AD 50

AD 50 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time it was known in Europe as the Year of the Consulship of Vetus and Nerullinus. The denomination AD 50 for this year has been used since the Early Middle Ages, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Events

Cologne is raised to the status of a city.
Utrecht is founded, and a Roman fortification is constructed at the Rhine border in the present-day Netherlands.
Claudius adopts Nero.
In Judaea, a Roman soldier seizes and burns a Torah scroll. Procurator Cumanus has the culprit beheaded, calming down the Jews and delaying for almost two decades the outbreak of their revolt.
In Britain, governor Publius Ostorius Scapula begins his campaign against the recalcitrant Silures of south Wales, who are led by the former Catuvellaunian prince Caratacus. London, Exeter, Tripontium and the fort of Manduessedum are founded.
Roman emperor Claudius appoints Agrippa II governor of Chalcis.
Romans build a wooden bridge across the Thames in the London area.

The Yuezhi tribes are united under the Kushan leader Kujula Kadphises, thus creating the Kushan Empire in Afghanistan and northern India. (approximate date

Hero of Alexandria invents a steam turbine.
Pamphilus of Alexandria writes a poetic lexicon.
Pedanius Dioscorides describes the medical applications of plants in De Materia Medica.
Diogenes, the Greek explorer, discovers the African Great Lakes.
The distinction between chronic maladies and acute illnesses is made by Thessalos.