637

Year 637 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 637 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Events

March - Siege of [Ctesiphon (637)|Siege of Ctesiphon]: The Rashidun army under Saʿd ibn Abi Waqqas occupies the Persian capital of Ctesiphon, after a two-month siege. King Yazdegerd III flees with the imperial treasure eastward into Media. Muslim forces conquer the Persian provinces as far as Khuzestan.
Battle of Jalula: Muslim Arabs defeat the Persian forces under Farrukhzad at the Diyala River. The cities Tikrit and Mosul are captured, completing the conquest of Mesopotamia. The region west of the Zagros Mountains is annexed by the Rashidun Caliphate.

April - Siege of [Jerusalem (637)|Siege of Jerusalem]: The Rashidun army, led by 'Amr ibn al-'As, conquers Jerusalem after a six-month siege. The Byzantine garrison surrenders to Caliph Umar I, who is invited by Sophronius, Greek [Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem|patriarch of Jerusalem], to pray in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Umar declines, fearing that accepting the invitation might endanger the church's status, and turn the Christian holy site into a mosque.
Battle of Hazir: Muslim Arab forces under Khalid ibn al-Walid defeat the Byzantine army near Qinnasrin. The cities of Beirut and Tyre are captured by Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan after a short siege.
October - Siege of [Aleppo (637)|Siege of Aleppo]: Muslim Arabs under Khalid ibn al-Walid conquer the Byzantine stronghold Aleppo; the large walled city surrenders after a four-month siege. A column of troops under Malik al-Ashtar is sent to take Azaz.
Battle of the Iron Bridge: Rashidun forces under Khalid ibn al-Walid defeat the Byzantine army and Christian Arabs near Antioch, at the Orontes River. It marks the complete annexation of Syria into the Rashidun Caliphate.

Chang'an, capital of the Tang dynasty, becomes the largest city of the world, taking the lead from Ctesiphon, capital of Persia.
Queen Seondeok of Silla|Seondeok] of Silla builds an astronomical observatory near Gyeongju, one of the oldest in East Asia.
King Songtsän Gampo builds the first palace on the site of the Potala Palace in Lhasa.

The Muslims replace Zoroastrianism with Islam in Mesopotamia ; they do not force their conquered subjects to embrace the Islamic faith, but they do require acceptance of the Quran as the doctrine of divine teaching, and will oblige their subjects to learn Arabic.

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