Editing 648 BC

{{Year nav|-648}}
{{BC year in topic|648}}
[[File:Pankratiasten in fight copy of greek statue 3 century bC.jpg|upright=1.35|thumb|Two [[Ancient Greek]] wrestlers ([[pankration]])]]

The year '''648 BC''' was a year of the [[Roman calendar|pre-Julian Roman calendar]]. In the [[Roman Empire]], it was known as '''year 106 ''[[Ab urbe condita]]'' '''. The denomination 648 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 ==

=== Middle East ===

* [[Babylon]] falls to [[Assyria]]n forces after a 3-year [[siege]] (see [[651 BC]]); starved out by his half brother [[Ashurbanipal]], king [[Shamash-shum-ukin]] commits [[suicide]] in his burning palace, allegedly having built a [[pyre]] of his [[Concubinage|concubine]]s and royal [[treasure]] as the Assyrians slaughter his city's [[garrison]] and much of its population.

=== Greece ===

* [[Messenia]]ns in the [[Peloponnese (region)|Peloponnese]] revolt against [[Sparta]] under the leadership of king [[Aristomenes]], beginning a struggle that will continue until [[631 BC]].
* [[April 6]] - The earliest [[solar eclipse]] to be chronicled by the Greeks is observed.<ref>E.J. Bickerman, ''Chronology of the Ancient World'' (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1968), p.&nbsp;198</ref>

== Sports ==

* Greece's 33rd games of the [[Olympiad]] is held at [[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]] with a new event: the [[pankration]] is a no-holds-barred contest that combines [[boxing]] and [[wrestling]].

== Births ==

* [[Josiah]], king of [[Kingdom of Judah|Judah]] (d. [[609 BC]])

== Deaths ==

* [[Shamash-shum-ukin]], Assyrian king of [[Babylonia]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

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[[Category:640s BC| ]]
[[Category:Years of the 7th century BC]]


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