* Chandragupta abdicates his throne, converts to Jainism, becomes a monk &
starves himself to death to prove his detachment from material things
* Library of Alexandria built by Athenian exile Demetrius of Phaleron
under the patronage of Ptolemy I (295, with an annex set up ~235)
* Part of Babylon's population moved to new capital, Seleucia (275)
* Ptolomies have Red Sea canal re-excavated, re-establishing maritime Spice
Route between Carthage and India
* Roman expansion stirs up conflicts with Greek colonies & city-states, and
First Punic War with Carthage
* Revolts against Antiochus II partly due to his satraps' rejection of
Hellenism conferring inherent powers to rule onto a master race
* Andragoras, the Seleucid satrap of Parthia, declares independence (256)
* Diodotus, the Seleucid satrap of Bactria, declares independence (255)
* Emperor Asokaditya, Samudragupta, employs for himself the Buddhist term
for a "universal ruler"--one establishing dharmic rule over all; bans
blood sacrifice in the capital, establishes hospitals, even for animals,
& nonviolence as the policy of the Gupta Empire; convenes Third Buddhist
Council, and sends missionaries to Carthage, Egypt, Syria, Greece, Parthia,
Bactria, Ceylon & destinations in India; as court physician he appoints
Caraka, founder of Ayurvedic medicine (258-47)
* Parthia is overrun by Parni/Dahae relatives from the north who kill
Andragoras; Arsaces, a Scythian/Saka robber baron, coronated in Asaak
by the patriarch of the Surenites, so founding the Arsacid dynasty as of
14 April 247 (but using Zoroastrian calendar in year 1 of "Arsacid Era")
[Strabo; Trogus/Justin]
* Jupiter occults delta Cancri at dawn in Egypt (3 sep. 240)
[Ptolemaeus, Almagest, X.iii.]
* The Decree of Canopus issued by Ptolemy III fails to persuade Egyptian
priests to introduce a leap day to the 365-day calendar (239)
* After conquering Hyrcania & defeating Seleucus II, Arsaces secedes & makes
Hecatompylos (Hundred Gates), along the Silk Road, his capital (238-28)
* Ch'in dynasty unites the entirety of China for the first time, ruthlessly
annexing all other feudal states: aided by espionage, bribery & war (221)
* Construction of second Great Wall of China begins in an attempt to
keep out invading Mongols; extended to central China (220-206)
* First effective dam of a major river is built on the Yangtze
* Emperor Shih Huang-ti orders the burning of libraries' contents (except
for medicine, agriculture, astrology/divination, the glorification of the
Ch'in, esp. its brand of legalism) and of scholars able to rewrite the
lost information from memory (213)
* Khonsu's reputation as a healer enhanced after his symbol as the star
Canopus cures an illness of Ptolemy IV, whereupon he calls himself
"Beloved of Khonsu Who Protects His Majesty and Drives Away Evil Spirits"
* Antiochus III forces Parthia to resubmit to Seleucid suzerainty (210-208)
* After lightning strikes the temple of Mater Matuta in Satricum, a pair of
snakes are seen slithering out of the temple to Jupiter (207)
[Livy]
* Han dynasty overthrows Ch'in, burns Shih Huang-ti's Imperial Library (206)
* After a shower of meteorites near Rome alarms the populace, the Decemvirs
upon consulting Sybilline texts inform the Senate of verses stating that
whensoever a foreign enemy shall have carried war into the land of Italy,
he may be expelled & conquered if the "Idaean mother" be brought from
Pessinus; Senate sends a diplomatic mission to acquire the Needle of
Cybele (a conical meteorite serving as an icon of the Phrygian mother
goddess) from the king of Pessinus who refused their request until an
earthquake shook his palace, and the goddess spoke from her shrine:
"It is my will, Rome is a worthy place for any god; delay not." (205)
[Livy; Ovid; Herodian]
* A bolide crosses Italy from east to west, a bit south of Rome, and a
loud detonation follows, as well as another shower of meteorites. In
expiation, according to custom, religious exercises during nine days
are ordered; the Needle of Cybele arrives in Rome and is installed in
the Temple of Victory; Hannibal retreats from Italy and is defeated
* From a shadow at Alexandria and the lack thereof at Syene at noon on
the summer solstice, Eratosthenes calculates the polar circumference
of the earth
