279 BC

Centuries:	4th century BC - 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC
Decades:	300s BC 290s BC 280s BC - 270s BC - 260s BC 250s BC 240s BC
Years:	282 BC 281 BC 280 BC - 279 BC - 278 BC 277 BC 276 BC

279 BC by topic
Politics
State leaders - Sovereign states
Birth and death categories
Births - Deaths
Establishments and disestablishments categories
Establishments - Disestablishments v • d • e

**279 BC in other calendars**
Gregorian calendar	279 BC
Ab urbe condita	475
Armenian calendar	N/A
Bahá'í calendar	-2122 – -2121
Buddhist calendar	266
Chinese calendar	2358/2418 ([[Sexagenary cycle\|]]年) — to — 2359/2419 ([[Sexagenary cycle\|]]年)
Ethiopian calendar	-286 – -285
Hebrew calendar	3482 – 3483
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	-223 – -222
- Shaka Samvat	N/A
- Kali Yuga	2823 – 2824
Holocene calendar	9722
Iranian calendar	900 BP – 899 BP
Islamic calendar	928 BH – 927 BH
Japanese calendar
- Imperial Year	Kōki 382 (皇紀382年)
- Jōmon Era	9722
Julian calendar	-233
Korean calendar	2055
Thai solar calendar	265
v • d • e

[edit] Events

Celtic tribesmen (Gauls) under Brennus invade Macedonia and crush a Macedonian army led by Ptolemy Keraunos who is killed in the battle. At the narrow pass of Thermopylae, on the east coast of central Greece, Brennus' forces suffer heavy losses while trying to break through the Greek defence comprising the Phocians and the Aetolians. Eventually Brennus finds a way around the pass but the Greeks escape by sea.
Brennus pushes onto Delphi which he sacks, but he is wounded and his forces defeated in a battle near Delphi by the Macedonian general Sosthenes. Despite the losses at Delphi, Brennus' forces then penetrate into Epirus and sack the treasures of the temples of Zeus at Dodona and Olympia.
Facing determined Greek resistance, Brennus withdraws to Macedonia, where he dies from his wounds. Without him, the Gauls in his army divide. Some of them cross the Bosporus and settle in a part of Asia Minor that will come to be called Galatia, while some settle in Thrace, founding a short-lived city-state named Tylis.
With the death of Ptolemy Keraunos, the previous King of Macedonia, Antipater II becomes king again. However, his new reign lasts only few months before he is killed by his cousin Sosthenes who becomes the new King of Macedonia.
The Phocians are readmitted into the Amphictyonic League after they have joined in the defence of Delphi against the Gauls.

The Carthaginians and the Romans agree to support each other against a common foe. The Carthaginians give Rome money and ships in their fight against Pyrrhus, the king of Epirus.
Pyrrhus realises that he cannot capture Rome and suggests peace terms to the Romans. Pyrrhus send his chief advisor, Cineas, to Rome to negotiate a peace. Cineas demands that the Romans halt their aggression against the Greeks of southern Italy and restore the lands the Romans have taken from the Bruttii, the Apulians, and the Samnites. The Romans reject his demands, largely at the instigation of the former Roman censor, Appius Claudius Caecus.
In renewed fighting, Pyrrhus of Epirus, leading the combined Tarantine, Oscan, Samnite, and Epiriotic forces, wins a 'Pyrrhic victory' against the Romans led by consul Publius Decius Mus at the Battle of Asculum, called such because his victory comes at a great cost to his own forces. Pyrrhus is reported to have said afterwards, "One more victory against the Romans and we shall be utterly ruined!" Disheartened, Pyrrhus retires to Tarentum and sends Cineas to make renewed peace overtures to Rome. These talks are inconclusive.

The aggression of Ptolemy II of Egypt continues to cause friction with Antiochus, who loses Miletus, in south-western Asia Minor, to Ptolemy.

Scordisci Celts found a city called Singidon (Roman Singidunum) which is today the Serbian city of Belgrade.

Ptolemy Keraunos, King of Macedonia from 281 to 279 BC.
Brennus, leader of the army of Gauls who in 279 BC invade Macedonia and northern Greece.
Antipater II, king of Macedonia from 297 to 294 BC and again in 279 BC.