238

By place

Roman Empire

• Emperor Maximinus Thrax campaigns against the Carpians on the Danube in Moesia. In spite of the payment of a tribute, the Romans fail to persuade the Goths and the Germanic tribes.
• March 22 - Roman subjects in Africa revolt against Maximinus. The elderly Marcus Antonius Gordianus yields to public demand that he succeed Maximinus and rules jointly with his 46-year-old son Gordian II.
• April 12 - Battle of Carthage: Numidian forces loyal to Maximinus invade Africa with support of Legio III Augusta. Gordian II is killed and after a siege of 36 days, Gordian I commits suicide by hanging himself with his belt.
• April 22 - Year of the Six Emperors: The Senate outlaws Maximinus for his bloodthirsty proscriptions in Ancient Rome and nominates two of its members, Pupienus and Balbinus, to the throne.
• Maximinus advances to the town Aquileia in northern Italy; his army suffers from famine and disease, while the city is besieged. Soldiers of Legio II Parthica kill him in his tent, along with his son Maximinus. Their corpses are decapitated and their heads carried to Rome.
• July 29 - The Praetorian Guard storms the palace and captures Pupienus and Balbinus. They are dragged naked through the streets of Rome and executed. On the same day Gordian III, age 13, is proclaimed the new emperor. Timesitheus becomes his tutor and advisor.
• Future Roman Emperor Valerian becomes princeps senatus.
• The Colosseum is restored after being damaged.
• The Goths, coming from Ukraine, cross the Danube and devastate the Roman Empire up to the border with Anatolia.
• In North Africa, Legio III Augusta is dissolved. Until its reconstitution in 253, Africa is defended by auxiliary forces only.

  China

• Sima Yi, a Chinese general of the Cao Wei state, destroys the outlying northeastern warlord Gongsun Yuan in the Liaodong campaign.

  By topic

Commerce

• The silver content of the Roman denarius falls to 28 percent under emperor Gordianus III, down from 35 percent under Alexander Severus.