Year 958 (CMLVIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar.

Events

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By place

Byzantine Empire

• October / November Battle of Raban: The Byzantines under John Tzimiskes defeat the Hamdanid forces in northern Syria. Emir Sayf al-Dawla is forced to retreat – many of his court companions and ghilman fall in pursuit, while over 1,700 of his Turk cavalry are captured and paraded in the streets of Constantinople.

Europe

• King Berengar II invades the March of Verona, which is under control of the dukes of Bavaria, and lay siege to Count Adalbert Atto at Canossa Castle (northern Italy). Berengar sends a Lombard expeditionary force under his son Guy of Ivrea against Theobald II, duke of Spoleto. He captures Spoleto and Camerino.

Africa

• The Fatimid general Abu al-Hasan Jawhar ibn Abd Allah takes Ifgan, the capital of the rebellious Kharijite Banu Ya'la tribe. In the following two years, Jawhar conquers most of the north of modern-day Morocco and Algeria. In particular, he conquers the cities of Tangier, Sijilmasa and Tlemcen.

Asia

• King Ksemagupta dies of a fever after a hunting party. He is succeeded by his youngest son Abhimanyu II. Queen Didda, the widow of Ksemagupta, becomes regent and the de facto ruler of Kashmir (modern India).

• Emperor Chai Rong of the Later Zhou invades the Northern Han and the Khitan Empire in the Sixteen Prefectures (northern China), but is defeated.

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Births

• Basil II (Bulgar Slayer), Byzantine emperor (d. 1025)

• Otto-William, count of Burgundy (approximate date)

• Rinchen Zangpo, Tibetan Buddhist monk (d. 1055)

• Samuel, tsar of the Bulgarian Empire (approximate date)

• Vladimir I (the Great), Grand Prince of Kiev (d. 1015)

• Yang Yanzhao, general of the Song dynasty (d. 1014)

• Yaropolk I, Grand Prince of Kiev (approximate date)

Deaths

• May Ibn Durustawayh, Persian grammarian, lexicographer and student of the Quran and hadith (b. 872)

• June 2 Oda (the Good), archbishop of Canterbury

• September 17 Li Jingsui, Chinese prince (b. 920)

• September 18 Liu Sheng, Chinese emperor (b. 920)

• October 15 Toda, queen of Pamplona (b. 876)

date unknown

• Ammar ibn Ali al-Kalbi, Fatimid military commander

• Faifne an Filí, Irish poet and ollamh ("professor")

• Finshneachta Ua Cuill, Irish poet

• Fujiwara no Kiyotada, Japanese poet

• Lashkarwarz, Daylamite military commander

• Mastalus II, duke and patrician of Amalfi (Italy)

• Ōnakatomi no Yorimoto, Japanese waka poet

• Qingliang Wenyi, Chinese Buddhist monk

• Sumbat I, king of Iberia (Georgia)

probable

• Drogo, duke of Brittany

• Gorm the Old, king of Denmark. He was born before 900 and may have died as late as 964.

References