6 BC

Year 6 BC was a common year starting on Sunday or Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar (the sources differ, see leap year error for further information) and a common year starting on Friday of the Proleptic Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Balbus and Vetus (or, less frequently, year 748 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 6 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.

Millennium:	1st millennium BC
Centuries:	2nd century BC 1st century BC 1st century
Decades:	20s BC 10s BC 0s BC 0s 10s
Years:	9 BC 8 BC 7 BC 6 BC 5 BC 4 BC 3 BC

6 BC in various calendars

Gregorian calendar	6 BC V BC
Ab urbe condita	748
Ancient Greek era	193rd Olympiad, year 3
Assyrian calendar	4745
Balinese saka calendar	N/A
Bengali calendar	−598
Berber calendar	945
Buddhist calendar	539
Burmese calendar	−643
Byzantine calendar	5503–5504
Chinese calendar	甲寅年 (Wood Tiger) 2691 or 2631     — to — 乙卯年 (Wood Rabbit) 2692 or 2632
Coptic calendar	−289 – −288
Discordian calendar	1161
Ethiopian calendar	−13 – −12
Hebrew calendar	3755–3756
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	51–52
- Shaka Samvat	N/A
- Kali Yuga	3095–3096
Holocene calendar	9995
Iranian calendar	627 BP – 626 BP
Islamic calendar	646 BH – 645 BH
Javanese calendar	N/A
Julian calendar	6 BC V BC
Korean calendar	2328
Minguo calendar	1917 before ROC 民前1917年
Nanakshahi calendar	−1473
Seleucid era	306/307 AG
Thai solar calendar	537–538
Tibetan calendar	阳木虎年 (male Wood-Tiger) 121 or −260 or −1032     — to — 阴木兔年 (female Wood-Rabbit) 122 or −259 or −1031

Events

By place

Roman Empire

• Tiberius Claudius Nero is sent to Armenia, then retires to Rhodes.
• Emperor Augustus sends ferrets (named viverrae by Plinius) to the Balearic Islands to control the rabbit plagues.

Births

• Unknown – Possible birthdate of Jesus[1]

Deaths

• Lady Ban (or Ban Jieyu), Chinese concubine and poet (b. 48 BC)
• Cleopatra Selene II, Ptolemaic princess of Egypt (approximate date)
• Feng Yuan, Chinese consort of the Han Dynasty
• Liu Xiang, Chinese scholar, editor of Shan Hai Jing and compiler of Lienü zhuan, father of Liu Xin (b. 77 BC)
• Soseono, Korean queen (b. 67 BC)

References

1. Spears, Tom (December 4, 2005). "Star of Wonder". Ottawa Citizen. p. A7. "Michael Molnar announced 10 years ago his conclusion that the Star of Bethlehem was in fact a double eclipse of Jupiter in a rare astrological conjunction that occurred in Aries on March 20, 6 BC, and again on April 17, 6 BC. ... Mr. Molnar believes that Roman astrologers would have interpreted the double-eclipse as signifying the birth of a divine king in Judea." However, astronomical software such as Stellarium shows that on March 20, the occultation of Jupiter by the Moon could not be seen from Rome, as the Moon passed by the planet without obscuring it. Furthermore, the event on April 17 began when Jupiter was 38 degrees above the horizon, at 2pm, i.e. in daylight, so it is extremely unlikely that this event would have been seen either.