261 BC

Year 261 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Flaccus and Crassus (or, less frequently, year 493 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 261 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 naming years.

261 BC in various calendars

Gregorian calendar	261 BC CCLXI BC
Ab urbe condita	493
Ancient Egypt era	XXXIII dynasty, 63
- Pharaoh	Ptolemy II Philadelphus, 23
Ancient Greek Olympiad (summer)	129th Olympiad, year 4
Assyrian calendar	4490
Balinese saka calendar	N/A
Bengali calendar	−854 – −853
Berber calendar	690
Buddhist calendar	284
Burmese calendar	−898
Byzantine calendar	5248–5249
Chinese calendar	己亥年 (Earth Pig) 2437 or 2230     — to — 庚子年 (Metal Rat) 2438 or 2231
Coptic calendar	−544 – −543
Discordian calendar	906
Ethiopian calendar	−268 – −267
Hebrew calendar	3500–3501
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	−204 – −203
- Shaka Samvat	N/A
- Kali Yuga	2840–2841
Holocene calendar	9740
Iranian calendar	882 BP – 881 BP
Islamic calendar	909 BH – 908 BH
Javanese calendar	N/A
Julian calendar	N/A
Korean calendar	2073
Minguo calendar	2172 before ROC 民前2172年
Nanakshahi calendar	−1728
Seleucid era	51/52 AG
Thai solar calendar	282–283
Tibetan calendar	ས་མོ་ཕག་ལོ་ (female Earth-Boar) −134 or −515 or −1287     — to — ལྕགས་ཕོ་བྱི་བ་ལོ་ (male Iron-Rat) −133 or −514 or −1286

Events

By place

Roman Republic

• The Romans, determined to win control of Sicily from Carthage, build a fleet based on the model of a captured Carthaginian quinquereme.

Seleucid Empire

• The new Seleucid king Antiochus II reaches an agreement with the king of Macedonia, Antigonus II Gonatas, to work together in trying to push Ptolemy II's fleet and armies out of the Aegean Sea. With Macedonia's support, Antiochus II launches an attack on Ptolemaic outposts in Asia Minor.

India

• Mauryan Emperor Ashoka wages a war against the independent kingdom of Kalinga, culminating in the Battle of the Dhauli Hills. In the aftermath, Kalinga is annexed into the Mauryan Empire, but the brutality of the war is believed to have led to Ashoka's conversion to Buddhism, as described in his many Edicts of Ashoka.

China

• The armies of the State of Qin and State of Zhao contest control of the area around Changping. After suffering defeats to general Wang He of Qin and the superior Qin army, general Lian Po of Zhao refuses to give battle, resulting in a stalemate.^[1]

Births

Deaths

• Antiochus I Soter, Greek king of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire (or 262 BC)^[2]