283 BC

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Events

By place

Greece

* Following Demetrius Poliorcetes' death in captivity as a prisoner of Seleucus, his son Antigonus assumes the title of King of Macedonia, though in name only, as King Lysimachus of Thrace is in control of Macedonia. Demetrius' remains are given to Antigonus and he is honoured with a grand funeral in Corinth. After this, Demetrius is interred in the town of Demetrias which he had founded.

Roman Republic

* At the Battle of Lake Vadimo, Roman forces finally quell the allied Etruscans and Gauls. The Roman army is led by consul Publius Cornelius Dolabella. Rome is at last undisputed master of northern and central Italy.

Egypt

* The canal from the Nile River to the Red Sea, initially built by the Egyptian pharaoh Necho II and repaired by the Persian king Darius I, is again repaired and made operational by Ptolemy II.
* Ptolemy II enlarges the library at Alexandria and appoints the grammarian Zenodotus to collect and edit all the Greek poets.

Births

*

Deaths

* Demetrius I Poliorcetes, King of Macedonia (b. 336 BC)
* Ptolemy I Soter, Macedonian general who served under Alexander the Great and became ruler of Egypt and founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty (b. 367 BC)