A chronology of events.

I'm using OWL:Time and RDFa to model a chronology as a sequence of disjoint intervals. Each interval is a container for instants or intervals that represent events. This lets me construct chronologies as preorders.

Each container interval is an HTML article. Events inside an HTML article are assumed to occur within the interval. Any interval or instant inside an HTML article is assumed to be 'before' all intervals or instants in subsequent HTML articles. An interval or instant inside an HTML article is only before another in the same article if explicitly stated, and is otherwise not comparable.

Ideally, the HTML articles represent contiguous periods of time. This does not need to be made explicit. Instead, each article may describe a single interval of some common type, such as the span of a calendar year, or the reign of a monarch; so that applying the ordering rules to these intervals results in a chain. In this example, each HTML article represents a consulship. A horizontal line separates articles.

Tacitus, Annals 1.5:

For Livia had surrounded the house and its approaches with a strict watch, and favourable bulletins were published from time to time, till, provision having been made for the demands of the crisis, one and the same report told men that Augustus was dead and that Tiberius Nero was master of the State.
  • The death of Augustus. Tiberius succeeds Augustus as emperor.

Tacitus, Annals 1.6:

The first crime of the new reign was the murder of Postumus Agrippa.
  • The death of Postumus Agrippa.
  • The succession of Tiberius is before the death of Postumus Agrippa.

Tacitus, Annals 1.7:

Sextus Pompeius and Sextus Apuleius, the consuls, were the first to swear allegiance to Tiberius Caesar.
  • Sextus Pompeius and Sextus Apuleius are consuls.

Tacitus, Annals 1.16:

This was the state of affairs at Rome when a mutiny broke out in the legions of Pannonia, which could be traced to no fresh cause except the change of emperors and the prospect it held out of license in tumult and of profit from a civil war.
  • Mutiny in Pannonia.

Tacitus, Annals 1.31:

About the same time, from the same causes, the legions of Germany rose in mutiny, ...
  • Mutiny in Germany.

Tacitus, Annals 1.53:

That same year Julia ended her days.
  • The death of Julia the Elder.
... deprived of all hope after the murder of Postumus Agrippa, ...
  • The death of Postumus Agrippa is before the death of Julia the Elder.

Tacitus, Annals 1.54:

The same year witnessed the establishment of religious ceremonies in a new priesthood of the brotherhood of the Augustales, just as in former days Titus Tatius, to retain the rites of the Sabines, had instituted the Titian brotherhood.
  • The establishment of the Sodales Augustales.

Tacitus, Annals 1.55:

In the consulship of Drusus Caesar and Caius Norbanus, Germanicus had a triumph decreed him, though war still lasted.
  • Drusus Caesar and Caius Norbanus are consuls.

Tacitus, Annals 1.56:

After burning Mattium, the capital of the tribe, and ravaging the open country, Germanicus marched back towards the Rhine, the enemy not daring to harass the rear of the retiring army, which was his usual practice whenever he fell back by way of stratagem rather than from panic.

Tacitus, Annals 2.1:

IN the consulship of Sisenna Statilius Taurus and Lucius Libo there was a commotion in the kingdoms and Roman provinces of the East.
  • Sisenna Statilius Taurus and Lucius Libo are consuls.

Tacitus, Annals 2.47:

That same year twelve famous cities of Asia fell by an earthquake in the night, ...
  • The Lydia earthquake.

Tacitus, Annals 2.52:

In this same year a war broke out in Africa, where the enemy was led by Tacfarinas.
  • Tacfarinas' revolt begins.
... Furius Camillus, pro-consul of Africa, united in one force a legion and all the regularly enlisted allies, and, with an army insignificant indeed compared with the multitude of the Numidians and Moors, marched against the enemy.
  • Furius Camillus defeatsTacfarinas in battle.

Tacitus, Annals 2.53:

In the following year Tiberius held his third, Germanicus his second, consulship.
  • Tiberius and Germanicus are consuls.

Tacitus, Annals 2.59:

In the consulship of Marcus Silanus and Lucius Norbanus, ...
  • Marcus Silanus and Lucius Norbanus are consuls.

Tacitus, Annals 2.72:

Soon afterwards he expired, ...
  • The death of Germanicus.

Tacitus, Annals 3.2:

Marcus Valerius and Caius Aurelius, the consuls, ...
  • Marcus Valerius and Caius Aurelius are consuls.

Results

Processing the above gives this preorder

A chronology of events

... and the chain of consulships is

A chain of consulships

This treats events as a collection of objects that can be mapped to preorders in interesting ways that preserve the 'before' relationship described. For further discussion, see here.