43 BC

Year 43 BC was either a common year starting on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday or a leap year starting on Sunday or Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar (the sources differ, see leap year error for further information) and a common year starting on Monday of the Proleptic Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Pansa and Hirtius (or, less frequently, year 711 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 43 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Events

By place

Roman Republic

• troops for the march to Mutina, while Pansa continues the levy
  . Embassy dispatched to treat with Antony.
• January 7 – Octavian is given imperium, marking the start of his public career.^[1]
• Marcus Junius Brutus proceeds to secure his position in Thrace and Macedonia. Gaius Cassius Longinus campaigns in Syria and defeats the army of Publius Cornelius Dolabella at Laodicea.
• March – Vibius Pansa set out to link up with Hirtius and Octavian, bringing four
  recruits, having left one, the legio urbana, to defend Rome
  .
• Hirtius. Both consuls are killed (Hirtius does not die until after the Battle of Mutina
  ).
• April 16 – Octavian is first proclaimed imperator by his troops.^[1]
• April 21
  • Cicero's 14th and last Philippic.
  • Antony is again defeated in the Battle of Mutina by a coalition of Octavian, Decimus Brutus, and the two consuls of the year.
• Antony marches to
  Syria
  .
• Summer – Gaius Cassius captures Rhodes after they refuse to pay tribute. Their fleet is defeated by Roman galleys in the Aegean Sea. He lands a military force on the island and plunders the city. Cassius puts to death 50 of the leading citizens and seizes all the gold he can lay hands on.^[2]
• July–August – Antony is again at the head of a large army; Octavian enters Rome in force without opposition. It is clear that Cicero's plan to divide them against each other has failed.
• August 19 – Octavian takes office as consul. He's prevailed to pass the lex Pedia, a law establishing the murder of Caesar as a capital crime.
• Lepidus in Bononia and the three enter into an official five-year autocratic pact, the Second Triumvirate (see lex Titia). To cement their reconciliation Octavian agrees to marry Claudia, a daughter of Antony's wife Fulvia by her former husband Publius Clodius Pulcher
  .
• November – The triumvirs introduce
  equites are branded as outlaws
  and deprived of their property.
• Forum Romanum.^[3]

• Lugdunum (modern-day Lyon) is founded.
• First reference to Cularo (Grenoble).

Asia

• According to legend, Nagasena creates the Emerald Buddha figurine in Patna, India.

Births

• March 20 – Publius Ovidius Naso (Ovid), Roman poet (d. AD 17/18)^[4]
• Iotapa, princess of Media Atropatene (daughter of Artavasdes I)
• Iullus Antonius, Roman consul (son of Mark Antony) (d. 2 BC)

Deaths

• April 22 – Gaius Vibius Pansa, Roman consul and general (killed in battle)
• December 7 – Cicero, Roman statesman and orator (murdered) (b. 106 BC)^[5]
• Antipater the Idumaean, Jewish founder of the Herodian dynasty (murdered)
• Atia, niece of Julius Caesar and mother of Augustus (b. 85 BC)
• Aulus Hirtius, Roman consul and historian (killed in battle)
• Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus, Roman statesman (murdered) (b. c. 81 BC)
• Decimus Laberius, Roman nobleman and Latin writer (b. c. 105 BC)
• Gaius Trebonius, Roman politician (assassin of Julius Caesar)
• Gaius Verres, Roman politician and governor (b. c. 120 BC
  )
• Lucius Calpurnius Piso, Roman consul and governor (b. c. 100 BC)
• Lucius Minucius Basilus, Roman politician (assassin of Julius Caesar, murdered by his own slaves)
• Lucius Roscius Fabatus, Roman politician (killed in battle)
• Pontius Aquila, Roman politician (assassin of Julius Caesar)
• suffect consul after the assassination of Julius Caesar (b. 70 BC
  )
• Publilius Syrus, Syrian comic dramatist and Latin writer
• Quintus Pedius
  , suffect consul after the assassination of Julius Caesar
• Quintus Tullius Cicero, Roman statesman and general (b. 102 BC)
• Servius Sulpicius Rufus, Roman politician and jurist (b. c. 106 BC)

References

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