97 BC

Millennium:	1st millennium BC
Centuries:	2nd century BC – 1st century BC – 1st century
Decades:	120s BC  110s BC  100s BC  – 90s BC –  80s BC  70s BC  60s BC
Years:	100 BC 99 BC 98 BC – 97 BC – 96 BC 95 BC 94 BC

97 BC in other calendars

Gregorian calendar	97 BC XCVI BC
Ab urbe condita	657
Ancient Egypt era	XXXIII dynasty, 227
- Pharaoh	Ptolemy X Alexander, 11
Ancient Greek era	170th Olympiad, year 4
Assyrian calendar	4654
Bengali calendar	−689
Berber calendar	854
Buddhist calendar	448
Burmese calendar	−734
Byzantine calendar	5412–5413
Chinese calendar	癸未年 (Water Goat) 2600 or 2540     — to — 甲申年 (Wood Monkey) 2601 or 2541
Coptic calendar	−380 – −379
Discordian calendar	1070
Ethiopian calendar	−104 – −103
Hebrew calendar	3664–3665
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	−40 – −39
- Shaka Samvat	N/A
- Kali Yuga	3005–3006
Holocene calendar	9904
Iranian calendar	718 BP – 717 BP
Islamic calendar	740 BH – 739 BH
Julian calendar	N/A
Korean calendar	2237
Minguo calendar	2008 before ROC 民前2008年
Seleucid era	215/216 AG
Thai solar calendar	446–447

Year 97 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Lentulus and Crassus (or, less frequently, year 657 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 97 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 Republic

• Consuls: Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus and Publius Licinius Crassus Dives
• C. Decianus, the prosecutor of Furius, is himself condemned for his remarks about the death of Saturninus.
• The Romans subdue the Maedi and Dardani.
• L. Domitius takes harsh measures to restore order in Sicily.
• The censors, Flaccus and Antonius, remove M. Duronius from the senate because of his opposition to sumptuary laws.
• A decree of the Roman senate bans human sacrifices.
• Sulla displays a lion hunt for the first time in games at Rome.

Asia Minor

• Ariarathes VIII is forced out of Cappadocia by Mithridates, and dies soon afterwards.

Middle East

• According to Christianity, the birth of Saint Joseph, the husband of Saint Mary the mother of Jesus, and his "earthly-father" - in distinction to God the Father, his "heavenly father." According to this account, Joseph was 92 years old when Jesus was born.

Japan

• Sujin becomes emperor of Japan (probable date)