The 670s BC, or 670s BCE are the decade that runs from 679 BC to 670 BC. At the time it was known as 75-84 Ab urbe condita in Rome. The denomination 670s BC for this decade has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming decades.
Events and trends
thumb|Esarhaddon
- Cimmerian invasion of Phrygia
679 BC
- Siomón Brecc's reign ends and is succeeded by Dui Finn, according to the chronology of Geoffrey Keating's Foras Feasa ar Éirinn.
- The Assyrian king Esarhaddon (), the son of Sennacherib, defeated the Cimmerians and killed their king Teušpa at Ḫubišna. Esarhaddon appears to have reached Ḫubišna by passing through the Göksu River valley and bypassing the Anti-Taurus Mountains and Tabal proper.
- Duke Huan of Qi was officially rewarded hegemony by the Zhou king Xi in 679 BCE.
- Esarhaddon, is mentioned in some texts as having taken a city called Arsa near the River of Egypt, and its king Asuhili was taken back to the Assyrian capital Ninveh.
- A large structure with a mudbrick self-supporting arch roof was discovered and dated to between this year and 630 BCE in Tell Jemmeh.
- Bartatua succeeds Išpakaia as king of Iškuza.
- Esarhaddon campaigned in the Tabalian region against the Cimmerians from his base in Que and Ḫilakku, resulting in the defeat and killing of the Cimmerian king Teušpâ in Ḫubišna, who was succeeded by Dugdammî, and the annexation of a part of the territory of Ḫilakku and of the sub-kingdom of Kundu and Sissu in Que, whose king Sanduarri fled into the mountains, and of a part of the territory of Ḫilakku.
- Esarhaddon campaigned in Khor, destroyed Sidon, and forced Tyre into tribute from 677 to 676 BC.
- The Cimmerians attacked Lydia for the third time, led by their king Lygdamis. The Lydians were defeated, Sardis was sacked, and Gyges was killed, following which he was succeeded by his son, Ardys, who was the father of Sadyattes.
- The Cimmerians migrate to the east and west of Mannaea.
- The Assyrians used Cimmerians in their army as mercenaries; a legal document of 679 B.C. refers to an Assyrian ‘commander of the Cimmerian regiment’; but in other Assyrian documents they are called ‘the seed of runaways who know neither vows to the gods nor oaths’
- The Cimmerians invade the westernmost provinces of the Assyrian Empire.
- Palaka of the Pradyota dynasty begins and ends reign according to Aryabhata.
678 BC
- Phraortes becomes king of the Medes (according to the chronology proposed by Igor Diakonoff)
- Chu soldiers invade Zheng (according to the Zuo Zhuan)
- King Wen of Chu conquers the state of Deng.
- King Xi of Zhou used his royal clout to give legitimacy to Wu of Quwo as the rightful duke of Jin
- The state of Jin became the first to maintain a standing army
- Jin–Quwo wars end (739–678 BCE), dynastic struggles between two branches of Jin's ruling house
- Kaštaritu is mentioned as "King of the Medes" in an inscription
- According to Herodotus, Ecbatana was chosen as the Medes' capital by Deioces, the first ruler of the Medes.
- Deioces united the Median tribes of Media and made the first Iranian Empire.
- Chu had conquered most of the Nanyang Basin
- Nekauba becomes pharaoh of the twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt
November
- Two solar eclipses occur on the 1st and the 30th over the Penzhina Bay and the South Pacific Ocean respectively.
677 BC
- Esarhaddon leads the Assyrian army against rebellious Arab tribes and advances as far as the Brook of Egypt.
- From this year to 676 BC, Esarhaddon, forced Tyre into tribute after campaigning in Khor and destroying Sidon in 679 BC.
- Esarhaddon recaptures the rebellious city of Sidon in Syria. The king of Sidon, Abdi-Milkutti, escapes by boat but is captured and executed a year later.
China
- Zhou Hui Wang becomes King of the Zhou Dynasty of China.
Middle East
- The Cimmerians penetrate deep into Assyrian territory but are defeated by Esarhaddon and his army.
- King Deioces dies after a 53-year reign that has established the kingdom of the Medes and its capital at Ecbatana (later Hamedan) in what will be northwest Persia. He is succeeded by his son Phraortes, who forms an anti-Assyrian alliance with the Cimmerians to subjugate the Persians and other Asian peoples.
- King Esarhaddon begins to rebuild Babylon (approximate date).
- Esarhaddon names his eldest son Sin-nadin-apli crown prince.
673 BC
- Tullus Hostilius becomes the third king of Rome.
- Esarhaddon unsuccessfully invades Egypt, one of the worst defeats of the Assyrian Empire.
672 BC
- (estimated date) Tullus Hostilius becomes the legendary third king of Rome.thumb|Tulius Hostilius
- Sin-nadin-apli dies; Esarhaddon replaces him as heir with the younger son Ashurbanipal and designates his eldest son Shamash-shum-ukin as the heir to Babylon.
- Esarhaddon invades and conquers Egypt, bringing the Assyrian Empire to its greatest extent.
- The usurper Sasî unsuccessfully attempts to wrestle the throne from Esarhaddon.
670 BC
- King Gyges of Lydia's name is written on the first Greek coins.
- Miletus begins establishing colonies in the Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea.thumb|Map of the Black Sea, featuring the chronological phasing of major Milesian colonial foundations
Significant people
- Esarhaddon, King of Assyria and conqueror of Egypt (reigned 681–669 BC)
- Argaeus I, who acceded to the kingship of Macedon with his father's death; he reigned from c. 623 BC to c. 640 BC
- Zhou Hui Wang, ruler of China during the Zhou dynasty
Births
675 BC
- Ancus Marcius, 4th king of Rome
Deaths
679 BC
- Siomón Brecc, according to the chronology of Geoffrey Keating's Foras Feasa ar Éirinn.
- Duke Wu of Qin, ruler of the state of Qin, had 66 people sacrificed and buried with him
677 BC
- King Xi of Zhou, king of the Zhou Dynasty of China.
- Abdi-Milkutti, king of Sidon. thumb|Abdi-Milkutti
- King Wen of Chu
- Duke Wu of Jin
676 BC
- Duke De of Qinthumb|Numa Pompilius
Autumn
- Wen Jiang, princess of the State of Qi and duchess of the State of Lu
672 BC
- Du'ao, king of the Chinese state of Chu.
February
- Ešarra-ḫammat, Queen of the Neo-Assyrian Empire
670 BC
- Mettius Fufetius, Latin king of Alba Longa
- Oracle of Nusku