279 BC

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Millennium: 1st millennium BC
Centuries:
Decades:
Years:
279 BC in various calendars
Gregorian calendar 279 BC
CCLXXVIII BC
Ab urbe condita 475
Ancient Egypt era XXXIII dynasty, 45
- Pharaoh Ptolemy II Philadelphus, 5
Ancient Greek era 125th Olympiad, year 2
Assyrian calendar 4472
Balinese saka calendar N/A
Bengali calendar −871
Berber calendar 672
Buddhist calendar 266
Burmese calendar −916
Byzantine calendar 5230–5231
Chinese calendar 辛巳(Metal  Snake)
2418 or 2358
     to 
壬午年 (Water  Horse)
2419 or 2359
Coptic calendar −562 – −561
Discordian calendar 888
Ethiopian calendar −286 – −285
Hebrew calendar 3482–3483
Hindu calendars
 - Vikram Samvat −222 – −221
 - Shaka Samvat N/A
 - Kali Yuga 2822–2823
Holocene calendar 9722
Iranian calendar 900 BP – 899 BP
Islamic calendar 928 BH – 927 BH
Javanese calendar N/A
Julian calendar N/A
Korean calendar 2055
Minguo calendar 2190 before ROC
民前2190年
Nanakshahi calendar −1746
Seleucid era 33/34 AG
Thai solar calendar 264–265
Tibetan calendar 阴金蛇年
(female Iron-Snake)
−152 or −533 or −1305
     to 
阳水马年
(male Water-Horse)
−151 or −532 or −1304
The west Mediterranean in 279 BC. West Mediterranean Areas 279 BC.png
The west Mediterranean in 279 BC.

Year 279 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Publius Sulpicius Saverrio and Publius Decius Mus (or, less frequently, year 475 Ab urbe condita ). The denomination 279 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for many years.

Contents

Events

By place

Greece

  • An army of Gauls under Brennus invade Greece. A section of the army, commanded by Bolgios, crushes a Macedonian army led by Ptolemy Keraunos, who is killed in the battle. At the narrow pass of Thermopylae, on the east coast of Central Greece, Brennus' forces suffer heavy losses while trying to break through the Greek defence comprising the Phocians and the Aetolians. Eventually Brennus finds a way around the pass but the Greeks escape by sea. Brennus pushes on to Delphi where he is defeated and forced to retreat, after which he dies of wounds sustained in the battle. His army falls back to the river Spercheios where it is routed by Thessalians and Malians. Some of the survivors settle in a part of Asia Minor that will eventually be called Galatia, while some settle in Thrace, founding a short-lived city-state named Tylis.
  • With the death of Ptolemy Keraunos, the previous King of Macedonia, Antipater II becomes king again. However, his new reign lasts only few months before he is killed by his cousin Sosthenes who becomes the new King of Macedonia.
  • The Phocians are readmitted into the Amphictyonic League after they have joined in the defence of Delphi against the Gauls.

Roman Republic

  • The Carthaginians and the Romans agree to support each other against a common foe. The Carthaginians give Rome money and ships in their fight against Pyrrhus, the king of Epirus.
  • Pyrrhus realizes that he cannot capture Rome and suggests peace terms to the Romans. Pyrrhus sends his chief advisor, Cineas, to Rome to negotiate a peace. Cineas demands that the Romans halt their aggression against the Greeks of southern Italy and restore the lands the Romans have taken from the Bruttii, the Apulians, and the Samnites. The Romans reject his demands, largely at the instigation of the former Roman censor, Appius Claudius Caecus.
  • In renewed fighting, Pyrrhus of Epirus, leading the combined Tarantine, Oscan, Samnite, and Greek forces, wins a 'Pyrrhic victory' against the Romans led by consul Publius Decius Mus at the Battle of Asculum, called such because his victory comes at a great cost to his own forces. Pyrrhus is reported to have said afterwards, "One more victory against the Romans and we shall be utterly ruined!" Disheartened, Pyrrhus retires to Tarentum and sends Cineas to make renewed peace overtures to Rome. These talks are inconclusive.

Egypt

The Balkans

Births

Deaths

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Pyrrhus of Epirus King of Epirus

Pyrrhus was a Greek king and statesman of the Hellenistic period. He was king of the Greek tribe of Molossians, of the royal Aeacid house, and later he became king of Epirus. He was one of the strongest opponents of early Rome, and regarded as one of the greatest generals of antiquity. Several of his victorious battles caused him unacceptably heavy losses, from which the term "Pyrrhic victory" was coined.

Antigonus II Gonatas King of Macedonia

Antigonus II Gonatas was a Greek Macedonian ruler who solidified the position of the Antigonid dynasty in Macedon after a long period defined by anarchy and chaos and acquired fame for his victory over the Gauls who had invaded the Balkans.

Battle of Heraclea battle in 280 BC between the Romans and Greeks commanded by Pyrrhus

The Battle of Heraclea took place in 280 BC between the Romans under the command of consul Publius Valerius Laevinus, and the combined forces of Greeks from Epirus, Tarentum, Thurii, Metapontum, and Heraclea under the command of Pyrrhus, king of Epirus. Although the battle was a victory for the Greeks and their casualties were lower than the Romans, they had lost many veteran soldiers that would be hard to replace on foreign soil.

Battle of Asculum

The Battle of Asculum took place in 279 BC between the Roman Republic under the command of the consuls Publius Decius Mus and Publius Sulpicius Saverrio, and the forces of King Pyrrhus of Epirus. The battle took place during the Pyrrhic War, after the Battle of Heraclea of 280 BC, which was the first battle of the war. There exist accounts of this battle by three ancient historians: Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Plutarch, and Cassius Dio. Asculum was in Lucanian territory, in southern Italy.

Pyrrhic War

The Pyrrhic War was largely fought between the Roman Republic and Pyrrhus, the king of Epirus, who had been asked by the people of the Greek city of Tarentum in southern Italy to help them in their war against the Romans.

The treaties between Rome and Carthage are the four treaties between the two states that were signed between 509 BC and 279 BC. The treaties influenced the course of history in the Mediterranean, and are important for understanding the relationship between the two most important cities of the region during that era. They reveal changes in how Rome perceived itself and how Carthage perceived Rome, and the differences between the perception of the cities and their actual characteristics.

Brennus was one of the Gaulish leaders of the army of the Gallic invasion of the Balkans. While invading the Greek mainland he managed to momentarily reach as far south as Delphi in an attempt to loot the rich treasury of the sanctuary of Apollo. His army suffered a devastating defeat at Delphi; he was heavily injured during the battle and committed suicide there. His militarily inexperienced army was forced to a continuous retreat by the tactical attacks of the Greek city-states and was cut down to a remaining band that fled from Greece.

Publius Decius Mus, of the plebeian gens Decia, was a Roman consul in the years 312 BC, 308 BC, 297 BC and 295 BC. He was a member of a family that was renowned for sacrificing themselves on the battlefield for Rome.

Battle of Thermopylae (279 BC)

The Battle of Thermopylae was fought in 279 BC between invading Gallic armies and a combined army of Greek Aetolians, Boeotians, Athenians, and Phocians at Thermopylae. The Gauls under Brennus were victorious, and advanced further into the Greek peninsula where they attempted to sack Delphi but were completely defeated.

Bolgios was a Gaulish leader during the Gallic invasion of the Balkans who led an invasion of Macedon and Illyria in 279 BC, killing the Macedonian king Ptolemy Keraunos.

Pyrrhus invasion of the Peloponnese Pyrrhus campaigns in the Pelopponese

Pyrrhus' invasion of the Peloponnese in 272 BC was an invasion of south Greece by Pyrrhus, King of Epirus. He was opposed by Macedon and a coalition of Greek city-states (poleis), most notably Sparta. The war ended in a joint victory by Macedonia and Sparta.

References