260s BC

This article concerns the period 269 BC – 260 BC.

269 BC

This section is transcluded from 269 BC. (edit | history)

By place

Sicily

• 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.

Births

Transcluding articles: 269 BC, 268 BC, 267 BC, 266 BC, 265 BC, 264 BC, 263 BC, 262 BC, 261 BC, and 260 BC

269 BC

• Attalus I Soter, ruler of Pergamon, from 241 to 197 BC. He will be the first of the Attalid dynasty to assume the title of king (d. 197 BC).

268 BC

• Fu Sheng (Master Fu), Chinese Confusian scholar (d. 178 BC)
• Li Yiji, Chinese politician and adviser (d. 204 BC)

267 BC

• Berenice II, queen and co-regent of Egypt (or 266 BC)

266 BC

• Berenice II, queen and co-regent of Egypt (or 267 BC)

265 BC

• Agis IV, king of Sparta (approximate date)
• Ziaelas, king of Bithynia (approximate date)

263 BC

• Antigonus III Doson, king of Macedonia from 229 to 221 BC (d. 221 BC)

262 BC

• Apollonius of Perga (Pergaeus), Greek astronomer and mathematician specialising in geometry and noted for his writings on conic sections (d. c. 190 BC)

260 BC

• Zheng, who will later become king of the State of Qin, and then later the First Emperor of China (d. 210 BC)

Deaths

Transcluding articles: 269 BC, 268 BC, 267 BC, 266 BC, 265 BC, 264 BC, 263 BC, 262 BC, 261 BC, and 260 BC

267 BC

• Devanampiya Tissa, ruler of Anuradhapura (Sri Lanka)

266 BC

• Huiwen of Zhao, Chinese king of Zhao (b. 310 BC)
• Mithridates I Ctistes, founder of the kingdom of Pontus

265 BC

• Alexinus, Greek philosopher of Elis
• Areus I, king of Sparta (killed in battle)
• Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges, Roman consul
• Xiang of Qi, Chinese king of Qi (Warring States Period)
• Xuan, Chinese queen dowager of Chu (b. 338 BC)

263 BC

• Philetaerus, founder (reigned from 282 BC) of the Attalid kingdom of Pergamum, in northwest Asia Minor (b. c. 343 BC)
• Qingxiang of Chu, Chinese king of Chu (Warring States Period)

262 BC

• Antiochus I Soter, king of the Seleucid Kingdom from 281 BC (b. c. 323 BC)
• Acrotatus II, Agiad king of Sparta
• Philemon, Athenian poet and playwright of the New Comedy (b. c. 362 BC)
• Zeno of Citium, Hellenistic Stoic philosopher from Citium, Cyprus (b. 333 BC)

261 BC

• Antiochus I Soter, Greek king of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire (or 262 BC)^[9]

260 BC

• Hannibal Gisco, Carthaginian military commander in charge of both land armies and naval fleets (b. c. 300 BC)
• Orontes III, king of Armenia and Sophene (modern-day Turkey)
• Timocharis of Alexandria, Greek astronomer and philosopher
• Zhao Kuo, Chinese general of the State of Zhao

References

1. Qian, Sima. Records of the Grand Historian, Section: Basic Annals of Qin, Section: Li Mu.
2. Stambaugh, John E. (1988). The Ancient Roman City. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 23. ISBN 0-8018-3574-7.
3. Qian, Sima. Records of the Grand Historian, Section: Basic Annals of Qin, Section: Bai Qi.
4. Pliny the Elder. Naturalis historia. VII:60, 214.
5. Qian, Sima. Records of the Grand Historian, Section: Basic Annals of Qin, Section: Bai Qi.
6. The Freedom of the Greeks in the Early Hellenistic Period (337-262 BC). A Study in Ruler-City Relations, Shane Wallace
7. Qian, Sima. Records of the Grand Historian, Section: Lian Po.
8. Qian, Sima. Records of the Grand Historian, Section: Bai Qi, Section: Lian Po.
9. "Antiochus I Soter". Encyclopædia Britannica. February 13, 2024. Retrieved February 25, 2024.