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The 260s BC

80 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.

269 BCE2 entries

  • The Mamertines, a body of Campanian mercenaries who have been employed by Agathocles, the former tyrant of Syracuse, capture the stronghold of Messana (Messina in north-eastern Sicily), from which they harass the Syracusans. The Syracusan military leader, Hieron, defeats them in a pitched battle at the Longanus River near Mylae, but Carthaginian forces intervene to prevent him from capturing Messana. His grateful countrymen then choose Hieron as their king and tyrant, to be known as Hieron II.

268 BCE5 entries

  • May 16 – Ashoka becomes emperor of the Maurya Empire.
  • The Romans found a colony at Ariminum.
  • The Romans found a colony at Malventum which they, for superstitious reasons, call Beneventum (since male means bad and bene means good in Latin).

267 BCE3 entries

  • Macedonia's King Antigonus II Gonatas has to deal with a rebellion by an Athenian-led coalition of Spartans (led by King Areus I of Sparta), Athenians (led by Chremonides), Arcadians and Achaeans that tries to expel the Macedonian forces located in southern Greece. The rebellion has the support of Ptolemy II of Egypt.

266 BCE8 entries

  • January 23 – Marcus Atilius Regulus and Lucius Julius Libo celebrate triumphs over the Salentini.
  • Caparronia, an ancient Roman Vestal virgin died by hanging after being convicted of unchastity.
  • The Mauryan emperor Ashoka converts to Buddhism.

265 BCE14 entries

  • Although the Egyptian fleet blockades the Saronic Gulf, the Macedonian King Antigonus II defeats the Spartans and kills the king of Sparta, Areus I near Corinth, after which he besieges Athens.
  • The Archimedes screw for raising water is devised by the Greek mathematician Archimedes, who is studying at Alexandria.
  • The Battle of Messana (265-264 BCE) takes place as the first military clash between the Roman Republic and Carthage.

264 BCE9 entries

  • The Confucian philosopher Xunzi visits the State of Qin. He writes of his and others' admiration for the government officials of Qin, who he says are serious and sincere, free from the tendency to form cliques. The Qin officials are disciplined by a meritocracy of rather harsh methods imposed by the Legalist philosophy.
  • The temple to Vertumnus is built on the Aventine Hill in Rome.
  • Abantidas, the son of Paseas, becomes tyrant of the Greek city-state of Sicyon after murdering Cleinias. He either banishes or puts to death Cleinias' friends and relations. Cleinias' young son, Aratus, narrowly escapes death.

263 BCE10 entries

  • Alexander II of Epirus attacks and conquers the greater part of Macedonia. However, he is then driven out of both Macedonia and Epirus by Demetrius II, the son of King Antigonus II Gonatas of Macedonia.
  • The Romans capture Catania in Sicily under Messalla. A sundial is part of the booty, which is placed in the Comitium in Rome and will be significant in Roman timekeeping.
  • The Romans under the consul Manius Valerius Messalla secure the alliance of Hiero II of Syracuse. The treaty with Rome restricts Hiero's kingdom to southeast Sicily and the eastern coast of Sicily as far as Tauromenium. From this date until his death, Hiero remains loyal to the Romans.

262 BCE12 entries

  • After Athens surrenders in the Chremonidean War following a long siege by Macedonian forces, Antigonus II Gonatas re-garrisons Athens and forbids the city from making war. Otherwise, he leaves Athens alone as the seat of philosophy and learning in Greece.
  • Rome besieges the city of Agrigentum which is held by Carthage under the command of Hannibal Gisco. Rome's siege involves both consular armies – a total of four Roman legions – and takes several months to resolve. The garrison of Agrigentum manages to call for reinforcements and a Carthaginian relief force commanded by Hanno comes to the rescue and destroys the Roman supply base at Erbessus. Nevertheless, after a few skirmishes, the battle of Agrigentum is fought and won by Rome, and the city falls. Gisco manages to escape to Carthage in the late stages of the battle.
  • Following the surrender of the Shangdang Commandery, formerly of Han, to the State of Zhao, fighting between Zhao and the State of Qin begins in the area of Changping.

261 BCE5 entries

  • The armies of the State of Qin and State of Zhao contest control of the area around Changping. After suffering defeats to general Wang He of Qin and the superior Qin army, general Lian Po of Zhao refuses to give battle, resulting in a stalemate.
  • Mauryan Emperor Ashoka wages a war against the independent kingdom of Kalinga, culminating in the Battle of the Dhauli Hills. In the aftermath, Kalinga is annexed into the Mauryan Empire, but the brutality of the war is believed to have led to Ashoka's conversion to Buddhism, as described in his many Edicts of Ashoka.
  • The Romans, determined to win control of Sicily from Carthage, build a fleet based on the model of a captured Carthaginian quinquereme.

260 BCE12 entries

  • Hannibal Gisco returns to fight in Sicily as the admiral in charge of the Carthaginian fleet in the Strait of Messina. With the Romans about to launch their first ever navy, Carthage is determined that this innovation be thwarted. Gisco defeats part of the Roman fleet and captures the Roman consul Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Asina in an encounter near Lipari; the consul's nickname Asina (which means donkey) is earned in this encounter. However, this Carthaginian victory is of limited practical value as the bulk of the Roman fleet continues to manoeuvre in the surrounding waters.
  • The Roman advance continues westward from Agrigentum with their forces relieving the besieged cities of Segesta and Macella. These cities have sided with the Roman cause, and have come under Carthaginian attack for doing so.
  • Callimachus of Cyrene, learned poet and grammarian, becomes chief librarian at the Library of Alexandria.