AD 666
Year 666 was a common year starting on Thursday 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.Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
- Emperor Constans II grants the request of Bishop Maurus of Ravenna, allowing the city to consecrate its bishop without approval from Rome.
Europe
- Duke Lupus of Friuli revolts against King Grimoald I, with allied Avars. Grimoald takes and devastates Friuli, tracks down Lupus's son Arnefrit, 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 for Emperor Tenji of Japan, as recorded in the Nihon Shoki.
Religion
- Wilfrid returns to Great Britain, but is shipwrecked in Sussex. When he finally reaches Northumbria, he finds he has been deposed and is forced to retire to Ripon.
- Council of Mérida
- Earconwald, Anglo-Saxon abbot, establishes the Benedictine abbeys, Chertsey Abbey for men and Barking Abbey for women.
Birth
- Zhang Jiazhen, Chinese official
Deaths
- Abdul-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr, first child of first Rashidun caliph, Abu Bakr As-Siddiq
- Arnefrit, duke of Friuli
- Liu Xiangdao, official of the Tang Dynasty
- Ramla bint Abi Sufyan, a wife of Muhammad
- Yeon Gaesomun, dictator of Goguryeo
