Directory

63 BCE

Cato the Younger is elected tribune of the people for 62 BC, taking office in early December 63 BC. Pompey conquers the people of Phonecia, Coele-Syria, and Judea for the Roman Republic. Marcus Tullius Cicero is senior consul. He is the first novus homo (new man) to be elected to the consulship in 31 years.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • Pharnaces II becomes King of Pontus.source
  • Pompey conquers the people of Phonecia, Coele-Syria, and Judea for the Roman Republic.source

Conflict & Security

  • Massacre of over 12,000 Jews on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem by Roman troops, in support of John Hyrcanus II against Aristobulus II.source
  • Roman annexation of the Seleucid Empire and of Judea as a client kingdom. King Judah Aristobulus II removed from power, while his brother John Hyrcanus II is reappointed king (ethnarch) under Roman suzerainty and high priest, until 40 BC.source
  • Second Catilinarian Conspiracy against the Roman Republic is foiled by Cicero.source

Religion & Belief

  • Establishment of the Decapolis and Year 1 of the Pompeian era.source
  • Cato the Younger is elected tribune of the people for 62 BC, taking office in early December 63 BC.source
  • Marcus Tullius Cicero is senior consul. He is the first novus homo (new man) to be elected to the consulship in 31 years.source
  • Julius Caesar is elected Pontifex Maximus and praetor for 62 BC.source

Culture & Society

  • Servilius Rullus, a Roman tribune, proposes an agrarian reform law.source
  • Lucullus holds a triumph, then retires from war and politics to live a life of refined luxury.source
  • Gaius Antonius Hybrida is junior consul.source

Births

  • September 23 – Augustus, first Roman Emperor (d. AD 14)source
  • Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, Roman statesman and general (d. 12 BC)source
  • Didymus Chalcenterus, Greek scholar and grammarian (approximate date) (d. c. AD 10)source

Deaths

  • Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius, pontifex maximus and general (b. c. 130 BC or 127 BC)source
  • Those involved in the organisation of the Catilinarian conspiracy in Rome, including Publius Cornelius Lentulus Surasource
  • Mithridates VI, King of Pontus (b. 135 BC)source