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The 210s BC

143 sourced entries across 10 years, inside the 3rd century BC. Each year below opens its own page; the lines under it are that year’s highest-ranked entries.

219 BCE8 entries

  • The Roman Senate sends the consul Lucius Aemilius Paullus to Illyria with an army. On discovering Rome's intent, the Illyrian leader Demetrius of Pharos puts to death those Illyrians who oppose his rule, fortifies Dimale and goes to Pharos. After a seven-day siege by the Roman fleet under Lucius Aemilius Paulus, Dimale is taken by direct assault. From Dimale, the Roman navy heads to Pharos, where the Roman forces rout the Illyrians. Demetrius flees to Macedonia, where he becomes a trusted councilor at the court of King Philip V.
  • The Romans extend their area of domination around the head of the Adriatic Sea as far as the peninsula of Histria by the conquest of peoples who dwell to the east of the Veneti. Thus, with the exception of Liguria and the upper valley of the Po River, all Italy south of the Alps is brought within the Roman sphere.
  • Following the defection of one of Ptolemy IV's leading commanders, Egypt's Syrian territories are seriously threatened by Antiochus III, thus initiating the Fourth Syrian War. When the Seleucid ruler captures the important eastern Mediterranean sea ports of Seleucia-in-Pieria, Tyre, and Ptolemais, Ptolemy IV's advisor, Sosibius, and the Ptolemaic court enter into delaying negotiations with the enemy, while the Ptolemaic army is reorganized and intensively drilled.

218 BCE13 entries

  • September – Battle of the Rhône Crossing: A Carthaginian victory over the Volcae opens Hannibal's way into Italy.
  • September/October – Hannibal's crossing of the Alps: Hannibal takes around 38 North African war elephants across the Alps from Gaul into Cisalpine Gaul to invade Rome. Almost none of the elephants survive the harsh conditions. This leads to the Romans cancelling their invasion of Africa.
  • December 22/23 – Battle of the Trebia: Hannibal defeats the combined Roman armies under Sempronius and Scipio.

217 BCE17 entries

  • June 21 – On the northern shore of Lake Trasimene, in Umbria, Hannibal's troops all but annihilate Gaius Flaminius' army in the Battle of Lake Trasimene, killing thousands (including Flaminius) and driving others to drown in the lake. Reinforcements of about 4,000 cavalry from Ariminum under the praetor, Gaius Centenius, are intercepted before they arrive and are also destroyed. The Carthaginian troops then march on Rome.
  • June 22 – Egyptian native hoplites under Ptolemy IV crush the Seleucid army under Antiochus III in the Battle of Raphia near Gaza. The realization of their military importance leads to demands by native Egyptians for greater privileges and so to the development of racial difficulties which will weaken the Ptolemy dynasty in the future.
  • Publius Cornelius Scipio is sent with reinforcements by Rome to Spain as proconsul. In a naval battle on the Ebro River at Tarraco, the Carthaginian general Hasdrubal's fleet is largely destroyed by a daring surprise Roman attack led by Publius Cornelius Scipio and his brother Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus. As a result, the Romans are able to strengthen their hold on the Ebro River region.

216 BCE18 entries

  • August 2 – The Battle of Cannae (east of Naples) ends in victory for Hannibal whose 50,000-man army defeats a Roman force of 86,000 led by consuls Lucius Aemilius Paullus (who is killed in the battle) and Gaius Terentius Varro. 50,000-70,000 Roman troops are killed, making this perhaps the deadliest one-day battle in all history.
  • After the defeat at Cannae, Roman general, Marcus Claudius Marcellus, commands the remnants of the Roman army at Canusium and saves the city of Nola and southern Campania from occupation by Hannibal.
  • Philip V of Macedon, still resenting Rome's interference in Illyrian politics, seizes his opportunity to invade Illyria. Ambassadors from Philip V visit Hannibal at his headquarters in Italy. These actions mark the beginning of the First Macedonian War between Rome and Macedonia.

215 BCE17 entries

  • Philip V of Macedon and Hannibal negotiate an alliance under which they pledge mutual support and defence. Specifically, they agree to support each other against Rome, and that Hannibal shall have the right to make peace with Rome, but that any peace would include Philip and that Rome would be forced to give up control of Corcyra, Apollonia, Epidamnus, Pharos, Dimale, Parthini and Atintania and to restore to Demetrius of Pharos all his lands currently controlled by Rome.
  • The Roman law, Lex Oppia, is instituted by Gaius Oppius, a tribune of the plebs during the consulship of Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus and Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus. The Lex Oppia is the first of a series of sumptuary laws introduced in Rome. It not only restricts women's wealth, but also their displaying it.
  • A Carthaginian invasion fleet bound for Sardinia is delayed by bad weather giving the Romans the time to organize an intervention; the Roman general Titus Manlius Torquatus, one of it original conquerors, is sent to Sardinia with an army.

214 BCE13 entries

  • The censors Publius Furius Philus and Marcus Atilius Regulus condemn and degrade (i.e. cause to lose rank in Roman society and politics) two groups of Romans of high rank, including senators and equestrians. The first group are those Roman officers captured by Hannibal's forces in the Battle of Cannae who have come as Carthaginian hostages to Rome to plead for their ransom (and those of their fellow prisoners), and who then refuse to return to Carthaginian captivity when the Senate refuses to ransom any prisoners. The second group are those Romans who have advocated surrender to Carthage after the Battle of Cannae, or who have made plans to flee Rome and offer their services in Greece, Egypt, or Asia Minor.
  • Upon receiving word from Oricum of Philip V's actions in Illyria, Roman propraetor Marcus Valerius Laevinus crosses the Adriatic with his fleet and army. Landing at Oricum, Laevinus is able to retake the town with little fighting.
  • Philip V of Macedon attempts an invasion of Illyria by sea with a fleet of 120 craft. He captures Oricum and, sailing up the Aous (modern Vjosë) river, he besieges Apollonia.

213 BCE6 entries

  • In alliance with Attalus I of Pergamum, Antiochus III finally captures the rebel king of Anatolia, Achaeus, in his capital, Sardis, after a siege of two years. Antiochus III then has Achaeus executed.
  • Archimedes's war machines repel the Roman army that is invading Syracuse.
  • Emperor Qin Shi Huang and Prime Minister Li Si order all Confucian writings destroyed in the burning of books and burying of scholars.

212 BCE19 entries

  • Syphax, king of the western Numidian tribe, the Masaesyli, concludes an alliance with the Romans and they send military advisers to help Syphax train his soldiers. He then attacks the eastern Numidians (the Massylii) ruled by Gala, who is an ally of the Carthaginians. The Carthaginian general Hasdrubal travels to northern Africa from Spain to stamp out the uprising by the Numidians.
  • After being stopped twice by the Romans in his attempts to invade Illyria by sea, and constrained by the Roman commander Marcus Valerius Laevinus' fleet in the Adriatic, Philip V of Macedon keeps his activities in Illyria land based. Keeping clear of the coast, he takes Dassaretis, Atintani and Parthini, and the town of Dimale.
  • Antiochus III leaves for a campaign in Asia, where he will reach as far as India and mostly manage to recover the areas conquered earlier by Alexander the Great.

211 BCE12 entries

  • The Roman commander Marcus Valerius Laevinus explores the possibility of an alliance with the Aetolian League as the Aetolians are once again ready to consider taking up arms against their traditional enemy, Macedonia. A treaty is signed to counter Philip V of Macedon who is allied to Hannibal. Under the treaty, the Aetolians are to conduct operations on land, the Romans at sea. Also, Rome will keep any slaves and other booty taken and Aetolia will receive control of any territory acquired.
  • Rome faces the burdens of inflation and the danger of famine, caused by the disturbed conditions in Italy and Sicily and the withdrawal of so many men from farming. The situation is only relieved by an urgent appeal by the Romans to the King of Egypt, Ptolemy IV, from whom grain is purchased at three times the usual price.
  • The Romans besiege the town of Capua (which is allied with Hannibal). The town eventually falls to the Romans and its citizens are punished by them. The town's nobility are put to the sword, its territory is confiscated and its municipal organisation is dissolved.

210 BCE20 entries

  • The Terracotta Army in the mausoleum of Emperor Shihuangdi, Lintong, Shaanxi, is made (Qin dynasty) (approximate date).
  • Qin Er Shi becomes Emperor of the Qin dynasty of China. His advisors Zhao Gao and Prime Minister Li Si forge a decree by the late Emperor Qin Shi Huang that orders the execution of Qin Er Shi's elder brother Fusu and Fusu's ally, the general Meng Tian.
  • Following the death of his father, Publius Cornelius Scipio, and his uncle, Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus, at the hands of the Carthaginians, the young Publius Cornelius Scipio takes over command of the Roman troops in Spain. His appointment reflects the Roman Senate's dissatisfaction with the cautious strategy of the propraetor, Gaius Claudius Nero, then commander in Spain north of the Ebro.