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Year 720 (DCCXX) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 720 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[link]

By place[link]

Asia[link]

• The Nihon Shoki (日本書紀), one of the oldest history books in Japan, is completed.
• Umayyad caliph Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz is succeeded by Yazid II ibn Abd al-Malik.
• July 30 – In the Tang Dynasty Chinese capital of Chang'an, the walls of a gated city ward collapse during the night, which unexpectedly form a large pool out in the open. This is most likely caused by a sinkhole created when ground water eroded the limestone bedrock beneath. As a consequence of this, more than 500 homes are destroyed (Benn, 50).
• The former governor of Iraq, Yazid ibn al-Muhallab, rebels and is defeated and killed by the Caliph's forces under Al-Abbas ibn al-Walid and Maslamah ibn Abd al-Malik.

Byzantine Empire[link]

• The Byzantine emperor Leo III the Isaurian orders the execution of the ex-emperor Anastasius II.

Births[link]

• Bertrada of Laon, wife of Pippin III (d. 783)
• Pope Stephen III (d. 772)
• Baizhang, Chinese Zen Buddhist monk (d. 814)

Deaths[link]

• Sainte Odile, patron saint of Alsace
• Tariq ibn Ziyad, Moorish general
• Yeh Fa-shan
• Yazid ibn al-Muhallab, Arab governor of Iraq

References[link]