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3rd century

Published on Wednesday, August 27th 2008

Millennium: 1st millennium

Centuries: 2nd century 3rd century 4th century

Decades: 200s 210s 220s 230s 240s
250s 260s 270s 280s 290s

Categories: Births – Deaths
Establishments – Disestablishments

Eastern Hemisphere at the beginning of the 2nd century AD.

Eastern Hemisphere at the beginning of the 2nd century AD.

Map of the world in AD 250.

Map of the world in AD 250.

Eastern Hemisphere at the end of the 3rd century AD.

Eastern Hemisphere at the end of the 3rd century AD.

The 3rd century is the period from 201 to 300 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era.

In this century, the Roman Empire sees a crisis, marking the beginning of Late Antiquity. In Persia, the Parthian Empire is succeeded by the Sassanid Empire.

In India, the Kushan Empire is replaced by the Gupta Empire. China is in the Three Kingdoms period. The Xiongnu form the Tiefu state under Liu Qubei. Korea is ruled by the Three Kingdoms of Korea. Japan enters the Kofun period.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, the Bantu expansion reaches Southern Africa.

In Pre-Columbian America, the Adena culture of the Ohio River valley declines in favour of the Hopewell culture. The Maya civilization enters its Classic Era.

Roman Empire

After the death of Commodus in the previous century the Roman Empire was plunged into a civil war. When the dust settled, Septimius Severus emerged as emperor, establishing the Severan dynasty. Unlike previous emperors, he openly used the army to back his authority, and paid them well to do so. The regime he created is known as the Military Monarchy as a result. The system fell apart in the 230s, giving way to a fifty-year period known as the Military Anarchy or the Crisis of the Third Century, where no fewer than twenty emperors held the reins of power, most for only a few months. The majority of these men were assassinated, or killed in battle, and the empire almost collapsed under the weight of the political upheaval, as well as the growing Persian threat in the east. Under its new Sassanid rulers, Persia had grown into a rival superpower, and the Romans would have to make drastic reforms in order to better prepare their state for a confrontation. These reforms were finally realized late in the century under the reign of Diocletian, one of them being to divide the empire into an eastern and western half, and have a separate ruler for each.

Events

The Baths of Caracalla, in 2003

The Baths of Caracalla, in 2003

Significant persons

Inventions, discoveries, introductions

Decades and years

Decades and years

3rd century
1st century<-[2nd century][3]<- ↔ ->4th century–>5th century

190s 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199

200s 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209

210s 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219

220s 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229

230s 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239

240s 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249

250s 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259

260s 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269

270s 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279

280s 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289

290s 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299

300s 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309

Centuries and millennia

Millennium Century

BC

4th 40th 39th 38th 37th 36th 35th 34th 33rd 32nd 31st

3rd 30th 29th 28th 27th 26th 25th 24th 23rd 22nd 21st

2nd 20th 19th 18th 17th 16th 15th 14th 13th 12th 11th

1st 10th 9th 8th 7th 6th 5th 4th 3rd 2nd 1st

AD

1st 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th

2nd 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th

3rd 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th

4th 31st

Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3rd_century”



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