246 BC

Millennium:	1st millennium BC
Centuries:	4th century BC – 3rd century BC – 2nd century BC
Decades:	270s BC  260s BC  250s BC  – 240s BC –  230s BC  220s BC  210s BC
Years:	249 BC 248 BC 247 BC – 246 BC – 245 BC 244 BC 243 BC

246 BC in other calendars

Gregorian calendar	246 BC CCXLV BC
Ab urbe condita	508
Ancient Egypt era	XXXIII dynasty, 78
- Pharaoh	Ptolemy III Euergetes, 1
Ancient Greek era	133rd Olympiad, year 3
Assyrian calendar	4505
Bengali calendar	−838
Berber calendar	705
Buddhist calendar	299
Burmese calendar	−883
Byzantine calendar	5263–5264
Chinese calendar	甲寅年 (Wood Tiger) 2451 or 2391     — to — 乙卯年 (Wood Rabbit) 2452 or 2392
Coptic calendar	−529 – −528
Discordian calendar	921
Ethiopian calendar	−253 – −252
Hebrew calendar	3515–3516
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	−189 – −188
- Shaka Samvat	N/A
- Kali Yuga	2856–2857
Holocene calendar	9755
Iranian calendar	867 BP – 866 BP
Islamic calendar	894 BH – 893 BH
Julian calendar	N/A
Korean calendar	2088
Minguo calendar	2157 before ROC 民前2157年
Seleucid era	66/67 AG
Thai solar calendar	297–298

Year 246 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Crassus and Licinus (or, less frequently, year 508 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 246 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

Egypt

• Egypt's Ptolemy II dies and is succeeded by his son, Ptolemy III. At the time of Ptolemy II's death, Egypt comprises the ancient kingdom of Egypt in the Nile Valley, Cyrene, Judea and the coast of southern Syria, Cyprus and a number of cities on the shores and islands of the Aegean Sea. The Macedonian Ptolemies maintain their authority over their territories with a small mercenary army made up of Macedonians and Greeks.

India

• The Ashokan pillar in Lauriya, Nandangarh (from the Maurya period) is made.

Seleucid Empire

• Antiochus II leaves Berenice in order to live again with his former wife Laodice and his son Seleucus. However, Laodice poisons him and proclaims her son as King Seleucus II Callinicus, while her supporters in Antioch kill Berenice and her children who have taken refuge at Daphne, near Antioch, in Syria.
• Berenice's brother, Ptolemy III, sets about to avenge his sister's murder by invading Syria which begins the Third Syrian War (also known as the Laodicean War). Ptolemy III's navy, perhaps with the aid of rebels in the cities, advances against Seleucus II's forces as far as Thrace, across the Hellespont, and also captures some islands off the Anatolian coast.
• Ptolemy III wins major victories over Seleucus II in Syria and Anatolia and briefly occupies Antioch. These victories are marred by the loss of the Cyclades to Antigonus II Gonatas in the Battle of Andros.
• Seleucus II Callinicus' mother, Laodice attempts to take control over the Seleucid Empire by insisting that Seleucus II make his younger brother, Antiochus Hierax, co-regent and give him all the Seleucid territory in Anatolia. Antiochus promptly declares independence and begins fighting a war with his brother.
• In order to secure the Bactrian King Diodotus' friendship, Seleucus II Callinicus arranges the marriage of one of his sisters to King Diodotus.

Roman Republic

• With Hamilcar Barca wearing the Romans down in Sicily, the Romans, by private subscription, build another fleet with the aim of regaining command of the sea.
• In Rome, the number of praetors is increased from one to two. The second praetor is appointed to relieve the backlog of judicial business and to give the Republic a magistrate with Imperium who can field an army in an emergency when both consuls are away fighting a war.

China

• An irrigation canal approximately one hundred miles long is built across the current-day province of Shaanxi in China, greatly adding to the agricultural productivity of the area and to the military potency of the Qin dynasty.

Births

• Arsinoe III, queen of Egypt from 220 BC, daughter of Ptolemy III and Berenice II (d. 204 BC)

Deaths

• Ptolemy II Philadelphus, king of Egypt from 285 BC, second king of the Ptolemaic dynasty, who has extended his power by skilful diplomacy, developed agriculture and commerce, and made Alexandria a leading centre of the arts and sciences (b. 308 BC)
• Antiochus II Theos, king of the Seleucid dominions in the Middle East from 261 BC. He has spent much of his reign at war with Egypt, recovering much of the territory in Anatolia lost in earlier wars between the Ptolemaic and Seleucid dynasties (b. c. 287 BC)
• Berenice, daughter of Ptolemy II Philadelphus and Arsinoe, wife of the Seleucid ruler Antiochus II Theos, supplanting his first wife, Laodice, whose children she has persuaded him to bar from the succession to the throne in favour of her own