Directory

138 BCE

Attalus III succeeds Attalus II as Attalid king of Pergamon. Valencia in Spain is founded as a Roman colony. Hymn to Apollo is written and inscribed on stone in Delphi; it is the earliest surviving notated music, in a substantial and legible fragment, in the western world.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • Phraates II becomes emperor of Parthia.source
  • Valencia in Spain is founded as a Roman colony.source

Conflict & Security

  • Attalus III succeeds Attalus II as Attalid king of Pergamonsource
  • Tautalus surrenders to the Romans.source

Crime & Justice

  • Antiochus VII expels Diodotus Tryphon.source
  • Grand Empress Dowager Dou, the grandmother of Emperor Wu of Han, purges the high administration of officials to consolidate her power. Among those dismissed are Prime Minister Dou Yong and her own half-brother, the General-in-Chief Tian Fen. Two of the young emperor's closest advisors, Zhao Wan and Wang Zang, are arrested and commit suicide.source

Culture & Society

  • Hymn to Apollo is written and inscribed on stone in Delphi; it is the earliest surviving notated music, in a substantial and legible fragment, in the western world.source

Births

  • Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Roman general and statesman (d. 78 BC)source
  • Phaedrus the Epicurean, Greek scholar and philosophersource

Deaths

  • Diodotus Tryphon, king of the Seleucid Empiresource
  • Attalus II Philadelphus, king of Pergamon (b. 220 BC)source
  • Mithridates I, king of Parthia (b. c. 195 BC)source