218 BC

Year 218 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Scipio and Longus (or, less frequently, year 536 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 218 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.

Millennium:	1st millennium BC
Centuries:	4th century BC 3rd century BC 2nd century BC
Decades:	230s BC 220s BC 210s BC 200s BC 190s BC
Years:	221 BC 220 BC 219 BC 218 BC 217 BC 216 BC 215 BC

218 BC in various calendars

Gregorian calendar	218 BC CCXVIII BC
Ab urbe condita	536
Ancient Egypt era	XXXIII dynasty, 106
- Pharaoh	Ptolemy IV Philopator, 4
Ancient Greek era	140th Olympiad, year 3
Assyrian calendar	4533
Balinese saka calendar	N/A
Bengali calendar	−810
Berber calendar	733
Buddhist calendar	327
Burmese calendar	−855
Byzantine calendar	5291–5292
Chinese calendar	壬午年 (Water Horse) 2480 or 2273     — to — 癸未年 (Water Goat) 2481 or 2274
Coptic calendar	−501 – −500
Discordian calendar	949
Ethiopian calendar	−225 – −224
Hebrew calendar	3543–3544
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	−161 – −160
- Shaka Samvat	N/A
- Kali Yuga	2883–2884
Holocene calendar	9783
Iranian calendar	839 BP – 838 BP
Islamic calendar	865 BH – 864 BH
Javanese calendar	N/A
Julian calendar	N/A
Korean calendar	2116
Minguo calendar	2129 before ROC 民前2129年
Nanakshahi calendar	−1685
Seleucid era	94/95 AG
Thai solar calendar	325–326
Tibetan calendar	阳水马年 (male Water-Horse) −91 or −472 or −1244     — to — 阴水羊年 (female Water-Goat) −90 or −471 or −1243

Roman expansion in Italy from 500 BC to 218 BC through the Latin War (light red), Samnite Wars (pink/orange), Pyrrhic War (beige), and First and Second Punic War (yellow and green).

Events

By place

Hispania

• Second Punic War

• Fall of Saguntum to Hannibal of Carthage (or 219)
• Hannibal crosses the Pyrenees and southern Gaul
• Hannibal sets out with around 40,000 men and 50 elephants from New Carthage (Cartagena) to northern Spain and then into the Pyrenees where his army meets with stiff resistance from the Pyrenean tribes. This opposition and the desertion of some of his Spanish troops greatly diminishes his numbers, but he reaches the river Rhône facing little resistance from the tribes of southern Gaul.
• A Roman army under the consul Publius Cornelius Scipio is transported by sea to Massilia (modern Marseille) to prevent Hannibal from advancing on Italy, Scipio himself returns to Italy to take command of the defences in northern Italy on learning Hannibal has already crossed the river.
• Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus, Publius' brother, takes over the command of the army at Massilia and invades Spain.

Roman Republic

• Second Punic War

• In response to the threat of Hannibal the Romans assemble three armies:

• The consul prior, Publius Cornelius Scipio, raises two Roman legions and two Latin alae for a total of 22,000 infantry and 2,200 cavalry. He is also assigned 60 warships and hundreds of transports. Scipio receives the Iberian Peninsula as his area of operations (his imperium).
• The consul posterior, Tiberius Sempronius Longus, also raises two Roman legions and two Latin alae for a total of 24,000 infantry and 2,400 cavalry. He gathers a fleet of 180 warships and hundreds of transports. Longus receives Sicily and Africa as his area of operation (his imperium) and was to invade Africa and attack Carthage directly.
• Praetor Lucius Manlius Vulso also receives two legions and raises 10,000 allied infantry and 1,000 allied cavalry (for a total of 18,000 infantry and 1,600 cavalry) and is sent into Cisalpine Gaul to keep an eye on the Celtic tribes.

• The Roman army, under consul, Tiberius Sempronius Longus, assembles in Sicily to embark for Northern Africa. Longus managed to capture Malta from the Carthaginians.
• Hannibal's crossing of the Alps: Hannibal took 38 North African war elephants across the Alps from Gaul into Cisalpine Gaul to invade Rome. Almost none of the elephants survived the harsh conditions of the Alps. This led to the Romans cancelling their invasion of Africa.
• Battle of Ticinus: Hannibal defeats Scipio.

• The Roman Senate orders Sempronius Longus to travel from Sicily to reinforce Scipio's troops.
• December 18: Battle of the Trebia: Hannibal defeats the combined Roman armies under Sempronius and Scipio.

Seleucid Empire

• Fourth Syrian War

• Negotiations between the new Egyptian King Ptolemy IV and the Seleucid King Antiochus III collapse, and Antiochus III renews his advance, overrunning Ptolemy's forward defences, and gaining territory in Lebanon, Palestine and Phoenicia.