440

This article is about the year 440. For the number, see 440 (number). For other uses, see 440 (disambiguation).

Year 440 (CDXL) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Valentinianus and Anatolius (or, less frequently, year 1193 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 440 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.

440 in various calendars

Gregorian calendar	440 CDXL
Ab urbe condita	1193
Assyrian calendar	5190
Balinese saka calendar	361–362
Bengali calendar	−154 – −153
Berber calendar	1390
Buddhist calendar	984
Burmese calendar	−198
Byzantine calendar	5948–5949
Chinese calendar	己卯年 (Earth Rabbit) 3137 or 2930     — to — 庚辰年 (Metal Dragon) 3138 or 2931
Coptic calendar	156–157
Discordian calendar	1606
Ethiopian calendar	432–433
Hebrew calendar	4200–4201
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	496–497
- Shaka Samvat	361–362
- Kali Yuga	3540–3541
Holocene calendar	10440
Iranian calendar	182 BP – 181 BP
Islamic calendar	188 BH – 187 BH
Javanese calendar	324–325
Julian calendar	440 CDXL
Korean calendar	2773
Minguo calendar	1472 before ROC 民前1472年
Nanakshahi calendar	−1028
Seleucid era	751/752 AG
Thai solar calendar	982–983
Tibetan calendar	ས་མོ་ཡོས་ལོ་ (female Earth-Hare) 566 or 185 or −587     — to — ལྕགས་ཕོ་འབྲུག་ལོ་ (male Iron-Dragon) 567 or 186 or −586

Territories of the Northern Wei (blue) and Liu Song (Red) states (440)

Events

By place

Europe

• Flavius Aetius, Roman general (magister militum), returns as triumphator back to Rome, after several years' fighting the Burgundians and Visigoths in Gaul. He is honoured by a statue erected by the Senate, and by order of Emperor Valentinian III.^{[citation needed]}
• The Huns under Attila reappear in force, along the frontier of the Western Roman Empire. They attack merchants on the north bank of the Danube and cities in Illyricum, including (according to Priscus) Viminacium, city of Moesia.^{[citation needed]}

Africa

• A Vandal fleet and their allies (Alans, Goths and Moors) set out from Carthage for Sicily, the principal supplier of oil and grain to Italy after the loss of North Africa. They loot all the coastal towns and besiege Palermo. Heavily laden ships return to the court of King Genseric.

Asia

• Northern and Southern dynasties: Northern China is unified by the Northern Wei dynasty. The South is still under the control of the Song (or Liu Song) dynasty.
• A center of Buddhist studies is established at Nalanda in Bihar on the plains of the Ganges River (India).

Persia

• The Hephthalites (White Huns) move south from the Altai Mountains region into Transoxiana, Bactria, Khorasan and eastern Persia.

By topic

Art

• The Parting of Lot and Abraham, mosaic in the nave arcade, Church of Santa Maria Maggiore (Rome), is made.

Ancient Games

• Chaturanga, Indian war game and an ancestor of chess through the Persian game of Shatranj (or Chatrang), evolves in the Indus Valley on the Indian subcontinent (approximate date).

Religion

• August 18 – Pope Sixtus III dies after an 8-year reign in which he has resisted heresy and sponsored major construction programs in Rome. He is succeeded by Leo I as the 45th pope.
• September 29 – Leo I begins to formulate Orthodoxy and condemns Eutychianism, an extreme form of monophysitism which holds that the human nature of Christ is absorbed by His divine nature.
• Winter – Leo I sends a letter to Valentinian III stating, "by the Holy Spirit's inspiration the emperor needs no human instruction and is incapable of doctrinal error".

Births

• Bodhidharma, semi-legendary Buddhist monk (approximate date)
• Euric, Visigothic king and son of Theodoric I (d. 484)
• Gaudentius, son of Flavius Aetius (approximate date)
• Qi Wudi, Chinese emperor of the Southern Qi dynasty (d. 493)
• Tonantius Ferreolus, Gallo-Roman senator and prefect of Gaul
• Vakhtang I, king of Iberia (modern Georgia) (approximate date)
• Wen Cheng Di, emperor of the Northern Wei dynasty (d. 465)

Deaths

• February 17 – Mesrob, Armenian monk and linguist (b. 362)
• August 18 – Pope Sixtus III^[1] (b. 390)
• Amalgaid mac Fiachrae, king of Connacht (Ireland)
• Yuan Qigui, empress and wife of Wen of Liu Song (b. 405)^[2]

See also

• 4-4-0, a steam locomotive, known by its wheel arrangement & for opening up North America in 1800-1850