The Bostran era, the official era of the Roman province of Arabia Petraea, began.

Year 106 (CVI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Commodus and Civica. The denomination 106 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.

The Bostran era was a calendar era with an epoch corresponding to 22 March 106 AD. It was the official era of the Roman province of Arabia Petraea, introduced to replace dating by regnal years after the Roman annexation of the Nabataean Kingdom. It is named after the city of Bostra, which became the headquarters of the Sixth Legion stationed in the province.

The Roman provinces were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was ruled by a Roman appointed as governor.

Arabia Petraea was a Roman province from the 2nd century to the 7th century. It was established after the Roman Empire conquered the Nabataean Kingdom in 106 and existed until the Muslim conquest of the Levant in the 630s. Spanning much of the Sinai Peninsula and part of the Levant, it was bordered by Syria to the north, by Judea to the west, and by Egypt to the southwest. To the east and southeast of Arabia Petraea was non-Roman territory that the Romans knew as Arabia Deserta. These two regions, together with a third region in South Arabia that was called Arabia Felix, accounted for the Arabian Peninsula in Roman geography.