297 BC

The year 297 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Rullianus and Mus (or, less frequently, 457 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 297 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:	310s BC 300s BC 290s BC 280s BC 270s BC
Years:	300 BC 299 BC 298 BC 297 BC 296 BC 295 BC 294 BC

297 BC in various calendars

Gregorian calendar	297 BC CCXCVII BC
Ab urbe condita	457
Ancient Egypt era	XXXIII dynasty, 27
- Pharaoh	Ptolemy I Soter, 27
Ancient Greek era	120th Olympiad, year 4
Assyrian calendar	4454
Balinese saka calendar	N/A
Bengali calendar	−889
Berber calendar	654
Buddhist calendar	248
Burmese calendar	−934
Byzantine calendar	5212–5213
Chinese calendar	癸亥年 (Water Pig) 2401 or 2194     — to — 甲子年 (Wood Rat) 2402 or 2195
Coptic calendar	−580 – −579
Discordian calendar	870
Ethiopian calendar	−304 – −303
Hebrew calendar	3464–3465
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	−240 – −239
- Shaka Samvat	N/A
- Kali Yuga	2804–2805
Holocene calendar	9704
Iranian calendar	918 BP – 917 BP
Islamic calendar	946 BH – 945 BH
Javanese calendar	N/A
Julian calendar	N/A
Korean calendar	2037
Minguo calendar	2208 before ROC 民前2208年
Nanakshahi calendar	−1764
Seleucid era	15/16 AG
Thai solar calendar	246–247
Tibetan calendar	阴水猪年 (female Water-Pig) −170 or −551 or −1323     — to — 阳木鼠年 (male Wood-Rat) −169 or −550 or −1322

Events

By place

Roman Republic

• Third Samnite War:

• The consul Publius Decius Mus intercepts and defeats a force of Apulians near Maleventum, who were intending to reinforce the main Samnite army.
• The consul Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus defeats an attempted ambush by the Samnite army in the Battle of Tifernum, killing 3400, capturing 830, and causing the army to flee. He then invades Samnium and storms the town of Cimetra.

Bithynia

• Zipoetes I assumes the title of basileus (king) in Bithynia.

Greece

• Following Cassander's death from illness, Philip IV, Cassander's eldest son, succeeds his father as King of Macedon, but soon after coming to the throne, he suffers from a wasting disease and dies. Antipater, the next son, rules jointly with his brother Alexander V.
• Demetrius Poliorcetes returns to Greece with the aim of becoming master of Macedonia. While Demetrius is in Greece, Lysimachus seizes his possessions in Asia Minor.
• Ptolemy decides to support Pyrrhus of Epirus and restores him to his kingdom. At first, Pyrrhus reigns with a kinsman, Neoptolemus II of Epirus (who is a son of Cleopatra of Macedonia and a nephew of Alexander the Great), but soon he has him assassinated.

India

• Chandragupta Maurya goes to Sravana Belagola, near Mysore, to live in the way of Jains.
• Bindusara, his son, ascends to the Pataliputra throne.

Deaths

• King Cassander of Macedon, one of the diadochoi ("successors"), the Macedonian generals who have fought over the empire of Alexander the Great after his death (b. c. 358 BC)
• Chandragupta Maurya, Emperor of the Maurya Empire in India, r. 322–297 BC (approximate date)