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Roman Empire
Emperor Majorian gathers an expeditionary force (Alans and other barbarians) in Liguria, and enters Aquitaine after a long march, where he visits King Theodoric II at Toulouse.
Majorian invades Hispania; his generals Nepotianus and Sunieric lead a Visigoth army into Gallaecia. The Suebi are defeated and Lusitania (modern Portugal) is conquered.
King Genseric, fearing a Roman invasion, tries to negotiate a peace with Majorian, who refuses. The Vandals devastate Mauretania and Moorish warriors poison the wells.
The Roman fleet, docked at Portus Illicitanus (near Elche) for the African campaign, is destroyed by the Vandals. Majorian is forced to sign a peace treaty and returns to Italy.
Emperor Leo I founds the Excubitors (Imperial Guard) at Constantinople; this elite tagmatic unit (300 men) is recruited from among the warlike Isaurians (approximate date).
Europe
March 27 (night) – Swabians invade the Gallic city of Lugo. The governor is killed.
Asia
The Hepthalites (White Huns) conquer the remnants of the Kushan Empire and enter India.
A famine that will last for several years begins in the Persian Empire (approximate date).
Art
The remodeling of the dome of Baptistry of Neon at Ravenna (Italy) is finished.
The Ajanta Caves (India) are completed (cut into the volcanic rock and elaborately painted).
The seated Buddha in the Yungang Grottoes, Datong (Shanxi), is made (approximate date).
Religion
The Coptic Orthodox Church (Egypt) splits from the Chalcedonian Church of Alexandria.
Gennadius I, patriarch of Constantinople, banishes Timothy II, patriarch of Alexandria.
Roman Empire
August 2 – Majorian is arrested near Tortona (Northern Italy), and deposed by Ricimer (magister militum) as puppet emperor.
August 7 – Majorian is beaten and tortured for five days, and later beheaded near the Iria River (Lombardy).
King Genseric continues the Vandal raids on the coast of Sicily and Italy. Ricimer sends an embassy to Carthage.
Olybrius becomes the second candidate for the western throne. He is the husband of Placidia, who is being held in Vandal captivity.
November 19 – Libius Severus, Roman senator from Lucania, is declared emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
Europe
The Visigoths under king Theodoric II recapture Septimania (Southern Gaul) after the assassination of Majorian, and invade Hispania again.
Aegidius becomes ruler over the Domain of Soissons (Gaul). He has friendly relations with the Romano-British (in Brittany).
Religion
November 10 – Pope Leo I dies at Rome, age 61 (approximate), after a 21-year reign in which he has resisted Manichaeism and defended the Church against Nestorianism. He is succeeded by Hilarius as the 46th pope.
Mamertus is elected bishop of Vienne (Gaul).
Roman Empire
September 1 – Possible start of the first Byzantine indiction cycle.
Emperor Leo I pays a large ransom for Licinia Eudoxia and Placidia. They return after seven years of captivity in Carthage.
The Statue of Zeus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, is destroyed by fire after being moved to Constantinople.
The Monastery of Stoudios is founded in Constantinople.
Asia
The Daming calendar is introduced in China by mathematician Zu Chongzhi (approximate date).
Europe
Childeric I, king of the Salian Franks, allies with the Roman general Aegidius. During a battle near Orléans, the Visigoths under King Theodoric II are defeated by the Franks while crossing the Loire River.
The Suebi live under a diarchy, and fight a civil war over the kingship in Galicia (Northern Spain).
Asia
The Kibi Clan Rebellion against the Yamato state (Japan) in the Korean Peninsula begins.
Roman Empire
Olybrius is elected Roman consul by the Eastern court in Constantinople.
Europe
The Suevic nation in Galicia (Northern Spain) is unified under King Remismund.
King Theodoric II sends Remismund gifts (for recognizing his kingship), including weapons, and a Gothic princess for a wife.
Aegidius dies (possibly poisoned) and is succeeded by his son Syagrius, who becomes ruler of the Domain of Soissons (Gaul).
Roman Empire
Basiliscus, with the help of his sister Aelia Verina (wife of emperor Leo I), becomes a consul in the Eastern Roman Empire.
August 15 – Libius Severus, puppet emperor of the Western Roman Empire, dies after a 4-year reign.
Ricimer, de facto ruler, establishes political control for 2 years from his residence in Rome.
Britannia
Battle of Wippedesfleot: The Saxons under command of Hengist and Aesc are defeated by the Britons near Ebbsfleet (Kent). During the battle 12 Welsh leaders are killed (according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle).
Europe
King Remismund establishes a policy of friendship with the Visigoths, and promotes the conversion of the Suebi into Arianism in Galicia (Northern Spain).
China
Qian Fei Di, then Ming Di, becomes ruler of the Liu Song Dynasty after his nephew is assassinated.
Religion
November 19 – Pope Hilarius convokes a synod at Rome's Church of Santa Maria Maggiore.
Peter the Fuller becomes patriarch of Antioch (approximate date).
Roman Empire
Emperor Leo I repels the Hun invasion of Dacia (modern Romania). They ravage the Balkans but are unable to take Constantinople thanks to the city walls, which are rebuilt and reinforced.
Tarasicodissa, an Isaurian officer, comes with evidence that Ardabur (magister militum) is forming a conspiracy against Leo I. Ardabur is arrested for treason.
Tarasicodissa adopts the Greek name of Zeno and marries Ariadne, eldest daughter of Leo I (approximate date).
Europe
King Theodoric II is killed by his younger brother Euric, who succeeds him on the throne. He conquers Hispania and the harbor city of Marseille (Southern Gaul), adding them to the existing Visigothic Kingdom.
Euric sends an embassy to the Eastern Roman Empire for recognition of the Visigoth sovereignty. He forms an alliance with the Suebi and the Vandals.
A council of twelve townships emerges on the islands in the Venetian lagoon, to form a basic system of governance (approximate date).
Religion
Peter the Fuller is deposed as patriarch of Antioch; Julian is elected as his successor.
Roman Empire
April 12 – Emperor Leo I has his general Anthemius elected emperor of the Western Roman Empire. He allies himself with Ricimer, de facto ruler of Rome, and marries his daughter Alypia to him, to strengthen the relationship and end the hostilities between the Eastern and Western Empire.
Summer – King Genseric extends his pirate raids in the Mediterranean Sea; the Vandals sack and enslave the people living in Illyricum, the Peloponnese and other parts of Greece. Leo I joins forces with the Western Empire.
Britannia
Ancient Hillforts in Britain are re-fortified, and the Wansdyke is built (approximate date).
Asia
Emperor Skandagupta dies after a 12-year reign, as Huns consolidate their conquests in western India. He is succeeded by his half-brother Purugupta.
Roman Empire
Emperor Leo I assembles a massive naval expedition at Constantinople, which costs 64,000 pounds of gold (more than a year's revenue) and consists of over 1,100 ships carrying 100,000 men. It is the greatest fleet ever sent against the Vandals and brings Leo near to bankruptcy.
Emperor Anthemius sends a Roman expedition under command of Marcellinus. He expels the Vandals from Sicily and retakes Sardinia. The Eastern general Heraclius of Edessa lands with a force on the Libyan coast, east of Carthage, and advances from Tripolitania.
Battle of Cape Bon: The Vandals defeat the Roman navy under Basiliscus, anchored at Promontorium Mercurii, 45 miles from Carthage (Tunisia). During peace negotiations Genseric uses fire ships, filling them with brushwood and pots of oil, destroying 700 imperial galleys. Basiliscus escapes with his surviving fleet to Sicily, harassed all the way by Moorish pirates.
August – Marcellinus is murdered in Sicily, probably at the instigation of his political rival, Ricimer. Heraclius is left to fight alone against the Vandals; after a 2-year campaign in the desert he returns to Constantinople.
Basiliscus returns to Constantinople after a disastrous expedition against the Vandals. He is forced to seek sanctuary in the church of Hagia Sophia to escape the wrath of the people. Leo I gives him imperial pardon, but banishes him for 3 years to Heraclea Sintica (Thrace).
Dengizich, son of Attila the Hun, sends an embassy to Constantinople to demand money. Leo I offers the Huns settlement in Thrace in exchange for recognition of his authority. Dengizich refuses and crosses the Danube.
Roman forces under Anagast defeat the Huns at the Utus River (Bulgaria). Dengizich is killed and his head is paraded through the streets of Constantinople. Stuck on the end of a wooden pole, it is displayed above the Xylokerkos Gate.
The Vandals reconquer Sicily, administering a decisive defeat to the Western forces.
Religion
February 28 – Pope Hilarius dies at Rome after a 6½-year reign, and is succeeded by Simplicius as the 47th pope.
Roman Empire
The Ostrogoth prince Theodoric, age 15, returns to Pannonia after he has lived as a child hostage at the court of emperor Leo I in Constantinople (see 459).
Europe
The Vandals invade Epirus (modern Albania). They are expelled from the Peloponnese (Greece) and in retaliation, the Vandals take 500 hostages at Zakynthos. On the way back to Carthage they are slaughtered.
King Euric declares himself independent from the Western Roman Empire. He extends the Visigothic power in Hispania; conquering the cities of Pamplona, Zaragoza and Mérida.
Religion
The Vatican makes a pact with the Salian Frankish king Childeric I, agreeing to call him "the new Constantine" on condition that he accept conversion to Christianity.
Romulus, better known as Romulus Augustulus. Born c. 461, he would eventually become a Western Roman emperor.
Majorian, Western Roman emperor. Died in 461.
Libius Severus, Western Roman emperor. Died in 465.
460s Wikipedia (Text) CC BY-SA
