281 BC

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Events

By place

Asia Minor

* The Battle of Corupedium in Lydia is the last battle of the Diadochi, the rival successors to Alexander the Great. It is fought between the armies of Lysimachus, King of Thrace and Macedonia, and Seleucus, ruler of Eastern Anatolia, Syria, Phoenicia, Judaea, Babylonia and Iran. Seleucus kills Lysimachus during the battle.
* Following the Battle of Corupedium, Lysimachus' widow, Arsinoe, flees to Cassandrea, a city in northern Greece, where she marries her half-brother Ptolemy Keraunos. This proves to be a serious misjudgement, as Ptolemy Keraunus promptly kills two of her sons, though the third is able to escape. Arsinoe flees again, this time to Alexandria in Egypt.

Greece

* Seleucus takes over Thrace and then tries to seize Macedonia. However, he falls into a trap near Lysimachia, Thrace, set by Ptolemy Keraunos, one of the sons of Ptolemy I and Arsinoe II's half brother, who murders Seleucus and takes Macedonia for himself.
* Cineas, a Thessalian serving as chief adviser to King Pyrrhus of Epirus, after visiting Rome attempts, without success, to dissuade Pyrrhus from invading southern Italy.

eleucid Empire

* Seleucus is succeeded as ruler of the Seleucid empire by Antiochus. He is immediately beset by revolts in Syria (probably instigated by Ptolemy II of Egypt) and by independence movements in northern Anatolia.
* Although he has only a few bases in Greece, Antigonus II Gonatas lays claim to Macedonia. His claim is disputed by Antiochus I.

Births

*

Deaths

* Lysimachus, King of Thrace and Macedon (b. c. 360 BC)
* Seleucus I Nicator, King of Syria and Iran and founder of the Seleucid dynasty (b. c. 354 BC)