202 BC

Events

By place

Carthage

• Accused of treason by the Carthaginians after being defeated by the Romans at the Battle of the Great Plains, Hasdrubal Gisco commits suicide to avoid being lynched by a Carthaginian mob.
• October 19 — The Battle of Zama (130 kilometres south-west of Carthage) ends the Second Punic War and largely destroys the power of Carthage. Roman and Numidian forces under the laedership of the Roman general Publius Cornelius Scipio and his Numidian ally, Masinissa, defeat a combined army of Carthaginians and their Numidian allies under the command of Hannibal and forces Carthage to capitulate. Hannibal loses 20,000 men in the defeat, but he is able to escape Masinissa's pursuit.

Roman Republic

• Following the Battle of Zama, the Roman general Publius Cornelius Scipio gains the surname "Africanus" in honour of his feats in North Africa against Carthage.

Egypt

• The Egyptian regent and chief minister, Sosibius, retires and Agathocles, another member of the ruling clique, becomes Ptolemy V's guardian.
• Agathocles' rule provokes Tlepolemus, the governor of Pelusium (Egypt's eastern frontier city), into action. Tlepolemus marches on Alexandria, where his supporters rouse a mob, compelling Agathocles to resign.
• The Egyptian boy king, Ptolemy V, is encouraged by a mob clamouring for revenge against the murderers of his mother Arsinoe III to agree to Agathocles being killed. As a result, the mob searches out and butchers Agathocles and his family. Tlepolemus takes Agathocles’ place as regent. However, he soon proves to be incompetent and is removed.
• During this period of confusion and change amongst Egypt’s leadership, armies under the Seleucid king, Antiochus III, make serious inroads into the Egyptian territories in Coele Syria.

China

• Liu Bang, King of Han, defeats Xiang Yu of Western Chu in the Battle of Gaixia, ending the Chu-Han contention. Liu Bang declares himself the Emperor of China, officially beginning the Han Dynasty.
• The construction of the new Chinese capital Chang'an begins.
• Liu Bang gives the area of today's Fujian Province to Wuzhu as his kingdom. Wuzhu starts the construction of his own capital Ye (Fuzhou).
• The construction of Changsha begins.

Births

• Wen, Chinese emperor of the Han Dynasty (d. 157 BC)

Deaths

• Xiang Yu, rebel leader against the Qin Dynasty and nemesis of Liu Bang in the Chu-Han contention (b. 232 BC)
• Hasdrubal Gisco, Carthaginian general who has fought against Rome in Iberia and North Africa during the Second Punic War, customarily identified as the son of Gisco (suicide)