670s BC
The 670s BC, or 670s BCE are the decade that runs from 679 BC to 670 BC. At the time it was known as 75-84 Ab urbe condita in Rome. The denomination 670s BC for this decade has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming decades.
| Millennia |
|---|
| 1st millennium BC |
| Centuries |
| Decades |
| Years |
| Categories |
|
| 679 BC by topic |
| Politics |
|---|
| Categories |
| Gregorian calendar | 679 BC DCLXXIX BC |
| Ab urbe condita | 75 |
| Ancient Egypt era | XXV dynasty, 74 |
| - Pharaoh | Taharqa, 12 |
| Ancient Greek Olympiad (summer) | 25th Olympiad, year 2 |
| Assyrian calendar | 4072 |
| Balinese saka calendar | N/A |
| Bengali calendar | −1272 – −1271 |
| Berber calendar | 272 |
| Buddhist calendar | −134 |
| Burmese calendar | −1316 |
| Byzantine calendar | 4830–4831 |
| Chinese calendar | 辛丑年 (Metal Ox) 2019 or 1812 — to — 壬寅年 (Water Tiger) 2020 or 1813 |
| Coptic calendar | −962 – −961 |
| Discordian calendar | 488 |
| Ethiopian calendar | −686 – −685 |
| Hebrew calendar | 3082–3083 |
| Hindu calendars | |
| - Vikram Samvat | −622 – −621 |
| - Shaka Samvat | N/A |
| - Kali Yuga | 2422–2423 |
| Holocene calendar | 9322 |
| Iranian calendar | 1300 BP – 1299 BP |
| Islamic calendar | 1340 BH – 1339 BH |
| Javanese calendar | N/A |
| Julian calendar | N/A |
| Korean calendar | 1655 |
| Minguo calendar | 2590 before ROC 民前2590年 |
| Nanakshahi calendar | −2146 |
| Thai solar calendar | −136 – −135 |
| Tibetan calendar | ལྕགས་མོ་གླང་ལོ་ (female Iron-Ox) −552 or −933 or −1705 — to — ཆུ་ཕོ་སྟག་ལོ་ (male Water-Tiger) −551 or −932 or −1704 |
Events and trends
679 BC
- Siomón Brecc's reign ends and is succeeded by Dui Finn, according to the chronology of Geoffrey Keating's Foras Feasa ar Éirinn.[1]
- The Assyrian king Esarhaddon (r. 681 – 669 BCE) defeated the Cimmerians and killed their king Teušpa at Ḫubišna. Esarhaddon appears to have reached Ḫubišna by passing through the Göksu River valley and bypassing the Anti-Taurus Mountains and Tabal proper.[2][3][4][5][6][7]
- Duke Huan of Qi was officially rewarded hegemony by the Zhou king Xi in 679 BCE.[8][9][10]
- Esarhaddon, the son of Sennacherib, is mentioned in some texts as having taken a city called Arsa near the River of Egypt, and its king Asuhili was taken back to the Assyrian capital Ninveh.
- A large structure with a mudbrick self-supporting arch roof was discovered and dated to between this year and 630 BCE in Tell Jemmeh.
- Bartatua succeeds Išpakaia as king of Iškuza.[11]
- Esarhaddon campaigned in the Tabalian region against the Cimmerians from his base in Que and Ḫilakku, resulting in the defeat and killing of the Cimmerian king Teušpâ in Ḫubišna, who was succeeded by Dugdammî, and the annexation of a part of the territory of Ḫilakku and of the sub-kingdom of Kundu and Sissu in Que, whose king Sanduarri fled into the mountains, and of a part of the territory of Ḫilakku.[12][13][14][15]
- Sennacherib's successor, King Esarhaddon, campaigned in Khor, destroyed Sidon, and forced Tyre into tribute from 677 to 676 BC.
- The Cimmerians attacked Lydia for the third time, led by their king Lygdamis. The Lydians were defeated, Sardis was sacked, and Gyges was killed, following which he was succeeded by his son, Ardys, who was the father of Sadyattes.[16]
- The Cimmerians migrate to the east and west of Mannaea.
- The Assyrians used Cimmerians in their army as mercenaries; a legal document of 679 B.C. refers to an Assyrian ‘commander of the Cimmerian regiment’; but in other Assyrian documents they are called ‘the seed of runaways who know neither vows to the gods nor oaths’[17]
678 BC
- Phraortes becomes king of the Medes (according to the chronology proposed by Igor Diakonoff)[18]
- Chu soldiers invade Zheng (according to the Zuo Zhuan)[19]
- King Wen of Chu conquers the state of Deng.
- King Xi of Zhou used his royal clout to give legitimacy to Wu of Quwo as the rightful duke of Jin[20]
- The state of Jin became the first to maintain a standing army[21]
- Jin–Quwo wars end (739–678 BCE), dynastic struggles between two branches of Jin's ruling house[22]
- Kaštaritu is mentioned as "King of the Medes" in an inscription[23]
- According to Herodotus, Ecbatana was chosen as the Medes' capital by Deioces, the first ruler of the Medes.
- Deioces united the Median tribes of Media and made the first Iranian Empire.
- Chu had conquered most of the Nanyang Basin
- Nekauba becomes pharaoh of the twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt[24]
November
- Two solar eclipses occur on the 1st and the 30th[25]
677 BC
- Esarhaddon leads the Assyrian army against rebellious Arab tribes and advances as far as the Brook of Egypt.[26]
- From this year to 676 BC, Sennacherib's successor, King Esarhaddon, forced Tyre into tribute after campaigning in Khor and destroying Sidon in 679 BC.
676 BC
By place
Greece
- Callisthenes of Laconia wins the stadion race at the 26th Olympic Games.[27]
China
- Zhou Hui Wang becomes King of the Zhou Dynasty of China.[28]
Middle East
- From 677 BC to this year, Sennacherib's successor, King Esarhaddon, forced Tyre into tribute after campaigning in Khor and destroying Sidon in 679 BC.
675 BC
- The Elamite king Urtaku comes to power; during his reign, relations between Elam and Babylonia worsen.[29]
- King Deioces dies after a 53-year reign that has established the kingdom of the Medes and its capital at Ecbatana (later Hamedan) in what will be northwest Persia. He is succeeded by his son Phraortes, who forms an anti-Assyrian alliance with the Cimmerians to subjugate the Persians and other Asian peoples.[30]
- King Esarhaddon begins to rebuild Babylon (approximate date).[26]
- Teispes becomes a king of Anshan.
674 BC
- Esarhaddon puts down a revolt in Ascalon supported by Taharqa, king of Kush and Egypt. In response, the Assyrians invade Egypt, but Taharqa is able to hold them off.[31][32]
673 BC
- Tullus Hostilius becomes the third king of Rome.[33]
672 BC
- (estimated date) Tullus Hostilius becomes the legendary third king of Rome.
671 BC
- Esarhaddon again invades Egypt, this time successfully, capturing Memphis as well as a number of the royal family.[34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][41]
670 BC
- King Gyges of Lydia's name is written on the first Greek coins.[43][44][45][46]
- Miletus begins establishing colonies in the Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea.[47][48][49][50][51][52]
Significant people
- Esarhaddon, King of Assyria and conqueror of Egypt (reigned 681–669 BC)
- Argaeus I, who acceded to the kingship of Macedon with his father's death; he reigned from c. 623 BC to c. 640 BC[53]
- Zhou Hui Wang, ruler of China during the Zhou dynasty
Births
Deaths
679 BC
- Siomón Brecc, according to the chronology of Geoffrey Keating's Foras Feasa ar Éirinn.[1]
- Teušpâ, king of the Cimmerians
- Išpakaia, king of Iškuza.[11]
- Gyges of Lydia[54][16]
678 BC
- approximate date of death of Perdiccas I, king of Macedon
- Min, Marquis of Jin[55]
- Duke Wu of Qin, ruler of the state of Qin, had 66 people sacrificed and buried with him[56][57]
677 BC
- King Xi of Zhou, king of the Zhou Dynasty of China.
- Abdi-Milkutti, king of Sidon.
- King Wen of Chu[58]
- Duke Wu of Jin
676 BC
675 BC
673 BC
- Numa Pompilius, second of the Kings of Rome, successor to Romulus[59]
Autumn
- Wen Jiang, princess of the State of Qi and duchess of the State of Lu[60]
672 BC
February
670 BC
- Mettius Fufetius, Latin king of Alba Longa
- Oracle of Nusku
References
- ^ a b Geoffrey Keating, Foras Feasa ar Éirinn 1.26
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- ^ Bryce, Trevor (2009). The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: From the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-39485-7.
- ^ Aro, Sanna (2013). "Tabal". In Streck, Michael P. [in German]; Frantz-Szabó, Gabriella; Krebernik, Manfred [in German]; Bonacossi, D. Morandi; Postgate, J. N.; Seidl, Ursula [in German]; Stol, M.; Wilhelm, Gernot [in German] (eds.). Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archäologie [Encyclopaedia of Ancient Near Eastern Studies] (in German). Vol. 13. Berlin, Germany; New York City, United States: Walter de Gruyter. pp. 388–391. ISBN 978-3-110-30715-3.
- ^ Aro, Sanna (2023). "Vanishing kingdoms: Tabal and Tuwana during the seventh century BC". In Draycott, Catherine M.; Branting, Scott; Lehner, Joseph W.; Özarslan, Yasemin (eds.). From Midas to Cyrus and Other Stories: Papers on Iron Age Anatolia in Honour of Geoffrey and Françoise Summers. BIAA Monograph Series. London, United Kingdom: British Institute at Ankara. pp. 113–135. ISBN 978-1-912-09011-2.
- ^ Weeden, Mark (2023). "The Iron Age States of Central Anatolia and Northern Syria". In Radner, Karen; Moeller, Nadine; Potts, Daniel T. (eds.). The Age of Assyria. The Oxford History of the Ancient Near East. Vol. 4. New York City, United States: Oxford University Press. pp. 912–1026. ISBN 978-0-190-68763-2.
- ^ Zuozhuan "Duke Zhuang - 15th year - zhuan" quote: "十五年春,復會焉,齊始霸也。" translation based on Durrant, Li, & Schaberg (2016): "In the fifteenth year, in spring, they once again held a meeting there [i.e. at Juan 鄄]: Qi was for the first time acting as Overlord / Hegemon."
- ^ Shiji "Basic Annals of Zhou" quote: "釐王三年,齊桓公始霸。" translation: "In King Xi's third year, Duke Huan of Qi for the first time acted as Hegemon / Overlord."
- ^ Durrant, Li, & Schaberg (translators) (2016). Zuo tradition: Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals. fn. 68 on p. 722. Quote: "Lord Huan of Qi and Lord Wen of Jin figure in all versions."
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- ^ Ivantchik, Askold (1993a). Les Cimmériens au Proche-Orient [The Cimmerians in the Near East] (PDF) (in French). Fribourg, Switzerland; Göttingen, Germany: Éditions Universitaires (Switzerland); Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht (Germany). ISBN 978-3-727-80876-0.
- ^ Lemaire, André (1991). "Recherches de topographie historique sur le pays de Qué" [Historical Topography Research on the Country of Que]. Anatolia antiqua. Eski Anadolu. 1. Institut français des études anatoliennes: 267–275. Retrieved 5 October 2025.
- ^ Pruzsinszky, Regine [in German] (2009). "Sanduarri". In Streck, Michael P. [in German]; Frantz-Szabó, G.; Krebernik, Manfred [in German]; Morandi Bonacossi, D.; Postgate, J. N.; Seidl, Ursula [in German]; Stol, M.; Wilhelm, Gernot [in German] (eds.). Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archäologie [Encyclopaedia of Ancient Near Eastern Studies] (in German). Vol. 12. Berlin, Germany: Walter de Gruyter. pp. 8–9. ISBN 978-3-110-20384-4.
- ^ Adalı, Selim Ferruh (2017). "Cimmerians and the Scythians: the Impact of Nomadic Powers on the Assyrian Empire and the Ancient Near East". In Kim, Hyun Jin; Vervaet, Frederik Juliaan; Adalı, Selim Ferruh (eds.). Eurasian Empires in Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages Contact and Exchange between the Graeco- Roman World, Inner Asia and China. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. pp. 60–82. ISBN 978-1-107-19041-2.
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Related to the subject of entrances to buildings, the final case study that allows insight into conceptions of the material world at Nineveh and in Assyria concerns the statues of the 25th Dynasty Egyptian king Taharqa excavated at the entrance to the arsenal on Nebi Yunus. I have argued elsewhere that Egypt was a site of fascination to the Neo-Assyrian kings and that its material culture was collected throughout the period.
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- ^ ABC 1 Col.4:25; also in ABC 14:28–29
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