200s (decade)

Eastern hemisphere in 200 AD.

The 200s decade ran from January 1, 200, to December 31, 209. It was the first decade of the 3rd century in the Anno Domini/Common Era.

Significant events

• Septimus Severus erected a four-way triumphal arch at his home town Lepcis Magna, on the occasion of his visit in 203.
• The Kyrgyz people traces back to this decade.

The Roman Empire

Septimus Severus was the emperor of Rome during this decade. The imperial territory which most pressingly needed Severus' personal attention during this decade appeared to be Britain. The Antonine Wall, from Forth to Clyde, had never completely fulfilled its allotted role, and by the end of the second century its defenses seem to have been more or less abandoned, leaving the provincial territory vulnerable to invasion from the north. In consequence, Severus set out for Britain in 208. accompanied by his wife and two sons and Papinian. The massive expeditions that followed penetrated Caledonia as far as the Moray Firth, but did not achieve any durable result. No attempt was made to reoccupy the Antonine Wall as a permanent borderline; instead, Hadrian's Tyne-Solway wall was reconstructed and revived to mark and defend the territory. Meanwhile, in 211, Severus fell fatally ill at Eburacum and shortly afterwards, at the age of sixty-six, he died.

America

This decade is characterized by the flourish of the classical Maya civilization in pre-Columbian America.

Religion

Zephyrinus was the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 199 to 217.