55 BC

Millennium:	1st millennium BC
Centuries:	2nd century BC – 1st century BC – 1st century
Decades:	80s BC  70s BC  60s BC  – 50s BC –  40s BC  30s BC  20s BC
Years:	58 BC 57 BC 56 BC – 55 BC – 54 BC 53 BC 52 BC

55 BC in other calendars

Gregorian calendar	55 BC
Ab urbe condita	699
Ancient Egypt era	XXXIII dynasty, 269
- Pharaoh	Ptolemy XII Auletes, 26
Ancient Greek era	181st Olympiad, year 2
Assyrian calendar	4696
Bengali calendar	−647
Berber calendar	896
Buddhist calendar	490
Burmese calendar	−692
Byzantine calendar	5454–5455
Chinese calendar	乙丑年 (Wood Ox) 2642 or 2582     — to — 丙寅年 (Fire Tiger) 2643 or 2583
Coptic calendar	−338 – −337
Discordian calendar	1112
Ethiopian calendar	−62 – −61
Hebrew calendar	3706–3707
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	2–3
- Shaka Samvat	N/A
- Kali Yuga	3047–3048
Holocene calendar	9946
Iranian calendar	676 BP – 675 BP
Islamic calendar	697 BH – 696 BH
Julian calendar	N/A
Korean calendar	2279
Minguo calendar	1966 before ROC 民前1966年
Seleucid era	257/258 AG
Thai solar calendar	488–489

Year 55 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Crassus and Pompey (or, less frequently, year 699 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 55 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

• Consuls: Marcus Licinius Crassus and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus.
• Consuls Marcus Licinius Crassus and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus pass the Lex Trebonia.
• Pompey's Theater, the first permanent (non-wooden) theatres in Rome. Built of stone on the Field of Mars, it included a temple to Venus Victorious, a public courtyard, and a meeting hall or curia in the far end near the "Sacred Area".
• Gallic War
  • Julius Caesar continues his campaigns in Gaul, he spreads Roman law and order, and makes the whole country as far as the Channel accessible to trade.
  • May – Caesar defeats a Germanic army then massacres the women and children, totalling 430,000 people, near the Meuse and Rhine Rivers, now known as the city of Kessel in the Netherlands.
  • June – Caesar crosses the Rhine River near the modern site of Koblenz. He constructs a wooden bridge between Andernach and Neuwied (Germany).

Britain

• August 22 or August 26 – Julius Caesar commands the first Caesar's invasions of Britain, likely a reconnaissance-in-force expedition, in response to the Britons giving military aid to his Gallic enemies. Caesar retreats back to Gaul when the majority of his force is prevented from landing by storms

Parthia

• Mithridates III, claimant to the throne of Parthia, supported by Aulus Gabinius, Roman governor of Syria, is defeated by Surena, general under Orodes, in the Battle of Seleucia.

Births

Deaths

• Berenice IV, queen of Egypt (b. 77 BC)
• Archelaus, high priest of Comana Cappadocia (flourished 1st century BC)
• Lucretius, Roman philosopher (b. c. 99 BC)
• Tigranes the Great, Armenian Emperor (b. c. 140 BC)

References