3RD CENTURY BC

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The '3rd century BC' started the first day of 300 BC and ended the last day of 201 BC. It is considered part of the Classical era, epoch, or historical period.
Hannibal Crosses the Alps during the Second Punic War

The first few decades of the century are characterized by a balance of power between the Greek Hellenistic kingdoms in the east, and the great mercantile power of Carthage in the west. This balance is shattered when conflict arises between Carthage and the Roman Republic. In the following decades, the Carthaginian Empire is first humbled and then destroyed by the Romans in the first and second Punic wars. Following the Second Punic War, Rome becomes the most important power in the western Mediterranean. In the 3rd century BC the Xiong Nu/ were at the height of their power in Mongolia. Warring States period in China draws to a close, with Qin Shihuang conquering other nation-states and establishing the Qin dynasty, the first empire of China.

Contents
Events
290s BC
280s BC
270s BC
260s BC
240s BC
230s BC
220s BC
210s BC
200s BC
Significant persons
Inventions, discoveries, introductions
Evidence
Decades and Years

Events


The Chinese Terracotta Army of Qin Shihuang's tomb at Xian, Shanxi, China.

290s BC


299 BC The Samnites, seizing their chance when Rome is engaged on the Lombard plain, start the third Samnite War with a collection of mercenaries from Gaul and Sabine and Etruscan allies to help them.

298 BC The Samnites defeat the Romans under Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus in the Battle of Camerinum, first battle of the Third Samnite War.

293 BC The Chinese State of Qin reduced the threat of the State of Wei and the State of Han with the Qin victory in the Battle of Yique.

★ Roman armies penetrate into the heart of the Samnite territory and then capture the Samnite cities of Taurasia, Bovianum Vetus and Aufidena.

Agathocles, king of Syracuse, assists the Italian Greeks against the Bruttians and supported the Greeks against the Romans.

Ptolemy gives his stepdaughter Theoxena in marriage to Agathocles, the tyrant of Syracuse (in south-eastern Sicily).

★ Ptolemy finally brings the rebellious region of Cyrene under his control. He places the region under the rule of his stepson Magas.

Bindusara succeeds his father Chandragupta Maurya as emperor of the Mauryan Empire.
280s BC


281 BC Antiochus I Soter, on the assassination of his father Seleucus becomes emperor of the Seleucid empire.

280 BC King Pyrrhus of Epirus invades Italy in an attempt to subjugate the Romans and bring Italy under a new empire ruled by himself.

280 BC Construction of the Colossus of Rhodes is completed
270s BC


279 BC Singidunum and Taurunum, today's Belgrade and Zemun, founded by Scordisci Celts.

275 BC: end of history of Babylon.

★ After failing to decisively defeat the Romans, Pyrrhus of Epirus withdraws from Italy.

Gallic migration to Macedon, Thrace and Galatia.

273 BC252 BC Ashoka the Great ruled the Mauryan Empire.
260s BC


264 BC First Punic War breaks out between the Carthaginian Empire and the Roman Republic.

261 BC Antiochus II Theos, 2nd son, at the death of his father becomes emperor of the Seleucid empire.

260 BC Battle of Changping between the State of Qin and the State of Zhao in China; a decicive Qin victory.
The Pyramid of the Moon, one of several monuments built in Teotihuacán

240s BC


241 BC First Punic War ends in Carthaginian defeat. Rome demands large reparations, and annexes Sicily and Corsica.
230s BC


230 BC The Chinese Qin State conquers Han.
220s BC


225 BC The Chinese Qin State conquers Wei.

223 BC The Chinese Qin State conquers Chu.

222 BC The Chinese Qin State conquers Yan and Zhao.

221 BC With the conquest of the State of Qi, Qin Shihuang unifies the whole of China into one empire that also included northern Vietnam, forming the Qin Dynasty.
210s BC


218 BC Second Punic War begins. Hannibal makes his famous Alpine crossing to invade Italy, the Roman heartland.

214 BC Qin Shi Huang of the Chinese Qin Dynasty ordered construction of the Great Wall of China.
200s BC


206 BC-202 BC Civil war of the Chu-Han contention in China after the fall of the Qin Dynasty.

202 BC Romans defeat Carthaginians, ending the Second Punic War. Carthage's territories are reduced to the city itself, and crippling reparations are demanded by Rome.

Indian traders regularly visited Arabia.

Scythians occupy Sogdiana, in modern-day Uzbekistan.

Han Dynasty of China was founded (202 BC220 AD).

★ The Pharos of Alexandria is built.

★ Appearance of the Hopewell culture in Ohio, USA.

Teotihuacán, Mexico begun.

Significant persons


Bust of Hannibal, the most prominent general of Carthage during the Second Punic War


Mencius, Chinese philosopher and sage (371289 BC)

Euclid, geometer (c. 365275 BC)

Ashoka, Mauryan ruler of India (273 BC232 BC)

Archimedes of Syracuse, mathematician, physicist, and engineer (c. 287212 BC)

Eratosthenes (c. 276194 BC), Greek mathematician, geographer and astronomer

Apollonius of Perga, mathematician (c. 262190 BC)

Qin Shi Huang, Chinese Emperor (259210 BC, reigned 246210 BC)

Emperor Gaozu of Han, founder of the Han Dynasty in China, (256 BC-195 BC, reigned 202 BC-195 BC)

Xiang Yu (232 BC-202 BC), Chinese rebel general against the Qin Dynasty and arch nemesis of Liu Bang in the Chu-Han contention.

Hannibal, military leader of Carthage (247182 BC)

★ the "second" Brennus, Gaulish chieftain, invades Macedonia in 279 BC

★ The Ptolemaic dynasty rules Egypt


Ptolemy I Soter (305 BC282 BC) and his wives Eurydice and


Ptolemy II Philadelphos (284 BC246 BC) and his wives Arsinoe I and Arsinoe II Philadelphos


Ptolemy III Euergetes I (246 BC222 BC) and his wife Berenice II


Ptolemy IV Philopater (222 BC204 BC) and his wife Arsinoe III


Ptolemy V Epiphanes (204 BC180 BC) and his wife Cleopatra I

Appius Claudius Caecus, Aqua Appia, Via Appia, invented letter G

Arcesilaus, founder of new Academy

Manetho, wrote ''History of Egypt''

Xun Zi, founder of Legalism (philosophy)

Zeno of Citium, founder of Stoicism

Bai Qi, Chinese general

Inventions, discoveries, introductions



Eratosthenes accurately calculates diameter of the Earth

Weiqi well-established in China, and may date back to the 2nd millennium BC

★ Stone of Canopus (for Ptolemy III), No. 1, in Rosetta Stone Series of 3 stones. Implements Leap year in Egypt. Leap year not formally recognized until Caesar in 55 B.C.

★ 293 BC: first Roman Sundial [Pliny (79ce): Natural History 7.213]

★ Water screw invented by Archimedes

★ Invention of the musical instrument hydraulis, the precursory to the Pipe organ by Ktesibios, a Greek engineer working in Alexandria.

Emperor Gaozu of Han China discovers an elaborate mechanical puppet theater in the treasury of the previous ruler Qin Shihuang.

★ The enormous Du Jiang Yan Irrigation System of China is engineered and constructed by Li Bing in 256 BC.

Evidence


Much of what we know of this century comes down to us from the works of the Roman historian Polybius, whose main concern is the story of how Rome comes to dominate the known world.

Decades and Years



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