12 BC

Year 12 BC was either a common year starting on Saturday, Sunday or Monday or a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar (the sources differ, see leap year error for further information) and a common year starting on Friday of the Proleptic Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Messalla and Quirinius (or, less frequently, year 742 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 12 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.

12 BC in various calendars

Gregorian calendar	12 BC XII BC
Ab urbe condita	742
Ancient Greek Olympiad (summer)	192nd Olympiad (victor)¹
Assyrian calendar	4739
Balinese saka calendar	N/A
Bengali calendar	−605 – −604
Berber calendar	939
Buddhist calendar	533
Burmese calendar	−649
Byzantine calendar	5497–5498
Chinese calendar	戊申年 (Earth Monkey) 2686 or 2479     — to — 己酉年 (Earth Rooster) 2687 or 2480
Coptic calendar	−295 – −294
Discordian calendar	1155
Ethiopian calendar	−19 – −18
Hebrew calendar	3749–3750
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	45–46
- Shaka Samvat	N/A
- Kali Yuga	3089–3090
Holocene calendar	9989
Iranian calendar	633 BP – 632 BP
Islamic calendar	652 BH – 651 BH
Javanese calendar	N/A
Julian calendar	12 BC XII BC
Korean calendar	2322
Minguo calendar	1923 before ROC 民前1923年
Nanakshahi calendar	−1479
Seleucid era	300/301 AG
Thai solar calendar	531–532
Tibetan calendar	ས་ཕོ་སྤྲེ་ལོ་ (male Earth-Monkey) 115 or −266 or −1038     — to — ས་མོ་བྱ་ལོ་ (female Earth-Bird) 116 or −265 or −1037

Events

By place

Roman Empire

• Marcus Valerius Messalla Appianus and Publius Sulpicius Quirinius are Roman consuls.
• Tiberius Claudius Nero summoned to Pannonia due to severe revolt by the Delmatae.
• Roman armies based at Xanten, Cologne and Mainz campaign beyond the Rhine.
• First official mention of Argentoratum, the city known in modern times as Strasbourg.
• Emperor Augustus is given the title Pontifex Maximus.
• Approximate date – Pyramid of Cestius erected in Rome.

India

• King Azes II dies. The rule of the Indo-Scythians crumbles as the Kushans, one of the five tribes of the Yuezhi who live in Bactria expand into India to create a Kushan Empire.

By topic

Astronomy

• Halley's Comet makes an appearance, as recorded by Chinese Astronomers for about 56 days. Written in the Annal of Han as "In the first year of Yuan Yen (12 B.C.), in the Autumn the seventh month, on the day Sing Wei, a comet swept in Gemini, went through Pollux and Castor, and passed over Leo and Virgo. It was then behind the sun about six degrees, and appeared in the east earlier in the morning. After thirteen days the comet became an evening star shining in the west, whence it swept over Arcturus, moved slowly to Serpens, and reached Ophiuchus. After 56 days it disappeared in Scorpio."^[1]

Births

• Agrippa Postumus, son of Julia the Elder and grandson of Augustus (d. AD 14)

Deaths

• Gaius Caninius Rebilus, Roman senator and suffect consul
• Marcus Valerius Messalla Appianus, Roman consul (b. c. 45 BC)
• Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, Roman statesman (b. c. 63 BC)
• Mithridates III, king of Commagene (Armenia)
• Sextius Propertius, Roman Latin poet and writer (b. c. 50–45 BC)