290 BC – 280 BCs

Events in 290 BC – 280 BC 4

• 343 BC – 290 BC The Samnite Wars Three wars against the Samnites — a powerful Italic people of the Apennine mountains — between 343 and 290 BC cement Roman dominance of peninsular Italy. The Second Samnite War (326–304 BC) includes the humiliation of the Caudine Forks (321 BC), where an entire Roman army is forced to pass under the yoke. Rome recovers, learns, adapts — and ultimately prevails. By 290 BC, Rome controls most of Italy south of the Po valley.
• 287 BC – 212 BC Archimedes of Syracuse The greatest mathematician and engineer of antiquity Archimedes (c.287–212 BC) was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer and inventor born in Syracuse, Sicily. Son of the astronomer Phidias, he was possibly related to King Hiero II of Syracuse. He is ranked alongside Newton and Gauss as one of the three greatest mathematicians of all time. He left nine surviving treatises covering geometry, hydrostatics, statics and mathematical physics, and invented war machines that held Rome at bay for two years. He died when Roman soldiers breached Syracuse in 212 BC — allegedly while working on a geometry problem.
• 287 BC – 212 BC Archimedes — buoyancy, lever and pi The greatest scientist of antiquity Archimedes of Syracuse (c.287–212 BC) discovered the principle of buoyancy — that a body submerged in fluid experiences an upward force equal to the weight of fluid it displaces — reputedly while stepping into his bath. He proved the law of the lever, calculated pi as lying between 3 10/71 and 3 1/7, determined the surface area and volume of a sphere, and laid the foundations of hydrostatics and statics. He also invented the Archimedes screw for raising water and designed war machines to defend Syracuse against the Romans.
• 285 BC – 246 BC Library of Alexandria -- all human knowledge The Library of Alexandria, developed under Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285-246 BC), holds between 400,000 and 700,000 scrolls. Its scholars produce the first critical editions of Homer, develop geometry (Euclid), measure the Earth's circumference (Eratosthenes), catalogue the stars (Hipparchus) and lay the foundations of ancient science. It is the greatest intellectual institution of the ancient world.