263 BC

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Events

By place

Roman Republic

* The Romans under the consul Manius Valerius Messalla secure the alliance of Hiero II of Syracuse. The treaty with Rome restricts Hieron II's kingdom to southeast Sicily and the eastern coast of Sicily as far as Tauromenium. From this date until his death, Hieron II remains loyal to the Romans.

Greece

* Alexander II of Epirus attacks and conquers the greater part of Macedonia. However, he is then driven out of both Macedonia and Epirus by Demetrius II, the son of King Antigonus II Gonatas of Macedonia.
* The Athenians and Spartans, worn down by several years of war and the devastation of their lands, make peace with Antigonus II of Macedonia who thus retains his hold on Greece.
* Cleanthes succeeds Zeno of Citium in his Stoic School in Athens.

Asia Minor

* Eumenes I succeeds his uncle Philetaerus to the throne of Pergamum. As Philetaerus was a eunuch, he adopted his nephew Eumenes (the son of Philetaerus' brother also named Eumenes) as his successor.

Births

* Antigonus III Doson, king of Macedonia from 229 to 221 BC

Deaths

* Philetaerus, founder (reigned from 282 BC) of the Attalid dynasty, a line of rulers of a powerful kingdom of Pergamum, in northwest Asia Minor (b. c. 343 BC)