign jointly with him. The joint government, however, does not last long, as Ariarathes V becomes sole king of Cappadocia shortly afterwards.
As part of the Roman efforts to fully conquer and occupy the whole of
Illyria, a Roman army under
consulPublius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Corculum attacks the
Dalmatians for the first time and conquers the Dalmatian capital of
Delminium. As a result, the Dalmatians are compelled to pay
tribute to Rome, which puts an end to the first Dalmatian war. In recognition of his victory, Corculum is granted a
triumph in Rome.
After his victory, Attalus II insists on heavy
reparations from Prusias II. In response, Prusias II sends his son
Nicomedes to Rome to ask the Romans' help in reducing the amount of these reparations.
The uprisings in
Rome'sHispanic provinces oblige the year's
consuls to take office earlier than the traditional date of 15 March, a change that becomes permanent. Some suggest that, as a consequence,
January 1 becomes the first day of the Roman year.
As a result of the rise of the pretender, Alexander Balas, Demetrius I Soter is forced to recall most of his garrisons in
Judea. To retain control of Judea, he makes a bid to gain the loyalty of
Jonathan Maccabeus, whom he permits to recruit an army and to take back the hostages that the Syrians are holding in the city of
Acre. Jonathan gladly accepts these terms, takes up residence in
Jerusalem and begins to fortify the city, becoming
High Priest of Jerusalem until
143 BC.
Greece
Substantial parts of the city of
Sikyon are destroyed by an
earthquake.
The
pretender to the
Seleucid throne,
Alexander Balas, makes contact with
Jonathan Maccabeus offering him terms even more favorable than those offered by the king
Demetrius I Soter. In particular, Alexander offers him the official appointment as High Priest in
Jerusalem. In response, Jonathan withdraws his support from Demetrius and declares his allegiance to Alexander. Thus Jonathan becomes the first member of his family to achieve appointment as High Priest.[3]
The
Carthaginian debt to Rome is fully repaid, meaning that, according to Carthage, the treaty with
Rome, which was put in place at the end of the
Second Punic War, is no longer in force. The Romans do not agree with this interpretation. Instead they view the treaty as a permanent declaration of Carthaginian subordination to Rome.
Numidia launches another border raid on Carthaginian soil, besieging a town. In response Carthage launches a large military expedition (25,000 soldiers) to repel the Numidian invaders.
Roman Republic
At
Polybius' request,
Scipio Aemilianus manages to gain the support of the
Roman statesman
Cato the Elder (whose son has married Scipio's sister Aemilia) for a proposal to release (and return to
Greece) the 300
Achaean internees who are still being held without trial after being deported to
Rome in
167 BC.
Roman forces help the thriving Greek commercial port of
Massilia combat raids from the
Celts from
Cisalpine Gaul.
Scipio Aemilianus is sent by the
Roman general,
Lucius Licinius Lucullus, to
Numidia to obtain some elephants from the Numidian king
Masinissa, the friend of his grandfather
Scipio Africanus. While there, he witnesses a great but indecisive battle between the Numidians and the
Carthaginians. The latter then ask Scipio Aemilianus to arrange a settlement, but the negotiations break down.
Roman Republic
The
Roman Senate shows displeasure with Carthage's decision to wage war against its neighbour without Roman consent, and tells Carthage that in order to avoid a war it has to "satisfy the Roman People". The
Roman censor,
Cato the Elder, urges the destruction of Carthage and the Roman Senate orders the gathering of an army.
The new king of the Seleucid Empire, Alexander Balas, marries
Cleopatra Thea, a daughter of Ptolemy VI Philometor of Egypt.
Asia Minor
Nicomedes, the son of king
Prusias II of
Bithynia, who has been sent to Rome to argue for smaller reparations arising from his father's unsuccessful war against
Pergamum, gains the support of the
Roman Senate to the point where Prusias sends an emissary with secret orders to assassinate Nicomedes. However, the emissary reveals the plot to Nicomedes and persuades him to rebel against his father.
The Romans, led by
praetorServius Sulpicius Galba, defeat the
Lusitanians in a major battle in
Hispania. He then breaks his promise to the defeated Lusitanian rebels by instituting a massacre of 9,000 of their number during the peace talks. Later 20,000 more Lusitanians are sold as slaves in
Gaul.
Sanatruces (also known as Sinatruces or Sanatruk), King of
Parthia who will rule the Parthian Empire from around
77 BC (approximate date) (d. c.
70 BC)
Publius Terentius Afer (Terence),
Roman comic dramatist, the author of six verse comedies that are long regarded as models of pure
Latin (b. c.
195 BC) (approximate date).
^Balsdon, John P.V. Dacre.
"Gaius Marius". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved February 28, 2024.
^Pollard, Elizabeth (2015).
Worlds together, worlds apart. Clifford D. Rosenberg, Robert L. Tignor, Jeremy Adelman, Stephen Aron, Peter Brown, Benjamin A. Elman, Stephen Kotkin, Xinru Liu, Suzanne L. Marchand, Holly Pittman, Gyan Prakash, Brent D. Shaw, Michael Tsang-Woon Tsin. New York. p. 238.
ISBN978-0-393-93769-5.
OCLC890068060.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link)