Lucan, whose unfinished epic Pharsalia retold Rome's civil war almost entirely without recourse to the gods, was born at Corduba in Roman Spain.

Birth of the poet Lucan

The death of the emperor Constantius II left his cousin Julian, a devoted student of Neoplatonic philosophy, sole ruler of the Roman world.

Julian becomes sole Roman emperor

Charles Borromeo, the reforming Archbishop of Milan and a leading figure of the Counter-Reformation, died in Milan.

The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 2, carrying the dog Laika, making her the first living creature to orbit the Earth.