213 BC
year

Year 213 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Maximus and Gracchus (or, less frequently, year 541 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 213 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
Seleucid Empire
In alliance with Attalus I of Pergamum, Antiochus III finally captures the rebel king of Anatolia, Achaeus, in his capital, Sardis, after a siege of two years. Antiochus III then has Achaeus executed.
Roman Republic
Casilinum and Arpi are recovered by the Romans from Hannibal.
Sicily
Archimedes's war machines repel the Roman army that is invading Syracuse.
China
Emperor Qin Shi Huang and Prime Minister Li Si order all Confucian writings destroyed in the burning of books and burying of scholars.
Deaths
Aratus of Sicyon, Greek statesman, general and advocate of Greek unity, who, for many years, has been the leader of the Achaean League (b.
“213 BC” enters the record as year. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what year can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “213 BC” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.