130s BC

This article concerns the period 139 BC – 130 BC.

Events

139 BC

By place

China

Emperor Wu of Han sends the diplomat Zhang Qian west to form an alliance with the Yuezhi against the Xiongnu. Wu does this after learning from Xiongnu defectors that the Xiongnu had defeated and killed the king of the Yuezhi, had expelled the Yuezhi from their lands and were using their king's skull as a wine goblet. The Yuezhi had subsequently migrated further west.
Soon after his departure for the west, Zhang Qian is detained by Junchen Chanyu of the Xiongnu. He would remain in Xiongnu custody for more than ten years and would be given a Xiongnu wife.
Wei Zifu enters Emperor Wu's palace as a concubine and becomes pregnant. Enraged, Liu Piao, the mother of the childless Empress Chen Jiao (wife of Emperor Wu), kidnaps Zifu's brother Wei Qing, who is rescued by Gongsun Ao. Wu responds by advancing the careers of members of the Wei family.

Roman Republic

The Lusitanian War ends when the rebellion collapses after the assassination of Viriathus by a Roman agent.
The Achaean League is reestablished.

By topic

Astronomy

Hipparchus makes a very precise determination of the length of the synodic month.

138 BC

By place

Roman Empire

Tautalus surrenders to the Romans.
Valencia in Spain is founded as a Roman colony.

Parthia

Phraates II becomes emperor of Parthia.

China

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.

By topic

Arts and sciences

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.

137 BC

By place

Roman Republic

Tiberius Gracchus, quaestor in Spain, observes that slave labor has displaced small freeheld farms.
Numantine War begins, Quintus Pompeius and M. Popilius Laenas are defeated and disgraced by the Numantians in subsequent years.
Q. Pompeius is brought to trial by Q.Metellus and others, but acquitted.

136 BC

By place

China

Confucianism is adopted as the state religion in China by Emperor Wu.^{[citation needed]}

Greece

Carneades retires as head of the Platonic Academy and is replaced by Polemarchus of Nicomedia.

Rome

Censorship of Appius Claudius Pulcher and Quintus Fulvius Nobilior.

Spain

The Romans hand Gaius Hostilius Mancinus over to the Numantians in order to repudiate his peace treaty with them.

135 BC

By place

Roman Republic

The First Servile War starts in Sicily.
Servius Fulvius Flaccus defeats an uprising of the Ardiaei in Illyria.
Marcus Cosconius defeats the Scordisci in Thrace.

Bactria

Menander I, king of the Indo-Greek Kingdom dies and is succeeded by Epander.

China

Grand Empress Dowager Dou dies, which allows her grandson Emperor Wu to exert greater control over the empire.
Minyue attacks Nanyue, which are both vassal states of the Han dynasty. The Han send two armies against Minyue under Wang Hui and Han Anguo, and Minyue's king Zou Ying is killed by his brother Zou Yushan, who then surrenders to the Han.
Emperor Wu makes Zou Chou the king of Minyue, but Zou Yushan carves out two thirds of Minyue as the state of Dongyue, which Wu then recognizes.
A Han military campaign against the Dian Kingdom establishes a military commandery in the Yunnan region.

134 BC

By place

Roman Republic

Scipio Aemilianus, victor of Carthage, takes command in Spain against the Numantians. He recruits 20,000 men and 40,000 allies, including Numidian cavalry under Jugurtha. Scipio, an expert in sieges, builds a ring of seven forts and a ditch palisade before beginning the Siege of Numantia. The perimeter of the circumvallations is twice as long as that of the city. The river Durius (Douro), enables the defenders to be supplied by small boats.
Caius Fulvius Flaccus, as consul, is sent against the slaves. Uprising of 4,000 slaves crushed at Sinuessa, in Campania.^{[citation needed]} Slave uprisings repressed in Attic silver mines and on the island of Delos.

Judea

John Hyrcanus becomes high priest and prince (ruler) of Judea, until 104 BC, following the murder of his father Simon Maccabaeus by Ptolemy the son of Abubus in 135 BC.

China

On the advice of philosopher Dong Zhongshu, Emperor Wu of Han promotes Confucianism as the official doctrine of the Han dynasty and assigns special merit to the Book of Rites, the Classic of Music, the Classic of Poetry, the Book of Documents, I Ching (the Book of Changes) and the Spring and Autumn Annals.

By topic

Astronomy

Hipparchus discovers the precession of the equinoxes.
Hipparchus creates a star catalogue.

133 BC

By place

Roman Republic

Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi, as consul, is sent against the slaves in Italy. Gaius Marius serves under Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus at Numantia.
Scipio Aemilianus captures Numantia, after a siege of eight months, suffering famine and pestilence. The remnant population of 4,000 citizens, surrender and set their city on fire. Thus ends the Numantine War.
Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, is elected tribune of the people. He attempts to pass a law to redistribute the public land to benefit small landowners. Opposed by wealthier factions in the Roman Senate, he is killed by a group of senators and their followers that same year.
The Kingdom of Pergamum is deeded to Rome, Aristonicus starts a rebellion against this.

China

June – A large army of the Han dynasty, under the overall command of Han Anguo, attempts to ambush the Xiongnu leader Junchen Chanyu in the Battle of Mayi. By pretending to betray the city of Mayi, a Han official had lured Junchen onto Han soil. However, a captured Chinese officer tips off Junchen, and so he avoids the ambush. The episode abrogates the Xiongnu-Han treaty (called heqin 和親 or "harmonious kinship") and marks the beginning of Emperor Wu's Han-Xiongnu War.
Foreign Minister Wang Hui, who, against the opposition of Han Anguo, had advocated for war, fails to attack the retreating supply column of the Xiongnu and is sentenced to death. He commits suicide.

132 BC

By place

Roman Republic

The First Servile War ends when Publius Rupilius quelled the rebellion.

Mexico

The Late Formative (or pre-Classic) period of the Maya civilization begins.

131 BC

By place

Roman Republic

During Aristonicus of Pergamon uprising against Rome, the consul Publius Licinius Crassus Mucianius is killed in the fighting.
The Roman censor Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus attempts to remove the tribune Gaius Atinius Labeo Macerio from the Senate, the angry Atinius drags him to be thrown off the Tarpeian Rock, and Metellus is only saved by the intervention of other senators.^{[citation needed]}
For the first time in Roman history, both censors are plebeians (Metellus and Quintus Pompeius).

Egypt

Capture of Thebes: Egyptian rebel Harsiesi seized Thebes in the summer of 131 BC, proclaimed pharaoh, for a short period of time.

130 BC

By place

Roman Republic

Consul Marcus Perperna defeats Aristonicus in battle, besieges him at Stratonicea, dies at Pergamon.
Roman census carried out by Quintus Pompeius and Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus.
The tribune Gaius Papirius Carbo passes a measure allowing the use of secret ballots in legislative assemblies.

Egypt

King Ptolemy VIII murders Ptolemy VII Neos Philopator or Ptolemy Memphites, the puppet ruler of Cleopatra II.

China

Concubine Wei Zifu gives birth to Liu Ju, the future Crown Prince.

Births

138 BC

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

136 BC

By place

Rome

Lucius Gellius, politician and general.

135 BC

Mithridates VI, king of Pontus (d. 63 BC)
Pompeius Strabo, Roman consul and father of Pompeius Magnus (d. 87 BC)
Posidonius of Apamea, Greek Stoic philosopher and scientist (d. 51 BC)
Sima Qian, Chinese historian of the Han dynasty (approximate date)

134 BC

Jin Midi, Chinese politician and co-regent (d. 86 BC)
Posidonius of Apamea, Stoic philosopher and polymath (d. 51 BC)
Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus, Roman statesman (d. 44 BC)

131 BC

Mithridates VI Eupator – king of Pontus (c.120-63 BC)

130 BC

Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus, Roman consul (approximate date)
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius, Roman consul and general (d. 63 BC) (approximate date)

Deaths

139 BC

Viriathus, Lusitanian leader (assassinated)

138 BC

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

137 BC

Dutugamunu King of Sri Lanka
Zhao Tuo, Emperor Wu of Nanyue (b. 240 BC)

135 BC

Menander I, king of the Indo-Greek Kingdom
Simon Maccabaeus, prince of Judea and High Priest of Judea

134 BC

Simon Thassi, High Priest of Judaea (r. 142-134 BC)

133 BC

Attalus III, king of Pergamon. In his will, he makes the people of Rome his heirs (b. 170 BC)
Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus the Roman tribune (assassination) (b. 168 BC)

132 BC

Eunus, leader of the Slave Revolt (136–132 BC) in Sicily
Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapio, Roman consul

131 BC

Vasujyeshtha – Shunga Emperor
Publius Licinius Crassus Mucianus – Roman consul and commander
Scipio Nasica Serapio – Roman statesman

130 BC

Appius Claudius Pulcher, Roman consul
Ariarathes V, king of Cappadocia
Marcus Perperna, Roman consul
Pacuvius, Roman tragic poet (b. c. 220 BC)
Ptolemaeus of Commagene, Seleucid satrap

References

↑ Hung, Hing Ming (2020). The Magnificent Emperor Wu: China's Han Dynasty. pp. 144–145. ISBN 978-1628944167.
↑ Hung, Hing Ming (2020). The Magnificent Emperor Wu: China's Han Dynasty. p. 132. ISBN 978-1628944167.
↑ Hung, Hing Ming (2020). The Magnificent Emperor Wu: China's Han Dynasty. Algora. pp. 123–124. ISBN 978-1628944167.
↑ Badian, Ernst (2012). "Pulcher (1), Appius". The Oxford Classical Dictionary (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191735257. Retrieved 22 December 2025.
↑ Badian, Ernst (2014). "Scipio Aemilianus". The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191778483. Retrieved 22 December 2025.
↑ "World History 200- 100 BC". Retrieved 28 June 2010.
↑ Smith, William (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. Vol. 2. Boston, Little. p. 155.
↑ T. Corey Brennan, The praetorship in the Roman Republic (2000) p. 229
↑ Papazoglu 1978, p. 286
↑ Livy (2007). Rome's Mediterranean Empire: Books 41-45 and the Periochae. Oxford University Press. pp. 268. ISBN 978-0-19-160539-0.
↑ Hung, Hing Ming (2020). The Magnificent Emperor Wu: China's Han Dynasty. Algora. p. 124. ISBN 978-1628944167.
↑ Hung, Hing Ming (2020). The Magnificent Emperor Wu: China's Han Dynasty. Algora. pp. 183–185. ISBN 978-1628944167.
↑ Hung, Hing Ming (2020). The Magnificent Emperor Wu: China's Han Dynasty. pp. 124–125. ISBN 978-1628944167.
↑ Davis, Paul (2001). Besieged: An Encyclopedia of Great Sieges from Ancient Times to the Present. ABC-CLIO. p. 29.
↑ Hung, Hing Ming (2020). The Magnificent Emperor Wu: China's Han Dynasty. pp. 127–131. ISBN 978-1628944167.
↑ "132 BC". Farlex. Archived from the original on February 24, 2012.
↑ Errington, R. M. (2012). "Aristonicus". The Oxford Classical Dictionary (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191735257. Retrieved 22 December 2025.
↑ Cambridge Ancient History VII p. 380.
↑ Cambridge Ancient History IX p. 780.
↑ Badian, Ernst (2012). "Papirius (RE 33) Carbo (1), Gaius". The Oxford Classical Dictionary (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191735257. Retrieved 22 December 2025.
↑ Cambridge Ancient History IX p. 313.
↑ Hung, Hing Ming (2020). The Magnificent Emperor Wu: China's Han Dynasty. Algora. p. 135. ISBN 978-1628944167.
↑ Marvin Perry et al., eds. Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Society (Cengage Learning, 2008) p135
↑ Hornblower, Simon; Spawforth, Antony (2012). The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-173525-7.
↑ Mayor, Adrienne: "The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome's Deadliest Enemy" Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009, ISBN 978-0-691-12683-8
↑ Duggan, Alfred: He Died Old: Mithradates Eupator, King of Pontus, 1958
↑ Ford, Michael Curtis: The Last King: Rome's Greatest Enemy, New York, Thomas Dunne Books, 2004, ISBN 0-312-27539-0
↑ McGing, B.C.: The Foreign Policy of Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus (Mnemosyne, Supplements: 89), Leiden, Brill Academic Publishers, 1986, ISBN 90-04-07591-7 [paperback]
1 2 "131 B.C. - events and references". www.attalus.org. Retrieved 2026-05-16.
↑ "Attalus II Philadelphus". Encyclopædia Britannica. February 13, 2024. Retrieved February 27, 2024.
↑ Paranavitana, Senarat; Nicholas, Cyril Wace (1961). A Concise History of Ceylon. Colombo: Ceylon University Press. p. 59. OCLC 465385.
↑ de Silva, C.R.: Sri Lanka - A History. 2nd edition, New Delhi 1997. ISBN 81-259-0461-1. p.29f.
↑ Catholic Bible resources
↑ Hansen, Esther V. (1971). The Attalids of Pergamon. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press; London: Cornell University Press Ltd. ISBN 0-8014-0615-3.
↑ Kosmetatou, Elizabeth (2003) "The Attalids of Pergamon," in Andrew Erskine, ed., A Companion to the Hellenistic World. Oxford: Blackwell: pp. 159–174. ISBN 1-4051-3278-7. text
↑ Simon Hornblower and Tony Spawforth, Who's Who (Classical World), pg. 61.

Bibliography

Papazoglu, Fanula (1978). The Central Balkan Tribes in pre-Roman Times: Triballi, Autariatae, Dardanians, Scordisci and Moesians. Amsterdam: Hakkert. ISBN 978-90-256-0793-7.

[1] Hung, Hing Ming (2020). The Magnificent Emperor Wu: China's Han Dynasty. pp. 144–145. ISBN 978-1628944167.

[2] Hung, Hing Ming (2020). The Magnificent Emperor Wu: China's Han Dynasty. p. 132. ISBN 978-1628944167.

[3] Hung, Hing Ming (2020). The Magnificent Emperor Wu: China's Han Dynasty. Algora. pp. 123–124. ISBN 978-1628944167.

[4] Badian, Ernst (2012). "Pulcher (1), Appius". The Oxford Classical Dictionary (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191735257. Retrieved 22 December 2025.

[5] Badian, Ernst (2014). "Scipio Aemilianus". The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191778483. Retrieved 22 December 2025.

[6] "World History 200- 100 BC". Retrieved 28 June 2010.

[7] Smith, William (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. Vol. 2. Boston, Little. p. 155.

[8] T. Corey Brennan, The praetorship in the Roman Republic (2000) p. 229

[9] Papazoglu 1978, p. 286

[10] Livy (2007). Rome's Mediterranean Empire: Books 41-45 and the Periochae. Oxford University Press. pp. 268. ISBN 978-0-19-160539-0.

[11] Hung, Hing Ming (2020). The Magnificent Emperor Wu: China's Han Dynasty. Algora. p. 124. ISBN 978-1628944167.

[12] Hung, Hing Ming (2020). The Magnificent Emperor Wu: China's Han Dynasty. Algora. pp. 183–185. ISBN 978-1628944167.

[13] Hung, Hing Ming (2020). The Magnificent Emperor Wu: China's Han Dynasty. pp. 124–125. ISBN 978-1628944167.

[14] Davis, Paul (2001). Besieged: An Encyclopedia of Great Sieges from Ancient Times to the Present. ABC-CLIO. p. 29.

[15] Hung, Hing Ming (2020). The Magnificent Emperor Wu: China's Han Dynasty. pp. 127–131. ISBN 978-1628944167.

[16] "132 BC". Farlex. Archived from the original on February 24, 2012.

[17] Errington, R. M. (2012). "Aristonicus". The Oxford Classical Dictionary (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191735257. Retrieved 22 December 2025.

[18] Cambridge Ancient History VII p. 380.

[19] Cambridge Ancient History IX p. 780.

[20] Badian, Ernst (2012). "Papirius (RE 33) Carbo (1), Gaius". The Oxford Classical Dictionary (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191735257. Retrieved 22 December 2025.

[21] Cambridge Ancient History IX p. 313.

[22] Hung, Hing Ming (2020). The Magnificent Emperor Wu: China's Han Dynasty. Algora. p. 135. ISBN 978-1628944167.

[23] Marvin Perry et al., eds. Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Society (Cengage Learning, 2008) p135

[24] Hornblower, Simon; Spawforth, Antony (2012). The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-173525-7.

[25] Mayor, Adrienne: "The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome's Deadliest Enemy" Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009, ISBN 978-0-691-12683-8

[26] Duggan, Alfred: He Died Old: Mithradates Eupator, King of Pontus, 1958

[27] Ford, Michael Curtis: The Last King: Rome's Greatest Enemy, New York, Thomas Dunne Books, 2004, ISBN 0-312-27539-0

[28] McGing, B.C.: The Foreign Policy of Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus (Mnemosyne, Supplements: 89), Leiden, Brill Academic Publishers, 1986, ISBN 90-04-07591-7 [paperback]

[:0-29] 1 2 "131 B.C. - events and references". www.attalus.org. Retrieved 2026-05-16.

[30] "Attalus II Philadelphus". Encyclopædia Britannica. February 13, 2024. Retrieved February 27, 2024.

[31] Paranavitana, Senarat; Nicholas, Cyril Wace (1961). A Concise History of Ceylon. Colombo: Ceylon University Press. p. 59. OCLC 465385.

[32] Silva, C.R.: Sri Lanka - A History. 2nd edition, New Delhi 1997. ISBN 81-259-0461-1. p.29f.

[33] Catholic Bible resources

[34] Hansen, Esther V. (1971). The Attalids of Pergamon. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press; London: Cornell University Press Ltd. ISBN 0-8014-0615-3.

[35] Kosmetatou, Elizabeth (2003) "The Attalids of Pergamon," in Andrew Erskine, ed., A Companion to the Hellenistic World. Oxford: Blackwell: pp. 159–174. ISBN 1-4051-3278-7. text

[36] Simon Hornblower and Tony Spawforth, Who's Who (Classical World), pg. 61.

130s BC

Events

139 BC

By place

China

Roman Republic

By topic

Astronomy

138 BC

By place

Roman Empire

Asia Minor

Egypt

Syria

Parthia

China

By topic

Arts and sciences

137 BC

By place

Roman Republic

136 BC

By place

China

Greece

Rome

Spain

135 BC

By place

Roman Republic

Bactria

China

134 BC

By place

Roman Republic

Judea

China

By topic

Astronomy

133 BC

By place

Roman Republic

China

132 BC

By place

Roman Republic

Mexico

131 BC

By place

Roman Republic

Egypt

130 BC

By place

Roman Republic

Egypt

China

Births

By place

Rome

Deaths

References

Bibliography