Year 237 (CCXXXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Perpetuus and Felix (or, less frequently, year 990 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 237 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

• Emperor Maximinus Thrax campaigns on the rivers Danube and Rhine in Germania, defeating the Alemanni, and never visits Rome. He is accepted by the Roman Senate, but taxes the rich aristocracy heavily, and engenders such hostility among them, that they plot against him.

Persia

• King Ardashir I of Persia renews his attacks on the Roman province of Mesopotamia.

By topic

Religion

• Patriarch Eugenius I succeeds Patriarch Castinus as Patriarch of Constantinople.
• Saint Babylas becomes Patriarch of Antioch.

Births

• Alexander of Constantinople, patriarch of Constantinople
• Guo Huai (or Yuhuang), Chinese noblewoman (d. 296)
• Philip II (the Younger), Roman emperor (d. 249)

Deaths

• February 7 – Chen Qun, Chinese official and politician
• September 22 – Mingdao (or Mao), Chinese empress
• Wu Yi (or Ziyuan), Chinese general of the Shu Han state
• Zhang (or Jing'ai), Chinese empress of the Shu Han state