395

Updated on Jan 01, 2024

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Year 395 (CCCXCV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Olybrius and Probinus (or, less frequently, year 1148 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 395 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.

Map of I-395, United States

Roman Empire

January 17 – Emperor Theodosius I, age 48, dies after a disease involving severe edema, at Milan. The Roman Empire is re-divided into an eastern and a western half. The Eastern Roman Empire is centered in Constantinople under Arcadius, son of Theodosius, and the Western Roman Empire in Mediolanum under his brother Honorius.

April 27 – Arcadius marries Aelia Eudoxia, daughter of the Frankish general Flavius Bauto (without the knowledge or consent of Rufinus, Praetorian prefect of the East). His 3-year-old half-sister, Galla Placidia, is sent to Rome, where she spends her childhood in the household of Stilicho and his wife Serena.

Alaric, Visigothic leader of the foederati, renounces Roman fealty and is declared king, waging war against both parts of the Roman Empire, and ending a 16-year period of peace.

The Goths, led by Alaric I, invade and devastate Thrace and Macedonia, impose a tribute on Athens, and then turn their sights on the West. Arcadius, unable to defeat them, gives Alaric control of the Balkans and grants him the position of magister militum in Illyricum.

November 27 – Rufinus, Praetorian prefect of the East, is murdered by Gothic mercenaries under Gainas.

Asia

December 8 – Later Yan is defeated by its former vassal Northern Wei at the Battle of Canhe Slope, during the Southern and Northern Dynasties period of China.

The Huns begin their large-scale attack on the Eastern Roman Empire. They invade Armenia, Cappadocia, and enter parts of Syria, threatening Antioch.

India

King Rudrasimha III, ruler of the Western Satraps (India), is defeated by the Gupta Empire.

Agriculture

An estimated 330,000 acres of farmland lie abandoned in Campania (southern Italy), partly as a consequence of malaria from mosquitoes bred in swampy areas, but mostly because imprudent agriculture has ruined the land.

Arts and Sciences

Possible date that Ambrosius Theodosius Macrobius published his Saturnalia.

Religion

Augustine, age 40, becomes bishop of Hippo Regius (modern Algeria). His assignment is the reunification of the Roman Catholic Church in Africa, primarily focusing on the Donatist movement led by Primianus of Carthage.

Russian astronomer Nikolai Alexandrovich Morozov claimed that Revelation to John could be astronomically dated to September 30, 395.