The Egyptian pharaoh Thutmose III defeats his enemies at Megiddo, in history's first fully described battle and siege

An indecisve battle between the Hittites and the Egyptians, at Kadesh, stabilizes the frontier between the two empires

The Israelites are defeated by the Philistines on Mount Gilboa, with Saul and three of his sons dying during or after the battle

Gindibu brings 1000 Arab warriors on camels to do battle at Karkar (the first known reference to Arabs as a distinct group)

The Babylonians defeat an Egyptian army at Carchemish, but do not press on into Egypt

The Persian fleet secures the Greek island of Euboea before making the short crossing to Marathon on the mainland – where they await the Greeks

300 Spartans, led by Leonidas, die attempting to hold the pass of Thermopylae against the advancing Persian army

The Athenian fleet defeats a considerably larger Persian force in the narrow strait between Salamis and the mainland

A Spartan army, led by Pausanias, wins a victory at Plataea, completing the rout of the Persians on the Greek mainland

The last remaining Athenian fleet is surprised and destroyed by the Spartans in the Hellespont

A Spartan army is overwhelmed at Leuctra by a smaller number of Thebans under Epaminondas

Philip of Macedon defeats Athens and Thebes at Chaeronaea, giving him control of Greece

At Issus, close to the Turkish border with Syria, Alexander defeats the Persian emperor Darius III, captures his family and treats them with courtesy

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

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

Hannibal suffers his first decisive defeat by a Roman army, at an unidentified site in north Africa called Zama

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

Sulla takes Rome for the second time, after a battle at the Colline Gate, and then publishes his lethal 'proscriptions'

Crasssus is killed at Carrhae, in Turkey, when the Parthians defeat his army, largely thanks to their brilliance as mounted archers

The Celtic leader Vercingetorix inflicts an unaccustomed defeat on Julius Caesar, at Gergovia, but is captured later in the year

Julius Caesar defeats his rival Pompey at Pharsalus, in Greece, and makes himself master of the Roman world

Octavian and Mark Antony defeat the armies of Brutus and Cassius at Philippi, after which Brutus and Cassius commit suicide