63 BC

Events in 63 BC 3

• 312 BC – 63 BC Seleucid Empire Greek successor state rules Persia After Alexander's death his general Seleucus seized the eastern territories, founding the Seleucid Empire that ruled Persia for some two and a half centuries. It spread Hellenistic culture across the region before fragmenting and giving way to the resurgent Parthians.
• 63 BC Catilinarian Conspiracy Lucius Sergius Catilina, a failed consular candidate, plots to seize Rome by force. Cicero, consul in 63 BC, uncovers the plot through informers and delivers four speeches against Catiline in the Senate — the Catilinarian Orations — still considered the finest forensic rhetoric in Latin. The conspirators are arrested and executed without trial on Senate authority; Cicero is later exiled for this illegality. Catiline dies in battle in 62 BC. The episode reveals both Cicero's greatness and the Republic's fragility.
• 63 BC – 14 Augustus First Roman Emperor Born Octavian, he became the first emperor of the Roman Empire, initiating the Pax Romana period of relative peace.