8th century

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

• Sometime this century, Beowulf is probably written down.
• 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 St John of Damascus[?], and widely circulated to Christians as the story of Jalaam[?] and Josaphat.

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 Mayan culture
• ca. 770: iron horseshoes come into common use

Decades and Years