653

Year 653 (DCLIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 653 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.

653 in various calendars

Gregorian calendar	653 DCLIII
Ab urbe condita	1406
Armenian calendar	102 ԹՎ ՃԲ
Assyrian calendar	5403
Balinese saka calendar	574–575
Bengali calendar	59–60
Berber calendar	1603
Buddhist calendar	1197
Burmese calendar	15
Byzantine calendar	6161–6162
Chinese calendar	壬子年 (Water Rat) 3350 or 3143     — to — 癸丑年 (Water Ox) 3351 or 3144
Coptic calendar	369–370
Discordian calendar	1819
Ethiopian calendar	645–646
Hebrew calendar	4413–4414
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	709–710
- Shaka Samvat	574–575
- Kali Yuga	3753–3754
Holocene calendar	10653
Iranian calendar	31–32
Islamic calendar	32–33
Japanese calendar	Hakuchi 4 (白雉４年)
Javanese calendar	544–545
Julian calendar	653 DCLIII
Korean calendar	2986
Minguo calendar	1259 before ROC 民前1259年
Nanakshahi calendar	−815
Seleucid era	964/965 AG
Thai solar calendar	1195–1196
Tibetan calendar	ཆུ་ཕོ་བྱི་བ་ལོ་ (male Water-Rat) 779 or 398 or −374     — to — ཆུ་མོ་གླང་ལོ་ (female Water-Ox) 780 or 399 or −373

Icon image of Saint Cedd (c. 620–664)

Events

By place

Byzantine Empire

• Emperor Constans II voluntarily surrenders Armenia to the Arabs, following a truce with Muawiyah, governor of Syria. Muawiyah grants the Armenians virtual autonomy, and appoints the nakharar Theodor Rshtuni as ruler of Armenia.^[1]
• Muawiyah leads a raid against Rhodes, taking the scattered pieces of the Colossus of Rhodes (one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World) and shipping it back to Syria, where he destroys the bronze scrap to make coins.

Europe

• King Rodoald is murdered after a six-month reign, and is succeeded by Aripert I, who is elected as king of the Lombards. He spreads Catholicism over the Lombard realm and builds many new churches through the kingdom.
• Atto succeeds Theodelap as duke of Spoleto, in Central Italy (approximate date).

Britain

• King Penda of Mercia secures dominance over the area of Middle Anglia,^[2] where he establishes his son Peada as ruler.^[3]
• Peada marries Alchflaed, daughter of King Oswiu of Bernicia, and is baptised at Ad Murum (in the region of Hadrian's Wall) by bishop Finan.
• King Œthelwald of Deira rejects Oswiu's overlordship, and turns to Penda instead. Penda mounts another attack against Bernicia (approximate date).
• Talorgan I, nephew of Oswiu, is crowned king of the Picts. He probably accepts Northumbrian overlordship and pays tribute.^[4]
• King Sigeberht I of Essex dies after a 36-year reign, and is succeeded by his relative Sigeberht II.
• Sigeberht II is persuaded by Oswiu to adopt Christianity, as part of a mobilization against Penda.

Asia

• Emperor Kōtoku sends an embassy to the court of the Tang dynasty in China. Japanese ambassadors, priests and students sail for the capital Chang'an, but some of the ships are lost en route.
• Prince Tenji of Japan changes his residence to Asuka (Nara Prefecture), with other imperial family members and ministers. Only Emperor Kōtoku stays in the Naniwa Palace (approximate date).

By topic

Religion

• June 17 – Pope Martin I is arrested in the Lateran in Rome, along with Maximus the Confessor, on the orders of Emperor Constans II, and taken to imprisonment in Constantinople.
• Northumbrian missionaries under St. Cedd are despatched to Essex, to found the monastery at Bradwell-on-Sea.
• The Temple of Sinheungsa in Gangwon Province (South Korea) is constructed by the Buddhist monk Jajang.

Births

• Childeric II, king of the Franks (approximate date)
• Li Xian, prince of the Tang dynasty (d. 684)

Deaths

• March 6 – Li Ke, prince of the Tang dynasty
• September 30 – Honorius, archbishop of Canterbury^[5]
• Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, uncle of Muhammad (approximate date)
• Chen Shuozhen, Chinese rebel leader
• Chindasuinth, king of the Visigoths
• Marcán mac Tommáin, king of Uí Maine (Ireland)
• Plato, exarch of Ravenna
• Rodoald, king of the Lombards
• Romaric, Frankish nobleman
• Sigeberht I, king of Essex
• Talorc III, king of the Picts
• Theodelap, duke of Spoleto (approximate date)
• Zhang Xingcheng, chancellor of the Tang dynasty (b. 587)