139 BC

Millennium:	1st millennium BC
Centuries:	3rd century BC 2nd century BC 1st century BC
Decades:	150s BC 140s BC 130s BC 120s BC 110s BC
Years:	142 BC 141 BC 140 BC 139 BC 138 BC 137 BC 136 BC

139 BC in various calendars

Gregorian calendar	139 BC CXXXIX BC
Ab urbe condita	615
Ancient Egypt era	XXXIII dynasty, 185
- Pharaoh	Ptolemy VIII Physcon, 7
Ancient Greek era	160th Olympiad, year 2
Assyrian calendar	4612
Balinese saka calendar	N/A
Bengali calendar	−731
Berber calendar	812
Buddhist calendar	406
Burmese calendar	−776
Byzantine calendar	5370–5371
Chinese calendar	辛丑年 (Metal Ox) 2559 or 2352     — to — 壬寅年 (Water Tiger) 2560 or 2353
Coptic calendar	−422 – −421
Discordian calendar	1028
Ethiopian calendar	−146 – −145
Hebrew calendar	3622–3623
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	−82 – −81
- Shaka Samvat	N/A
- Kali Yuga	2962–2963
Holocene calendar	9862
Iranian calendar	760 BP – 759 BP
Islamic calendar	783 BH – 782 BH
Javanese calendar	N/A
Julian calendar	N/A
Korean calendar	2195
Minguo calendar	2050 before ROC 民前2050年
Nanakshahi calendar	−1606
Seleucid era	173/174 AG
Thai solar calendar	404–405
Tibetan calendar	阴金牛年 (female Iron-Ox) −12 or −393 or −1165     — to — 阳水虎年 (male Water-Tiger) −11 or −392 or −1164

Year 139 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Piso and Laenas (or, less frequently, year 615 Ab urbe condita) and the Second Year of Jianyuan. The denomination 139 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

By place

China

• Emperor Wu of Han sends the diplomat Zhang Qian west to form an alliance with the Yuezhi against the Xiongnu. Wu does this after learning from Xiongnu defectors that the Xiongnu had defeated and killed the king of the Yuezhi, had expelled the Yuezhi from their lands and were using their king's skull as a wine goblet. The Yuezhi had subsequently migrated further west.
• Soon after his departure for the west, Zhang Qian is detained by Junchen Chanyu of the Xiongnu. He would remain in Xiongnu custody for more than ten years and would be given a Xiongnu wife.
• Wei Zifu enters Emperor Wu's palace as a concubine and becomes pregnant. Enraged, Liu Piao, the mother of the childless Empress Chen Jiao (wife of Emperor Wu), kidnaps Zifu's brother Wei Qing, who is rescued by Gongsun Ao. Wu responds by advancing the careers of members of the Wei family.

Roman Republic

• The Lusitanian War ends when the rebellion collapses after the assassination of Viriathus by a Roman agent.
• The Achaean League is reestablished.

By topic

Astronomy

• Hipparchus makes a very precise determination of the length of the synodic month.

Deaths

• Viriathus, Lusitanian leader (assassinated)