964

Millennium:	1st millennium
Centuries:	9th century 10th century 11th century
Decades:	940s 950s 960s 970s 980s
Years:	961 962 963 964 965 966 967

964 in various calendars

Gregorian calendar	964 CMLXIV
Ab urbe condita	1717
Armenian calendar	413 ԹՎ ՆԺԳ
Assyrian calendar	5714
Balinese saka calendar	885–886
Bengali calendar	371
Berber calendar	1914
Buddhist calendar	1508
Burmese calendar	326
Byzantine calendar	6472–6473
Chinese calendar	癸亥年 (Water  Pig) 3661 or 3454     — to — 甲子年 (Wood  Rat) 3662 or 3455
Coptic calendar	680–681
Discordian calendar	2130
Ethiopian calendar	956–957
Hebrew calendar	4724–4725
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	1020–1021
- Shaka Samvat	885–886
- Kali Yuga	4064–4065
Holocene calendar	10964
Iranian calendar	342–343
Islamic calendar	352–353
Japanese calendar	Ōwa 4 / Kōhō 1 (康保元年)
Javanese calendar	864–865
Julian calendar	964 CMLXIV
Korean calendar	3297
Minguo calendar	948 before ROC 民前948年
Nanakshahi calendar	−504
Seleucid era	1275/1276 AG
Thai solar calendar	1506–1507
Tibetan calendar	阴水猪年 (female Water-Pig) 1090 or 709 or −63     — to — 阳木鼠年 (male Wood-Rat) 1091 or 710 or −62

Pope Benedict V (May 22–June 23)

Year 964 ( CMLXIV ) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar.

Events

Byzantine Empire

• Arab–Byzantine War: Emperor Nikephoros II continues the reconquest of south-eastern Anatolia (modern Turkey). He recaptures Cyprus, and reorganizes the conquered lands into new themes. In the summer, they take the fortress cities of Anazarbus and Adana. Byzantine troops under General John Tzimiskes besiege Mopsuestia, but with the coming of winter he is forced to retreat to Caesarea. ^[1]
• October 24–25 – Siege of Rometta: Nikephoros II sends an expedition to Sicily. The Byzantine army (40,000 men) is sent to break the Muslim siege at Rometta, and to regain Sicily for the Byzantine Empire. For two days a battle takes place in the area between the beach and the besieged citadel of Rometta. The Saracens (under Al-Hasan ibn Ammar) manage to defeat the Byzantine relief force.

Europe

• Spring – King Adalbert II returns to the mainland of Italy, and occupies the environs of Spoleto. Emperor Otto I ('the Great') leaves Rome with his army, and lays siege to the fortress city of Spoleto.
• Otto I proceeds on campaign in Italy, remaining in the environs of Lucca. In the fall he leaves plague-wracked Tuscany, and is forced to retreat to Liguria. His rearguard is attacked by Adalbert II.

By topic

Religion

• February – Pope John XII returns with his supporters to Rome. He convenes a synod that deposes Antipope Leo VIII who finds refuge at the court of Otto I. John dispatches a delegation under Otgar, bishop of Speyer, to negotiate an agreement.
• May 14 – Pope John XII dies (rumoured to be by apoplexy, or at the hands of a cuckolded husband, during an illicit sexual liaison) after a 9-year reign. The Romans elect Benedict V, who is acclaimed by the city militia. He begins his pontificate as the 131st pope of the Catholic Church.
• June 23 – Benedict V is deposed and ecclesiastically degraded after Otto I besieges Rome. He starves the Romans into submission and restores Leo VIII to the papal throne.

Science

• Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi, a Persian astronomer, writes the Book of Fixed Stars

Births

• Bertha of Burgundy, Frankish queen consort (d. 1010)
• Heonae, Korean queen consort and regent (d. 1029)
• Liu Wenzhi, official of the Song Dynasty (d. 1028)

Deaths

• May 14 – John XII, pope of the Catholic Church
• July 3 – Henry I, Frankish nobleman and archbishop
• November 5 – Fan Zhi, chancellor of the Song Dynasty
• December 8 – Zhou (the Elder), Chinese queen consort
• Al-Hasan ibn Ali al-Kalbi, Fatimid nobleman and emir
• Fujiwara no Anshi, empress consort of Japan (b. 927)
• Godfrey I, count and vice-duke of Lower Lorraine
• Khosrov of Andzev, Armenian monk and poet
• Toichleach ua Gadhra, king of Gailenga (Ireland)

References

1. W. Treadgold. A History of the Byzantine State and Society, p. 948.