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218 BC

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Millennium: 1st millennium BC
Centuries:
Decades:
Years:
218 BC in various calendars
Gregorian calendar218 BC
CCXVIII BC
Ab urbe condita536
Ancient Egypt eraXXXIII dynasty, 106
- PharaohPtolemy IV Philopator, 4
Ancient Greek era140th Olympiad, year 3
Assyrian calendar4533
Balinese saka calendarN/A
Bengali calendar−810
Berber calendar733
Buddhist calendar327
Burmese calendar−855
Byzantine calendar5291–5292
Chinese calendar壬午年 (Water Horse)
2480 or 2273
    — to —
癸未年 (Water Goat)
2481 or 2274
Coptic calendar−501 – −500
Discordian calendar949
Ethiopian calendar−225 – −224
Hebrew calendar3543–3544
Hindu calendars
 - Vikram Samvat−161 – −160
 - Shaka SamvatN/A
 - Kali Yuga2883–2884
Holocene calendar9783
Iranian calendar839 BP – 838 BP
Islamic calendar865 BH – 864 BH
Javanese calendarN/A
Julian calendarN/A
Korean calendar2116
Minguo calendar2129 before ROC
民前2129年
Nanakshahi calendar−1685
Seleucid era94/95 AG
Thai solar calendar325–326
Tibetan calendar阳水马年
(male Water-Horse)
−91 or −472 or −1244
    — to —
阴水羊年
(female Water-Goat)
−90 or −471 or −1243
Roman expansion in Italy from 500 BC to 218 BC through the Latin War (light red), Samnite Wars (pink/orange), Pyrrhic War (beige), and First and Second Punic War (yellow and green).

Year 218 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Scipio and Longus (or, less frequently, year 536 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 218 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.

Events

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By place

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Hispania

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  • Fall of Saguntum to Hannibal of Carthage (or 219)[1]
  • Hannibal crosses the Pyrenees and southern Gaul[1]
  • Hannibal sets out with around 40,000 men and 50 elephants from New Carthage (Cartagena) to northern Spain and then into the Pyrenees where his army meets with stiff resistance from the Pyrenean tribes. This opposition and the desertion of some of his Spanish troops greatly diminishes his numbers, but he reaches the river Rhône facing little resistance from the tribes of southern Gaul.
  • A Roman army under the consul Publius Cornelius Scipio is transported by sea to Massilia (modern Marseille) to prevent Hannibal from advancing on Italy, Scipio himself returns to Italy to take command of the defences in northern Italy on learning Hannibal has already crossed the river.
  • Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus, Publius' brother, takes over the command of the army at Massilia and invades Spain.

Roman Republic

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  • Second Punic War
  • In response to the threat of Hannibal the Romans assemble three armies:
  • The consul prior, Publius Cornelius Scipio, raises two Roman legions and two Latin alae for a total of 22,000 infantry and 2,200 cavalry. He is also assigned 60 warships and hundreds of transports. Scipio receives the Iberian Peninsula as his area of operations (his imperium).[2]
  • The consul posterior, Tiberius Sempronius Longus, also raises two Roman legions and two Latin alae for a total of 24,000 infantry and 2,400 cavalry. He gathers a fleet of 180 warships and hundreds of transports. Longus receives Sicily and Africa as his area of operation (his imperium) and was to invade Africa and attack Carthage directly.[2]
  • Praetor Lucius Manlius Vulso also receives two legions and raises 10,000 allied infantry and 1,000 allied cavalry (for a total of 18,000 infantry and 1,600 cavalry) and is sent into Cisalpine Gaul to keep an eye one the Celtic tribes.[2]

Seleucid Empire

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Births

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Deaths

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References

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  1. ^ a b LeGlay, Marcel; Voisin, Jean-Louis; Le Bohec, Yann (2001). A History of Rome (Second ed.). Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell. p. 77. ISBN 0-631-21858-0.
  2. ^ a b c Goldsworthy, Adrian (2006). The Fall of Carthage. London: Orion Books Ltd. p. 151. ISBN 978-0-3043-6642-2.
  3. ^ Castillo, Dennis Angelo (2006). The Maltese Cross: A Strategic History of Malta. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 20–26. ISBN 9780313323294.