AD 73

AD 73 (LXXIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Domitian and Messalinus (or, less frequently, year 826 Ab urbe condita). The denomination AD 73 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.

AD 73 in various calendars

Gregorian calendar	AD 73 LXXIII
Ab urbe condita	826
Assyrian calendar	4823
Balinese saka calendar	N/A
Bengali calendar	−521 – −520
Berber calendar	1023
Buddhist calendar	617
Burmese calendar	−565
Byzantine calendar	5581–5582
Chinese calendar	壬申年 (Water Monkey) 2770 or 2563     — to — 癸酉年 (Water Rooster) 2771 or 2564
Coptic calendar	−211 – −210
Discordian calendar	1239
Ethiopian calendar	65–66
Hebrew calendar	3833–3834
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	129–130
- Shaka Samvat	N/A
- Kali Yuga	3173–3174
Holocene calendar	10073
Iranian calendar	549 BP – 548 BP
Islamic calendar	566 BH – 565 BH
Javanese calendar	N/A
Julian calendar	AD 73 LXXIII
Korean calendar	2406
Minguo calendar	1839 before ROC 民前1839年
Nanakshahi calendar	−1395
Seleucid era	384/385 AG
Thai solar calendar	615–616
Tibetan calendar	ཆུ་ཕོ་སྤྲེ་ལོ་ (male Water-Monkey) 199 or −182 or −954     — to — ཆུ་མོ་བྱ་ལོ་ (female Water-Bird) 200 or −181 or −953

Fortress Masada

Events

By place

Roman Empire

• Vespasian and Titus are appointed to be Roman censors.^[1]
• Spring – The Roman governor Lucius Flavius Silva lays siege to Masada, the last outpost of the Jewish rebels following the end, in AD 70, of the First Jewish-Roman War (Jewish Revolt). The Roman army (Legio X Fretensis) surrounds the mountain fortress with a 7-mile long siege wall (circumvallation) and builds a rampart of stones and beaten earth against the western approach. After the citadel is conquered, 960 Zealots under the leadership of Eleazar ben Ya'ir commit mass suicide when defeat becomes imminent.
• Pliny the Elder serves as procurator in Hispania Tarraconensis.
• Titus Flavius Domitianus becomes Roman Consul.
• Emperor Vespasian begins conquest of territory east of the upper Rhine and south of the Main. In addition, he reorganizes the defenses of the upper and lower Danube.

Asia

• February – The Chinese Han dynasty launches a major campaign against the Xiongnu, whom they confront in the Battle of Yiwulu in the Kumul oasis, an ultimate Han military victory led by General Dou Gu (d. AD 88).
• Ban Chao (Pan-Ch’ao), competing with the Xiongnu, imposes a Chinese protectorate on the kings of Lop Nor and Khotan in the Tarim Basin, with the aim of controlling the Silk Road.

By topic

Arts and sciences

• Martial writes a satire on "military cowardice".

Births

• Titus Flavius Hyrcanus, Roman aristocrat

Deaths