Editing 291 BC

{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2011}}
{{Year nav|-291}}
{{BC year in topic|291}}
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Year '''291 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 Megellus and Brutus''' (or, less frequently, '''year 463 ''[[Ab urbe condita]]'''''). The denomination 291 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 ====
* [[Demetrius Poliorcetes]] joins his son, [[Antigonus II Gonatas|Antigonus]], in the [[Siege of Thebes (292-291 BC)|siege of Thebes]]. As the Thebans defend their city stubbornly, Demetrius forces his men to attack the city at great cost. Demetrius finally takes the city after using [[siege engine]]s to demolish its walls.

==== Roman Republic ====
* [[Third Samnite War]]:
:* The proconsul [[Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges (consul 292 BC)|Q. Fabius Maximus Gurges]] and legate [[Q. Fabius Maximus Rullianus]] besiege the [[Samnites|Samnite]] town of Cominium Ocritum, but the consul [[Lucius Postumius Megellus (consul 305 BC)|Lucius Postumius Megellus]] orders Fabius Gurges to relinquish his command and evacuate [[Samnium]], despite the fact that the Senate had appointed Fabius proconsul to campaign against the Samnites.
:* Fabius Gurges celebrates a triumph, at which the Samnite general [[Gavius Pontius]] is beheaded.
:* Postumius captures Cominium Ocritum, the major city of [[Venusia]] and other towns, killing 10,000 and capturing 6200. At the proposal of Postumius, the Senate sends 20,000 colonists to occupy Venusia, the largest Roman colony to date. However, angered by the various crimes of Postumius, the Senate does not choose him as one of the leaders of the colony and denies him a triumph.
:* Postumius celebrates a triumph on his own authority and dismisses his army before the consuls for the following year can take over.<ref>{{cite book|first= Titus|last= Livius|title=Ab Urbe Condita, Epitome of Book 11}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first= Dionysius|last= of Halicarnassus|title=Roman Antiquities 16.15-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first= Cassius|last= Dio|title=Roman History 8.32}}</ref>

==== China ====
* Generals Sima Cuo and [[Bai Qi]] of the [[State of Qin]] attack the [[State of Wei]] and capture the city of Yuan. Next, Sima Cuo captures the cities of Zhi and Deng.
* Bai Qi then captures the city of Wan in the [[state of Chu]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Sima|last= Qian|title=Records of the Grand Historian, Section: Basic Annals of Qin, Section: Bai Qi}}</ref>
</onlyinclude>

== Births ==
* [[Lü Buwei]], Chinese politician and [[Grand chancellor (China)|chancellor]] of the [[Qin (state)|Qin State]] (d. [[235 BC]])

== Deaths ==
* [[Menander]], [[Athens|Athenian]] dramatist, considered to be a master of Greek New Comedy (b. c. [[342 BC]])
* [[Dinarchus]], [[Athens|Athenian]] speech writer whose work is generally thought to reflect the gradual decline of Attic oratory (b. c. [[361 BC]])
* [[Gavius Pontius]], Samnite general
* [[Emperor Kōan]] of Japan, according to legend.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

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[[Category:291 BC| ]]