Events By Place Europe Bede publishes On the reckoning of time (De temporum ratione) calculating dates from the birth of Christ. The AD system's subsequently disseminated throughout western Europe. Africa In Egypt, resentment of the Copts against taxation leads to a revolt. Asia In China, the Tang Dynasty Buddhist monk, astronomer, and mechanical engineer Yi Xing applies the world's earliest known clockwork escapement mechanism to provide rotating motion to his astronomical armil… (More on 725)