68 BC

Year 68 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Metellus/Vatia and Rex (or, less frequently, year 686 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 68 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.

68 BC in various calendars

Gregorian calendar	68 BC LXVIII BC
Ab urbe condita	686
Ancient Egypt era	XXXIII dynasty, 256
- Pharaoh	Ptolemy XII Auletes, 13
Ancient Greek Olympiad (summer)	178th Olympiad (victor)¹
Assyrian calendar	4683
Balinese saka calendar	N/A
Bengali calendar	−661 – −660
Berber calendar	883
Buddhist calendar	477
Burmese calendar	−705
Byzantine calendar	5441–5442
Chinese calendar	壬子年 (Water Rat) 2630 or 2423     — to — 癸丑年 (Water Ox) 2631 or 2424
Coptic calendar	−351 – −350
Discordian calendar	1099
Ethiopian calendar	−75 – −74
Hebrew calendar	3693–3694
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	−11 – −10
- Shaka Samvat	N/A
- Kali Yuga	3033–3034
Holocene calendar	9933
Iranian calendar	689 BP – 688 BP
Islamic calendar	710 BH – 709 BH
Javanese calendar	N/A
Julian calendar	N/A
Korean calendar	2266
Minguo calendar	1979 before ROC 民前1979年
Nanakshahi calendar	−1535
Seleucid era	244/245 AG
Thai solar calendar	475–476
Tibetan calendar	ཆུ་ཕོ་བྱི་བ་ལོ་ (male Water-Rat) 59 or −322 or −1094     — to — ཆུ་མོ་གླང་ལོ་ (female Water-Ox) 60 or −321 or −1093

Events

By place

Roman Republic

• Consuls: Lucius Caecilius Metellus and Quintus Marcius Rex.
• October 6 – Lucius Lucullus defeats Tigranes II of Armenia in the Battle of Artaxata.
• Gaius Antonius Hybrida elected praetor.
• Tribune of the plebs Gaius Antius Restio passes the Lex Antia sumptuaria law forbidding Roman magistrates from attending banquets.^[1]
• Ostia, the harbour city of Ancient Rome, is sacked by pirates. The port is set on fire and the consular war fleet is destroyed.

Osroene

• Abgar II becomes ruler of Osroene.

Births

• Arsinoe IV of Egypt, daughter of Ptolemy XII (and probably Cleopatra V) (d. 41 BC)

Deaths

• Antiochus of Ascalon, Greek philosopher (b. c. 130 BC)
• Cornelia, wife of Julius Caesar (b. 94 BC)
• Huo Guang, official of the western Han Dynasty
• Lucius Caecillius Metellus, Roman consul