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3rd century BC

Eastern hemisphere at the end of the 3rd century BC.

The 3rd century BC started the rst day of 300 BC andended the last day of 201 BC. It is considered part of theClassical era, epoch, or historical period.

Hannibal Crosses the Alps during the Second Punic War

1 Overview

In the Mediterranean the rst few decades of this cen-tury were characterized by a balance of power betweenthe Greek Hellenistic kingdoms in the east, and the greatmercantile power of Carthage in the west. This bal-ance was shattered when conict arose between Carthageand the Roman Republic. In the following decades, theCarthaginian Republic was rst humbled and then de-stroyed by the Romans in the rst and second Punic wars.Following theSecond Punic War, Rome became the mostimportant power in the western Mediterranean.

In India, Ashoka the Great ruled the Maurya Empire.

The Pandya, Chola and Chera dynasties of the classicalage ourished in the ancient Tamil country. The XiongNu were at the height of their power in Mongolia. The

Maurya Empire at the age of Ashoka. The empire stretched fromIran to Bangladesh / Assam and from Central Asia (Afghanistan )to Tamil Nadu / South India .

Warring States period in China drew to a close, withQin Shihuang conquering other nation-states and estab-lishing the short-lived Qin dynasty, the rst empire ofChina, which was followed in the same century by thelong-lasting Han dynasty. The Protohistoric Period be-gan in the Korean peninsula.

2 Events

2.1 290s BC

• 299 BC: The Samnites, seizing their chance whenRome is engaged on the Lombard plain, start theThird Samnite War with a collection of mercenar-ies from Gaul and Sabine and Etruscan allies to helpthem

• 298 BC: The Samnites defeat the Romans underLucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus in the Battle ofCamerinum, rst battle of the Third Samnite War

• 293BC: The ChineseState of Qinreducedthe threatofthe State of Weiand theStateof Hanwith the Qinvictory in the Battle of Yique

• Roman armies penetrate into the heart of the Sam-nite territory and then capture the Samnite cities ofTaurasia, Bovianum Vetus and Audena

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2 2 EVENTS

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

• Agathocles, king of Syracuse, Sicily, assists the Ital-ian Greeks against the Bruttians and supported theGreeks against the Romans

• Ptolemy nally brings the rebellious region ofCyrene under his control. He places the region un-der the rule of his stepson Magas.

• Bindusara succeeds his father Chandragupta Mau-rya as emperor of the Mauryan Empire

• Theater, Epidauros, is built with later additions

2.2 280s BC

• 281 BC: Antiochus I Soter, on the assassination ofhis fatherSeleucusbecomesemperor of theSeleucidempire

• 280 BC: King Pyrrhus of Epirus invades Italy in anattempt to subjugate the Romans and bring Italy un-der a new empire ruled by himself

• 280 BC: Construction of the Colossus of Rhodes iscompleted

2.3 270s BC

• 279 BC: Singidunum and Taurunum, today’sBelgrade and Zemun, are founded by ScordisciCelts.

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

• Gallic migration to Macedon, Thrace and Galatia.

• 273 BC – 232 BC: Ashoka the Great ruled theMaurya Empire.

2.4 260s BC

• 264 BC: First Punic War breaks out between theCarthaginian Empire and the Roman Republic.

• 261BC: Antiochus II Theos, 2nd son, atthe death ofhis 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 decisive Qinvictory.

The Pyramid of the Moon, one of several monuments built inTeotihuacán

2.5 250s BC

• 258 BC: An Dương Vương overthrows the Hồng

Bàng Dynasty in Viet Nam.• 257 BC: Thục Dynasty takes over Viet Nam.

2.6 240s BC

• 241 BC: First Punic War ends in Carthaginian de-feat. Rome demands large reparations, and annexesSicily and Corsica.

2.7 230s BC• 230 BC: The Chinese Qin State conquers Han.

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2.8 220s BC

• 227 BC: The assassination against Ying Zheng, kingof Qin State, by Jing Ke from Yan failed.

• 225 BC: A large Gallic army is defeated by the Ro-

mans at the Battle of Telamon.• 225 BC: The Chinese Qin State conquers Wei.

• 223 BC: The Chinese Qin State conquers Chu.

• 222 BC: The Chinese Qin State conquers Yan andZhao.

• 221 BC: With the conquest of the State of Qi, QinShihuang unies the whole of China into one em-pire that also included northern Vietnam, formingthe Qin Dynasty.

2.9 210s BC

• 218 BC: Second Punic Warbegins. Hannibalmakeshis famous Alpine crossing to invade Italy, the Ro-man heartland.

• 216 BC: Hannibal famously crushed the Roman le-gions at the Battle of Cannae.

• 214 BC: Qin Shi Huangof the ChineseQin Dynastyordered construction of the Great Wall of China.

2.10 200s BC

• 208 BC: Zhao Tuo (Triệu Đà) defeats theVietnamese king An Dương Vương.

• 207 BC: Triệu Dynasty of Viet Nam is inaugurated.

• 206 BC – 202 BC: Civil war of the Chu-Han con-tention in China after the fall of the Qin Dynasty.

• 202 BC: Romans defeat Carthaginians, ending the

Second Punic War. Carthage’s territories are re-duced to the city itself, and crippling reparations aredemanded by Rome.

• Indian traders regularly visited Arabia.

• Scythians occupy Sogdiana, in modern-dayUzbekistan.

• Han Dynasty of China was founded (202 BC–220AD).

• The Pharos of Alexandria is built.

• Appearance of the Hopewell culture in Ohio, USA.

• Teotihuacán, Mexico begun.

3 Signicant people

• Mencius, Chinese philosopher and sage (371 BC–289 BC)

• Euclid, geometer (c. 365 BC–275 BC)

• Qu Yuan, Chinese poet and scholar from State ofChu (340 BC–278 BC)

• Ilamcetcenni, Cholasruler ofSouthIndiain SangamAge around 301 BC.

• Han Fei, Chinese philosopher from State of Han(280 BC–233 BC)

• Ashoka the Great, Mauryan ruler of India (304 BC–232 BC, reigned 269 BC–232 BC)

• Diodotus I Soter, Seleucid satrap of Bactria, rstruler ofGreco-Bactrian Kingdom(285 BC–239BC,reigned 255 BC–239 BC)

• Qin ShiHuang, ChineseEmperor (259 BC–210BC,reigned 246 BC–210 BC)

• Emperor Gaozu of Han, founderof theHan Dynastyin China, (256 BC–195 BC, reigned 202 BC–195BC)

• Xiang Yu (232 BC–202 BC), Chinese rebel generalagainst the Qin Dynasty and nemesis of Liu Bang inthe Chu-Han contention.

• Archimedes of Syracuse, mathematician, physicist,and engineer (c. 287 BC–212 BC)

• Eratosthenes (c. 276 BC–194 BC), Greek mathe-matician, geographer and astronomer

• Apollonius of Perga, mathematician (c. 262 BC–190 BC)

• Hannibal, military leader of Carthage (247 BC–182BC)

• the “second” Brennus, Gaulish chieftain, invades

Macedonia in 279 BC• The Ptolemaic dynasty rules Egypt

• Ptolemy I Soter (305 BC–282 BC) and hiswives Eurydice and

• Ptolemy II Philadelphos (284 BC–246 BC)and his wives Arsinoe I and Arsinoe IIPhiladelphos

• Ptolemy IIIEuergetes I (246 BC–222 BC) andhis wife Berenice II

• Ptolemy IV Philopater (222 BC–204 BC) and

his wife Arsinoe III• Ptolemy V Epiphanes (204 BC–180 BC) and

his wife Cleopatra I

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4 7 DECADES AND YEARS

• 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

• Song Yu, Chinese poet

• Apollonius of Rhodes, author of Jason and the Arg-onauts

• Ch'a Ruler I Ajaw of Palenque (252- ? BC)

4 Inventions, discoveries, introduc-tions

• Eratosthenes accurately calculates diameter of theEarth.

• Weiqi well-established in China, and may date backto the 2nd millennium BC.

• Stone of Canopus (for Ptolemy III), No. 1, inRosetta Stone Series of 3 stones. Implements leap

year in Egypt. Leap year not formally recognizeduntil Caesar in 55 BC.

• 293 BC: rst Roman sundial [Pliny (79ce): NaturalHistory 7.213].

• Water screw invented by Archimedes.

• Invention of the musical instrument hydraulis, theprecursory to the Pipe organ by Ctesibius, a Greekengineer working in Alexandria.

• Emperor Gaozu of Han China discovers an elabo-

rate mechanical puppet theater in the treasury of theprevious ruler Qin Shihuang.

• The enormous Du Jiang Yan Irrigation System ofChina is engineered and constructed by Li Bing in256 BC.

• Burial chamber, Tomb of the Reliefs, Cerveteri, ismade.

• Great Stupa, Sanchi, Madhya Pradesh, India,Maurya period, is founded by King Ashoka.

• Silk is exported to Europe from China.

• Armillary spheres, models of objects in the sky de-veloped by the Greeks, are in use as teaching tools.

5 Evidence

Much of what is known of this century comes from theworks of the Greek historian Polybius, whose main con-cern is the story of how Rome comes to dominate theknown world.

6 Sovereign States

See: List of sovereign states in the 3rd century BC.

7 Decades and years

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