Hannibal succeeds to the command of the Carthaginian forces in Spain, on the death of his brother-in-law Hasdrubal

The Greek mathematician Eratosthenes calculates the circumference of the world with the help of shadows and camels

Hannibal crosses the Alps with his elephants, beginning the Second Punic War

Hannibal surprises and traps a Roman army on a narrow plain beside Lake Trasimene

Hannibal destroys a Roman army at Cannae, in the most severe defeat ever suffered by Rome

Carthaginian Spain is handed over to Rome to become two new provinces, at the end of the Second Punic War

The Romans, after defeating Macedon, announce at the Isthmian Games that all Greek states are now free under Roman protection

Sparta's ancient political system comes to an end, but the ordeal by flogging lingers on as a tourist attraction in the temple of Artemis

Plautus and Terence, in the second and third century BC, create a Roman drama based on Greek originals

The Roman statesman Cato the Elder writes Origines ('Origins'), a history of Rome which survives only in fragments

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 Greek astronomer Hipparchus is credited with the invention of the astrolabe, measuring the angle of sun or star above the horizon

A secret ballot is instituted for Roman citizens, who mark their vote on a tablet and place it in an urn

The tribune Tiberius Gracchus is murdered by a mob which includes Roman senators

The Greek astronomer Hipparchus, mapping the stars, observes but cannot explain the precession of the equinoxes

Hipparchus proposes a grid of 360° of latitude and longitude for mapmaking

Hipparchus completes the first scientific star catalogue, mapping some 850 stars

The Romans establish a province in the south of France, still acknowledged in the name Provence

The tribune Gaius Gracchus is murdered by an armed group, led by a consul, after which 3000 of his supporters are rounded up and executed

The Roman general Gaius Marius defeats the Teutones, a German tribe which has made deep inroads into southern Gaul

A German tribe, the Cimbri, press into northern Italy until they are defeated at Vercellae and driven out of the peninsula

A Venus is carved in marble, and centuries later becomes an ideal of female beauty after being found on the island of Milo

A three-year war, known as the Social War, breaks out between Rome and her Italian allies

The Roman general Sulla takes the unprecedented step of marching upon Rome with a Roman army, to restore his own faction to power