253

This article is about the year 253. For the number, see 253 (number). For the novel by Geoff Ryman, see 253 (novel).

Year 253 (CCLIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Volusianus and Claudius (or, less frequently, year 1006 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 253 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.

Millennium:	1st millennium
Centuries:	2nd century 3rd century 4th century
Decades:	230s 240s 250s 260s 270s
Years:	250 251 252 253 254 255 256

253 in various calendars

Gregorian calendar	253 CCLIII
Ab urbe condita	1006
Assyrian calendar	5003
Balinese saka calendar	174–175
Bengali calendar	−340
Berber calendar	1203
Buddhist calendar	797
Burmese calendar	−385
Byzantine calendar	5761–5762
Chinese calendar	壬申年 (Water Monkey) 2950 or 2743     — to — 癸酉年 (Water Rooster) 2951 or 2744
Coptic calendar	−31 – −30
Discordian calendar	1419
Ethiopian calendar	245–246
Hebrew calendar	4013–4014
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	309–310
- Shaka Samvat	174–175
- Kali Yuga	3353–3354
Holocene calendar	10253
Iranian calendar	369 BP – 368 BP
Islamic calendar	380 BH – 379 BH
Javanese calendar	132–133
Julian calendar	253 CCLIII
Korean calendar	2586
Minguo calendar	1659 before ROC 民前1659年
Nanakshahi calendar	−1215
Seleucid era	564/565 AG
Thai solar calendar	795–796
Tibetan calendar	阳水猴年 (male Water-Monkey) 379 or −2 or −774     — to — 阴水鸡年 (female Water-Rooster) 380 or −1 or −773

Emperor Gallienus

Events

By place

Roman Empire

• The legions who have campaigned against the Goths on the Danube elect Marcus Aemilius Aemilianus as new emperor. He advances on Rome along the Flaminian Way, to meet his opponent emperor Trebonianus Gallus and his son Volusianus. For the most part, generals in the border regions are proclaimed emperor by their armies to halt the invasion of Germanic tribes.
• Aemilianus is proclaimed "enemy of the State" by the Roman Senate. Trebonianus Gallus is defeated at Interamna Nahars (Umbria); he flees with Volusianus to the north, but at Foligno they are killed by their own troops.
• Aemilianus rules the Roman Empire for three months; he promises to fight in Thrace and goes to war against Persia. The Senate gives him the rank of Pontifex Maximus.
• Aemilianus is murdered at Spoletium and Publius Valerianus, age 60, is recognised as the new emperor by the Rhine legions. He gives his son Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus the title Augustus. Valerianus I dispatches him to the Danube where the Goths have violated the treaty signed with Rome and invaded Moesia.
• Valerianus I splits the Roman Empire in two; Gallienus taking control of the West and his father ruling the East, where he faces the Persian threat.
• Battle of Barbalissos: King Shapur I, defeats a Roman field army at Barbalissos in Syria.
• Valerian reforms Legio III Augusta to fight the "five peoples", a dangerous coalition of Berber tribes in Africa.

By topic

Religion

• Pope Cornelius is sent into exile.
• June 25 – Pope Lucius I succeeds Pope Cornelius as the 22nd pope.
• Lucius is arrested almost immediately following his election and also exiled.

Deaths

• Aemilianus, Roman emperor
• Pope Cornelius
• Saint Babylas, Patriarch of Antioch
• Fei Yi, Chinese statesman, general and regent of the Shu Han state
• Sun He, Chinese prince of the Eastern Wu state (b. 224)
• Trebonianus Gallus, Roman emperor
• Volusianus, Roman emperor
• Zhuge Ke, Chinese general and regent of the Eastern Wu state (b. 203)
• Origen, a Christian scholar from Alexandria (b. c. 184)