Centuries: 4th century BC - 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC

Decades: 280s BC 270s BC 260s BC 250s BC 240s BC - 230s BC - 220s BC 210s BC 200s BC 190s BC 180s BC

Years: 239 BC 238 BC 237 BC 236 BC 235 BC - 234 BC - 233 BC 232 BC 231 BC 230 BC 229 BC

Events

• Greece: Epeirote Alliance replaced by federal state (Koinon of the Epeirotes)
• Greece: city of Old Pleuron destroyed by Demetrios II
• Greece: after resignation of Lydiades , Megalopolis joins Achaean League
• China (Qin Dynasty): 100,000 Zhao soldiers killed in Pingyang battle
• China: Ch'in Shin Haung Ti (King Cheng) begins unification of China
• Rome: Corsica, Sardinia and Liguria rebel unsuccessfully against Rome
• China: construction of Great Wall begins
• Rome: Temple of Honos et Virtus built by Q. Fabius Maximus Verrucosus
• India: Third Buddhist Council (Sangayana) held in Patna

Births

• Cato the Elder
• Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Major

Deaths

• King Parnazavi or Pharnabazus I of Iberia , Georgia
• Ashoka, head of Mauryan Empire in India
• Zenodotus of Ephesus, first librarian of Great Library of Alexandria
• Han Fei, legal scholar of the Hundred Schools period
• Diodotus, Seleucid satrap of Bactria