390 BC is a chronological label used in the modern Anno Domini system to identify a year of the classical era. In contemporary Roman practice this period was recorded using magistrates' names rather than a numeric year: surviving Roman accounts call it the "Year of the Tribunate of" several magistrates (including members of the Ambustus and Cornelius families). It was also sometimes reckoned as 364 Ab urbe condita in later Roman calculations.
Major events and historical context
- Italy and Rome: In Roman tradition the most notable occurrence associated with this year is the defeat of the Roman army at the river Allia and the subsequent occupation and looting of the city by a coalition of Gauls. Classical sources attribute leadership of the invaders to a Gallic chieftain often named Brennus. Ancient narratives stress the shock this event caused in Rome and its long-term political and military consequences. Modern historians note that ancient chronologies disagree, and some place the sack a few years later; the traditional date remains widely cited.
- Greece and the eastern Mediterranean: The Greek world remained politically fragmented after the Peloponnesian War. City-states continued shifting alliances and local conflicts, while larger powers such as Sparta and Athens sought to preserve or regain influence. The Achaemenid Persian Empire, under rulers of the later 5th and early 4th centuries BC, continued to exert influence over ionian and Anatolian affairs.
- East Asia: In China this year falls within the Eastern Zhou period, during which regional states were engaged in the processes and wars that characterize the so-called Warring States era. Across the continent, rulers experimented with military, administrative and economic reforms that would reshape later centuries.
Calendar, chronology and sources
Romans of the period used the pre-Julian calendar and referred to years by the names of annually elected officials (consuls or, in some years, military tribunes). Later Roman historians converted older lists into a system counting from the traditional founding of the city (Ab urbe condita). The label "390 BC" is a retroactive convention introduced after the adoption of the Anno Domini era in medieval Europe. Because ancient annalists and later copyists sometimes disagreed about sequences and regnal years, precise dating of single events — especially those reported centuries later — can be uncertain.
Consequences and legacy
The Gallic incursion and sack (as recounted by Roman and Greek writers) had a lasting cultural impact in Rome's historical memory. It is often linked in later tradition to accelerated military organization, changes in fortifications around the city, and a heightened Roman determination to secure Italy against northern tribal incursions. Whether every detail in the narratives is accurate, the episode marks an important turning point in early Republican history as recorded by later Roman historians.
For readers who wish to explore primary and secondary treatments of the year, see discussions of the pre-Julian Roman calendar and the Anno Domini era: pre-Julian Roman calendar and Anno Domini. These entries explain how ancient and medieval systems of dating differ from the modern chronological labels applied by historians.