View source for 272 BC

{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2011}}
{{More citations needed|date=February 2024}}
{{Year nav|-272}}
{{BC year in topic|272}}
[[File:Roman conquest of Italy.PNG|thumb|[[Roman expansion in Italy]] from 500 BC to 218 BC through the [[Latin War]] (light red), [[Samnite Wars]] (pink/orange), [[Pyrrhic War]] (beige), and [[First Punic War|First]] and [[Second Punic War|Second]] [[Punic Wars|Punic War]] (yellow and green). The [[Roman Republic]] in 272 BC is marked with dark and light red, pink, orange and beige.]]
__FORCETOC__
Year '''272 BC''' was a year of the [[Roman calendar|pre-Julian Roman calendar]]. At the time it was known as the '''Year of the Consulship of Cursor and Maximus''' (or, less frequently, '''year 482 ''[[Ab urbe condita]]'''''). The denomination 272 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the [[Anno Domini]] [[calendar era]] became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

== Events ==
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=== By place ===

==== Seleucid Empire ====
* The [[Seleucid]] king [[Antiochus I Soter]] is defeated by [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt's]] [[Ptolemy II Philadelphus|Ptolemy II]] during the [[Syrian Wars|First Syrian War]]. Ptolemy II annexes [[Miletus]], [[Phoenicia]] and western [[Cilicia]] from Antiochus. As a result, Ptolemy II extends Egyptian rule as far as [[Caria]] and into most of Cilicia.

==== Egypt ====
* Egypt's victories solidify the kingdom's position as the undisputed naval power of the eastern [[Mediterranean]]; the Ptolemaic sphere of power now extends over the [[Cyclades]] to [[Samothrace]], and the harbours and coastal towns of [[Cilicia Trachea]], [[Pamphylia]], [[Lycia]] and [[Caria]].

==== Roman Republic ====
* [[Taranto|Tarentum]], a Greek city in Italy, makes peace with the Romans.<ref>{{cite book | page=23 | first=John E. | last=Stambaugh | place=Baltimore | year=1988 | publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press | title=The Ancient Roman City | isbn=0-8018-3574-7}}</ref>
* Rome builds the aqueduct ''Anio Vetus'' on the Esquiline hill.<ref>{{cite book | page=25 | first=John E. | last=Stambaugh | place=Baltimore | year=1988 | publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press | title=The Ancient Roman City | isbn=0-8018-3574-7}}</ref>
* [[Pyrrhus of Epirus|Pyrrhus']] departure from southern [[Italy]] three years earlier leads to the [[Samnites]] finally being conquered by the [[Roman Republic|Romans]]. With the surrender of [[Taranto|Tarentum]], the cities of [[Magna Graecia]] in southern Italy come under Roman influence and become Roman allies. Rome now effectively dominates all of the Italian peninsula.

==== Greece ====
* Cleonymus, a [[Sparta]]n of royal blood who has been outcast by his fellow Spartans, asks the King of [[Macedon]]ia and [[Epirus]], Pyrrhus, to attack Sparta and place him in power. Pyrrhus agrees to the plan, but intends to win control of the [[Peloponnese]] for himself. As a large part of the Spartan army led by king [[Areus I]] is in [[Crete]] at the time, Pyrrhus has great hopes of taking the city easily, but the citizens organise stout resistance, allowing one of [[Antigonus II Gonatas|Antigonus II's]] commanders, Aminias the Phocian, to reach the city with a force of mercenaries from [[Corinth]]. Soon after this, the Spartan king, Areus, returns from Crete with 2,000 men. These reinforcements stiffen Spartan resistance and Pyrrhus, finding that he is losing men to desertion every day, breaks off the attack and starts to plunder the country.
* As they plunder the countryside, Pyrrhus and his troops move onto [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]]. Entering the city with his army by stealth, Pyrrhus finds himself caught in a [[Battle of Argos|confused battle]] with the Argives (who are supported by Antigonus' forces and a detachment from Sparta) in the narrow city streets. During the confusion an old woman watching from a rooftop throws a roof tile at Pyrrhus which stuns him, allowing an Argive soldier to kill him.
* Following his death in Argos, Pyrrhus is succeeded as king of Epirus by his son [[Alexander II of Epirus|Alexander II]] while [[Antigonus II Gonatas]] regains his Macedonian throne which he has lost to Pyrrhus two years earlier.

==== India ====
* The Mauryan emperor, [[Bindusara]], sends the [[Mauryan]] army to conquer the southern kingdoms. Kadamba is conquered.

==Births==

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== Deaths ==
* [[Aristotimus]], Greek [[tyrant]] of [[Elis (city)|Elis]] (approximate date)
* [[Bindusara]], emperor of the [[Mauryan Empire]] (b. c. [[320 BC]])
* [[Ptolemy (son of Pyrrhus)|Ptolemy]], son of Pyrrhus of Epirus (b. [[295 BC]])
* [[Pyrrhus of Epirus]], king of the [[Molossians]] (from c. [[297 BC]]), [[Epirus]] ([[306 BC|306]]&ndash;[[301 BC|301]] and [[297 BC|297]]&ndash;272 BC) and [[Macedon]] ([[288 BC|288]]&ndash;[[284 BC|284]] and [[273 BC|273]]–272 BC); involved in disputes in southern Italy against [[Roman Republic|Rome]] and in [[Sicily]] (b. [[318 BC]])

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

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[[Category:272 BC| ]]