256 BC

Millennium:	1st millennium BC
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
Years:	259 BC 258 BC 257 BC – 256 BC – 255 BC 254 BC 253 BC

256 BC by topic

Politics

State leaders – Sovereign states

Birth and death categories

Births – Deaths

Establishments and disestablishments categories

Establishments – Disestablishments

256 BC in other calendars

Gregorian calendar	256 BC
Ab urbe condita	498
Armenian calendar	N/A
Assyrian calendar	4495
Bahá'í calendar	-2099–-2098
Bengali calendar	-848
Berber calendar	695
English Regnal year	N/A
Buddhist calendar	289
Burmese calendar	-893
Byzantine calendar	5253–5254
Chinese calendar	甲辰年 (2381/2441) — to — 乙巳年 (2382/2442)
Coptic calendar	-539–-538
Ethiopian calendar	-263–-262
Hebrew calendar	3505–3506
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	-199–-198
- Shaka Samvat	N/A
- Kali Yuga	2846–2847
Holocene calendar	9745
Iranian calendar	877 BP – 876 BP
Islamic calendar	904 BH – 903 BH
Japanese calendar
Korean calendar	2078
Minguo calendar	2167 before ROC 民前2167年
Thai solar calendar	288

Year 256 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Longus and Caedicius/Regulus (or, less frequently, year 498 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 256 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

Roman Republic

• Rome aims for a quick end to hostilities in the First Punic War and decides to invade the Carthaginian colonies in Northern Africa to force the enemy to accept terms. A major fleet is built, including transports for the army and its equipment, and warships for their protection. Carthage under Hamilcar tries to intervene but a force under the Roman general and consul Marcus Atilius Regulus and his colleague Lucius Manlius Vulso Longus defeat the Carthaginian fleet in the Battle of Cape Ecnomus off the southern coast of Sicily.
• Following the Battle of Cape Ecnomus, the Romans land an army near Carthage and begin ravaging the Carthaginian countryside. The Roman army soon forces the capitulation of Clupea, a town 40 miles (64 kilometres) east of Carthage. After setting up Roman defenses for the city, the two consuls receive instructions from Rome that Vulso is to set sail for Rome, taking most of the fleet with him. Regulus, on the other hand, is to stay with the infantry and cavalry to finish the war.

China

• Luoyang falls without much resistance to the armies of the Qin, ending the reign of the emperor Zhou Nan Wang. Although a successor was appointed as Dong Zhou Hui Wang, traditionally in Chinese history this is considered the end of the Zhou Dynasty.
• The Du Jiang Yan Irrigation System is constructed, ending flooding and irrigating thousands of square miles of land through an ingeniously designed system.

Births

• Liu Bang, founder of the Han Dynasty of China (d. 195 BC)

Deaths

• Zhou Nan Wang, King of the Zhou Dynasty of China