121 BC

Millennium:	1st millennium BC
Centuries:	3rd century BC – 2nd century BC – 1st century BC
Decades:	150s BC  140s BC  130s BC  – 120s BC –  110s BC  100s BC  90s BC
Years:	124 BC 123 BC 122 BC – 121 BC – 120 BC 119 BC 118 BC

121 BC in other calendars

Gregorian calendar	121 BC
Ab urbe condita	633
Ancient Egypt era	XXXIII dynasty, 203
- Pharaoh	Ptolemy VIII Physcon, 25
Ancient Greek era	164th Olympiad, year 4
Assyrian calendar	4630
Bengali calendar	−713
Berber calendar	830
Buddhist calendar	424
Burmese calendar	−758
Byzantine calendar	5388–5389
Chinese calendar	己未年 (Earth Goat) 2576 or 2516     — to — 庚申年 (Metal Monkey) 2577 or 2517
Coptic calendar	−404 – −403
Discordian calendar	1046
Ethiopian calendar	−128 – −127
Hebrew calendar	3640–3641
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	−64 – −63
- Shaka Samvat	N/A
- Kali Yuga	2981–2982
Holocene calendar	9880
Iranian calendar	742 BP – 741 BP
Islamic calendar	765 BH – 764 BH
Julian calendar	N/A
Korean calendar	2213
Minguo calendar	2032 before ROC 民前2032年
Seleucid era	191/192 AG
Thai solar calendar	422–423

Year 121 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Opimius and Allobrogicus (or, less frequently, year 633 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 121 BC 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

Roman Republic

• The Roman Senate passes the motion senatus consultum ultimum, which the consul Lucius Opimius interprets as giving him unlimited power to preserve the Republic. He gathers an armed force of Senators and their supporters to confront Gaius Gracchus. A pitched battle is fought inside Rome, resulting in the death of Gracchus and many of his followers.
• A tribunal is established in Rome that executes 3,000 followers of Gracchus.
• Consul Quintus Fabius Maximus, allied with the Aedui, defeated the Arverni and Allobroges in Transalpine Gaul, thus establishing the province for Rome.
• The finest vintage of Falernian wine, known as the Opimian vintage, was bottled from vines grown on Mt Falernus between Latium and Campania.

Asia

• Led by General Ho Chu-ping, the Chinese defeat the Xiongnu.

Births

• Publius Sulpicius Rufus, tribune of the plebs (d. 88 BC)
• Sertorius, Roman general (d. 72 BC)

Deaths

• Gaius Gracchus, Roman reformer (b. 154 BC)
• M. Fulvius Flaccus (b. 154 BC)
• Cleopatra Thea (failed attempt to poison her stepson) (b. c. 164 BC)

References