Aristotle tackles wide-ranging subjects on a systematic basis, leaving to his successors an encyclopedia of contemporary thought

The first Roman road, the Via Appia, links Rome with Capua

Pytheas, a Greek explorer, sails up the west coast of Britain and finds beyond it a more northerly land which he calls Thule

The Celts move across the Channel into Britain, soon becoming the dominant ethnic group in the island

The Greek author Theophrastus writes On the History of Plants, the earliest surviving work on botany

The flexibility of the Roman legion transforms the Greek phalanx into an even more effective fighting machine

Vesta, goddess of the hearth, is served in Rome by virgin priestesses who tend the sacred flame in her shrine

Epicurus postulates a universe of indestructible atoms in which man himself is responsible for achieving a balanced life

The Roman siege technique is improved by the 'tortoise' which protects the attacking force

The Colossus, a giant statue of Helios the sun god, is erected beside the harbour of Rhodes

Pyrrhus lands in Italy, with 25,000 men and 20 elephants, to fight for the Greek colony of Tarentum against the Romans

On the small Greek island of Samos an astronomer, Aristarchus, comes to the startling conclusion that the earth is in orbit round the sun

A clash in Sicily, between Rome and Carthage, leads to the First Punic War

The first gladiatorial contests in Rome are part of the entertainment at a funeral, and soon become popular

A Carthaginian quinquereme, captured by the Romans, is used as the model for the first Roman fleet - constructed in two months

The new Roman fleet wins a decisive victory over the Carthaginians at Mylae, thanks largely to the 'raven' (corvus in Latin)

Archimedes (it is said) leaps out of his bath shouting eureka ('I have found it') when he perceives how to test for relative density

The Romans evolve a system of numerals which, until the end of the Middle Ages, is a handicap to western arithmetic

To help the king of Syracuse extract water from the hold of a ship (so the story goes), Archimedes invents the screw now known by his name

A Roman naval victory at Trapani, off the northwest tip of Sicily, completes the blockade of the Carthaginians and ends the First Punic War

At the end of the First Punic War, Sicily becomes Rome's first overseas province

Spain, with its mines of gold, silver and copper, is a hotly disputed region between Carthage and Rome

Hamilcar Barca dies fighting in Spain, after establishing a strong Carthaginian presence in the peninusula

Sardinia and Corsica are annexed by Rome, becoming the second Roman overseas province

A treaty defines the Ebro river as the Spanish boundary between Carthage and Rome