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Events
By place
Greece
★ An
earthquake destroys the city of
Kameiros on the island of Rhodes and the
Colossus of Rhodes.
★ The
Spartan King
Cleomenes III captures
Mantineia and defeats the
Achaean League under
Aratus of Sicyon at Hecatombaeum, near
Dyme in north-eastern
Elis.
Roman Republic
★ A formidable host of
Gauls, some of them from across the
Alps, threaten
Rome.
★ The Greek merchants of
Massilia, frightened by
Carthaginian successes in
Spain (including their exploitation of the Spanish silver mines), appeal to Rome. Rome makes an alliance with the independent Spanish port city of
Saguntum south of the
Ebro River.
★ The Romans send an embassy to
Hasdrubal and conclude a treaty which prohibits him from waging war north of the river Ebro, but allowing him a free hand to the south even at the expense of the interests of the town of Massilia.
Syria
★
Antiochus Hierax, brother of the
Seleucid King
Seleucus II manages to escape from captivity in
Thrace and flees to the mountains to raise an army, but he is killed by a band of
Galatians.
★ Seleucus II dies after a fall from his horse and is succeeded by his eldest son
Seleucus III Soter. At the time of Seleucus II's death, the empire of the Seleucids, with its capital at
Antioch on the
Orontes, stretches from the
Aegean Sea to the borders of
India and includes southern
Anatolia,
Mesopotamia,
Persia, and northern
Syria. Dynastic power is upheld by a mercenary army and by the loyalty of many Greek cities founded by
Alexander the Great and his successors. The strength of the empire is already being sapped by repeated revolts in its eastern provinces and dissention amongst the members of the Seleucid dynasty.
Births
★
Deaths
★
Seleucus II Callinicus, king of the
Seleucid kingdom from
246 BC
★
Antiochus Hierax, younger brother of
Seleucus II, who has fought with him over the control of the Seleucid dominions in the Middle East (b. c.
263 BC)