262 BC

Millennium:	1st millennium BC
Centuries:	4th century BC – 3rd century BC – 2nd century BC
Decades:	290s BC  280s BC  270s BC  – 260s BC –  250s BC  240s BC  230s BC
Years:	265 BC 264 BC 263 BC – 262 BC – 261 BC 260 BC 259 BC

262 BC in other calendars

Gregorian calendar	262 BC CCLXI BC
Ab urbe condita	492
Ancient Egypt era	XXXIII dynasty, 62
- Pharaoh	Ptolemy II Philadelphus, 22
Ancient Greek era	129th Olympiad, year 3
Assyrian calendar	4489
Bengali calendar	−854
Berber calendar	689
Buddhist calendar	283
Burmese calendar	−899
Byzantine calendar	5247–5248
Chinese calendar	戊戌年 (Earth Dog) 2435 or 2375     — to — 己亥年 (Earth Pig) 2436 or 2376
Coptic calendar	−545 – −544
Discordian calendar	905
Ethiopian calendar	−269 – −268
Hebrew calendar	3499–3500
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	−205 – −204
- Shaka Samvat	N/A
- Kali Yuga	2840–2841
Holocene calendar	9739
Iranian calendar	883 BP – 882 BP
Islamic calendar	910 BH – 909 BH
Julian calendar	N/A
Korean calendar	2072
Minguo calendar	2173 before ROC 民前2173年
Seleucid era	50/51 AG
Thai solar calendar	281–282

Year 262 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Megellus och Vitulus (or, less frequently, year 492 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 262 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

By place

Greece

• After Athens surrenders following a long siege by Macedonian forces, Antigonus II Gonatas re-garrisons Athens and forbids the city from making war. Otherwise, he leaves Athens alone as the seat of philosophy and learning in Greece.

Roman Republic

• Rome besieges the city of Agrigentum which is held by Carthage under the command of Hannibal Gisco. Rome's siege involves both consular armies – a total of four Roman legions – and takes several months to resolve. The garrison of Agrigentum manages to call for reinforcements and a Carthaginian relief force commanded by Hanno comes to the rescue and destroys the Roman supply base at Erbessus. Nevertheless, after a few skirmishes, the battle of Agrigentum is fought and won by Rome, and the city falls. Gisco manages to escape to Carthage in the late stages of the battle.
• After the loss of Agrigentum, the Carthaginians retire to organise their fleet. In the meantime, the Romans sack Agrigentum and enslave its Greek inhabitants. The Romans are now determined to drive the Carthaginians out of Sicily.

Seleucid Empire

• Seleucid king Antiochus I's eldest son Seleucus, who has ruled in the east of the kingdom as viceroy for a number of years, is put to death by his father on the charge of rebellion.
• Antiochus I tries to break the growing power of Pergamum by force of arms. Eumenes I, the new ruler of Pergamum, liberates his city from the overlordship of the Seleucids by defeating the army of Antiochus I near Sardis (the capital of Lydia), and thereby establishing an independent city-state.
• Antiochus I dies and is succeeded by his second son Antiochus II Theos.

Births

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

Deaths

• Philemon, Athenian poet and playwright of the New Comedy (b. c. 362 BC)
• Antiochus I Soter, king of the Seleucid Kingdom from 281 BC (b. c. 323 BC)