Directory

440 CE

Leo I begins to formulate Orthodoxy and condemns Eutychianism, an extreme form of monophysitism which holds that the human nature of Christ is absorbed by His divine nature. A center of Buddhist studies is established at Nalanda in Bihar on the plains of the Ganges River (India). The Hephthalites (White Huns) move south from the Altai Mountains region into Transoxiana, Bactria, Khorasan and eastern Persia.

Conflict & Security

  • Chaturanga, Indian war game and an ancestor of chess through the Persian game of Shatranj (or Chatrang), evolves in the Indus Valley on the Indian subcontinent (approximate date).source
  • Flavius Aetius, Roman general (magister militum), returns as triumphator back to Rome, after several years' fighting the Burgundians and Visigoths in Gaul. He is honoured by a statue erected by the Senate, and by order of Emperor Valentinian III.source
  • The Huns under Attila reappear in force, along the frontier of the Western Roman Empire. They attack merchants on the north bank of the Danube and cities in Illyricum, including (according to Priscus) Viminacium, city of Moesia.source
  • A Vandal fleet and their allies (Alans, Goths and Moors) set out from Carthage for Sicily, the principal supplier of oil and grain to Italy after the loss of North Africa. They loot all the coastal towns and besiege Palermo. Heavily laden ships return to the court of King Genseric.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • A center of Buddhist studies is established at Nalanda in Bihar on the plains of the Ganges River (India).source
  • The Hephthalites (White Huns) move south from the Altai Mountains region into Transoxiana, Bactria, Khorasan and eastern Persia.source

Religion & Belief

  • September 29 – Leo I begins to formulate Orthodoxy and condemns Eutychianism, an extreme form of monophysitism which holds that the human nature of Christ is absorbed by His divine nature.source
  • Winter – Leo I sends a letter to Valentinian III stating, "by the Holy Spirit's inspiration the emperor needs no human instruction and is incapable of doctrinal error".source

Economy & Finance

  • Northern and Southern dynasties: Northern China is unified by the Northern Wei dynasty. The South is still under the control of the Song (or Liu Song) dynasty.source

Crime & Justice

  • The Parting of Lot and Abraham, mosaic in the nave arcade, Church of Santa Maria Maggiore (Rome), is made.source

Births

  • Wen Cheng Di, emperor of the Northern Wei dynasty (d. 465)source
  • Gaudentius, son of Flavius Aetius (approximate date)source
  • Euric, Visigothic king and son of Theodoric I (d. 484)source
  • Qi Wudi, Chinese emperor of the Southern Qi dynasty (d. 493)source
  • Bodhidharma, semi-legendary Buddhist monk (approximate date)source
  • Vakhtang I, king of Iberia (modern Georgia) (approximate date)source
  • Tonantius Ferreolus, Gallo-Roman senator and prefect of Gaulsource

Deaths

  • February 17 – Mesrob, Armenian monk and linguist (b. 362)source
  • August 18 – Pope Sixtus III dies after an 8-year reign in which he has resisted heresy and sponsored major construction programs in Rome. He is succeeded by Leo I as the 45th pope.source
  • August 18 – Pope Sixtus III (b. 390)source
  • Amalgaid mac Fiachrae, king of Connacht (Ireland)source
  • Yuan Qigui, empress and wife of Wen of Liu Song (b. 405)source