By place Roman Republic • In
Rome, the tribune Quintus Opimius speaks out against Sullan restrictions on the tribunate, in orations noted for sarcasm against conservatives. •
Cicero is
quaestor in Western Sicily. •
Nicomedes IV of
Bithynia bequeaths his kingdom to
Rome on his death (75/4 BC). Angered by the arrangement,
Mithridates VI of
Pontus declares war on Rome and invades Bithynia,
Cappadocia and
Paphlagonia, thus starting the
Third Mithridatic War. •
Third Mithridatic War:
M. Aurelius Cotta is defeated by
Mithridates in the
Battle of Chalcedon. •
Julius Caesar travels to
Rhodes and is taken captive by pirates\ • In the
Roman province of
Hispania Citerior a
republican army under
Pompey the Great defeats an army of
Sertorian rebels at the
Battle of Valentia. • In the
Roman province of
Hispania Ulterior a
republican army under
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius defeats an army of
Sertorian rebels at the
Battle of Italica. • In the
Roman province of
Hispania Citerior an army of
Sertorian rebels under
Quintus Sertorius himself defeats a
republican army under
Pompey the Great at the
Battle of Sucro. • At the
Battle of Saguntum the
republican forces on the
Iberian Peninsula and the
Sertorian rebels fight each other to a draw.
Quintus Sertorius is forced to withdraw leaving the battlefield to
Pompey and
Metellus (the republican commanders).
Greece •
Julius Caesar travels to
Rhodes to study under
Apollonius Molon. On his way across the
Aegean Sea, he is kidnapped by
Cilician pirates and held prisoner in the
Dodecanese islet of
Pharmacusa. The young Caesar is held for a ransom of twenty
talents, but he insists they ask for fifty. After his release Caesar raises a fleet at
Miletus, pursues and
crucifies the pirates in
Pergamon.
By topic Literature • Start of
Golden Age of Latin Literature. == Births ==