666

Updated on Nov 16, 2023

Edit

Comment

Year 666 (DCLXVI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 666 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.

Byzantine Empire

Emperor Constans II grants the request of Maurus, bishop of Ravenna, allowing the city to consecrate its bishop without approval from Rome (approximate date).

Europe

Duke Lupus of Friuli revolts against King Grimoald I, with allied Avars. Grimoald takes and devastates Friuli, tracks down Lupus's son Arnefrit (allied with the Slavs), and kills him in battle at the castle of Nimis. Grimoald appoints Wechtar as the new duke of Friuli.

Asia

Chinese Buddhist monks Zhi Yu and Zhi Yu craft more south-pointing chariot vehicles (a non-magnetic, mechanical-driven directional-compass vehicle that incorporates the use of a differential gear) for Emperor Tenji of Japan, as recorded in the Nihon Shoki.

Events pertaining to religion in the year 666

Wilfrid returns to Britain, but is shipwrecked in Sussex. When he finally reaches Northumbria, he finds he has been deposed and is forced to retire to Ripon.

Earconwald, Anglo-Saxon abbot, establishes the Benedictine abbeys, Chertsey Abbey (Surrey) for men and Barking Abbey (east London) for women.