219 BC

Millennium:	1st millennium BC
Centuries:	4th century BC – 3rd century BC – 2nd century BC
Decades:	240s BC  230s BC  220s BC  – 210s BC –  200s BC  190s BC  180s BC
Years:	222 BC 221 BC 220 BC – 219 BC – 218 BC 217 BC 216 BC

219 BC in other calendars

Gregorian calendar	219 BC
Ab urbe condita	535
Ancient Egypt era	XXXIII dynasty, 105
- Pharaoh	Ptolemy IV Philopator, 3
Ancient Greek era	140th Olympiad, year 2
Assyrian calendar	4532
Bengali calendar	−811
Berber calendar	732
Buddhist calendar	326
Burmese calendar	−856
Byzantine calendar	5290–5291
Chinese calendar	辛巳年 (Metal Snake) 2478 or 2418     — to — 壬午年 (Water Horse) 2479 or 2419
Coptic calendar	−502 – −501
Discordian calendar	948
Ethiopian calendar	−226 – −225
Hebrew calendar	3542–3543
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	−162 – −161
- Shaka Samvat	N/A
- Kali Yuga	2883–2884
Holocene calendar	9782
Iranian calendar	840 BP – 839 BP
Islamic calendar	866 BH – 865 BH
Julian calendar	N/A
Korean calendar	2115
Minguo calendar	2130 before ROC 民前2130年
Seleucid era	93/94 AG
Thai solar calendar	324–325

Year 219 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Paullus and Salinator (or, less frequently, year 535 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 219 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

By place

Egypt

• Following the defection of one of Ptolemy IV's leading commanders, Egypt's Syrian territories are seriously threatened by Antiochus III, thus initiating the Fourth Syrian War. When the Seleucid ruler captures the important eastern Mediterranean sea ports of Seleucia-in-Pieria, Tyre, and Ptolemais, Ptolemy IV's advisor, Sosibius, and the Ptolemaic court enter into delaying negotiations with the enemy, while the Ptolemaic army is reorganized and intensively drilled.
• The former King of Sparta, Cleomenes III, escapes from his Egyptian prison and, after failing to raise a revolt in Alexandria, takes his own life.

Roman Republic

• The Romans extend their area of domination around the head of the Adriatic Sea as far as the peninsula of Histria by the conquest of peoples who dwell to the east of the Veneti. Thus, with the exception of Liguria and the upper valley of the Po River, all Italy south of the Alps is brought within the Roman sphere.

Carthage

• Hannibal lays siege to Saguntum^[1] thus initiating the Second Punic War between Carthage and Rome. Saguntum is an independent Iberian Peninsula city south of the Ebro River. In the treaty between Rome and Carthage concluded in 226 BC, the Ebro had been set as the northern limit of Carthaginian influence in the Iberian Peninsula. Saguntum is south of the Ebro, but the Romans have "friendship" with the city and regard the Carthaginian attack on it as an act of war. The siege of Saguntum lasts eight months, and in it Hannibal is severely wounded. The Romans, who send envoys to Carthage in protest, demand the surrender of Hannibal.

Greece

• The Roman Senate sends the consul Lucius Aemilius Paullus to Illyria with an army. On discovering Rome's intent, the Illyrian leader Demetrius of Pharos puts to death those Illyrians who oppose his rule, fortifies Dimale and goes to Pharos. After a seven day siege by the Roman fleet under Lucius Aemilius Paulus, Dimale is taken by direct assault. From Dimale, the Roman navy heads to Pharos, where the Roman forces rout the Illyrians. Demetrius flees to Macedonia, where he becomes a trusted councilor at the court of King Philip V.
• The Cretan city of Kydonia joins the Aetolian alliance.^[2]

China

• Qin Shi Huang orders his generals to capture present-day Guangdong and Guangxi.

Births

Deaths

• Cleomenes III, Spartan king from 235 BC to 222 BC, who reorganized Sparta's political structure and struggled unsuccessfully to destroy the Achaean League.

References

1. Gavin De Beer, Hannibal: Challenging Rome's Supremacy, 1969, Viking Press, 319 pages
2. C. Michael Hogan, Cydonia, The Modern Antiquarian, January 23, 2008