166 BC

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Contents

Events

By place

Ancient China

Syria

Roman Republic

By topic

Art

Births

Deaths

Events

By place

Ancient China

★ 140000 Xiongnu raid to within 100 miles of the Chinese capital.

Syria

★ The Seleucid king Antiochus IV mounts a campaign against the Parthians who are threatening his empire in the east. He leaves his chancellor, Lysias, with responsibility for the government of southern Syria and the guardianship of his son.

★ The leader of the Jewish revolt against Syria rule, Mattathias, dies and his third son, Judas, assumes leadership of the revolt in accordance with the deathbed disposition of his father.

★ The Battle of Beth Horon is fought between Jewish forces led by Judas Maccabeus and a Seleucid army. Maccabeus gains the element of surprise and successfully routs the much larger Syrian army.

★ The Battle of Emmaus takes place between the Jewish rebels led by Judas Maccabeus and Seleucid forces sent by Antiochus IV and led by Lysias and his general, Gorgias. In the ensuing battle, Judas Maccabeus and his men succeed in repelling Gorgias and forcing his army out of Judea and down to the coastal plain in what is an important victory in the war for Judea's independence.

Roman Republic

★ The Roman playwright Terence's ''Andria'' (''The Girl from Andros'') is first performed at the Megalesian games.

By topic

Art

★ The construction of the western front of the altar in Pergamum, Turkey begins (finished in 156 BC). A reconstruction of it is now kept at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Pergamonmuseum.

Births

★

Deaths

★ Mattathias, father of Judas Maccabaeus, Jewish priest from Modi'in, near Jerusalem, who has started and briefly led a rebellion by the Jews in Judea against the Seleucid kingdom of Syria