A NEW UNIVERSAL BIOGRAPHY. PERIOD XVI. FROM CALIGULA TO MARCUS AURELIUS [CENTURY I., Of the CHRISTIAN ÆRA.] REMARKABLE FACTS, EVENTS AND DISCOVERIES. A.D. 21 Pilate made Governor of Judæa. 25 Jesus baptized in Jordan by John. 29 He is crucified at Jerusalem. 31 Stephen stoned, and St. Paul converted. 39 St. Matthew writes the Gospel. Pilate kills himself. 42 The disciples first called Christians at Antioch. 43 Claudius Cæsar's expedition into Britain. 44 St. Mark writes his Gospel. 50 London founded by the Romans. 51 Caractacus, the British king, carried prisoner to Rome. 52 The Council of the Apostles at Jerusalem. 55 St. Luke writes his Gospel. 56 Rotterdam built. 59 Nero puts his mother and brothers to death; and persecutes the Druids in Britain. 60 Christianity introduced into Britain. 61 Boadicea, the British queen, defeats the Romans; but is conquered soon after by Suetonius. 62 St. Paul is sent in bonds to Rome; and writes his Epistles between A.D. 51 and 66. 63 The Acts of the Apostles written. 64 Rome set on fire by Nero, and burnt for six days; upon which began the first persecution of the Christians. 66 Martyrdom of St. Peter and St. Paul. 70 While the factious Jews are destroying one another with mutual fury, Titus Vespasian takes Jerusalem and razes it to the ground. 73 The philosophers banished from Rome by Vespasian. 83 The philosophers expelled Rome by Domitian. VOL. II. 4 B 85 Julius Agricola, to protect the civilized Britons from the incursions of the Caledonians, builds a line of forts between the Forth and the Clyde; defeats the Caledonians under Galgacus on the Grampian hills; and first discovers Britain to be an island, by sailing round it. 93 The empire of the Huns in Tartary destroyed by the Chinese. St. John banished to Patmos. 94 The second persecution of the Christians under Domitian. 96 St. John wrote his Revelation. 97 St. John wrote his Gospel. WE begin a new era with the birth of our Lord and Saviour JESUS CHRIST. During this period Britain was conquered by Agricola; and Jerusalem destroyed by Vespasian and Titus. In the year 98 of the Christian era, Trajan succeeded as emperor of Rome; and being a man of great valour and experience in war, he carried the Roman conquests to their utmost extent. Having conquered the Dacians, a German nation beyond the Danube, and who had of late been very troublesome, he turned his arms eastward; reduced all Mesopotamia, Chaldea, and Assyria; and having taken Ctesiphon, the capital of the Parthian empire, appointed them a king, which he thought would be a proper method for keeping that warlike nation in subjection. After this, he proposed to return to Italy, but died by the way. At this period, the Roman boundaries extended on the west to the Atlantic ocean, on the north to the Rhine and the Danube, on the east to the Euphrates, and on the south to the sandy deserts of Arabia, and Africa. The Romans being thus almost masters of the world, entitles them to the first place in this division. CAIUS CÆSAR surnamed CALIGULA, the fourth of the Roman emperors, was the son of Germanicus Cæsar and Agrippina, and born in the year of Rome 765, of Christ 12. He began his reign A. D. 37, with every promising appearance of becoming the real father of his people; but at the end of eight months he was seized with a fever, which, it is thought, left a frenzy on his mind: for his disposition totally changed, and he committed the most atrocious acts of impiety, cruelty, and folly. He began his career of wickedness by murdering several of his relations, who were followed by a number of senators, and other persons of high rank. He openly married his sister Drusilla, and on her death caused divine honours to be paid her, in temples built to her honour. For his favourite horse he built a palace with a marble stable, and an ivory rack: fed him with gilt barley, and wine out of a golden cup. It was even his intention at one time to make him consul. He introduced his horse to the temple in the vestments of the priests |