244

By place

Roman Empire

• January 13 - March 14 - Battle of Misiche: King Shapur I of the Sasanian Empire delivers a counter-attack near Fallujah, and defeats the Roman army upstream of the Euphrates.
• February 11 - Emperor Gordian III is murdered by mutinous soldiers in Zaitha. A mound is raised at Carchemish in his memory.
• Philip the Arab declares himself co-emperor, and makes a disgraceful peace with the Sassanian Empire, withdrawing from their territory and giving Shapur 500,000 gold pieces. The Sassanians occupy Armenia.
• Philip the Arab is recognized by the Roman Senate as the new Roman Emperor with the honorific Augustus. He nominates his son Philippus, age 6, with the title of Caesar and makes him heir to the throne; gives his brother Priscus supreme power in the Eastern provinces; and begins construction of the city of Shahba in the province of his birth.
• The vassal Upper Mesopotamian kingdom of Osroene is absorbed into the Roman Empire, its last ruler being Abgar Farhat Bar Ma’nu.

  China

• The Battle of Xingshi is fought between the Chinese states of Cao Wei and Shu Han

  Korea

• The Goguryeo–Wei War is fought between the Korean kingdom Goguryeo and the Chinese state Cao Wei.

  By topic

Arts and sciences

• Plotinus, Greek philosopher, escapes the bloodshed that accompanies the murder of Gordianus III and makes his way to Antioch. Back in Rome he founds his Neoplatonist school and attracts disciples like Porphyry, Castricius Firmus and Eustochius of Alexandria.
• 244-249 - Bust of Philip the Arab.

  Commerce

• The silver content of the Roman denarius falls to 0.5 percent under emperor Philippus I, down from 28 percent under Gordian III.

  Religion

• 244-245 - Last phase of construction of the house-style Dura-Europos synagogue in Syria, one of the oldest to survive.