The 240s BC
96 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.
249 BCE6 entries
- Following the disastrous defeat of Roman forces at the Battle of Drepana, Publius Claudius Pulcher is fined 120,000 asses and his colleague, Lucius Junius Pullus, commits suicide. Aulus Atilius Calatinus is then elected dictator and leads an army into Sicily, becoming the first dictator to lead a Roman army outside Italy. The Roman forces at Lilybaeum are relieved, and Eryx, near Drapana, is seized. Its idol of Astarte is transported to Rome, where it becomes the Erycine Venus.
- King Kaolie of Chu annexes the State of Lu.
- The Battle of Drepana involves the Romans, under the command of the Roman consul Publius Claudius Pulcher, attacking the Carthaginian fleet, under the command of Adherbal, in the harbour of Drepanum (modern Trapani, Sicily). The Romans are badly defeated and lose 93 of their 123 vessels.
248 BCE3 entries
- The Qin general Meng Ao captures the Wei cities of Gaodu and Ji.
- The Mauryan king Ashoka is dedicated to the propagation of Buddhism and begins establishing monuments marking several significant sites in the life of Gautama Buddha.
- Meng Ao then annexes 37 towns and cities from the State of Zhao, conquering the cities of Yuci, Xincheng and Langmeng.
247 BCE8 entries
- The 13-year-old Ying Zheng, later called Qin Shi Huang, succeeds his father Zhuangxiang of Qin (Zichu) on the throne. Prime Minister Lü Buwei becomes the regent of the king.
- In Numidia Carthaginian general Hanno conquered the city of Theveste (nicknamed: Hekatompylos) after which he negotiated a peace settlement with the Numidians ending Carthage's war with the Numidians. He was praised by both parties for the fairness of the treaty.
- General Wang He of the State of Qin takes the city of Shangdang from the State of Zhao and establishes Taiyuan Commandery.
246 BCE16 entries
- The Ashokan pillar in Lauriya, Nandangarh (from the Maurya period) is made.
- Egypt's Ptolemy II dies and is succeeded by his son, Ptolemy III. At the time of Ptolemy II's death, Egypt comprises the ancient kingdom of Egypt in the Nile Valley, Cyrene, Judea and the coast of southern Syria, Cyprus and a number of cities on the shores and islands of the Aegean Sea. The Macedonian Ptolemies maintain their authority over their territories with a small mercenary army made up of Macedonians and other Greeks.
- Berenice's brother, Ptolemy III, sets about to avenge his sister's murder by invading Syria which begins the Third Syrian War (also known as the Laodicean War). Ptolemy III's navy, perhaps with the aid of rebels in the cities, advances against Seleucus II's forces as far as Thrace, across the Hellespont, and also captures some islands off the Anatolian coast.
245 BCE9 entries
- Approximate date – Callimachus produces the Pinakes, a subject index to the Library of Alexandria.
- Babylon and Susa fall to the Ptolemaic armies of Ptolemy III.
- Following a long engagement, Ptolemy III marries Berenice II, the daughter of Magas, king of Cyrene; thereby reuniting Egypt and Cyrenaica.
244 BCE7 entries
- Agis IV succeeds his father, Eudamidas II, as Eurypontid king of Sparta.
- Hamilcar Barca transfers his army to the slopes of Mount Eryx, from which he is able to lend support to the besieged garrison in the neighbouring town of Drepanum (Trapani).
- By defeating the Egyptian fleet at Andros, Antigonus II is able to maintain his control over the Aegean Sea.
243 BCE10 entries
- Without a declaration of hostilities, Greek statesman, Aratus of Sicyon, who has gradually built up the Achaean League into a major power in Greece, makes a surprise attack on Corinth and forces the withdrawal of the Macedonian occupation troops. Megara, Troezen, and Epidaurus also desert the Macedonian King Antigonus II.
- Ptolemy III returns from Syria due to a revolt in Egypt. As a result, Seleucus II is able to regain control of his kingdom with the Egyptians being pushed out of Mesopotamia and part of Northern Syria.
- Ptolemy III returns from his conquests of Seleucid territory with a large amount of treasure and works of art, including many statues of Egyptian gods carried off to Persia by Cambyses. He restores the statues to the Egyptian temples and earns the title of Euergetes ("Benefactor").
242 BCE6 entries
- The Zhao general Pang Nuan defeats the army of the State of Yan and kills its general Chu Xin.
- The destruction of the Egyptian fleet by the Macedonians ends the naval supremacy of the Ptolemies but does not force them to relinquish their territories in Syria and the Aegean Sea.
- The Roman consul and commander, Gaius Lutatius Catulus, blockades the Sicilian cities of Lilybaeum and Drepanum with a fleet of 200 ships.
241 BCE16 entries
- March 10 – Battle of the Aegates: The Carthaginian fleet sent to relieve the Roman blockade of the Sicilian cities of Lilybaeum and Drepanum is totally defeated near the Aegates Islands off western Sicily by the Roman fleet led by Roman consul and commander Gaius Lutatius Catulus. The result is a decisive Roman victory which forces an end to the protracted First Punic War, to Rome's distinct advantage.
- The Falisci people of Falerii Veteres revolt against Rome, but is crushed in six days. Falerii Veteres is destroyed and the people resettled to the less defensible Falerii Novi.
- Given their strong position, the mercenaries inflate their demands and request payment for the non-mercenary Libyan conscripts in the army as well. Gesco is sent to negotiate with the mercenaries at Tunis. Negotiations break down, Gisco is captured, and the Mercenary War commences.
240 BCE15 entries
- The first Latin tragedy by Livius Andronicus, Achilles, is first produced.
- The Hellenistic period Mathematician Eratosthenes estimates the Earth's circumference to be 252,000 stadia, a figure between 2%-20% off modern measurements.
- Hanno the Great is given command of the Carthaginian forces. However, the mercenaries defeat the Carthaginian armies in the Battle of Utica.