istoryworld
Events relating to north africa
A great lighthouse, subsequently one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is built on the island of Pharos, off Alexandria
The Jews of Alexandria commission the Greek translation of the Old Testament which becomes known as the Septuagint
A clash in Sicily, between Rome and Carthage, leads to the First Punic War
The 500,000 scrolls in the library at Alexandria are listed in a catalogue, which itself runs to 120 scrolls
A Carthaginian quinquereme, captured by the Romans, is used as the model for the first Roman fleet - constructed in two months
The first alchemists, working in Alexandria, are also the world's first experimental chemists
A Roman naval victory at Trapani, off the northwest tip of Sicily, completes the blockade of the Carthaginians and ends the First Punic War
Ptolemy III issues the Decree of Canopus, the earliest known in the Ptolemaic series of public decrees inscribed in stone in two languages and three scripts
Hannibal crosses the Alps with his elephants, beginning the Second Punic War
Hannibal suffers his first decisive defeat by a Roman army, at an unidentified site in north Africa called Zama
The text of the Rosetta stone is chiselled into a black basalt slab in the three scripts hieroglyphic Egyptian, demotic Egyptian, and Greek
Rome picks a quarrel with Carthage to begin the Third Punic War
Carthage is destroyed by the Romans at the end of the Third Punic War
The 26-year-old Pompey conducts such a successful campaign in Africa that his soldiers hail him as Pompey the Great
In the Ptolemaic tradition, Cleopatra marries her brother Ptolemy XIII and at the age of eighteen is joint ruler of Egypt
Julius Caesar, now fifty-two, meets the 21-year-old Cleopatra in Alexandria and they become lovers
A town is founded by Julius Caesar on the ruined site of Carthage, and eventually flourishes as Colonia Julia Carthago
Cleopatra commits suicide, applying a poisonous asp to her breast,
With the annexation of Egypt, the entire Mediterranean falls under Roman control
A western adaptation of the Persian cult of Mithras, evolving probably in Anatolia, is spread through the empire by the Roman army
Vespasian, proclaimed emperor by his troops in Alexandria, is the survivor among this year's four emperors
Hero, a Greek scientist in Alexandria, devises various forms of steam engine
The dioptra, developed by Hero of Alexandria for surveying land, is an early form of theodolite
A cult develops in Rome of the Egyptian goddess Isis, credited with restoring to life her hushand, Osiris, after he has been hacked to pieces
