The 50s decade ran from January 1, 50, to December 31, 59. It was the sixth decade in the Anno Domini/Common Era, if the nine-year period from 1 AD to 9 AD is considered as a "decade".
The Council of Jerusalem was held early in the decade: The council decided that Gentile converts to Christianity were not obligated to keep most of the fasts, and other specific rituals, including the rules concerning circumcision of males.[1] The Council did, however, retain the prohibitions on eating blood, meat containing blood, and meat of animals that were strangled, and on fornication and idolatry.
Literary works of this decade include De Vita Beata (which explains that the pursuit of happiness is the pursuit of reason) and De Clementia (an instructional contrast between the good ruler and a tyrant), both of which were written by Seneca the Younger.
Manning (2008) tentatively estimates the world population in AD 50 as 248 million.
InJudeaaRoman soldier seizes and burns a Torah-scroll. ProcuratorCumanus has the culprit beheaded, calming down the Jews and delaying for two decades the outbreak of their revolt.[2]
The captured Caratacus is exhibited in chains in Claudius' triumphinRome, but his dignified demeanour persuades the emperor to spare his life and allow his family to live free in the capital for a short period of time.
InBritain, governor Publius Ostorius Scapula dies while campaigning against the Silures of south Wales. Following his death, the Roman Second Legion are heavily defeated by the Silures. His replacement is Aulus Didius Gallus, who quells the rebellion and consolidates the gains the Romans have so far made, but does not seek new ones.
Claudius secures a senatorial decree that gives jurisdiction in financial cases to imperial procurators. This marks a significant strengthening of imperial powers at the expense of the Senate.
June 9 – Nero is adopted by Claudius as his son and marries his 14-year-old daughter Claudia Octavia.
Claudius accepts Nero as his successor, to the detriment of Britannicus, his son by his first wife, Valeria Messalina.
Distinct fellowships within the reign of Centricles[check spelling] fall to the dominion of Gaulic barbarians, which provoke an enclave uprising in the foothills of what are now the Alps.
Seneca writes the tragedy Agamemnon, which he intends to be read as the last chapter of a trilogy including two of his other tragedies, Medea and Edipus.
Under Nero, Rome annexes Aden to protect the maritime route between Alexandria and Asia.
Two centurions are sent to the south of Egypt to find the source of the Nile, and possible new provinces. They report that while there are many cities in the desert, the area seems too poor to be worthy of conquest.
Corbulo recruits Syrian auxiliary units in the region and stations them in border forts, with orders from Nero not to provoke the Parthians.
Violence erupts in Caesarea regarding a local ordinance restricting the civil rights of Jews, creating clashes between Jews and pagans. The Roman garrison, made up of Syrians, takes the side of the pagans. The Jews, armed with clubs and swords, meet in the marketplace. The governor of Judea, Antonius Felix, orders his troops to charge. The violence continues and Felix asks Nero to arbitrate. Nero sides with the pagans, and relegates the Jews to second-class citizens. This decision does nothing but increase the Jews' anger.
InBritain, Venutius leads a revolt against his ex-wife Cartimandua, queen of the Brigantes and a Roman ally. Governor Aulus Didius Gallus sends her military aid, and after some indecisive fighting a legion commanded by Caesius Nasica defeats the rebels (approximate date – some time between 52 and 57).
Winter – Domitius Corbulo marches his legions (Legio VI Ferrata and Legio X) into the mountains of Cappadocia and makes camp. He gives the men a harsh training, twenty-five-mile marches and weapons drills.
Emperor Guang Wu grants Nakoku (located around modern-day Fukuoka City) a golden seal, being the oldest evidence of writinginJapan. In return King Na sends an envoy to China.
March 29 – Guang Wu dies after a 32-year reign and is succeeded by his son Han Mingdi.[10]
Roman-Parthian War: Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo, commander in the East, launches his Armenian offensive against Parthia. He leads a Roman army (four legions) through the mountainous country of Armenia, against the fortress at Volandum, to the southwest of Artaxata. After a siege of eight hours Corbulo takes the city; the legionnaires massacre the defenders and plunder Volandum to their hearts' content.
Corbulo marches to Artaxata crossing the Aras River; along the valley he is shadowed by tens of thousands of mounted Parthian archers led by king Tiridates I. The city opens its gates to Corbulo, just as it had to Germanicus four decades before. When he takes the 250-year-old Armenian capital, Corbulo gives the residents a few hours to collect their valuables and burns the city to the ground.
The apostle Paul returns to Jerusalem with the money he has collected to give the Christian community there. However, he is accused of defiling the temple, and is arrested and imprisoned in Caesarea. He then invokes his Roman citizenship and is sent to Rome to be judged.
March 23 – Emperor Nero orders the murder of his mother Agrippina the Younger. He tries to kill her through a planned shipwreck, but when she survives, he has her executed and frames it as a suicide.
Due to lack of reliable demographic data, estimates of the world population in the 1st century vary wildly, with estimates for AD 1 varying from 150[14] to 300[15] million. Demographers typically do not attempt to estimate most specific years in antiquity, instead giving approximate numbers for round years such as AD 1 or AD 200. However, attempts at reconstructing the world population in more specific years have been made, with Manning (2008) tentatively estimating the world population in AD 50 as 248 million.[16]
^Haub (1995): "By 1 A.D., the world may have held about 300 million people. One estimate of the population of the Roman Empire, from Spain to Asia Minor, in 14 A.D. is 45 million. However, other historians set the figure twice as high, suggesting how imprecise population estimates of early historical periods can be."
^LeGlay, Marcel; Voisin, Jean-Louis; Le Bohec, Yann (2001). A History of Rome (Second ed.). Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell. p. 270. ISBN0-631-21858-0.
^Seddon, Keith H. "Epictetus (55–135 C.E." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved February 20, 2024.
^MacDonald, Alexander Hugh. "Tacitus". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved February 22, 2024.
