3rd century BC - Definition and Overview

(4th century BC - 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC - other centuries)

(2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium AD)

Events

• The first two Punic Wars between Carthage and Rome over dominance in western Mediterranean
• Rome conquers Spain
• Great Wall of China begun
• Indian traders regularly visited Arabia
• Scythians occupy Sogdiana, in modern-day Uzbekistan.
• Han dynasty was founded (202 BC - 8 AD).

Significant persons

• Mencius, Chinese philosopher and sage (371 - 289 BC).
• Euclid, geometer (c. 365 - 275 BC).
• Ashoka, Mauryan ruler of India 273 BC - 232 BC.
• The Ptolemaic dynasty rules Egypt
  • Ptolemy I Soter (305 BC-282 BC) and his wives Eurydice and Berenice I.
  • Ptolemy II Philadelphos (284 BC-246 BC) and his wives Arsinoe I and Arsinoe II Philadelphos.
  • Ptolemy III Euergetes I (246 BC-222 BC) and his 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.
• Archimedes of Syracuse, mathematician, physicist, and engineer (c. 287 - 212 BC).
• Apollonius of Perga, mathematician (c. 262 - 190 BC).
• Qin Shi Huang, Chinese Emperor (259 - 210 BC, reigned 246 - 210 BC).
• Hannibal, military leader of Carthage (247 - 182 BC).

Inventions, discoveries, introductions

• Eratosthenes accurately calculates diameter of the Earth
• Weiqi well-established in China, and may date back to the 2nd millennium BCE

Decades and years