304 BC

Year 304 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sophus and Saverrio (or, less frequently, year 450 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 304 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:	5th century BC 4th century BC 3rd century BC
Decades:	320s BC 310s BC 300s BC 290s BC 280s BC
Years:	307 BC 306 BC 305 BC 304 BC 303 BC 302 BC 301 BC

304 BC in various calendars

Gregorian calendar	304 BC CCCIV BC
Ab urbe condita	450
Ancient Egypt era	XXXIII dynasty, 20
- Pharaoh	Ptolemy I Soter, 20
Ancient Greek era	119th Olympiad (victor)¹
Assyrian calendar	4447
Balinese saka calendar	N/A
Bengali calendar	−896
Berber calendar	647
Buddhist calendar	241
Burmese calendar	−941
Byzantine calendar	5205–5206
Chinese calendar	丙辰年 (Fire Dragon) 2394 or 2187     — to — 丁巳年 (Fire Snake) 2395 or 2188
Coptic calendar	−587 – −586
Discordian calendar	863
Ethiopian calendar	−311 – −310
Hebrew calendar	3457–3458
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	−247 – −246
- Shaka Samvat	N/A
- Kali Yuga	2797–2798
Holocene calendar	9697
Iranian calendar	925 BP – 924 BP
Islamic calendar	953 BH – 952 BH
Javanese calendar	N/A
Julian calendar	N/A
Korean calendar	2030
Minguo calendar	2215 before ROC 民前2215年
Nanakshahi calendar	−1771
Seleucid era	8/9 AG
Thai solar calendar	239–240
Tibetan calendar	阳火龙年 (male Fire-Dragon) −177 or −558 or −1330     — to — 阴火蛇年 (female Fire-Snake) −176 or −557 or −1329

Events

By place

Greece

• Demetrius shows ingenuity in devising a new siege engine: a wheeled siege tower named Helepolis (or "Taker of Cities"), which stands 40 meters tall and 20 meters wide and weighs 180 tons.
• The Siege of Rhodes ends after a year.
• Demetrius Poliorcetes and the Rhodians come to a truce, with the agreement that the city should be autonomous, should keep its own revenue and that the Rhodians should be allies of Antigonus unless he is at war with Ptolemy.
• Antigonus then concludes a peace treaty and an alliance with the island state, guaranteeing it autonomy and neutrality in his conflicts with Ptolemy.
• Cassander invades Attica and besieges Athens. He captures the island of Salamis off the coast of Athens.
• Demetrius Poliorcetes invades mainland Greece for Asia-Minor, drives Cassander out of central Greece and liberates Athens. In return, the Athenians bestow on him a new religious honour, synnaos (meaning "having the same temple") of the temple of the goddess Athena.

Roman Republic

• The second Samnite war formally ends with a peace agreement in which the Samnites obtain peace on terms that are severe but not as crushing as those agreed by the Romans with the Etruscans four years earlier. Under the peace, Rome gains no territory, but the Samnites renounce their hegemony over Campania. Rome is also successful in ending the revolts amongst the tribes surrounding Roman territory.

Sicily

• The tyrant Agathocles takes on the title of King of Sicily. He extends his influence into southern Italy and the Adriatic.

India

• The Mauryan emperor Chandragupta defeats Seleucus I Nicator as he tries to invade India.

Births

• Ashoka, Indian emperor and ruler of the Maurya Empire in present-day Eastern India 268–232 BC (d. 232 BC)
• Erasistratus, Greek anatomist and physician (approximate date)

In popular culture

• 450 Ab urbe condita is the starting year for the Imperator: Rome grand strategy computer game.