138 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
Years:	141 BC 140 BC 139 BC 138 BC 137 BC 136 BC 135 BC

138 BC in various calendars

Gregorian calendar	138 BC CXXXVIII BC
Ab urbe condita	616
Ancient Egypt era	XXXIII dynasty, 186
- Pharaoh	Ptolemy VIII Physcon, 8
Ancient Greek era	160th Olympiad, year 3
Assyrian calendar	4613
Balinese saka calendar	N/A
Bengali calendar	−730
Berber calendar	813
Buddhist calendar	407
Burmese calendar	−775
Byzantine calendar	5371–5372
Chinese calendar	壬寅年 (Water Tiger) 2560 or 2353     — to — 癸卯年 (Water Rabbit) 2561 or 2354
Coptic calendar	−421 – −420
Discordian calendar	1029
Ethiopian calendar	−145 – −144
Hebrew calendar	3623–3624
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	−81 – −80
- Shaka Samvat	N/A
- Kali Yuga	2963–2964
Holocene calendar	9863
Iranian calendar	759 BP – 758 BP
Islamic calendar	782 BH – 781 BH
Javanese calendar	N/A
Julian calendar	N/A
Korean calendar	2196
Minguo calendar	2049 before ROC 民前2049年
Nanakshahi calendar	−1605
Seleucid era	174/175 AG
Thai solar calendar	405–406
Tibetan calendar	阳水虎年 (male Water-Tiger) −11 or −392 or −1164     — to — 阴水兔年 (female Water-Rabbit) −10 or −391 or −1163

Year 138 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Serapio and Callaicus (or, less frequently, year 616 Ab urbe condita) and the Third Year of Jianyuan. The denomination 138 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 Empire

• Tautalus surrenders to the Romans.
• Valencia in Spain is founded as a Roman colony.

Asia Minor

• Attalus III succeeds Attalus II as Attalid king of Pergamon

Egypt

• Galaestes revolts.

Syria

• Antiochus VII expels Diodotus Tryphon.
• Tryphon sacks Beirut

Parthia

• Phraates II becomes emperor of Parthia.

China

• Grand Empress Dowager Dou, the grandmother of Emperor Wu of Han, purges the high administration of officials to consolidate her power. Among those dismissed are Prime Minister Dou Yong and her own half-brother, the General-in-Chief Tian Fen. Two of the young emperor's closest advisors, Zhao Wan and Wang Zang, are arrested and commit suicide.

By topic

Arts and sciences

• Hymn to Apollo is written and inscribed on stone in Delphi; it is the earliest surviving notated music, in a substantial and legible fragment, in the western world.

Births

• Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Roman general and statesman (d. 78 BC)
• Phaedrus the Epicurean, Greek scholar and philosopher

Deaths

• Attalus II Philadelphus, king of Pergamon (b. 220 BC)
• Diodotus Tryphon, king of the Seleucid Empire
• Mithridates I, king of Parthia (b. c. 195 BC)