AD 41
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AD 41 (XLI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of C. Caesar Augustus Germanicus and Cn. Sentius Saturninus (or, less frequently, year 794 Ab urbe condita). The denomination AD 41 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 Empire ==
- January 24
- Caligula, known for his eccentricity and cruel despotism, is assassinated by his disgruntled Praetorian Guards.{{cite book|last=Barrett|first=Anthony A.|title=Caligula: The Corruption of Power|year=2002|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-203-13776-5|page=170|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H1paoJ_BN28C&pg=PA170}}
- Claudius succeeds his nephew, Caligula, as emperor.{{cite book|last1=Adkins|first1=Lesley|last2=Adkins|first2=Roy A.|title=Handbook to life in ancient Rome|year=2004|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-0-8160-5026-0|page=21|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zGY1Sqjwf8kC&pg=PA21|edition=2nd}}
- January 25 – After a night of negotiation, Claudius is accepted as emperor by the Senate.
- Claudius makes Agrippa king of Judea.{{cite book|last=Dixon|first=William Hepworth|authorlink = William Hepworth Dixon|title=The holy land|year=1865|publisher=B. Tauchnitz|page=222|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r7EWAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA222|volume=2}}
- Messalina, wife of Claudius, persuades Claudius to have Seneca the Younger banished to Corsica on a charge of adultery with Julia Livilla.{{cite book|last=Moran|first=Michael G.|editor=Ballif, Michelle|title=Classical rhetorics and rhetoricians: critical studies and sources|year=2005|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-32178-8|page=343|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CYykAGVyqvwC&pg=PA343}}
- Claudius restores religious freedom to Jews throughout the empire,{{cite book|editor=Freedman, David Noel|title=Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible|year=2000|publisher=Amsterdam University Press|isbn=978-90-5356-503-2|page=262|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qRtUqxkB7wkC&pg=PA262}} but prohibits Jews in Rome from proselytising.{{cite book|last=Scullard|first=H. H.|title=From the Gracchi to Nero: A History of Rome 133 BC to AD 68|year=2010|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-415-58488-3|page=249|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vMzvAXjq1uEC&pg=PA249}}
- An attack across the Rhine by the Germans is stopped by the Romans.
== China ==
- Emperor Guang Wu of the Han Dynasty deposes his wife, Guo Shengtong, as empress, and makes his consort Yin Lihua empress in her place.{{cite book|editor1-last=Xiao Hong Lee|editor1-first=Lily|editor2-last=Stefanowska|editor2-first=A. D.|title=Biographical dictionary of Chinese women: antiquity through Sui, 1600 B.C.E.–618 C.E.|year=2007|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|isbn=978-0-7656-1750-7|pages=146–147|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u7mLql4TAxoC&dq=Emperor+Guangwu+empress+41&pg=PA147|volume=3}}
= By topic =
Births
- February 12 – Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus, son of Claudius{{cite book|last=Wiedemann|first=Thomas E. J.|title=Adults and children in the Roman Empire|year=1989|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-415-00336-0|page=124|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jJwOAAAAQAAJ&dq=Britannicus+born+February+12&pg=PA124}} (d. AD 55)
Deaths
- January 24
- Caligula, Roman emperor (assassinated) (b. 12 AD)
- Julia Drusilla, daughter of Caligula (assassinated){{cite book|last=Varner|first=Eric R.|title=Mutilation and transformation: damnatio memoriae and Roman imperial portraiture|year=2004|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-13577-2|page=21|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5IpPhTqnDJkC&dq=Julia+Drusilla+assassinated+41&pg=PA21}} (b. 39 AD)
- Milonia Caesonia, wife of Caligula (assassinated) (b. 6 AD)
- Asprenas Calpurnius Serranus, Roman politician
- Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, Roman consul (b. 17 BC)
- Julia Livilla, daughter of Germanicus (starved to death){{cite book|last1=Lightman|first1=Marjorie|last2=Lightman|first2=Benjamin|title=A to Z of ancient Greek and Roman women|year=2007|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-0-8160-6710-7|page=171|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2esYJJUETiYC&dq=Julia+Livilla+starved+to+death+41&pg=PA171|volume=2}} (b. 18 AD)