View source for 288 BC

{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2011}}
{{Year nav|-288}}
{{BC year in topic|288}}
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Year '''288 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 Tremulus and Arvina''' (or, less frequently, '''year 466 ''[[Ab urbe condita]]'''''). The denomination 288 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 ==
<onlyinclude>
=== By place ===
==== Greece ====
* The [[Macedon]]ian King, [[Demetrius Poliorcetes]], faces a combined attack from [[Lysimachus]] and [[Pyrrhus of Epirus|Phyrrhus]], king of [[Epirus]], after [[Seleucus I Nicator|Seleucus]], [[Ptolemy I Soter|Ptolemy]] and Lysimachus form a coalition to block plans by Demetrius to invade [[Asia Minor]]. Ptolemy's fleet appears off [[Ancient Greece|Greece]], inciting the cities to revolt.
* [[Ancient Athens|Athens]] revolts and Demetrius besieges the city. Pyrrhus takes [[Thessaly]] and the western half of Macedonia and, with the assistance of Ptolemy's fleet, relieves Athens from Demetrius' siege.
* After the [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptian]] fleet participates decisively in the liberation of Athens from Macedonian occupation, Ptolemy obtains the protectorate over the League of Islanders, which includes most of the Greek islands in the [[Aegean Sea]]. Egypt's maritime supremacy in the [[Mediterranean]] in the ensuing decades is based on this alliance.

==== Sicily ====
* Following the death of [[Agathocles]], some of his disbanded mercenaries seize [[Messana]] in northeast [[Sicily]] and set up a society, calling themselves [[Mamertines]] (Sons of Mars). The city becomes a base from which they will ravage the Sicilian countryside.

==== Sri Lanka ====
* The [[Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi]] [[Sacred Fig]] tree is planted at [[Anuradhapura]], [[Sri Lanka]]. This is the earliest known planting date for any planted tree still surviving.

==== China ====
* [[King Zhao of Qin]] and [[King Min of Qi]] take the title "Di", (帝 literally emperor), of the west and east respectively. They swear a covenant and begin planning an attack on the [[State of Zhao]].
* Qi conquers the [[State of Song]].
</onlyinclude>

{{DEFAULTSORT:288 Bc}}
[[Category:280s BC]]
[[Category:Years of the 3rd century BC]]