208 BC

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Events

By place

Roman Republic

* The Romans under Publius Cornelius Scipio defeat the Carthaginians under their commander Hasdrubal Barca at Baecula (Bailen) in Baetica. As a result, Hasdrubal Barca decides to cross the Pyrenees with his remaining troops into Transalpine Gaul, with the intention of joining his brother Hannibal in Italy.
* The Roman general Marcus Claudius Marcellus is killed in battle while fighting Hannibal inconclusively near Venusia, Apulia.
* Hannibal destroys a Roman force engaged in the siege of Locri Epizephyri.

eleucid Empire

* Antiochus III advances into Bactria, which is ruled by the Greco-Bactrian king Euthydemus I, and again meets with success. After resisting a siege of his capital Bactra (Balkh) by the Seleucids, Euthydemus obtains an honourable peace by which Antiochus promises Euthydemus' son Demetrius the hand of one of his daughters.

China

* The Chinese general Zhang Han of the Qin Dynasty pacifies a peasant rebellion led by Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, and then lays siege to the rebel city of Julu.

Births

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Deaths

* Marcus Claudius Marcellus, Roman general who has captured Syracuse during the Second Punic War and has become known as "the sword of Rome" (b. 268 BC)
* Li Si, Chinese philosopher and politician (assassinated) (b. 280 BC)