390s
Millennium: | 1st millennium |
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The 390s decade ran from January 1, 390, to December 31, 399.
Events
390
By place
Roman Empire
- April – Massacre of Thessalonica: Resentment among the citizens of Thessalonica (Macedonia), after the arrest of a popular charioteer, breaks out into violence. Butheric, military commander of Illyricum, is murdered. Emperor Theodosius I orders vengeance, despite the pleas of Ambrose, bishop of Milan, for mercy, and more than 7,000 inhabitants are massacred by the Roman army.
- Ambrose retires to Milan (residence of Theodosius I) and refuses to celebrate a mass in the emperor's presence, until he repents for ordering the massacre in Thessalonica. Theodosius, filled with remorse, kneels in humility and strips off his royal purple, before the altar of the cathedral in Milan, humbling himself before the church.
- The Visigoths and Huns, led by Alaric, invade Thrace. Stilicho, high-ranking general (magister militum) of Vandal origin, raises an army and begins a campaign against the Goths.
- Theodosius I brings an obelisk from Egypt to the Hippodrome of Constantinople.
India
- Rudrasena II becomes emperor of Vakataka in the Deccan Plateau (India). In the same year he marries Prabhavatigupta, daughter of the Gupta king Chandragupta II.
By topic
Art
- C. 390–401 – Priestess of Bacchus: Late Antiquity ivory diptych; documents the relationship of the senators Quintus Aurelius Symmachus and Virius Nicomachus Flavianus. It commemorates the marriage of the two families. The right panel is inscribed "Symmachorum", with an elaborately dressed priestess who makes an offer on an altar. It is now kept at Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Religion
- Jerome, having finished the Latin translation of the New Testament, begins translating the Old Testament.
- The Kama Sutra is revised by Vatsyayana.
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Significant people
- Arcadius, Eastern Roman Emperor
- Honorius (emperor), Western Roman Emperor
Births
- Flavius Marcianus, better known as Marcian. Born in 392, he would eventually become a Byzantine emperor.
- Eparchius Avitus, better known as Avitus. Born between 380 and 395, he would eventually become a Western Roman emperor.
- Flavius Anicius Petronius Maximus, better known as Petronius Maximus. Born c. 396, he would eventually become a Western Roman Empire.
- Aelia Pulcheria, better known as Pulcheria. Born in 398 or 399, she would eventually become a Byzantine empress. First Empress regnant of the Byzantine Empire, though she had co-rulers.
Deaths
- Valentinian II, Roman emperor. Died in 392.
- Theodosius I, Roman emperor. Died in 395. Last emperor to rule over both the eastern and the western halves of the Roman Empire. His successors ruled over a de jure unified, but de facto divided Empire until the 480s.
- Aurelius Victor, Roman historian and politician
- Bahram IV, 13th Shahanshah of the Sassanid Empire