The 40s decade ran from January 1, AD 40, to December 31, AD 49. Christianity came to Egypt as the Church of Alexandria was founded with Mark the Evangelist as the first Patriarch. James the Great died in 44 AD: One of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus, he was the first to be martyred according to the New Testament. Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome. (The exact date is uncertain. The maximal time window for the expulsion of Jews from Rome is from January AD 41 until January AD 53.) Claudius became Roman Emperor in AD 41, following the assassination of Caligula. In AD 43, he sent Aulus Plautius with four legions to Britain (Britannia), initiating the decades-long Roman conquest of Britain. In China, the Trung sisters' rebellion (AD 40-43), an armed civil uprising in the south of Han China, was crushed that same year. Disasters of this decade include a famine in Syria in AD 46. Literary works of this decade include the Histories of Alexander the Great (written by Quintus Curtius Rufus), and essays by Seneca (including De Ira, Ad Marciam, De consolatione, De Brevitate Vitæ, De Consolatione ad Polybium, and Ad Helviam matrem, De consolatione). Significant people Gaius Caesar Germanicus/Caligula (AD 37–41). Claudius, Roman Emperor (AD 41–54). Agrippina the Younger, Empress Roman and Real Power behind the throne (AD 49–54) Paul of Tarsus, Christian evangelist References