The earliest surviving written text provides evidence of the Mahayana version of Buddhism, which today is the largest of the Buddhist sects

Vespasian, proclaimed emperor by his troops in Alexandria, is the survivor among this year's four emperors

Hero, a Greek scientist in Alexandria, devises various forms of steam engine

The dioptra, developed by Hero of Alexandria for surveying land, is an early form of theodolite

A cult develops in Rome of the Egyptian goddess Isis, credited with restoring to life her hushand, Osiris, after he has been hacked to pieces

Realistic portraits, done in hot wax and preserved in coffins at Fayyum, vividly depict inhabitants of Roman Egypt

Ptolemy writes in Alexandria an encyclopedic account of Greek scientific theory in cosmology, astronomy and geography

Plotinus, moving from Alexandria to Rome, teaches the influential philosophy later known as Neo-Platonism

Roman socks, surviving in dry Egyptian tombs, are the earliest known examples of knitting

Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, is one of many Christians martyred for refusing to sacrifice to the Roman gods

St Anthony, one of the early Christian hermits in the Egyptian desert, is tempted by terrifying hallucinations

Pachomius organizes in Egypt the first community of Christian monks, at Dandara on the Nile

The Cushite dynasty fades away in Nubia, after lasting for 1000 years or more

Frumentius, brought to Ethiopia as a slave, becomes the kingdom's first Christian bishop

A document is distributed by the bishop of Alexandria, formally establishing the contents of the New Testament

The Codex Sinaiticus, the earliest surviving manuscript of the complete New Testament, is copied out - probably in Egypt

St Augustine reveals that as a young man, studying and teaching in Carthage, he often prayed for 'chastity and continence, but not yet'

Prompted by the fall of Rome to the Visigoths, St Augustine undertakes a great work of Christian philosophy, the City of God

Gaiseric captures Carthage and makes it his base for Vandal raids across the Mediterranean

The Byzantine general Belisarius recovers Carthage from the Vandals

Belisarius, conquering the Vandals in north Africa, pioneers the strategic concept of the castle

Christianity reaches the kingdom of Dongola, in present-day Sudan

The unopposed capture of Alexandria by the Arabs completes the Muslim conquest of Egypt

The Coptic Christians of Egypt become isolated after the Muslim conquest

The Arabs establish a garrison town at Kairouan, as a base for the conquest of northwest Africa