8th century

(7th century - 8th century - 9th century - other centuries)

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Events

• Sometime this century, Beowulf is probably composed.
• Borobodur, the famous Indonesian Buddhist structure, begins construction, probably as a non-Buddhist shrine.
• Buddhist Jataka stories are translated in to Syriac and Arabic as Kalilag and Damnag.
• An account of Buddha's life was translated in to Greek by Saint John of Damascus, and widely circulated to Christians as the story of Jalaam and Josaphat.
• The Nara period begins in Japan.

Significant persons

• Charles Martel
• The Venerable Bede, English scholar
• Pepin the short
• Li Po, Chinese poet
• Du Fu, Chinese poet

Inventions, Discoveries, Introductions

• heavy plow in use in the Rhine valley
• horsecollar in use in Northern Europe in 8th or 9th century - perhaps introduced from Asia
• papermaking introduced from China to Arabs
• beginning of the decline of the Classical Maya civilization
• ca. 770: iron horseshoes come into common use

Decades and Years

690s	690	691	692	693	694	695	696	697	698	699
700s	700	701	702	703	704	705	706	707	708	709
710s	710	711	712	713	714	715	716	717	718	719
720s	720	721	722	723	724	725	726	727	728	729
730s	730	731	732	733	734	735	736	737	738	739
740s	740	741	742	743	744	745	746	747	748	749
750s	750	751	752	753	754	755	756	757	758	759
760s	760	761	762	763	764	765	766	767	768	769
770s	770	771	772	773	774	775	776	777	778	779
780s	780	781	782	783	784	785	786	787	788	789
790s	790	791	792	793	794	795	796	797	798	799
800s	800	801	802	803	804	805	806	807	808	809